BUILT ON GOLD Gold was discovered at Wyalong in 1893 and within a few years it was pronounced the most productive goldfield in the colony of New South Wales. Three miles away, West Wyalong was unplanned, growing up along a winding bullock track. It became the main
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A BRIEF RECAP. In 1912, highly respected Dr John Stewart shocked everyone by deserting his wife and family in Perth, W.A. He bought a practice in Bangalow, N.S.W. and for two and a half years lived there quietly with his mistress, Muriel Meallin. Muriel was known to
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On May 30 1912, The Northern Star newspaper announced that Dr Bracken of Bangalow had sold his practice to Scottish born Dr J.M.Y Stewart, late of Sydney and Melbourne. Dr and Mrs Stewart moved into the departing Dr Bracken’s old home. The couple settled in and were
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How many nuts and bolts are there in the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Well, oddly enough, only a handful. Rivets were used instead, some 6,000,000 of them. The majority of the steel for the bridge’s girders came from Britain, but the government contract stated that all rivets were
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FOLLOWING ON FROM THE TRIAL OF TOM FLEMING Following the acquittal of Tom Fleming over the death by poisoning of his wife Betty, his mistress Norma Lokkerbol became the target of public outrage. On September 9, 1951 The Sunday Mail (Brisbane) published the following piece after speaking
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FOR THE FIRST EPISODE OF THIS STORY CLICK HERE. On June 28 1951 Tom and Betty Fleming made a car trip from their NSW cattle stud, Mt. Parry station, to Quirindi, for business and shopping. It was a busy day for Mrs Fleming. She called at the
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The background to the fate of Mrs Betty Fleming …… MAN SHOT IN HEAD Daily Telegraph – July 24, 1948. A Dutch engineer who has been two months in Australia was found critically wounded with a bullet hole in his head at Livingstone Park, Marrickville, last night.
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AN INQUEST AND A TRIAL On August 1 1951, a coronial inquiry began into the mysterious death of 39 year old Betty Fleming, wife of well known NSW grazier, Tom Fleming. On June 28 1951, Mrs Fleming died in the car while her husband Tom was driving
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This piece was originally published in The Australian newspaper it has been substantially updated since then. CANBERRA – THE PLANNED CAPITAL Many Australians are ambivalent about the planned city of Canberra. Its monolithic buildings stand a little too far apart in their park like surroundings, and can
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When the James Barnet designed Sydney G.P.O clock Tower was constructed in the 1890s there was a drawn-out dispute over the type of bells to be installed. Should the choice be traditional, heavy bells, or would a lighter, tubular variety be safer? Traditional won, but some still
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