Just a reminder that Trish Skehan will be speaking about her latest book, Frontline of the Pandemic, Australia 1919, at the Museum on Saturday, 7th May at 2:00 pm. Reading the newspaper reports of 100 years ago is just like readying the newspaper reports during the past two years.
Why not come early and take part in our Museum of Curiosities “Treasure Hunt’ to test your knowledge of times gone bye.
September 1948: It’s 75 years since Australia’s first HOLDEN motor car rolled off the assembly line. It cost £675 plus tax, or a total of £733 to buy. September 2, 1901: The first RUGBY UNION TEST match was played between Australia and New Zealand. The Kiwis ran out winners 14-3. September 3, 1901: Australia’s first…
“Whatever happened to the spare paddock?” asked William Olson in his nostalgic essay in the Sydney Morning Herald 1st August 1970. “It has gone, suddenly. Buried under Progress. . . . The spare paddock was wholly Australian. A wonderful place where a generation of young Australians grew up”: In the outer suburbs the spare paddock…
By 1891, with the six colonies at loggerheads and the Victorian and New South Wales economies in freefall, Australia’s great federation movement ground to a halt. The cause took another blow when its champion, Sir Henry Parkes, resigned as Premier of New South Wales later that year. The task of unifying the colonies fell to…
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…
These words, emblazoned on banners and blackboards, are found in the French school at Villers-Bretonneux, a small village lying among green fields just south of the river Some. This Anzac Day marks the centenary of a battle so bravely fought that one British officer called the victory at Villers-Bretonneux “perhaps the greatest individual feat” of…
He was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He is best remembered for his graphic photographs taken when he participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars. His artistic style produced many memorable images. He also used staged scenes, composites and photographic manipulation. ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIONS In…
