Professor Bonner was a self-styled hypnotist, touring the eastern states of Australia in the early part of the 20th century. On January 30 1906, the professor was in Ballarat, performing with Bostock and Wombwell’s Circus. As part of his headline act, a pocket knife was secreted in
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William Singleton was my great-great grandfather. He was transported to Tasmania for life in 1828, aboard the convict ship Manilus. As with most convicts his crime was theft, in this case cheese, bread and bacon. Oh dear, a seventeen year old brickie’s lad gets very hungry. During
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Many of us were fascinated to read the recently released, vice-regal correspondence leading up to the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975 . However, as a born and bred Tasmanian I was intrigued by two letters written the following year, but prompted by the same
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From the 1863 New South Wales Police Gazette. Bushranger Ben Hall strikes again; This tiny snippet was the only mention of the robbery at that time, and no-one was ever charged. In those days, travelling the country’s rural roads was a dangerous business and outlaws led the
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The following extract on whaling is from The Mercury, July 1929, re-posted from The New York Post. Please don’t take offence at its tone my fellow Taswegians; The whaling industry is to be restored to Hobart, capital of Tasmania, the little island lying south of Australia. This
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After publishing my website stories about the crimes of Sydney society matron Mrs Edols a reader called Sue left the following message; Well, of course I had to find out. During her court appearance in August 1931 the tabloid Truth newspaper reported on Aimee Edols’ demeanour; Her
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When the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition opened in 1888, produce from the small community of Ulverstone, Tasmania was represented by leather and skins from Mr T. L. Button, ploughs of polished iron and varnished blackwood from Mr L. Titmouse and…..cordials and aerated waters from Mr R. R. Hunter.
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In 1919 Dr Victor Ratten was Surgeon Superintendent of the Hobart General Hospital. At the time he was fighting accusations that the medical certificate he had obtained in Chicago ten years earlier was fraudulent. He was a man of supreme self-confidence, never allowing the charges to distract
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Gawler is a tiny rural community, several kilometres inland from Ulverstone, on Tasmania’s north-west coast. On April 4 1929 a tragic event left residents of Gawler in a state of utter grief. During widespread flooding in northern Tasmania, eight young people drowned when their covered Ford truck
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I’ve always been interested in family history. Sometimes a snippet received from a relative leads to an intriguing and in this case, very sad story. My maternal grandmother Nora was an Upston, from the rural district of Reedy Marsh, in north-west Tasmania. The family emigrated from Attleborough,
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