In December 1924, Ulverstone born Gwendoline Doris Bailey was the subject of an amazing story. The press reported that the nineteen year old had inherited more than £15,000 from a great uncle in England. At the time she was living in Victoria, working as a waitress at
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‘La Donna’ was a journalist for many years at The Advocate, a Tasmanian newspaper known affectionally as ‘The Spud Digger’. In 1935 she wrote a fascinating, lengthy article on Mary Shadbolt, widow of my relative Linden Shadbolt. I always wondered about La Donna’s real identity, and have
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Venture into any antique or collectibles shop in Australia and you may well find a piece of vintage, hand crafted Weeda Copper. The business began in my hometown of Ulverstone, Tasmania in the early 1950s. A lot of Dutch migrants came to Ulverstone and the neighbouring town
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For many years the general hospital at Ulverstone , on the north west coast of Tasmania, was located on the corner of Victoria and Patrick Street. It was not far from my grandmother’s flat in Victoria Street. In the early hours of July 14 1954 Nurse
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I have a single English blackbird in my Australian garden. But oh dear, what a mess he makes of my paths with his incessant scratching around for worms and insects. 😨 I have been tempted to pop him in pie. OK, let’s begin with some words
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Picking blackberries and collecting field mushrooms…oh the simple pleasures of a 1950s Tasmanian childhood. There were a couple of uncultivated paddocks on our farm that produced basketfuls of mushrooms every autumn. We used to eat them fried on toast for breakfast. Plain old white bread in those
Read more →When WWII began, the Tasmanian government did not consider that air raid shelters and measures such as blackouts would be necessary. However, when Japan bombed Peal Harbour on December 7 1941 and subsequently attacked Darwin, everything changed. ‘Surface shelters in Tasmania should soon be an accomplished fact…….The
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In 1925, the North Motton football team (which had topped the ladder), met the Ulverstone Juniors in the Leven Association’s Premiership. North Motton was captained by J. Hearps and Ulverstone by W. McMahon. There have been some controversial footy finals in Tasmania over the years, and this
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In the old days, a Town Hall was as much the heart of a community as the pubs or the parish church. But building a new one requires co-operation and consensus. My Tasmanian home town of Ulverstone drew tourists from very early times, due to its lovely
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At about 3.00am on Sunday January 9, 1921 fire broke out behind a shop in Reibey Street, Ulverstone. A barman at nearby Furner’s Hotel raised the alarm at 3.05am.The hotel is pictured behind the telegraph pole in the following photo. The fire brigade arrived very promptly, but
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