Seven year old Mavis Hallcroft was woken just before dawn one November morning by a heavy weight on her bed and a large, rough tongue licking her face. She called out, ‘Mum!..Mum, there’s a big dog on my bed. ‘ Mavis’ bed was on the verandah of
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Joe Vial was a child prodigy, amazing audiences with his violin performances from a very young age. He was often featured in the local newspaper; ‘Last but not least was the youthful Joe Vial, who executed a number of violin solos with a perfection of tone and
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A visitor appeared at our studio door in the Blue Mountains recently; a delightful, brown cuckoo dove. We know him quite well. During heavy rain, he likes to shelter here in the garage. Hearing him outside the Studio door was a bit unexpected though. My partner Rob
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‘The Shadow’ was Francis (Frank) Maurice Fahy (1897-1978) one of Sydney’s first and most successful undercover police officers. He operated from the 1920s until his retirement thirty years later. Access to his scrapbook at the Library of NSW is still heavily restricted due to the sensitive nature
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A swindler often goes by many names and when a Sydney crook with a nefarious plan turned up in Hobart in January 1870, he was calling himself Alexander Lambert. He booked in at the The Rock Hotel in Elizabeth Street. After a couple of weeks he departed,
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Isabella Pye was the sole fatality when Sydney’s Her Majesty’s Theatre burned down on March 23 1902. Her family had recently moved to Paddington from Parramatta. Known affectionately as Bella, the 27 year old widow was working as a live-in domestic at Gaffney’s Bakery, located at 102
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Charles Shepherd, a struggling, Brisbane born artist, was the subject of great excitement when a portrait he exhibited at the 1926 Dominion Artists’ Exhibition in London was called ‘a work of genius’. The Exhibition arose from the Dominion Artists’ Club, established in 1924 by Dr. G.A Pfister
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In August 1945 Manchester born Mrs Ethel Livesey arrived in Sydney’s wealthy Eastern Suburbs. She was a larger than life character, who enjoyed the good things in life and delighted in entertaining. The Sun newspaper published a piece on her hospitality towards Australian and American servicemen while
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Do you remember that engaging Kit Kat ad based on Frederick McCubbin’s On the Wallaby Track? The characters came to life after closing time, rather like the movie Night at the Museum. Whenever I see the painting at the Art Gallery of New South Wales I can’t
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In April 1954 a registered mailbag was found on the Mitchell Highway at Blaxland, in the Blue Mountains. Its contents were intact, which was a relief, but authorities were worried. On May 25 a police officer came across another registered mailbag in Hickson Street, Miller’s Point, near
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