In 1917 John George ‘Jack’ Nelson established a stylish cafe at 152 Brisbane Street in Launceston. The premises were actually owned by his mother. The Majestic Cafe included a tea room, where Jack’s wife Kate was a charming hostess. The furniture was of Tasmanian oak covered in
Read more →In 1932 Dorothy Thorne was living in this rather modest home in Brierly Street Mosman, on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. It must be the only home in the upmarket suburb not to have been remodeled or enlarged in the succeeding 90 plus years! Mind you, it’s still
Read more →Tasmania’s Dame Enid Lyons and Western Australia’s Dorothy Tangney were the first two women to be elected to Australia’s federal parliament. In 1943 Tangney won a seat in the Senate and that same year Dame Enid was elected to the House of Representatives. It was decided by
Read more →FOR THE FIRST PART OF PHILIP HARGRAVE’S STORY. CLICK HERE. Philip Hargrave was a child prodigy. The brilliant young pianist from Adelaide had amazed and delighted audiences from the age of seven. In 1934 the then 13 year old’s national concert tour was interrupted by a bitter
Read more →Philip Douglas Hargrave was born in Toowoomba on September 11 1921. His mother Margaret Murray (sometimes known as Marjorie) was a talented pianist. She was performing with a theatre company called The Globetrotters at the time, and worked until the last three weeks of her pregnancy. Philip
Read more →Samuel Harrison was an elderly, widowed farmer who had owned 75 acres fronting the Black Dog Creek near Rutherglen in Victoria. Although he was illiterate he had prospered on the land. When he died suddenly in a neighbour’s cart on April 4 1896 he left an estate
Read more →For many years the general hospital at Ulverstone , on the north west coast of Tasmania, was located on the corner of Victoria and Patrick Street. It was not far from my grandmother’s flat in Victoria Street. In the early hours of July 14 1954 Nurse
Read more →Early settler John Liddle built the Bridge Hotel at Forth in 1871. It opened in January the following year. This is earliest photo I can find, from around 1900. The building in front already looks a bit ramshackle. I wonder if it was the stables? I must
Read more →Sir Francis Smith(1809-1909) was Tasmania’s Chief Justice and also its fifth Premier. He lived in a grand home in prestigious Holebrook Place, which formed part of Hobart’s Davey Street. On May 24, 1870 Sir Francis and his wife Sarah hosted a party to celebrate Queen Victoria’s
Read more →Amy Alfreda Vickery inherited two warehouses in Sydney’s Goulburn Street when her wealthy father Ebenezer Vickery died in 1906. Two years later the warehouses would fund a mansion Amy built on The Boulevarde in Strathfield, called Lauriston. Miss Vickery’s other indulgence was philately and she built up
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