AN EARLY STAMP OF STUPIDITY At the age of seven I decided to become a stamp collector. In a generous act of encouragement I was given a stamp album assembled over many years by an older cousin. I cut out the largest and most exotic of his
Read more →
AUSSIE HISTORY ALONG THE THAMES For Australians exploring the River Thames there are places of particular interest. When my partner Rob and I walked the Path we found lots of Aussie associations. On the upper reaches of the river is the village of Buscot, and the National Trust owned Buscot
Read more →
Blood On My Boots was one of the titles I considered for my book on the Thames Path. I love social history , especially murder mysteries, and many bodies have ended up in the river. The book was eventually published as All Along the River;
Read more →
LAWS OF LINGUISTICS In Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, chief protagonist Jude Fawley naively assumes that learning a foreign language is like cracking a code; that mastering two or three words will miraculously provide the key to understanding the entire vocabulary. Hardy refers to this as Grimm’s
Read more →
APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE, THIS STORY IS A BIT COMPLICATED! When St John’s church at Parramatta (New South Wales) was being remodelled circa 1817, Elizabeth Macquarie offered some advice to the project’s architect, Lieutenant John Watts (1786-1873). In 1895 Watts’ daughter, Mrs Margaret Elizabeth Bagot wrote; ‘Mrs Macquarie
Read more →
UPDATE – THURSDAY, MARCH 9 2023; THE PIEMAN’S GRAND JETE! Just imagine the Flying Pieman (William Francis King) as the ‘star’ of a ballet. This almost came to be. In 1942 artist Roderick Shaw prepared 21 watercolours for a proposed ballet to be called; ”The Flying Pieman
Read more →
Browsing through images of paintings relating to early Sydney at the city’s Mitchell Library, I came across a striking portrait of an Aborigine. His eyes seemed to reflect all the pride and sorrow of his people. He was
Read more →
Some years ago my partner Rob and I spent an enjoyable day at Sydney’s harbourside Luna Park. It was only enjoyable because I refused to venture onto any ride liable to make me sick. An unfortunate previous experience on the Rotor Ride had made me wary. For the
Read more →
THE STRANGE STORY OF THE MACQUARIE MAUSOLEUM Lachlan Macquarie was one of the early governors of colonial New South Wales, serving from 1810 until 1821. His burial site is located on the Scottish Isle of Mull, near Salen, the estate village established by Macquarie in 1808. Surrounded
Read more →
JOHN BIGGE; REGIME CHANGER Commissioner John Thomas Bigge (1780-1843) arrived in New South Wales in September 1819. He had been appointed to conduct a wide ranging inquiry into governor Lachlan Macquarie’s administration. Bigge was highly critical of the Governor’s championship of ex-convicts, and his ‘wastefully expensive’ building
Read more →