OFF TO SCHOOL! The photo below was among my mother’s ‘treasures’ for many years. It was taken by the Tasmanian Advocate nearly 60 years ago. The children are from the Ulverstone Central State School’s kindergarten class of 1956. I am the chirpy looking kid standing up on
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My father planted his first commercial crop of beans on our farm near Ulverstone on the north-west coast of Tasmania, in 1958. Initially we grew just a couple of acres, without the benefit of irrigation. We picked the crop four or five times over, struggling to fill
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Hello, well bottoms are very funny, aren’t they? Q. WHAT HAS A BOTTOM AT THE TOP? A. MY LEGS! That’s a joke I made up by myself. We have all been talking about our bums lately haven’t we, what with the mysterious shortage of loo paper.
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Hello, Happy Easter from me, Editor Des. Here is the story of my lost Easter eggs. Well I’d been looking forward to the Easter Bunny visiting for weeks, but on Saturday everything started to go wrong. See, we were in Sydney visiting my Granny Jean when
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When I was very young my guardian Pauline Conolly took me to the Sydney Olympics. That’s me on the right in the green and gold. So much classier wearing the bloomin’ flag! 🤑 Since then I have had a go at many different sports. Mind you, I
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A DECIDEDLY FISHY STORY! Back in the 1980s my partner Rob and I owned a little half cabin cruiser called Sixpence. I loved catching blue swimmer crabs in Mosman Bay. We also used to fish for snapper off Sydney Heads, although heavy swells often forced us to
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THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE TASMANIAN ADVOCATE. THE GHOST OF ULVERSTONE HIGH Some years ago I drove past my old high school and realized I had subconsciously avoided writing a single word about my years there. It’s not that I was particularly unhappy at Ulverstone
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THOUGHTS ON THE BUNNY RABBIT Rabbits had begun to breed in plague proportions in Tasmania as early as 1827. The Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser reported: ‘…the common rabbit is becoming so numerous throughout the colony, that they are running about on some large estates by the
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HOW THE DRAMA BEGAN Well one day I was sitting in a planter pot talking to Pauline’s little goose when we heard a funny noise. Goose peered down at something, so I did too. Whoops, nearly over-balanced and ended up on my head! And do you
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BARING IT ALL IN THE BLACK FOREST While visiting the Black Forest my partner Rob and I discover there is more to the region than chocolate cake and cuckoo clocks. Our holiday apartment is owned by the Klumpp family, who are as sturdily hearty as their name
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