Blue Mountains – latest article

  • POOR LITTLE PARROT!
    POOR LITTLE PARROT!
    Max the parrot’s life could have ended before it really got going. We drove into our Blue Mountains property a couple of weeks ago and almost skittled him. He was nibbling on an acorn, completely oblivious to any danger. I had to hop out and shoo him...
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History – latest article

  • ODE TO GOLDEN SYRUP!
    ODE TO GOLDEN SYRUP!
    Peter Kotz, a fellow social history buff took the photo below. The rusting, 70 lb golden syrup drum was found on a rough bush track near Alice Springs. Golden syrup was such an integral part of life in the parched Australian outback. It replaced butter on a...
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Humour – latest article

  • Milk Arrowroot Advertisement
    ARNOTT’S MILK ARROWROOT BISCUITS- BEST FOR BABY?
    In the late 19th and early 20th century, Arnotts sought testimonials from people feeding their little ones on milk arrowroot biscuits. The possibility that an image of their child might be chosen to illustrate an advertisement was irresistible. The company was soon swamped by photos and letters...
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Travel – latest article

  • Editor Des at Katherine Gorge
    EDITOR DES AT KAKADU AND BEYOND.
    Travel is not easy for someone like me. I never have a proper seat, so no life vest. Pathetic. What would happen if we crashed? Arrived in Darwin. They are obsessed with crocodiles up here. Do I really want to go to Kakadu? Pauline made me pose...
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Latest Blog Posts

  • Max the King Parrot
    WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT MAX THE KING PARROT?
    At the end of May, what we thought was a solitary, juvenile King Parrot appeared in our Blue Mountains garden. I shared a photo of the bird we named Max, and a couple of people in a bird group suggested he wasn’t young, and that his oddly...
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  • SS Waratah
    THE TASMANIAN AXEMEN LOST AT SEA
    Writing in 1926, a journalist  (The Daily News, Perth) reflected on  the sport of wood chopping in the years before WWI. He appeared to have been pretty impressed by competitors from the island state. In Tasmania, in the underhand events, the axemen invariably were barefooted, and they...
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  • BIRTHDAY PARTIES OF THE PAST
    BIRTHDAY PARTIES OF THE PAST
    Birthday parties of the 1950s; an intense, but simple joy for Australian Baby Boomers. Just a single, very bad photo taken at one of my own parties survives. I wasn’t even looking at the camera, which was a Box Brownie of course. The kids standing on those...
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  • Princess the friendly'guard dog' of Blackheath
    THE PRINCESS OF BLACKHEATH
    The Blue Mountains village of Blackheath has a new attraction. Her name is Princess, and she spends much of her time at the newly extended Blackheath Interiors and Homewares, in Govetts Leap Road. She’s a border collie cross. I’m not sure what the cross bit is, but...
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