Pauline Conolly

DAVE DOWNEY, DOING HIS BIT IN BLACKHEATH
Just before Christmas, as the bush fires crept ever closer to Blackheath and we all suffered in the heatwave, I photographed a little tractor and water tank in Wentworth Street. I assumed it must be someone’s home fire protection unit. Mind you, I did wonder about the...
Read more →

A HISTORY BUFF’S SYDNEY HOTEL
My favourite place to stay in the city is the Sydney Hotel QVB on York Street, directly opposite the Queen Victoria Building. While it is no fancy five star hotel, for someone who appreciates and writes about history as I do, it’s pretty well perfect. For the...
Read more →

SYDNEY SOJOURN FOR EDITOR DES
Hello Peeps My elderly guardians Pauline, and Dr Bob went on a little ‘rest and recuperation trip’ to Sydney this week, after the bushfires in our village of Blackheath. I believe it’s called a ‘sojourn’. I wasn’t allowed to stay home alone due to a previous incident,...
Read more →

CONSERVATION HUT AT WENTWORTH FALLS; BLUE MOUNTAINS
One of the most beautiful villages in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales is Wentworth Falls. It’s hard for a proud Blackheathen to admit this…but it’s true. My favourite destination is Conservation Hut, originally built as a resting place for bush walkers, and a meeting room...
Read more →

OUR PORRIDGE HAS TO BE PERFECT!
A story from Editor Des of Blackheath, Blue Mountains….formerly from China. Hello, well bears famously know quite a lot about porridge, and I am no exception. However, at our house I defer to Dr Bob. He is what some people (possibly called Pauline) might view as an...
Read more →
‘GONE TO GOWINGS’ ……BAR AND GRILL, SYDNEY
Remember the old Gowings Department store in Sydney? And their catchphrase, ‘GONE TO GOWINGS’ ? It was the place to go for rural chaps in town for the Easter Show. Sadly, the store closed a good while back, much to my disappointment. I loved the eccentricity of...
Read more →
THE WOOD DUCK QUADS
Most Aussie wood duck couples produce very large broods. There are often a dozen or more chicks, but a local pair here in Blackheath have ended up with just four. I really don’t like to think what happened to the rest. The F word comes to mind,...
Read more →
THE DILEMMA OF TOXIC COMMUNITY SITES
It’s such a wonderful idea don’t you agree? Set up a community site where residents can seek and give advice, promote local events and businesses, support each other in times of crisis. Fantasic! Thousands of people join, but before long the trolls take over; those who simply...
Read more →