FAMILY HEIRLOOMS Throughout my Tasmanian childhood there were two small oil paintings hanging beside the open fire in our farmhouse sitting room. When the wind blew, the hessian backed wallpaper ballooned out, and the pictures nearly fell off their nails. I was always intrigued by them, and when
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AN ENTREPRENEUR Early in 1894, schoolmaster George Ratten arrived in Parkes, New South Wales, from the Victorian coastal town of Port Fairy. He was accompanied by his wife Eliza and the couple’s six children. Mr Ratten set about building a private, co-educational college in Mitchell Street, opposite
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Hello Dear People Well because my vegie growing was so awesome, my guardian Pauline Conolly finally agreed to buy me a little greenhouse. The only trouble was that she took the cheap option (what a surprise….NOT) and it came in at least 100 bits. OMG!!
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MARGARET MACQUARIE (NEE GOODWIN) Recently I posted the story of Hector Macquarie, and his marriage to the unfortunate Margaret Simson. Hector was the dissolute nephew of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. You can read the first part HERE. And now the story continues…… It had always been assumed that
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Hector Macquarie was born on Scotland’s Isle of Mull in 1794. He was the illegitimate son of Charles Macquarie, Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s younger brother. Governor Macquarie took his nephew under his wing, famously dubbing him Hero Hector…which was to become an ironic nickname. The young man grew
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AN EASTER STORY, FROM EDITOR DES Well, I read somewhere that lots of people eat fish on Good Friday, so I asked my guardian Pauline to make me a rod. I thought I knew where a rainbow trout might be lurking. It was a bit hot when
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THE EVANS PAINTING – AND A LITTLE MIRACLE For many years I have been attempting to trace four unidentified sketches by Elizabeth Macquarie, wife of Lachlan Macquarie, an early Governor of New South Wales. As a resident of the Blue Mountains, I would like to believe
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INTRODUCING EDITOR DES OF BLACKHEATH Thanks for agreeing to this interview Editor Des. I must say, you are the personification of sartorial elegance today. A. Thank you. I bought this suit in a posh shop at Henley-on-Thames. Well that’s in England. It does look quite expensive. Now
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PILGRIMAGE TO CROSS CREEK ‘I do not know how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.’ Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings In 1928, as America was sliding into the Great Depression, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and her husband Charles bought (sight unseen) an old orange
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King Alfred’s legendary burning of the cakes was the subject of my first history lesson, delivered by my mother as she popped a tray of rock cakes in the oven. Her notion of where the incident took place was vague; ‘In the woods somewhere’, she said…handing me
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