The ‘Explorers Tree’ outside Katoomba has been the subject of debate for generations. For reasons explained further on, there is an argument that is should more properly be referred to simply as the Marked Tree. In 1813 the three men pictured above set out to cross the
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I have been revising a piece I wrote about pioneering women and their appreciation of Australia’s native flora. Not surprisingly, the Blue Mountains featured heavily. Once the first road was constructed from Sydney through to Bathurst in 1815, intrepid settlers followed. Then the iron ranges echoed To
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A BRIEF RECAP. In 1912, highly respected Dr John Stewart shocked everyone by deserting his wife and family in Perth, W.A. He bought a practice in Bangalow, N.S.W. and for two and a half years lived there quietly with his mistress, Muriel Meallin. Muriel was known to
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On May 30 1912, The Northern Star newspaper announced that Dr Bracken of Bangalow had sold his practice to Scottish born Dr J.M.Y Stewart, late of Sydney and Melbourne. Dr and Mrs Stewart moved into the departing Dr Bracken’s old home. The couple settled in and were
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How many nuts and bolts are there in the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Well, oddly enough, only a handful. Rivets were used instead, some 6,000,000 of them. The majority of the steel for the bridge’s girders came from Britain, but the government contract stated that all rivets were
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Mid February, and in my Blackheath garden the banksia serratas are in bloom. They are loved by all the honeyeaters, but especially Wattlebirds and Eastern Spinebills. Bees are visiting the native lilly-pilly flowers on the bush outside Slurps café, in Wentworth Street. I know there must be
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Sometimes a much loved tree just has to go. Our old double trunk gum was much too close to the house. It was a definite fire-hazard, and also there were signs of white-ant activity. The tragedy was that many of our birds were fond of it too.
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FOLLOWING ON FROM THE TRIAL OF TOM FLEMING Following the acquittal of Tom Fleming over the death by poisoning of his wife Betty, his mistress Norma Lokkerbol became the target of public outrage. On September 9, 1951 The Sunday Mail (Brisbane) published the following piece after speaking
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FOR THE FIRST EPISODE OF THIS STORY CLICK HERE. On June 28 1951 Tom and Betty Fleming made a car trip from their NSW cattle stud, Mt. Parry station, to Quirindi, for business and shopping. It was a busy day for Mrs Fleming. She called at the
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The background to the fate of Mrs Betty Fleming …… MAN SHOT IN HEAD Daily Telegraph – July 24, 1948. A Dutch engineer who has been two months in Australia was found critically wounded with a bullet hole in his head at Livingstone Park, Marrickville, last night.
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