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…
Ten days after the landing at Sydney Cove on the 26th January, 1788, Captain John Hunter with Lt. Bradley, led an expedition along one of the rivers running into Sydney Cove. This is now known to us as the Parramatta River. Having left at daylight, the expedition proceeded up the river, passing several natives in the…
Bluey and Curley is an Australian newspaper comic strip written by the Australian artist, caricaturist, and cartoonist Alex Gurney. ln 1926 Gurney came to the mainland from Tasmania to try his luck as a full-time black and white artist. He did numerous cartoons including ‘Stiffy & Mo’. ‘Daggs’. ‘Ben Bowyang’ and daily political cartoons. By…
Conduct Prejudicial to Good Military Order The first casualties of the Gallipoli campaign occurred several months before the landing at ANZAC Cove. The arrival of 20,000 Australian soldiers in Cairo in the weeks prior to Christmas 1914 attracted a swarm of those keen to exploit this as a money-making opportunity. Historian Dr. Peter Stanley quotes…
We all have some possessions, collected through the years;Some bring happy memories, others bring the tears.Not many from our childhood, we didn’t bother then,We were far too busy learning and counting up to ten. When maturity came through we started to collect.Some we threw away later, the special ones we kept.And as the years went…