© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY
Read more about the article The Catalinas of Stony Creek
A Catalina flying boat at Stoney Creek, near Toronto, NSW, in 1947.

The Catalinas of Stony Creek

JOHN Cain was with his father, not long after the end of World War II, when surplus Catalina flying boats from the RAAF base at Rathmines were auctioned by the Australian Government's Disposals Commission. "I think it was Newcastle auctioneer Don McHattie who was working his way along the rows of planes and calling the auction from the back of a T-Model truck,’’ John recalled. He said his father, also named John, bought the planes with an idea to turn them into accommodation at Stoney Creek, near Toronto. ‘‘At the time he bought them, people said…

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Read more about the article Ron and Liz Morrison: life behind the lens
Ron and Liz Morrison, circa 1950s

Ron and Liz Morrison: life behind the lens

BECOMING a photographer was Ron Morrison's second choice of career. He'd have preferred to be a teacher, but a combination of lack of self -confidence and chance led him to the lens. ''I wasn't sure I'd get the marks I needed to become a teacher, so in 1948 I took a job as an assistant in a photographic studio in Newcastle," Ron recalled. A man from Tindall Studios in Hunter Street had visited Ron's school to sing the praises of photography as a career, and Ron, who had mucked about taking photos with a box Brownie…

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The nudes that started our publishing career

When people ask us how we got started on our career of book publishing I'm never sure whether to tell the truth. Because it all started with some boxes of glass plate negatives of naked women. I'd been at an ephemera fair in Sydney, and a dealer from whom I'd bought a few items suggested I visit his home, where he said he had thousands of collectible items for sale. I made the visit, and found a home full of all manner of second-hand and vintage goods in cabinets, on shelves and in heaps on the…

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