© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

King Coal wants it all his way

KING Coal is an outlaw, of the worst kind. The coal industry is so quick to invoke the letter of the law when it comes to stopping people protesting against the worst of its destructive activities, or taking over other peoples’ lives and land. But when it wants to steal water, or rip off taxpayers or ignore the occasional court decision that somehow doesn’t go its way, the law can get stuffed. You can quickly and easily make a long list of shocking examples of coal companies in Australia behaving with disregard for the law. But…

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Manhunt: the Simmonds escape and arrest, 1959

When Kevin John Simmonds and prison cellmate Leslie Alan Newcombe escaped from Sydney's Long Bay jail on October 9, 1959, the manhunt that followed was the biggest in Australian history. Their killing of a prison guard at Emu Plains Prison Farm - where the pair had gone to steal supplies - guaranteed the full resources of the state would be put behind their recapture. Newcombe was picked up relatively quickly, about a fortnight after the escape, but Simmonds led the police a long chase, becoming in the process something of a celebrity. When the manhunt moved…

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Read more about the article A gallery of dogs and other characters
Dog in a toy car. Photo by Syd Smith

A gallery of dogs and other characters

Scrabbling around collections of amateur and family photos, several common themes naturally emerge. In previous posts I've covered fishing and beachgoing. This time it's pets - mostly dogs. People do love their pets, and they do love to photograph them. Here is just a handful of pet photos from our collection. Funny how dogs in photos so often look like the people they are pictured with. Thanks to Pete Smith for these classic motoring dog shots from his grandfather's collection. The photographer is watching the kids. The girl is watching the camera. The baby is watching…

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