Have you ever visited Angel Place, just off Martin Place in Sydney? Its hanging birdcages are a touching memorial to the city’s lost birds, forced ever westward over the years of white settlement. If you listen carefully you can hear their recorded songs and calls over the
Read more →
HAPPY 100 YEARS VEGEMITE !💋💋🍾 Vegemite was first produced by Australian businessman Fred Walker, in opposition to the UK’s Marmite. It was first sold in October 1923 I was amused to discover that he briefly marketed it as Parwill (as in Pa will, Ma might.) Walker’s chemist
Read more →
Many years ago one tired little traveler apparently found it all a bit much, and took a break in Sydney’s inner city. The following article appeared in The Sydney Sun on January 28 1932. IT SLEPT ON MR PLOD’S CYCLE Alighting on the handlebars of a constable’s
Read more →
I was fortunate to visit Eskbank House Museum in Lithgow before the pandemic put a stop to my adventures.. The oldest part of the colonial Georgian house was built circa 1842, from local sandstone. Its original owner was Mr Thomas Brown, who established the Eskbank Colliery. There
Read more →
What a privilege it is to be part of New South Wales History Week. It’s an opportunity to speak on subjects close to my heart, and this year a chance to see a part of the state I have never visited before; Singleton in the Upper Hunter.
Read more →
Sydney born Harley Cohen was one of the first to enlist in WWI. His service number in the 4th Battalion was a very low 37. He was a slight figure, only 5′ 3″ tall and weighing in at a shade over 8 stone. He was university educated
Read more →
GODFATHER OF A MILLION CHILDREN These days Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is best remembered for the mysterious circumstances of his death by drowning in 1967, at Victoria’s Portsea. However, in Robert Menzies’ government during WWII he served as Minister for Labour, and was responsible for
Read more →
One historical event I really wish I could have attended is London’s Great Exhibition of 1851. Those inventive, enthusiastic Victorians put on a display that dazzled the world. It was housed in a building so innovative it scarcely seemed real; the remarkable Crystal Palace. Of course eventually
Read more →
When Horatia Nelson Ward died at Pinner near London in March 1881, a brief notice in the local paper recorded her as ‘Widow of the late Rev. Philip Ward, Vicar of Tenterden, Kent, in her 81st year.’ However, an article in the Times several days later referred
Read more →
It is likely that the person who shot two people at Barton Park, Wallerawang, (New South Wales) in 1948 is still alive. I have referred to him here as Bennie Harvey. It’s not his real name, but one his friends used at the time of the murders.
Read more →