A DENTIST BECOMES A DOCTOR By 1906 Chicago had grown from its origins as a tiny, frontier trading post to a metropolis of nearly two million people. After the city was rebuilt following the Great Fire of 1871 there was a wave of immigration. People arrived from
Read more →TO CHICAGO – ON A MEDICAL MISSION On September 3 1906, a wealthy young dentist from Brisbane boarded the passenger ship Aorangi. He disembarked in Vancouver, then entered the United States and made his way to Chicago by train. His name was Victor Richard Ratten. Soon after he
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THE SLOPER, THE DOCTOR, AND AN ATTEMPTED ‘BIG FIX’ AT MOWBRAY. By 1911, three years on from a near win at Flemington’s Grand National Steeplechase, the Tasmanian jumper Ally Sloper was somewhat past his best. It was reported that he was now owned by the Sheffield GP,
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FROM A STUMP JUMPER TO THE STEEPLECHASE Ally Sloper was a big boned chestnut gelding with three white fetlocks. He had been named after a British cartoon character; a likeable but lazy schemer who sloped down alleys to avoid the debt collector. Although his name and his
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