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. 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 few shillings a head. The crisis
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A LIGHT-HEARTED ‘JOURNEY’ AROUND SYDNEY SUBURBS Currently Sydney is comprised of 658 suburbs. That’s because the city became so spread out when most of us lived on quarter acre blocks. Let’s face it, you could fit the residents of leafy Killara into one inner city high-rise. The
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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 boom was suspended across the harbour
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One Christmas when I was a child my father brought home a gum bough from the bush as an alternative to the traditional pine tree. We all loved it, especially the scent of eucalyptus throughout the house. My mother was delighted to have a break from falling
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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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According to urban mythology, Sydney’s Sacred Ibis are actually a scary mutation of the seagull. The story goes that over succeeding generations, one strain of gull became larger, more aggressive, and far more athletic, until…..voila!; Instead of lolling about at the Sydney Cricket Ground as seagulls do,
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Irish born Mr William Sheridan Wall served as Curator of the Australian Museum in Sydney during the 1840s and 50s. He personally collected and preserved many native birds, but his greatest legacy to the institution was a creature from the deep. On December 5 1849 the schooner Thistle
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To be honest, Mr Wall, one of the Australian Museum’s pioneer curators, does not look well or particularly happy in the above photo. Let’s hope he had been more cheerful on his wedding day. On Friday, April 30 1841 The Sydney Advertiser announced; On Thursday, the 29th
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