The spectre of climate change and periods of prolonged drought have created an upsurge of interest in the growing of Australian native plants. However, we have been slow to embrace them. I suspect this would surprise and disappoint women pioneers such as Elizabeth Macarthur, who began
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MEMORIES FROM OLD COOKBOOKS We all become a bit nostalgic around Christmas time, especially when it comes to food. One of my favourite photos is of my mother Myra making Kiss Biscuits with her grandchildren back in the 1980s. Katey and Graeme now have children of their
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FLORAL MEMENTOES OF WAR The Gallipoli Rose (Cistus salvifolius) was the Australian War Memorial’s first commemorative plant. It grew on the bloody battlefields of Gallipoli. The sight of the flowers lifted the spirits of the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), who brought home the seeds.
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ICE BLOCKS, TEN CENTS A POP! On April Fools’ Day 1978 Australian electronics entrepreneur Dick Smith arranged for a giant, fake iceberg to be towed into Sydney Harbour. In a co-ordinated campaign, 300 of his employees then rang various radio and television stations, saying ‘What on earth
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Shopping for clothes. 😨 Oh dear, I may be viewed as a disgrace to womanhood, but I detest it. It’s not that I don’t like to look nice, but it’s so time consuming and irritating. The older I get the more I try to avoid the whole
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IN THE BEGINNING – ERNIE APPLE TREE SENIOR In 1953 my parents moved to the Tasmanian farm I grew up on. It was four miles from the coastal town of Ulverstone In the back garden (out on sight in the photo) was an old apple tree. Unfortunately
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My partner Rob and I are making our way home from Sydney to the Blue Mountains by rail; a two hour journey. As the train begins to climb, an American lady sitting behind us asks someone a question across the aisle; ‘Excuse me, will I know when
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SCHOOLGIRLS IN EXILE My book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, is the biography of a dysfunctional family, but it is also Victorian era true crime. It centres on the case of French born governess Mlle Celestine Doudet. In 1855 the governess was tried over the deaths of her
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While in England some time ago I was shown an ancient piece of scrimshaw in a private collection. My interest was aroused because the whale’s tooth was carved with an image (artist unknown) of a three-masted sailing ship. On one side was the tantalizing inscription; STORES SHIP
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Dr James Colthurst is perhaps best known for having been a close friend of the late Princess Diana. He was trusted implicitly by Diana , and acted as a go-between during one of the most difficult periods of her life. It was Colthurst who conveyed the secret tapes she
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