Bessie O’Leary came late to the state of matrimony. In 1951 she and her sister Margaret were elderly spinsters living a quiet, respectable life in Bowen Terrace, New Farm; a suburb of Brisbane. However, at 71, Bessie met and married an 80 year old ‘Prince Charming’. Walter
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In December 1924, Ulverstone born Gwendoline Doris Bailey was the subject of an amazing story. The press reported that the nineteen year old had inherited more than £15,000 from a great uncle in England. At the time she was living in Victoria, working as a waitress at
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Regular visitors to this website will know that I have a fascination for imposters. 😎 I’m not sure why this is, except that they have a sense of daring and self confidence that I certainly don’t have myself. I’m not condoning the behaviour, especially when it causes
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When Sydney tutor Raymond Miller discovered his female student Ngaire Payne was ill-prepared to sit entrance exams for medicine, he came up with a plan. He would dress as a woman and sit the exams at New England University in her place. It sounds crazy and well…it
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Professor Frederick McCoy was a highly respected academic at Melbourne University. He resided in the suburb of Brighton. In 1883 he received a letter from a friend, Colonel Mair. The Colonel asked if it was true that McCoy’s adult son Frederick, who had been living and
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When ‘Doctor’ Paul Rene Loubet was unmasked as an imposter in September 1917 he left behind a grieving, bewildered young widow. Nell Kent Loubet (nee Hughes) immediately moved back to her family’s home in Toorak. More positively, she graduated from Melbourne University in January 1918 as
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The continuing story of Paul Rene Loubet. Dr Loubet accepted a position at the Melbourne Hospital in May 1917. Subsequently he was required to present himself at Melbourne University, to be examined for the degree of M.D. As part of the process he presented the Registrar
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THE PAUL LOUBET STORY, PART TWO (BLACKALL). FOR THE FIRST EPISODE, CLICK HERE. From The Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) ‘Our informant happened to be in Jericho when Dr Loubet and a very fine looking woman, who was introduced everywhere as Mrs Loubet, were going through to Blackall.
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The story of Paul Rene Loubet and his life in Australia reads more like fiction than real life, and researching it has been quite a challenge, albeit a fascinating one. This is the first ‘chapter’. Annabel Illingworth married young doctor Percy Webber Black in London in March
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STOP PRESS- THE STORY OF MOLONG AND THE EARL HAS ANOTHER CHAPTER….SEE END OF THIS PIECE! It’s not often a small outback town can boast of having an Earl open their garden fete, but that’s what happened at Molong in 1897. The man responsible for the
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