The grave of 37 year old Lachlina Elizabeth Scott Walker in Tasmania’s Longford Pioneer Cemetery raises an interesting question. What was the origin of her unusual first name? Here is the registration of her birth; Now in my opinion Lachlina was named for a colonial
Read more →
When ‘Doctor’ Paul Rene Loubet was unmasked as an imposter in September 1917 he left behind a grieving, bewildered young widow. Nell Kent Loubet (nee Hughes) immediately moved back to her family’s home in Toorak. More positively, she graduated from Melbourne University in January 1918 as
Read more →
By early February 1917 Dr Paul Loubet had moved from Blackall in outback Queensland to Melbourne. He was to act as locum tenens for Dr Roland Lane, a Footscray G.P. who was on military duty. Dr Lane and his wife Hazel had a large home called
Read more →
THE PAUL LOUBET STORY, PART TWO (BLACKALL). FOR THE FIRST EPISODE, CLICK HERE. From The Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) ‘Our informant happened to be in Jericho when Dr Loubet and a very fine looking woman, who was introduced everywhere as Mrs Loubet, were going through to Blackall.
Read more →
The story of Paul Rene Loubet and his life in Australia reads more like fiction than real life, and researching it has been quite a challenge, albeit a fascinating one. This is the first ‘chapter’. Annabel Illingworth married young doctor Percy Webber Black in London in March
Read more →
On May 7 1927 a strange story appeared in the Newcastle Sun. It said that a Mr George Bressington had been walking along a beach at Tuggerah, on the NSW Central Coast, when he unearthed a half buried wine bottle. On one side there was an etching
Read more →
It’s not often a small outback town can boast of having an Earl open their garden fete, but that’s what happened at Molong in 1897. The man responsible for the coup was Mr John Young, ex-mayor of Sydney and owner of the huge Burrawong Estate at Molong.
Read more →
Thomas Finch, as he called himself, was caught up in the 1905 Hobart Museum robbery. To read the first part of the story, CLICK HERE. On March 31 1905, the White Star liner S.S. Persic arrived in Hobart enroute to London. Two days later , a passenger
Read more →
A robbery occurred at the Hobart Museum (now The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery) on the night of April 16 1905. It was believed to be the work of mainland criminals , targeting items which could be melted down and sold as bullion. Security at the institution
Read more →Visitors to the new photography gallery at the Library of NSW in Sydney’s Macquarie Street will see a tiny portrait of Dr William Bland (1789-1868). Dating from 1844 0r 1845, it is believed to be the earliest existing photo taken in Australia. Dr Bland was the
Read more →