In Defence of Little Museums

In Defence of Little Museums

Mostly there’s no blockbuster exhibitions, gift shops or touch screens, and no dinosaur skeletons or Egyptian mummies either.  Yes, small volunteer-run museums can seem like a world away from their better-known city counterparts. These city museums find it easy to focus on the “big history”:   significant events of the past;  wars, natural disasters, political events,…

The Ryde Bridges

The Ryde Bridges

Fourteen miles up the harbour from the ocean entrance at Sydney stand two bridges that are the access route over the Parramatta River from Concord to Ryde.  One, a railway bridge, was opened in 1886 as part of the construction of the Main Northern railway line. It was a lattice truss bridge designed by John Whitton, the Chief Engineer…

The Long-gone Industries of Concord (Pt 2)

The Long-gone Industries of Concord (Pt 2)

A list of Concord’s industries and commercial enterprises at the turn of the century gives a clear picture of how some of the residents of the municipality earned their living, although many others, of course, travelled away from the district to work. In the 1880’s and 1890’s twenty-five grocery shops were dotted round the municipality,…

The “Ten Pound Poms”

The Assisted Passage Migration Scheme was created in 1945 by the Chifley Government and its first Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, as part of the “Populate or Perish” policy.  It was intended to substantially increase the population of Australia and to supply workers for the country’s booming industries. Australia required an influx of 70,000 migrants…