SISTER ROSA O’KANE – A HEROINE OF WWI

SISTER ROSA O'KANE -  A HEROINE OF WWI

Sister Rosa O’Kane was from Charters Towers in Queensland. She was aboard the troopship Wyreema when the armistice was signed in November 1918, and the ship was recalled to Australia. After the Wyreema reached Freemantle, Rosa was one of twenty army nurses who volunteered to care for

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HMAT BOONAH; AN UNEXPECTED BATTLE

HMAT BOONAH; AN UNEXPECTED BATTLE

The story of HMAT Boonah in WWI should have prepared us better for the challenges of the Covid pandemic. Arthur Thwaites was a chemist’s assistant from Parramatta. He enlisted on October 15 1917 as part of the medical corps, but was not called for overseas service until

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LAUNCESTON’S UNHOLY ROW

LAUNCESTON'S UNHOLY ROW

In June 1889, an American woman called Edith O’Gorman (her married name was Auffray) visited Launceston while on a world lecture tour. She professed to be an ‘escaped nun’, who had fled a New Jersey convent in 1868 and converted to the Protestant faith. The most colourful

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BAFFLING STORIES FROM BRUNY ISLAND

BAFFLING STORIES FROM BRUNY ISLAND

In 1906 there were rumours spreading on Bruny Island and mainland Tasmania that one rural Bruny family had 23 children, and that the youngsters had never seen an illustration in any form. The secretary of the charitable Victoria League’s Book Committee had expressed her concern at their

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