My partner Rob and I were looking through some old holiday pics the other day. Suddenly he held one up and said dreamily, ‘I remember that place; it was fantastic.’ As I glanced at what seemed a fairly nondescript town centre he added, ‘It’s where I found
Read more →SIENA: JEWEL OF TUSCANY Some years ago my partner Rob and I hired a car and toured the Italian province of Tuscany. One evening we checked into a charming little hotel tucked behind the Campo within beautiful Siena’s medieval walls. However, there was a small
Read more →On April 2 1905, the Brisbane Courier published an article on two young women. The girls were close friends, with a lot in common. They were both daughters of Brisbane publicans, both from Irish Catholic families, and both convent educated. They also shared a love of
Read more →Today we romanticize the Australian bush, but a century ago the term had more negative connotations. The pioneers who had cleared the land were often perceived as dim witted yokels by their city slicker cousins. This was made very clear in 1918, when attempts were made to
Read more →THIS IS THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF A TWO PART STORY. A rather dramatic first trip overseas led to the writing of BAD DAY IN BARCELONA. In her original guest post, Lorraine Bendall told of how she fell victim to a pickpocket. The incident had serious repercussions.
Read more →Hello, Editor Des here. I have been in Sydney lately doing some historical research on Queen Victoria and her husband Albert. However, my trip turned into a real life drama So here’s what happened. I went into the city on the bus with my guardian, Pauline Conolly.
Read more →Frederick Claude Vivian Lane was born in Manly on February 2 1880. He nearly drowned in Sydney Harbour when he was four years old, after falling off a punt. His older brother saved him, but Fred thought it might be wise to learn to swim (or perhaps
Read more →On May 12 1915, a 21 year old clerk with the New South Wales shire of Murrumbidgee enlisted in World War I. His name was Eric Richard Conolly. He became a member of the 3rd Battalion A.I.F. Initially, Private Conolly served at Gallipoli, and was on the
Read more →One of the most personal and evocative relics held by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales is a campaign desk once owned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth disembarked from HMS Dromedary at Sydney Cove on 31 December 1809. They were
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