October Guest Speaker
Sculling on the Parramatta River
Just a reminder to join us at the City of Canada Bay Museum at 1:30 for a 2:00 pm start to hear Robert Mills talk about "Postcards: Every Picture Tells…
Vegemite – an Australian Icon
In 1922 the struggling Fred Walker Company hired a chemist, Dr. Cyril P. Callister, to develop a food spread made from readily available leftover brewer's yeast extract, a natural source…
Archie Goswell Priddle
Archie Priddle had already achieved national prominence when he enlisted in the A.I.F. in January 1915. Tall, strikingly handsome with fair hair and blue eyes, Priddle competed in a series…
Unanswered Questions
I'm 87 years of age and I have realised I still have so many unanswered questions! I never found out who let the dogs out . . . the way…
Henry Lawson, “Our Poet Laureate”
On the morning of 2 September 1922, Henry Hertzberg Lawson died, aged 55 years, of cerebral haemorrhage in Abbotsford, at the home of his dear friend and housekeeper, Isabel Byers.…
Strange but True
Burial service for parrot One of the strangest graves in the ancient Western Road cemetery at Parramatta (NSW) is that of a parrot. For twenty years the bird entertained travelers…
In a Time Before Computers
Basic Chines Abacus
CALCULATOR: The simplest form of calculating machine is the wooden counting frame, or abacus, with moving beads strung on wires which represent units, tens, hundreds and so on. This device…
The Menin Gate Lions
The Menin Gate
The iconic Menin Gate lions, past which thousands of Australian and other allied forces marched on their way to the Western Front battlefields, have been returned to Australia from Belgium…
September Guest Speaker
Ritz Theatre, Central Concord
At the end of WWII Sydneysiders spent a great deal of their spare time going to the movies. Almost every suburb had at least one, two or even more picture…
From the Magic Lantern to Television
When the 20th century was new, Australians took active part in most of their amusements. At home they would play musical instruments, or they would play cards or other games,…