Twenty-seven people were all there
were when Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition went awry. Luckily for us (they
were lucky enough, all surviving after months and months), one of those was a
photographer, Frank Hurley, whose amazing photographs documented the 22 months
spent stranded on the world’s most remote continent.
Playing games while waiting for the rescue
Ernest Shackleton set out in 1914
for Antarctica, which he hoped to cross by foot with his men. However, when the
ship was stranded in ice, the crew had no choice but to learn to survive,
hunting penguins for food and playing simple games with one another to keep
occupied.
After ten months, when it was evident that the ice was going to completely take over the ship, Shackleton set out with a small crew on a lifeboat to search for some population of men that could rescue the others. An entire year later, he returned with help and successfully rescued every crewman.
Why don’t we commemorate its victims and heroes? ‘Spanish flu’, the pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide, made landfall in Australia by 1919. About a third of all Australians were infected and nearly 15,000 people were dead in under a year, yet little is known of its generational impact. Dr Peter Hobbins investigates….
The Moustach Cup The moustache cup is an unusual drinking vessel, uniquely gender-specific. that contains a semi-circular edge around its rim. This ledge has a small opening that allows liquids to pass through and functions as a guard to keep moustaches dry. British potter Harvey Adams, born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, is generally considered to be…
Industries of Mortlake – Cabarita Australian Gas Light Company Concord’s most significant industrial complex was also one of its earliest. The Australian Gas Light Company was established in Sydney in 1837, only twenty-five years after the world’s first gas company had been formed in Britain. In the 1830’s the city of Sydney was lit by…
Commode A commode is often assumed to be a euphemism for a toilet. Originally it referred to a chest of drawers or cabinet used for storing personal items. The name derives from the French word meaning convenience or suitable. French furniture makers in the 18th Century fashioned highly decorated cabinets topped with marble. These were…
Rev. Robert Samuel McKee Pickup, MC, ED Robert Pickup was born in Auburn on 30 December 1888. His early education was at Auburn Public School and thereafter at Baptist College in Parkville Victoria. He graduated from there in 1914 and was ordained into the ministry. When war broke out, Robert returned to Sydney where he…
Just a reminder that our June speaker, Ian Burnet, will be talking about his new book, The Tasman Map. It delves into the story of the first Dutch voyages to Australia, set against the background of the struggle of the newly formed Dutch Republic to gain its independence from the Kingdom of Spain and the…
