My Articles

DOROTHY THORNE; A MOSMAN MYSTERY

DOROTHY THORNE; A MOSMAN MYSTERY

In 1932 Dorothy Thorne was living in  this rather modest home in Brierly Street Mosman, on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. It must be the only home in the upmarket suburb not to have been remodeled or enlarged in the succeeding 90 plus years!  Mind you, it’s still

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DAME ENID LYONS & HER REJECTED PORTRAIT

DAME ENID LYONS  & HER REJECTED PORTRAIT

Tasmania’s Dame Enid Lyons and  Western Australia’s Dorothy Tangney were the first two women to be elected to Australia’s federal parliament. In 1943 Tangney won a seat in the Senate and  that same year Dame Enid was elected to the House of Representatives. It was decided by

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PHILIP HARGRAVE – LOVE AND WAR

PHILIP HARGRAVE - LOVE AND WAR

FOR THE FIRST PART OF PHILIP HARGRAVE’S STORY. CLICK HERE. Philip Hargrave was a child prodigy. The brilliant young pianist from Adelaide had amazed and delighted audiences from the age of seven.  In 1934 the then 13 year old’s  national concert tour was  interrupted  by  a bitter

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Philip Hargrave – A Child Prodigy & A Custody Case

Philip Hargrave - A Child Prodigy & A Custody Case

Philip  Douglas Hargrave was born in Toowoomba on September 11 1921. His mother Margaret Murray (sometimes known as Marjorie) was a talented pianist.  She was  performing with a theatre company called The Globetrotters at the time, and worked until the last three weeks of her pregnancy.  Philip

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SAMUEL HARRISON AND HIS FRAUDULENT WILL

SAMUEL HARRISON AND HIS FRAUDULENT WILL

Samuel Harrison was an elderly,  widowed farmer who had owned 75 acres fronting the Black Dog Creek near Rutherglen in Victoria. Although he was illiterate he had prospered on the land. When he died suddenly in a neighbour’s cart on April 4 1896 he left an estate

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ULVERSTONE HOSPITAL’S SPECIAL PATIENT

ULVERSTONE HOSPITAL'S SPECIAL PATIENT

For many years the general hospital at Ulverstone , on the north west coast of Tasmania, was located on the corner of Victoria and Patrick Street. It was  not far from my grandmother’s flat in Victoria Street.   In the early hours of July 14 1954 Nurse

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BRIDGE HOTEL, FORTH

BRIDGE HOTEL, FORTH

Early settler John Liddle built the Bridge Hotel at Forth in 1871. It opened in January the following year. This is earliest photo I can find, from around 1900. The building in front already looks a bit ramshackle. I wonder if it was the stables? I must

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Sir Francis Smith’s Stolen Silver

Sir Francis Smith's Stolen Silver

Sir Francis Smith(1809-1909) was Tasmania’s Chief Justice  and also its fifth Premier. He lived in a grand home in prestigious  Holebrook Place,  which formed part of  Hobart’s Davey Street.   On May 24, 1870  Sir Francis and his wife Sarah hosted a party to celebrate Queen Victoria’s

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MISS VICKERY AND HER RARE TASMANIAN STAMPS

MISS VICKERY AND HER RARE TASMANIAN STAMPS

Amy Alfreda Vickery inherited two warehouses in Sydney’s Goulburn Street when her wealthy father Ebenezer Vickery  died in 1906. Two years later the warehouses would fund  a mansion Amy built on The Boulevarde in Strathfield, called Lauriston. Miss Vickery’s other indulgence was philately and she built up

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‘MAD’ TOM DAVEY’S OTHER GRANDDAUGHTER, MARY SCOTT

'MAD' TOM DAVEY'S OTHER GRANDDAUGHTER, MARY SCOTT

This interesting  piece has been contributed by a long term associate of mine, Robin Walsh. Robin is acknowledged  as Australia’s  foremost expert on the Macquarie era. For many years he was Librarian at Macquarie University. He edited and compiled the book, In Her Own Words; the Writings

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