The climbing tree I grew up with was a giant lucerne. It provided as much delight for our family as that fictional ‘faraway’ tree. One of my favourite childhood books was The Magic Faraway tree, by Enid Blyton. It actually belonged to my sister. Who could not
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Can any bird or animal camoflague itself as successfully as the Australian Tawny Frogmouth? They are truly astonishing. Here in the Blue Mountains of NSW they are quite common. Mind you, the only way I can find them in my Blackheath garden is to look for the
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ALWAYS CARRY A CAMERA Owning a small ‘point and shoot’ camera has transformed the way I look at and appreciate my Blue Mountains garden. The play of light, the beauty of a detail suddenly observed. It means that my ‘matron’s rounds’ are slower, but they are also
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I SAY YES! I must admit that Australia’s pied currawongs do not have a great reputation. They are opportunists, preying on unwary small birds and robbing the nests of others. I’ve never forgiven a local gang of them for harassing our nesting tawny frogmouth and stealing the
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KEEP SOME COPHA IN THE CUPBOARD There is an Australian urban myth that Kellogs invented Copha for the express purpose of making chocolate crackles. Well let’s explode that for a start. The advertisement below appeared in the Women’s Weekly in December 1937. It is the first known mention
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How wonderful a gum leaf is. More on gum leaf playing further down, but meanwhile, look how beautiful the leaves can be; We Australians have an almost spiritual connection to gum leaves. Expats can be reduced to tears by a whiff of their aroma. Campers in the
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Irish born Mr William Sheridan Wall served as Curator of the Australian Museum in Sydney during the 1840s and 50s. He personally collected and preserved many native birds, but his greatest legacy to the institution was a creature from the deep. On December 5 1849 the schooner Thistle
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If there is one icon in Australia that ‘out-icons’ the pavlova it is surely the lamington. We all know that the wretched Kiwis claim the pavlova (which of course is nonsense 🥵 ), but in 2014 Aussies were horrified to read in the Guardian that they had
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In 1883, James McGinty and his two prospecting partners found what is still the largest gold nugget ever found in Tasmania. It was discovered at Rocky River, near Corinna on the wild west coast. It weighed 243ozs and was valued at £6,000. Below is an image of the nugget on
Read more →FOLLOWING ON FROM GUY MENZIES; A LIFE LIVED AT FAST FORWARD. Guy Menzies, the dashing young airman who made the first solo crossing from Australia to New Zealand in 1931 had plans for even greater feats; perhaps a flight from England to Australia, which he estimated could
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