A DAY OUT FOR EDITOR DES (THAT’S ME) Well one day my guardian Pauline Conolly took me to Sydney as a special treat. Now she loves going to the State Library, but I don’t (boooooring!!) I was pretty p…..d off when we ended up there (sorry, I
Read more →THE MATRIARCH My paternal grandmother, Alice Maud Singleton, was born at Sassafras, in northern Tasmania on June 20 1884. She was a Victorian through and through. Just add pride, vanity and her strict Methodist faith and there we have dear old Grandma. Alice by name, Red Queen
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On April 26 1915, the day after the dawn landing at Gallipoli, Sapper Duncan McRae (2nd Field Co. of Engineers) was shot in the shoulder by a Turkish sniper. He was evacuated to Egypt and from there to a military hospital
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When Australian artist and writer Norman Lindsay first saw what was to become his home at Springwood in the Lower Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the sandstone cottage was sadly neglected and the floor boards full of white ants. Nevertheless, Lindsay reported to his wife
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On April 2 1905, the Brisbane Courier published an article on two young women. The girls were close friends, with a lot in common. They were both daughters of Brisbane publicans, both from Irish Catholic families, and both convent educated. They also shared a love of
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Today we romanticize the Australian bush, but a century ago the term had more negative connotations. The pioneers who had cleared the land were often perceived as dim witted yokels by their city slicker cousins. This was made very clear in 1918, when attempts were made
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Frederick Claude Vivian Lane was born in Manly on February 2 1880. He nearly drowned in Sydney Harbour when he was four years old, after falling off a punt. His older brother saved him, but Fred thought it might be wise to learn to swim (or perhaps
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On May 12 1915, a 21 year old clerk with the New South Wales shire of Murrumbidgee enlisted in World War I. His name was Eric Richard Conolly. He became a member of the 3rd Battalion A.I.F. Initially, Private Conolly served at Gallipoli, and was on the
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One of the most personal and evocative relics held by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales is a campaign desk once owned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth disembarked from HMS Dromedary at Sydney Cove on 31 December 1809. They
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THIS IS THE FINAL PART OF THE STORY OF MRS MACQUARIE AND HER FRIENDS. PART ONE CAN BE READ HERE AND PART TWO HERE. FINAL DAYS; FAITHFUL FRIENDS Elizabeth and Lachlan Macquarie returned to Scotland from New South Wales with their young son in 1822 . Unfortunately,
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