When I was growing up in Tasmania (1950s) there were always fresh flowers on the mantelpiece above our open fire in the lounge room. Among those I remember best are carnations, stocks, sweet Williams, dahlias, chrysanthemums and asters, none of which I grow myself, oddly enough. The
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A TRAUMATIC SOUJORN AT FOYERS HOTEL Late one autumn in the early 1970s I started work as downstairs maid and waitress at a run down hotel in the Scottish Highlands. How I came to be there on my own is complicated. I was on a working holiday
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My sister and I spent much of our 1950s childhood in Tasmania as foragers. It wasn’t that we weren’t well fed…. quite the opposite in fact. We lived on a dairy farm and our mother was a wonderful cook. But well, there is something special for children
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Elizabeth Macquarie kept a diary during the long voyage to New South Wales in 1809. She confessed that life afloat had its advantages. For once, her husband was not absent due to matters of business; ‘I have spent my time in the manner which entirely suits my
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My father was born on October 4 1917.at North Motton, a small rural community in north-west Tasmania He was christened Arthur Newman Allen. The middle name of Newman was for his father. Arthur was for his maternal uncle, Arthur Singleton. However, Dad was always called Robin ….and
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Most Australian women have responded to the request. ‘Ladies, bring a plate.‘ Of course there has to be something on the plate. but more of that later. Oh my word, it’s amazing how much just four words can convey The phrase is part of our social history,
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Would you consider riding a kangaroo? I certainly wouldn’t, but the idea of doing so won me a great lunch many years ago. I have to say that the only prizes I have won in my life are for being very silly, and this was no exception
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OK, let’s get this bit out of the way first. An alternative name for Epimedium is Horny Goat Weed. 😎 It is used in Chinese medicine to treat sexual disfunction. A third name is Bishop’s Hat. This all brings to mind the old phrase, ‘As the Bishop
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There was a prelude to the 1912 robbery of the Bank of NSW in Newtown. Six months earlier the Hoskins Street site of the stationery company Penfold’s new building was broken into. The safe was already in place, and had been tampered with; Would the burglars dare
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I remember the shelter sheds at the Ulverstone State School with great affection. The history of them turned out to be far more interesting than I imagined. The first mention in the TROVE newspaper archive was in 1904. It was a letter from a member of the
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