It is with much sadness we wish to inform you of the passing of Betty Stirrat on 2nd June at the age of 96.
Betty was a former member of our society and one of our last direct links with Dame Eadith Walker and the Yaralla estate. Her father was the electrical engineer on the estate and she and the family lived in “Magnolia”, the engineer’s cottage. This house is still standing and has been converted to a dementia daycare unit.
Farmer’s Letter Caused the Ute In 1932, during the savage depression years, a letter arrived at Ford headquarters in Geelong. Addressed to the Managing Director, it was from a farmer who asked simply: “Why don’t you build a car in which I can take my missus to church on Sunday and my pigs to market…
Why are so many people trying to re-write the nursery rhymes of our childhood to rid them of sexism, violence and social insensitivity? They should be left alone because they are important historic commentaries containing more than meets the eye. Not content with angry adults already knocking off Noddy, shooting down Biggles and black-balling the…
Bounded by Chalmers Street, Cleveland Street and Central Railway, Surry Hills, Prince Alfred Park played a major part in Sydney’s early history. Prior to the arrival of Europeans this area contained a tributary of Blackwattle Creek. It was known as Cleveland Paddocks after Cleveland House, built in the 1820’s and still standing at the corner…
Dorothea Mackellar was born Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar at Point Piper in Sydney, NSW on 1 July 1885. Her parents were Sir Charles Kinnaird Mackellar, a notable Sydney physician, and Marion Mackellar (nee Buckland). She had three brothers, Keith, Eric and Malcolm. “My Country” is a poem about Australia, written by Mackellar at the age of 19 while homesick in…
We are missing out on the Olympic Games for 2020, so we thought we’d bring you some trivia to think about while we wait for next year. In 1896 the American Olympic Team almost missed the Athens games because Greece was still on the Julian calendar. (The modern Gregorian calendar is 13 days ahead) Some…
There is no doubt that almost every Australian family was affected by World War One in some way or another. One sad fact that came out of the war was the intense hatred of Germans that emerged together with all things German. The German families who emigrated to Australia and were happily living their lives,…
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