Gale Street, Mortlake Gale Street is a busy thoroughfare between Tennyson Road and the junction of Mortlake Street and Brays Road. Most travellers pass through Gale Street without realising that it is a distinct entity with a history going back more than a hundred years. Originally, Gale Street formed part of Burwood Road, a serpentine…
Wax Match Holders A match holder, a vesta case, or simply a “vesta” is a small box made to house wax, or “strike anywhere” matches. The first successful friction match appeared in 1826, and in 1832 William Newton patented the “wax vesta” in England. It consisted of a wax stem with embedded cotton threads and a tip of…
The 26 January, through 200 years or more of debate and controversy, has remained the traditional Australian celebratory day since that date in January 1788 when ‘formal possession was taken of the Colony of New South Wales. On that day, Captain Arthur Phillip became Governor of the Colony, having jurisdiction over the area bounded by…
All female convicts who arrived in New South Wales in the 1820s and ’30s without a husband or job faced a common fate: long days and even longer nights in the Parramatta Female Factory. This imposing sandstone building on the banks of the Parramatta River served as a workhouse, prison and hospital. Residents received food and…
Happy New Year to all
Doyle’s adventures in the Antipodes Arthur Conan Doyle had trained and practised as a doctor until the success of his Sherlock Holmes stories allowed him to give up medicine and become a full-time writer. His autobiography, Memories and Adventures, reveals a more than passing interest in the supernatural as early as the 1880s. In his account of…
Before Scottish expatriate James Harrison, then a member of the Victoria Legislative Council and owner of the Geelong Advertiser newspaper, making ice was difficult. In fact, no one had invented a mechanical method to produce ice or refrigerate items. Whenever you use your ice machine to create a delectable cocktail for guests, or crack open…
After the 1848 revolution, Eugène Dominique Nicolle (1823 – 1909) came to Australia to pursue his career as an engineer. Arriving in Sydney in 1853 with his first wife, Nicolle registered his initial patent for an ice-making machine jointly with Richard Dawson in 1861. Nicolle eventually secured the financial backing of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort for his experiments, which…
Tobacco Cutter A tobacco or plug cutter was a tabletop machine that resembled a small paper cutter, where a metal blade cutter was set onto a wooden base. They were used to cut tobacco leaf or plugs, which came in bricks, into finer and more useable samples which could then be put into a pipe…
The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) was formed in 1903 by amalgamating the nursing services of the colonial-era militaries. It was initially set up as a Reserve to provide a pool of trained nurses. It operated in peacetime as an auxiliary unit, with little consideration of how well it integrated with the remainder of the…
Bungaree, or Boongaree (1775 – 24 November 1830), was an Aboriginal Australian from the Kuringgai people of the Broken Bay area north of Sydney, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader. He is also significant in that he was the first person to be recorded in print as an Australian, and…
Christmas Dinners In my younger days, Christmas dinner always consisted of roast turkey, with lots of roast vegetables, green peas and gravy. This was often supplemented with ham or roast pork. Then, after a reasonable interval during which we allowed the food to settle, we proceeded to eat the second course, which involved a slice…