Blue Mountains – latest article

  • Collage of Blue Mountains Birds.
    ‘THE STUDIO’ AT ACER CORNER
    The Studio was home for myself and my partner Rob  while we built our new house at Blackheath, in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Now that we have moved out we have decided to let the detached property to birdwatchers, bushwalkers and nature lovers on a short stay...
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History – latest article

  • ULVERSTONE'S LA DONNA & LORNA DOONE
    ULVERSTONE’S LA DONNA & LORNA DOONE
    ‘La Donna’ was a journalist for many years at The Advocate, a Tasmanian newspaper known affectionally as ‘The Spud Digger’.  In 1935   she wrote a fascinating, lengthy article on Mary Shadbolt, widow of my relative Linden Shadbolt. I always wondered about La Donna’s real identity, and have...
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Humour – latest article

  • VITA-WEAT - NOW WITHOUT  'WORMS'
    VITA-WEAT – NOW WITHOUT ‘WORMS’
    Vita-Weat biscuits were introduced  in Australia in 1932, by the UK company Peek Frean’s.  For many years the factory was located in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield. The factory moved into its striking, art-deco building in 1937.  A clock tower (shown in the above photo) was a...
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Travel – latest article

  • Collage of Blue Mountains Birds.
    ‘THE STUDIO’ AT ACER CORNER
    The Studio was home for myself and my partner Rob  while we built our new house at Blackheath, in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Now that we have moved out we have decided to let the detached property to birdwatchers, bushwalkers and nature lovers on a short stay...
    Read more

Latest Blog Posts

  • ACER CORNER, BLACKHEATH - N0 CAR REQUIRED
    ACER CORNER, BLACKHEATH – N0 CAR REQUIRED
    Acer Corner, our studio apartment at Blackheath in the NSW Blue Mountains  is perfect for guests without a car. I was prompted to write this after a young soldier came to stay, on leave from his base in the Northern Territory. He travelled by train, Most people...
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  • The Story of the Kewpie Doll
    The Story of the Kewpie Doll
    The Kewpie Doll’s place in Australian social history was cemented when Ray Lawler’s Play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was first performed in 1955. The seventeen  dolls  referred to in the title were annual gifts for the Melbourne  girlfriends of two Queensland cane cutters. Of course by...
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  • COLLEEN McCULLOUGH TAKES UP JANE AUSTEN'S PEN
    COLLEEN McCULLOUGH TAKES UP JANE AUSTEN’S PEN
    I picked up a 2008 novel by Colleen McCullough in one of our local street libraries. It was titled The Independence of Mary Bennet. My first thought was how brave it was to continue  the lives of the  Bennet sisters after  Jane Austen put down her pen ...
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  • BAHR'S LOLLY SHOP, BATTERY POINT
    BAHR’S LOLLY SHOP, BATTERY POINT
    Bahr’s Chocolate Shop and Milk Bar was on the corner of  Hampden Road and Stowell Avenue in Hobart’s historic Battery Point. My partner Rob remembers buying lollies from this shop when he was a child in the early sixties. I’m not sure what the name was then....
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