February Guest Speaker
Just a reminder that our February speaker, Janette Pelosi, will be talking about Popular Entertainment in the Colonies (1828-185o) and the difficulties theatre managers and performers met in trying to…
Family Fun in the pre-digital age.
The local dance was for all the family
Before the iPad and iPhone! Before CD and DVD players! Before gaming consoles and TV! Just how did people have fun in the early 20th century? You might think life…
The Wreck of SS Admella, 1859
Painting SS Admella in heavy seas.
Why is the wreck of this ship being remembered in the Australian maritime history books all these years later? Because it remains one of the worst maritime disasters in Australian…
Back in the Day (3) . . . Everyday Life and How it Was Lived a Hundred Years ago.
Schooling: Schooling has changed a lot since our grandparents were kids. These days we have computers, detention, graphics calculators and learning software to teach us. Back in the early 20th…
Did You Know?
Gas was first produced at Mortlake on 23rd May, 1886 - gas was supplied to the public on 28th May, 1886. The last electric train ran in Sydney on 25th…
Frances Ashton Remembers
1900 Bathing Dress
Excerpts from an interview with Frances Coskerie (nee Ashton) who, at age 90, was living in a local nursing home. I was born in Sydney on 10 April, 1885. I…
Palace Hotel, Mortlake
The original Palace Hotel was opened in 1886, the same year as the gasworks It was built on the river at the end of Tennyson Road, where the River Quays…
Ashton’s Baths
Ashton's Baths
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there were many tidal swimming pools along the Parramatta River providing welcome relief and recreation on hot days. Ashton’s Mortlake Baths, near…