Arthur Clement ‘Spuds’ Foster was a decorated WWI veteran. He was also the man behind the creation of the Tasmanian Potato Marketing Board in the 1920’s. In 1930 Foster was appointed Commonwealth Potato Controller, and moved to the mainland. However he never ceased advocating for Tasmania.
Read more →FOLLOWING ON FROM THE TRIAL OF TOM FLEMING Following the acquittal of Tom Fleming over the death by poisoning of his wife Betty, his mistress Norma Lokkerbol became the target of public outrage. On September 9, 1951 The Sunday Mail (Brisbane) published the following piece after speaking
Read more →BOY RACER Guy Menzies was born in the Sydney suburb of Drummoyne in 1909, the son of a well known doctor. He was a handful for his parents from the word go. Sometimes he would pinch stationery from his father’s surgery and write sick notes to get out of
Read more →ARE MINTIES NUMBER ONE? It would be hard to name Australia’s most iconic lollies Fantails? Jaffas? Life Savers? Minties must surely be a contender. They were invented in 1922, by Sydney’s James Stedman, son of Australia’s first large-scale confectioner. The factory was located in Rozelle. Just look at
Read more →THE BIGGEST SHOW IN TOWN Last week we went to the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. It’s a huge fair, and farmers and gardeners take their produce along and win prizes. Well some of them win. I wanted to enter some of my vegetables, but Pauline Conolly (she’s my guardian)
Read more →Hello, here is a rather sad story about my Halloween pumpkin. I forget when I planted the seeds, and also what kind they were. And maybe I was a bit late getting them in. Our bees seemed to have left when the lavender and thyme and all the Australian
Read more →Today we romanticize the Australian bush, but a century ago the term had more negative connotations. The pioneers who had cleared the land were often perceived as dim witted yokels by their city slicker cousins. This
Read more →BIG DAY OUT! The month of May can be a bit nippy in the central west of New South Wales. However, for the organizers of the Royal Bathurst Show there is a bonus. Inside the showground are giant elms, in full autumn glory. Having attended Sydney’s Royal
Read more →Sixty years ago I was a wide eyed, sharp eared kid growing up on Tasmania’s North West Coast. One weekend my mother and I visited her brother’s family in a nearby town. Over afternoon tea my aunt described an incident that had taken place a few days
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