As a young woman, Joyce Cocks became an attendant (and later a buyer) at Sydney’s historic Mitchell Library. The Mitchell now forms part of the vast Library of New South Wales complex. AN ARMED ROBBER INTRUDES In 1923 an armed man entered the building on Macquarie
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CONTINUING THE STORY OF SYDNEY SOCIALITE AIMÉE EDOLS . CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE In 1932, bankrupt Sydney socialite Aimée Edols evaded police for nearly six months. She had turned for help to an old friend, Amy Styles, from nearby Vaucluse. Mrs Styles was a widow, whose husband had drowned
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THE GOOD LIFE FOR MRS EDOLS The reception for the couple was held at the prestigious Australia Hotel . In 1930, 47 year old Aimee Edols was living in Sydney’s fashionable Eastern Suburbs. Her husband Ernest was a retired grazier, whose family had once owned Burrawang, an extensive property at
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WHO GIVES A FIG? I DO! I love Sydney; for the harbour, the museums and theatres, but particularly for it’s amazing old fig trees. Could there be a more iconic image of the city than in the photo below? Sydney sandstone and fig roots inextricably entwined. That
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A WEDDING GIFT On November 3 1807, 29 year old Elizabeth Henrietta Campbell married 46 year old Lieutenant Colonel Lachlan Macquarie at Holsworthy, in the English county of Devon. Their wedding marked the end of a long separation. Macquarie had just returned from military service in India,
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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)
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TIMES ARE A’ CHANGING AT THE SHOW As I wandered around Sydney’s Royal Easter Show on my last visit I was struck by how accurately this iconic event reflects changes in our society. The cookery section is a classic case in point. Bakery entries have dwindled alarmingly
Read more →I remember watching as work proceeded on the wonderfully eccentric University of Technology building in Sydney. The Aussie ‘brickies’ had never coped with anything quite like it. Creating folds and curves from bricks is extremely difficult. One fellow joked that instead of laying a few
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BAKERY BELOW! My husband Rob and I live in the Blue Mountains, but spend a lot of time in Sydney. We usually stay in the same hotel apartments on the lower north shore. Conveniently, they are located above a small shopping centre. Every morning Rob pops down
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As a city grows, local birds lose their habitat. They are remembered in a special way at Sydney’s Angel Place. When the First Fleet arrived in Sydney in 1788 the bird life in the area was incredibly rich and varied. Before long the artist John Lewin was
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