Year 2021 has gone – and best forgotten. No visitors, no speakers, no gatherings. We just need to put it all behind us and look forward to a brand new 2022. Guest speakers are back on the first Saturday of each month and special events are being planned. Follow us on Facebook or check our…
The St George Community Transport group were finally able to visit our museum in January. This group of 20 visitors, plus carers and drivers had originally booked a visit just before the Covid-19 lock down and had been trying ever since. They spent about an hour and a half here, viewing the displays and enjoying…
As Lieutenant Ernest Shannon and his men waited anxiously for the order to go “over the top”, he penned a last goodbye to his mother, knowing he would almost certainly be killed in the coming assault on the enemy’s trenches. His note records the time and date of its writing. Below is a copy of…
Last drinks for 150-year-old Concord pub, hosted by three generations of the one family Following hot on the heels of the demolition of Parramatta’s historic Royal Oak Hotel, the NSW Government is about to raze another of Sydney’s landmark pubs in the name of public transport infrastructure. With much controversy and media attention, the Royal…
1927 Chinese Commemorative Scroll This was given by Kwang Lim Kwong, the manager of a touring Chinese soccer team, to Ernest Lukeman, the secretary of the Australian Soccer Football Association, in appreciation for his help in coordinating a team from China to tour Australia in 1927. The Lukeman family has lived in Drummoyne for several…
Ernest Lukeman was involved in restarting the Commonwealth Football Association after the war. In 1920 he was appointed secretary of the reconstituted Australian Soccer Association (ASA), and continued in that position until 1933 He is the unacknowledged father of the team we now know as the Socceroos. For the whole period between 1922 and 1933,…
At a meeting of the Australian Soccer Football Association in January 1927, it was decided to declare its bid for a spot at the Amsterdam Olympiad. Shortly after, a Darwin-born Chinese man arrived with a few football ideas of his own.Professor Kwang Lim Kwong came to Australia as a representative of the Shanghai Football Association…
Why “tock-tick” does not sound right to your ears. Ever wondered why we say tick-tock, not tock-tick; or ding-dong, not dong-ding; King Kong, not Kong King”? Turns out it is one of the unwritten rules of English that native speakers know without knowing. The rule, according to a BBC article is “If there are three…
From life-saving devices to modern conveniences, a raft of great Australian inventors have turned game-changing ideas into a reality and forever changed how we live. Historically, Australia has punched well above its weight on the world stage of timely inventions, scientific breakthroughs and cleverly designed new technologies. We are naturally inquisitive and, since time immemorial,…
The Darning Mushroom This darning tool was an essential item in 19th and early 20th century household as self-reliant women often had to make and repair all their clothing. Darning would have been considered a necessary skill for girls and young women, part of their education as future wives and mothers. The darning mushroom would…
At the time of the First World War there was little understanding of what today is termed post-trauma stress disorder (PTSD). Returned soldiers often suffered lingering psychological damage which, although largely unrecognised, was at least as debilitating as physical injuries. Doctors were generally reluctant to diagnose a patient with shell shock, attributing their condition to…
On 1 November 1666 farm worker Abraham Morten gasped his final breath – the last of 260 people to die from bubonic plague in the remote Derbyshire village of Eyam. Their fate had been sealed four months earlier when the entire village made the remarkable decision to quarantine itself in an heroic attempt to halt…
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