At the beginning of March, 1841 there was a devastating fire at the Albion Mills, in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. The owners, Messrs Hughes and Hosking, were shipping agents and importers. Many Sydney merchants had produce stored at the mill and suffered serious losses. Hughes and Hosking took
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The New Ivanhoe Hotel is located on the Great Western Highway at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. It changed ownership recently after many years and has been renovated The following photo was taken before the update, but fortunately its art-deco interior has been
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The Bowden family was lost when the S.S. Waratah disappeared without trace in 1909. enroute to London from Australia. The full story can be read HERE. Among the 211 passengers and crew on board, six members of the Bowden family were listed, travelling third class.
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During the Christmas holidays in 1992, three primary school children in Western Australia came across a giant, fossilized egg in the sand dunes at Cervantes Beach. Jamie Andrich aged nine and his cousins Kelly (9) and Michelle Rew (7) had no idea of the importance of their
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In Sydney’s Botanic Gardens there is a very special Norfolk Island pine known as The Wishing Tree. It is a replacement of the original, which was planted in the early days of the colony. A sign explains its history, and its association with Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s wife,
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Some years ago I had to spend a few weeks in a major Sydney hospital. I didn’t actually feel sick, and since I was editing a book at the time I took along my notebooks and computer. There was no restriction at all on visitors. In fact,
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It’s easy to forget just how concerned ordinary Australians were for their safety during World War II. This was not without reason, given the bombing of Darwin and the arrival of Japanese midget submarines in Sydney Harbour. A giant metal boom was suspended across the harbour
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BIRTH OF THE PUDDING The English have long been maligned for the uninspired stodginess of their cooking, particularly by their gourmet neighbours, the French. Nevertheless, it was a Frenchman, Misson de Valbourg who, upon visiting England in 1690, was moved to exclaim: ‘What an excellent thing is
Read more →HAPPY TO SERVE Cyril Blakney enlisted in the 12th Infantry Battalion as soon as war was declared in 1914. He was a compositor from Hobart, and also an accomplished musician and amateur actor. Such a fine looking young man. After the Gallipoli campaign Cyril served on the Western
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HITTING OFF One of Sydney’s first golf courses was laid out in the grounds of Grose Farm; land on which Sydney University was later built. We have proof of an official club being formed in a 1839 diary entry by the prosperous young merchant Mr Alexander Brodie
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