Pauline Conolly

Payray was a star Tasmanian pacer in the early 1950s.  He was owned by Mrs G.A. Young of Launceston, and trained by her husband Gerald.  (It’s a sign of those times that I am unable to discover Mrs Young’s first name!) The pacer had won interstate races...

In 1924, Australian sculptor Frank ‘Guy’ Lynch created a piece called The Satyr. The half man, half beast of Greek mythology represents lustfulness and uninhibited revelry. It was acquired for  £125 by the Art Gallery of NSW, after being exhibited at Sydney’s Anthony Horden Gallery.  The sculpture...

Fireworks, the manufacture and art of displaying them, were a passion for English born Charles Knight. Exactly when he arrived in Tasmania is unknown, but it seems he had learned his craft at the famous Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens of London, in the 1840s. Knight established a fireworks...

Sydney Harbour has been the centre of fireworks displays from the very early days of the colony. In December  1855 they were used to mark the Fall of Sebastopol,  during the Crimean War. Military victories of  the ‘mother country’ were  celebrated with joy and pride by  the...