Pauline Conolly

HALLOWEEN IN THE MISTY MOUNTAINS
In the northern hemisphere, Halloween is celebrated during fall, when landscapes are wreathed in eerie mist. Here in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales we are supposed to be in the full glory of spring, but there can be some surprisingly appropriate weather. There are...
Read more →

John Brush, the Sydney Saddler
My interest in John Brush saddles began when Brendan Morris found a rare survivor on his farm in New South Wales. He posted some photos in The Australian Social History Facebook Group. John Brush established a saddlery and harness store in Sydney in 1840. It was during...
Read more →

Editor Des and the Wild Cherries of Blackheath
Hello, Well my guardian Pauline Conolly and I have been documenting the life of a satin bowerbird. It lives in Memorial Park, Blackheath, here in the Blue Mountains. I’ve become quite friendly with him. Sometimes I take him a blue treasure, because he collects them to...
Read more →

KADOORIE FARM AND GARDENS
ORIGINS OF THE FARM Following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II, many farmers were destitute and unable to produce sufficient food for the enormous influx of refugees. In 1951, Hong Kong businessman Lord Lawrence Kadoorie and his brother Sir Horace Kadoorie, formed an...
Read more →

THE LOVE OF LIBRARIES
‘I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.’ Eleanor Roosevelt. Dorothy Parker was certainly correct in her quote about curiosity, and thank goodness for that. Such wise...
Read more →
ROSE FOLLY
Sometimes you see another person’s garden and think, ‘Oh my word, I think I’ll rip all my stuff out and create something like this …well try to anyway.’ This is how I feel about Helen Chadwick’s garden, just up the road from me. It is a little piece...
Read more →
MILLY’S GARDEN VISIT IN BLACKHEATH
‘Could we please go somewhere without Des, Pauline?’ This pathetic plea came from Milly, who lives in the shade of her famous boyfriend, Editor Des. ‘Well of course we can Darling’, I said. I decided she might enjoy a walk to Campbell Rhododendron Garden in our Blue...
Read more →
LUKE’S LEMONADE STAND
Hello, Editor Des here, Well I was walking up to the Blackheath Rhododendron Festival today when I spotted one of my neighbours selling home made lemonade. It was opposite the swimming pool in Memorial Park. Actually Fergus was minding the shop while the prop, propri…the owner Luke popped...
Read more →