My Articles

OBSTACLE COURSE OLYMPIAN

OBSTACLE COURSE OLYMPIAN

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

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LOST AT POZIERES

LOST AT POZIERES

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

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GOVERNOR MACQUARIE’S CAMPAIGN DESK

GOVERNOR MACQUARIE'S CAMPAIGN DESK

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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REFLECTIONS ON A VISIT TO NICE

REFLECTIONS ON  A VISIT TO NICE

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE TRAVEL SECTION OF THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN My partner and I are driving through Nice when  a group of local youths begin jeering at a cavalcade of stereo blasting Ferraris. With complete disregard for following  traffic, all three drivers  screech

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ALL STOPS TO KATOOMBA; AND THE PERFECT PIZZA

ALL STOPS TO KATOOMBA; AND THE PERFECT PIZZA

In  Australia’s bicentennial year of 2000, artist Vernon Treweeke completed a mural of  an imagined  night train journey  through the villages of the magnificent Blue Mountains of New South Wales. The mural decorates the walls of the pedestrian  tunnel beneath  Katoomba station. Three  of the villages were

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THE FRIENDS OF ELIZABETH MACQUARIE – PART III

THE FRIENDS OF ELIZABETH MACQUARIE - PART III

MRS MACQUARIE – FINAL DAYS, FAITHFUL FRIENDS Elizabeth and  Lachlan Macquarie returned  to Scotland  from New South Wales  with their young son  in 1822 .  Unfortunately, Macquarie’s   estate of Jarvisfield on the Isle of Mull was financially unviable and  it’s residence Gruline House  barely habitable. In retrospect

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THE FRIENDS OF MRS MACQUARIE PART II – A NEW WORLD

THE FRIENDS OF MRS MACQUARIE  PART II - A NEW WORLD

At the end of  PART ONE of this story, we left  Miss Elizabeth Campbell  fretting over her fiance Lachlan Macquarie’s lack of eagerness to return from army duties in  India.  Clearly something  had to be done. Fortuitously, Henrietta Meredith had a friend and family connection by the

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THE FRIENDS OF ELIZABETH MACQUARIE – Part One

THE FRIENDS OF ELIZABETH MACQUARIE - Part One

On January 1st 1810, Lachlan Macquarie was sworn in as Governor of New South Wales, replacing  the deposed William Bligh. Macquarie had arrived in Port Jackson aboard The Dromedary several days earlier, accompanied by his wife Elizabeth.  Her love and unswerving loyalty  would sustain the Governor throughout

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THE MISSING GEORGE TOWN SKETCHES

THE MISSING GEORGE TOWN SKETCHES

On November 4  1811, Governor Lachlan Macquarie left  Sydney aboard  the Lady Nelson to carry out an inspection tour of Van Diemen’s Land. He was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth. After several weeks based in Hobart, the official party  made its way north. By early December they

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HORROR STORIES AT MY MOTHER’S KNEE.

HORROR STORIES AT MY MOTHER'S KNEE.

Let me say at the outset that my darling mother was the most gentle, kind hearted person you could hope to meet.  However, she did have a penchant for filling our heads with the most terrifying information imaginable. We kids were both fascinated and appalled. Her stories

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