Thomas Sutcliffe Mort was an Australian pastoralist, and a pioneer of preserving food for export by freezing. In September 1875 he organized a picnic lunch for 300 influential people (all men of course 😎) at Lithgow, where he had established a vast meat works and chilling complex.
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In the late 1940s, Australian born archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe lived in an iconic, modernistic building in London’s Belsize Park. The resident of the opposite flat was Agatha Christie. The five storey Isokon Flats, also known as the Lawn Road Flats, had opened in 1934. It became
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The screen on my Dell laptop computer suddenly froze a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t even turn the damn thing off. Panic! Thankfully we have an extended service warranty, so my partner rang up and was patiently taken through the complicated steps to fix it. There
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Desire La Court arrived in Australia before the outbreak of WWI as George Ohl, from Frankford. Like so many others he was interned as an enemy alien, initially in Queensland, from where he escaped, and then at the huge Holsworthy camp in New South Wales. It was
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I hope this article unearths some Tasmanian descendants of the Persian migrant ship, or perhaps the relatives they left behind in Scotland. The Highland Clearances; what a heartbreaking episode in Scottish history. During the 19th century, destitute crofters were evicted to make way for large sheep runs.
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Robert Hare Burke and William Wills; the ill-fated explorers who travelled north from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1860/61. As we know, both men died from exhaustion and starvation on the return journey. There is a link to the full story of the expedition at
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John Winterbottom, born 1789, was a solicitor, town clerk and much respected Mayor of Stockport, Cheshire. He was also a founding partner in Stockport’s first bank. However, in 1839 he faced bankruptcy after a series of failed investments. His desperation led him to defraud a client, the
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‘The Anzac Artist’ was the name given to the brilliant, South Australian born artist Frank Williams. FOR PART ONE OF FRANK’S STORY, CLICK HERE. The Gallipoli veteran arrived in London in 1919, to further his career and to study in Paris. As a homosexual man, the opportunity
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In 1918 Nellie Melba provided the boost to the career of artist Frank Williams that he had always dreamed of. The Adelaide born Williams had been wounded at Gallipoli, and was discharged in 1916 suffering from paralysis and severe shellshock. Back in Adelaide he slowly regained his
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Charlie Leeming, one of the smartest telegraphists in Tasmania, leaves Launceston to take charge of the Queenstown office. His co-workers packed him with lots of good wishes, travelling bag and rug of the very best. He will be much missed in Launceston. (The Clipper, Sat. Jul 23
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