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Monthly Archives: February 2022

Read more about the article Mysteries of the Patriots

Mysteries of the Patriots

One of the loveliest and best-loved historic buildings in Newcastle, NSW, is the "Longworth Institute" in Scott Street, opposite the former city railway station. Designed by celebrated German-born architect Frederick Menkens, the building was commissioned in 1891 by merchant and brewer Joseph Wood and began its functional life as "Wood's Chambers and Auction Hall". Wood died in 1908, and the building was acquired by William Longworth - a tycoon of the times who had grown rich from mining-related enterprises and who kept the opulent Glenroy estate at Karuah, north of Newcastle. In 1928 Longworth donated the…

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Read more about the article The aged are politically expendable
Photo by Dominik Lange on Unsplash

The aged are politically expendable

February 6, 2022 Opinion by Greg Ray Imagine you were prime minister of Australia or premier of NSW. You had decided, for one reason or another, that you wanted to "let Covid rip" in your communities, presumably believing that the death toll and health consequences of that policy would not be as damaging as the economic cost of lockdowns and safety measures. I suggest that, equipped with the knowledge you had gained in your own country and overseas, you would have thought carefully about those of your citizens most vulnerable to the worst effects of the…

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Read more about the article Museum excursion to Port Stephens, 1880

Museum excursion to Port Stephens, 1880

Leafing through old newspapers often yields interesting material, some of it relevant to the Hunter Region of NSW where I live. The following two-part article is a good example. It provides an interesting account of a sea journey from Sydney to Port Stephens in 1880, purportedly to gather specimens for the Australian Museum. The author - who also did some sketches which are reproduced as engravings - describes a new fish-processing enterprise, the inner lighthouse and telegraph station and the down-at-heel city of Newcastle. It's also a rather bloodthirsty account, since the members of the expedition…

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