Pauline Conolly

‘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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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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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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‘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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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 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
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 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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The Water Doctor’s Daughters