My Articles

PERCY BUSH-COX – A WORLD WAR ONE MYSTERY

PERCY BUSH-COX - A WORLD WAR ONE MYSTERY

FOR THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY ON PERCY BUSH-COX, CLICK HERE. Percy Bush-Cox enlisted with the Leicestershire Regiment in World War I.  In June 1918 he was reported in the press as having been  wounded for the second time. Percy Bush-Cox is pictured at right in

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Ernest Durham/Percy Bush-Cox – a Great War Conundrum

Ernest Durham/Percy Bush-Cox - a Great War Conundrum

Returned serviceman Ernest Durham would have been amazed to find  that after his death in 1949 he would become the centre of a story so bizarre I hardly know where to start.  😎 Private Durham signed up in 1916 with the newly formed 34th Battalion. It was

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Private Bush-Cox – The Living Dead

Private Bush-Cox - The Living Dead

FOR THE PREVIOUS PART OF THIS STORY, CLICK HERE. Sawson is a quiet village south of Cambridge in the U.K.  On  December 30 1954 there was disbelief  when  local widower  ‘Ernest Durham’ was found  dead in his garden, a bullet through his head. In the same incident 

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KATE LLEWELLYN – WORDS FROM THE HEART

KATE LLEWELLYN - WORDS FROM THE HEART

This piece  is a tribute to poet and writer Kate Llewellyn (1936…), and also a review of one of her early books, The Mountain, published in 1989. I have been reading it again in my Blue Mountains garden, surrounded by the fragrance of Daphne.  It was the

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GWENDOLINE BAILEY – ULVERSTONE BORN HEIRESS?

GWENDOLINE BAILEY  - ULVERSTONE BORN HEIRESS?

In December  1924, Ulverstone born Gwendoline Doris Bailey was the subject of an amazing story.  The press reported  that  the nineteen year old  had inherited more than  £15,000 from a great uncle in England. At the time she was living in Victoria, working as  a waitress at

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CHEWING GUM, COLLINGWOOD & THE 1896 PREMIERSHIP

CHEWING GUM, COLLINGWOOD & THE 1896 PREMIERSHIP

Collingwood won the Victorian Football Association Premiership in 1896, They were aided, it was claimed, by a novelty product…chewing gum. In 1894 MacRobertson’s introduced the first, Australian made chewing gum.  It was marketed as being beneficial to athletes; keeping saliva flowing and containing medicinal ingredients. It was

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Dr Charles Brothers – A Psychiatrist in the Family.

Dr Charles Brothers - A Psychiatrist in the Family.

Dr Charles Ronald David  Brothers was born  in the small farming community of North Motton, North-West Tasmania. At left is his mother, born Jessie Violet Saltmarsh.  On the right is his father, Charles Brothers Snr, in uniform as a private in the Boer war.      

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Football Rivalry – The Coutas v The Mutton Birds

Football Rivalry - The Coutas v The Mutton Birds

Football rivalry in Tasmania has led to some classic encounters.  Top of the list has to be that unforgettable, 1967 Tasmanian State Premiership decider between Wynyard and North Hobart, held at West Park, Burnie. At the end of the fourth quarter the game was about to be

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MAIL TRAIN FROM GOULBURN – A MYSTERY

MAIL TRAIN FROM GOULBURN - A MYSTERY

On May 8 1895,  Mrs  Fanny Bushell,  a bank manager’s wife from Young, boarded the mail train to Sydney at nearby Harden. The train reached  Goulburn  late that night. Mrs Bushell had been the only passenger in a first class, ladies compartment. However,  at Goulburn, two nuns

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CONVICT RELICS OF BLACKHEATH

CONVICT RELICS OF BLACKHEATH

Intriguing convict relics found at Blackheath. in the NSW Blue Mountains, appear to have vanished over the years. This seems such a shame.  They were associated with the 1840s convict stockade,  located on the site of what is now the local primary school. The first school building,

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