Pauline Conolly

CURRAWONG CASHES IN ON CICADA SEASON
MID AUGUST 2020 – I was creating a new garden bed recently when I spotted a currawong gathering roots for its nest. A yellow robin on the look-out for worms was watching on with a wary eye. The currawong nest was constructed high in a eucalypt (local...
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WHERE IS WINIFRED?
Winifred Julia Singleton (Winnie) was born near Ulverstone, Tasmania on November 29 1918, the first child of Arthur and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Singleton. Arthur Singleton was my great uncle. There is only one known photo of Winnie. It was taken in 1924, when she and her little sister...
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HOW TO DISAPPEAR IN SYDNEY
Hello Peeps, well I had a Covid escape to Sydney from Blackheath last week. Cities are very strange places, did you know that? You could disappear from one completely in the proverbial puff of smoke, or something even more peculiar! Well I was watching a man with...
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JARDINS….LITTLE TREASURES OF THE LOT
It is mid winter here at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, cold and very wet. I have been watching Monty Don’s TV series on French gardens. Oh dear, the longing it evokes is almost physically painful. How long will it be before we can enjoy that beautiful...
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A MEMOIR OF FALL IN RHODE ISLAND
This is a short guest post from my New England friend Jeanne Verity. She writes so beautifully about the United States I dreamed of as a child in 1950’s Tasmania. Aah, America, here was a place where autumn was ‘fall’ and where ripening pumpkins heralded Halloween, a...
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GOODBYE TO MR WHEELER – A FINE OLD CAMELLIA
The Camellia japonica R.T. Wheeler is very hardy and produces enormous, variegated blooms. I have picked so many to fill various containers So why on earth would I want to banish it? Well, in my Blackheath garden the camellia was growing between two red blooming trees, just...
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HOUNSLOW AT BLACKHEATH
When it was announced that there was to be a new cafe in the Collier Arcade at Blackheath my associate Editor Des and I were very excited. We love to do a little writing over a working lunch. It’s a lot quieter in the arcade than out...
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PHILMA RICHARDS; A TASMANIAN MEMOIR
There is something so special about childhood friends, especially if you grew up in the country. Our nearest neighours in 1950s Tasmania were the Richards family. Cheryl and Michael were almost the same age as me and my sister Robbie. We lived on adjoining dairy farms at...
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