“It all started back in ‘66 when they changed from pounds to dollar – me bloody overdraft doubled.
Then they brought in kilograms instead of pounds – now I’m only producing half of what I used to.
Then they changed rain to millimeters and we haven’t had an inch of rain since.
They bring in Celsius and it never gets over 40 degrees. No wonder me bloody wheat won’t grow.
They changed acres to hectares and I end up with half of the bloody area I had before.
By this time I’d had it and decided to sell out.
I just get the place in agents hands when they change miles to kilometres.
Now I’m too far out of town for anyone to buy the bloody place.”
Sydney is made up of many fascinating suburbs and areas, many of which are such a normal part of Sydneysiders lives that they spare little thought for the history of these areas, let alone for the names they go by. Today most are simply residential suburbs, home to countless families. Mortlake is just one such…
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…
Until 1782, English convicts were transported to America. However, in 1783 the American War of Independence ended. America refused to accept any more convicts so England had to find somewhere else to send their prisoners. Transportation to New South Wales was the solution. Life in Britain was very hard. As new machines were invented, people…
Many of us have heard of this bay, and seen it as we pass over the Harbour Bridge. The name Lavender Bay conjures up mental visions of a sweet-smelling flower; however, the naming of this bay was far from sweetness. In the later part of the 1780s a Royal Navy ship, the HM Bufallo, made…
In 1825, one James Bibb, an enterprising spirit built a hostelry in a clearing by the stately gumtrees at Abbotsford Point on the Parramatta River, and soon the “Red Cow Inn” ministered to needy travellers by the Great North Road. These travellers, who for the most part consisted of small farmers or fruitgrowers from the…
By far the biggest change in transport occurred with the arrival of the motor car, though it was slow to make its impact initially as its was only affordable by the rich. The first car to hit the streets of Sydney, a 1900 De Dion Bouton, chugged its way along Harris Street, Pyrmont, in April…
