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
Read more →
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
Read more →
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
Read more →
Losing one’s footing on tennis courts has always been a problem, especially on grass. On one occasion at Wimbledon, leading Australian player Alfred Dunlop was forced to take drastic action; Evening Star, Wednesday 24 June 1914; Dunlop lost the first set owing to the slippery ground and
Read more →It’s almost the end of May, and the village of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains is looking its best. Tourists are enjoying the colourful foliage in Wentworth Street. Even the shaded little maple tree growing above the satin bowerbird’s lair is changing colour. What a fantastic location
Read more →
CASUAL DINING OUT IN THE BIG SMOKE! This Italian eatery is located in King Street. It was so good that on a recent visit to Sydney my partner Rob and I dined there two nights running. The style is described as Euro-chic. It’s decorated with pots of
Read more →
For the background to this story, CLICK HERE. Poisoning – ‘Of all felonies, murder is the most horrible, of all murders, poisoning the most detestable, and of all poisoning, that causing a lingering death the most cruel.’ Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke, 1615 Australian born Jane
Read more →
I spend far more time (and money) than I should in the huge, Victory Theatre Antiques Centre in Govett’s Leap Road, Blackheath. There is a vintage fashion section upstairs. Now I’m not a real fan, but this 1960s clutch bag has accompanied me to many functions.
Read more →
I was inspired to write this piece when Lorraine Tongs Clifford, from my hometown of Ulverstone in Tasmania, posted the photo below. Amazingly, she had saved all her Easter egg foil wrappers from the 1950s. Oh my goodness, I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. I
Read more →
By April, autumn is well under way in the upper Blue Mountains. Today I checked some likely spots in Blackheath for ‘fairy’ toadstools. This was taken at the intersection of Wentworth Street and Gardiner’s Crescent. There are lots more popping up. The bowerbird in Memorial Park is
Read more →