CORONATION 1953

CORONATION 1953

Celebrations in Australia for the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth were on a scale it’s hard to imagine these days. Every town and city in the nation strived to do the occasion justice. The Blue Mountains, where I now live, certainly stepped up. At Katoomba there was

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X-RAY MYSTERY AT LITHGOW

X-RAY MYSTERY AT  LITHGOW

In the 1930s the general public still regarded an X-Ray plate with incomprehension and wonder. When a 65 year old coal miner underwent an X-ray of his lungs at Lithgow Hospital the bizarre result only increased that feeling. Beside Thomas Jackson’s ribs was a clear picture of

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MAKING A HASH OF IT

MAKING A HASH OF IT

Hash browns are best eaten for breakfast in a New York City diner, with eggs over-easy and crispy bacon. I have tried to recapture the experience here in Australia at Maccas……take my advice and just don’t do it. By the way, in case anyone is confused, hash

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SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE – A RIVETING STORY!

SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE - A RIVETING STORY!

How many nuts and  bolts are there in the Sydney Harbour Bridge?  Well, oddly enough, only a handful. Rivets were used instead, some 6,000,000 of them. The majority of the steel  for the bridge’s girders came from  Britain, but the government contract stated that all rivets were

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ESKBANK HOUSE – THE BARTON PARK EXHIBITS

ESKBANK HOUSE - THE BARTON PARK EXHIBITS

I was fortunate to visit Eskbank House Museum in Lithgow before the pandemic put a stop to my adventures.. The oldest part of the colonial Georgian  house  was built circa 1842, from local sandstone.  Its original owner was Mr Thomas Brown, who established the Eskbank Colliery. There

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Just P. and O. at the Tom Bass Sculpture

Just P. and O. at the Tom Bass Sculpture

                    The sculptor Tom Bass (1916-2010)  was born in Lithgow.  Richard Neville (1941-2016) spent much of his  later life in the Blue Mountains village of  Blackheath. Both men were associated with a work of art regarded as one

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THE QUEEN VISITS THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

THE QUEEN VISITS THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

In a now famous reference to Queen Elizabeth; ‘I did but see her passing by, and yet I’ll love her until I die.’   Prime Minister of Australia R.M. Menzies. (1963) Early in February 1954, a group of WWI diggers travelled down to Sydney to see the young

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