THE SUNDAY DRIVE

THE SUNDAY DRIVE

My husband Rob arrived home in Blackheath  with  a new car recently and I was slightly taken aback when he said;  ‘We could go for a Sunday drive tomorrow if you like.’  I hadn’t heard the expression since my distant childhood. I grew up in rural Tasmania,

Read more

RAGDOLL ORPHANAGE; A WRITER’S JOURNEY.

RAGDOLL ORPHANAGE; A WRITER'S JOURNEY.

  AN AUTHOR IS BORN I connected with Suzanne when she responded to an article I wrote about two of my cousins, who were placed in an orphanage after WWI. The story, Young Casualties of War, was very sad.  In contrast, Suzanne  wrote  an article for a

Read more

GLENBROOK TUNNEL; THE AFTERMATH OF A WORLD WAR II SECRET

GLENBROOK TUNNEL;  THE AFTERMATH OF A WORLD WAR II SECRET

Recently I posted the story of the disused Glenbrook rail tunnel during World War II. Located in the lower Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the tunnel was  secretly used as an RAAF  storage depot, for dangerous chemicals such as mustard gas and phosogene.  The decision to

Read more

STILL ‘COOL’, STILL COSY; CINNABAR AT BLACKHEATH

STILL 'COOL', STILL  COSY; CINNABAR  AT BLACKHEATH

Cinnabar Kitchen  in  the Blue Mountains village of Blackheath is on The Great Western Highway, just a stroll up the hill from our home. I’m not sure why it took my husband Rob and I so long to  go, especially when we had great memories of Ashcrofts,

Read more

ARTHUR SINGLETON’S ENDLESS WAR

ARTHUR SINGLETON'S ENDLESS WAR

On February 19 1922  my great uncle, returned WWI veteran  Arthur  Singleton, was arrested. According to a  later report by the Ulverstone police  he was in a disturbed  mental state. Like many men, he had never recovered from his war service.  As one of the first  Australians

Read more

CAN BE GRAFFITI BE CONDONED?

CAN BE GRAFFITI BE CONDONED?

My partner Rob  would say that graffiti is just not on…period!  This is due to his battle over the electricity sub-station near our property at Blackheath.  He has been painting out tags and trying to screen it with bottle brush for years. Only now  is he beginning 

Read more

HOW WILLIAM WENTWORTH BOILED DOWN A PROBLEM

HOW WILLIAM WENTWORTH BOILED DOWN A PROBLEM

William Charles Wentworth;  Australian politician, explorer, author, barrister, statesman and landowner. At the height (maybe that should be depth ) of the 1840’s economic depression in New South Wales, sheep were selling at just 9d each and cattle for only a few shillings a head. The crisis

Read more

THE PARAGON, ONCE THE JEWEL OF KATOOMBA

THE PARAGON, ONCE THE JEWEL OF KATOOMBA

In 1916 The Paragon Café  was established  at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales  by Greek immigrant Theo Simos and his family.  It became an enormous success, and far more than a café.  The art-deco interior still features  a  banquet room, and a ballroom. 

Read more