All dressed up for the Methodist Sunday School Anniversary in Ulverstone, circa 1959. From left; myself, my brother Laurie and my sister Robyn. Look at that shine on my brother’s shoes. My mother made the dresses on her treadle Singer sewing machine. This was such a credit
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Miss Joan Stump of Blackheath has tickets to the third Ashes test at Headingly. She decided to use her hat to smuggle in an item of self protection, but her friend the yellow robin was horrified. ‘OMG, Joan, you will never get that blade past gate inspection.’
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In 1900, Australian troops were serving in the Boer war. At a tiny school at Reedy Marsh in northern Tasmania, pupils were raising money for The Children’s Patriotic Fund. Nora May Upston was my maternal grandmother. Charles Arthur Upston was my great uncle, and Minnie my great
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Widow Wonga is a bird very close to my heart….and is loved just as much by my husband Rob. She and her partner have been living and rearing chicks in our Blackheath garden over a very long period, sometimes producing several sets of twins a year. I
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Charles Spring died at Mudgee hospital just before midnight on Friday, August 27 1938. He was 72, and had been in failing health for some time. Mr Spring had requested that he be cremated at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney. Next day his grieving widow Georgina boarded the
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In the old days, a Town Hall was as much the heart of a community as the pubs or the parish church. But building a new one requires co-operation and consensus. My Tasmanian home town of Ulverstone drew tourists from very early times, due to its lovely
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I’ve only ever worn plain white tee-shirts, but I’m tempted to buy this one with a ‘hairpin’ banksia on it. The correct name is Banksia spinulosa. ‘Spinulosa’ refers to the spiny leaf tips, which are thankfully fairly soft, What a great plant; able to cope with heavy
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At about 3.00am on Sunday January 9, 1921 fire broke out behind a shop in Reibey Street, Ulverstone. A barman at nearby Furner’s Hotel raised the alarm at 3.05am.The hotel is pictured behind the telegraph pole in the following photo. The fire brigade arrived very promptly, but
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My mother cooked on a cast iron Lux fuel stove for many years. She could judge the temperature of the oven simply by putting her hand near it. Her technique never failed, even for delicate sponge cakes or cream puffs. How on earth did she do that?
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I live just around the corner from the Blackheath duck pond, in the beautiful Blue Mountains. It recently underwent a complete makeover and re-design. The long-necked turtles were re-homed at The Rhododendron Gardens. Two metres of silt were removed and will be used elsewhere. The last
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