When I lived in Sydney years ago I loved going to the art-deco, Cremorne Orpheum Theatre on the Lower North Shore. It was wonderful to find an equally special theatre right here in the Blue Mountains. The building above, at 2a Harley Avenue Mount Victoria, dates
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Nobody loves our beautiful Australian birds more than I do. I photograph them and write about them daily. BUT, this is a plea not to feed the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos here in the Blue Mountains (or anywhere else for that matter). The population of these birds has
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My husband Rob arrived home in Blackheath with a new car recently and I was slightly taken aback when he said; ‘We could go for a Sunday drive tomorrow if you like.’ I hadn’t heard the expression since my distant childhood. I grew up in rural Tasmania,
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EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKHEATH DUCK POND When the Great Western Railway crossed the Blue Mountains of New South Wales in the 1860s a reliable water source was required for the steam engines. In the village of Blackheath a catchment area to the north and east of Gardners
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Recently I posted the story of the disused Glenbrook rail tunnel during World War II. Located in the lower Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the tunnel was secretly used as an RAAF storage depot, for dangerous chemicals such as mustard gas and phosogene. The decision to
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A WANDER ALONG WENTWORTH STREET. Since the Great Western Highway from Sydney to the Blue Mountains was upgraded there has been a huge rise in visitor numbers. My home of Blackheath is one of the highest villages, and in autumn Wentworth Street in particular is a joy
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Cinnabar Kitchen in the Blue Mountains village of Blackheath is on The Great Western Highway, just a stroll up the hill from our home. I’m not sure why it took my husband Rob and I so long to go, especially when we had great memories of Ashcrofts,
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Mrs Eva Hallett arrived in the Blue Mountains town of Katoomba by rail in the autumn of 1916, accompanied by her 16 year old daughter Violet. For a few days the pair stayed in a well known boarding house. However, Mrs Hallett then visited a local estate
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SILENT WEAPONS OF WAR My research for this story began amid the startling news of the chemical attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, and of chemical weapons being used in Syria. I knew about mustard gas in WWI, because my
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Recently I conducted a little social history survey on how the various towns and villages of the Blue Mountains are perceived. Do they have a distinct character? Well certainly most of them do. Most surprising of all to me was that Glenbrook is considered by many to
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