© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY
Read more about the article Twist of fate for the old man of the street
A 2009 photo of Alwyn, before we knew his name. Photo by Phil Voysey.

Twist of fate for the old man of the street

For years I watched him wander the streets of Newcastle. He was old, small and stooped. He was unshaven, unkempt, grimy and ragged. He wore dark trousers and a dark hooded jacket that covered his head. As days and weeks passed his trousers seemed to practically erode from his body, becoming more and more tattered until eventually they were nothing but strips of rag hanging from a waistband. Every now and then he would vanish from the streets for a day or two before re-appearing in a new outfit when the process would begin again. Most…

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Read more about the article Newcastle’s Palais Royale dance hall
Photo by Phil Voysey

Newcastle’s Palais Royale dance hall

In 2007 I interviewed Mrs Valerie Crane, the daughter of the man who created Newcastle's Palais Royale dance hall phenomenon. I recently rediscovered the interview, so here's what I wrote at the time. The man who invented the generation-spanning Novocastrian phenomenon of the Palais Royale was a keen violinist who moved to Newcastle from Tamworth in the 1920s and worked as an ironmonger for hardware merchant Frederic Ash. Fred Pears must have been a man of considerable energy. He worked full-time, played in dance bands and taught violin to aspiring young musicians. It didn't take him…

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Trove, Australia’s digital history resource

When there was talk a year or so ago of the Australian Government de-funding Trove, I could hardly believe it was a real discussion. Losing Trove - or even seeing Trove prevented from continuing to grow - would be a tragedy. Trove is a national treasure of the first rank. It's a digital portal - administered by the National Library of Australia - that gives access to historical newspapers, to magazines and gazettes, to photographs and to all sorts of other material. As a research tool for journalists, writers, genealogists and historians its value is beyond…

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