MILES FRANKLIN AND HER BRILLIANT IDEA Many literary figures of the day visited Miles Franklin (1879-1954) at her home in the Sydney suburb of Carlton. The author of the beloved book My Brilliant Career, referred to the house as, ‘My old humpy.’ A delightful custom developed
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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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In February 1938, 15 countries from what was then known as The British Empire, assembled in Sydney for what would be the last Empire Games until well after the Second World War. It was a huge occasion, especially as the event coincided with Sydney’s 150th anniversary. After
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William Charles Wentworth; Australian politician, explorer, author, barrister, statesman and landowner. A man of many parts. At the height (maybe that should be depth ) of the 1840’s economic depression in New South Wales, sheep were selling at just 9d each and cattle for only a
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A LIGHT-HEARTED ‘JOURNEY’ AROUND SYDNEY SUBURBS We should never forget that almost all the names given to Sydney and its environs by Europeans were preceded by those used by Australia’s first people. Here is a list of Aboriginal place names complied by the Australian Museum.
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HOME FRONT IN THE HARBOUR CITY It’s easy to forget just how concerned ordinary Australians were for their safety during World War II. This was not without reason, given the bombing of Darwin and the arrival of Japanese midget submarines in Sydney Harbour. A giant metal
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One Christmas when I was a child my father brought home a gum bough as an alternative to the traditional pine tree. We all loved it, especially the scent of eucalyptus through the house. My mother was delighted to have a break from falling pine needles. Since
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As someone who frequently writes on crime, a tale of death on the Indian Pacific Railway came to mind when my partner Rob and I booked our trip from Sydney to Perth. I even checked Dr Google to see if anyone had written a murder mystery inspired
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HITTING OFF One of Sydney’s first golf courses was laid out in the grounds of Grose Farm; land on which Sydney University was later built. We have proof of an official club being formed in a 1839 diary entry by the prosperous young merchant Mr Alexander Brodie
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OK, so above we have a diagram showing the anatomy of the ibis. That’s all very well, but it omits a vital evolutionary link. According to urban mythology, Sydney’s sacred ibis are a scary mutation of the seagull. The story goes that over succeeding generations, one strain of
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