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Read more about the article A bushwalk takes Col back in time
Col Maybury in July 2024

A bushwalk takes Col back in time

Back in about 1970, Colin Maybury went on an overnight bushwalk with his two daughters in the Gloucester Tops area of NSW. Searching for dry kindling in an abandoned hut, he found three very old letters. Sensing these may have been of interest to other people, he transcribed them and wrote an article around them. He had planned to wait until 1987 - a hundred years since the first of the letters was written - but his elderly mother asked him to publish them earlier, since she wanted to see them in print "while I'm still…

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Read more about the article Success: the convict ship that wasn’t
A 1915 San Francisco newspaper advertisement for the Success

Success: the convict ship that wasn’t

Falsely touted as a former convict transport, the Success was a giant marketing fraud. But as a fake it was a commercial success in Britain and the USA, earning good money for its owners. Fakery aside, the career of the Success was certainly remarkable. Recently I saw an article posted on-line that discussed the convict ships that brought the first unwilling European residents to what became Australia. A photograph that accompanied the article confused me, since it showed a row of prison-cell-style doors below decks on the ship which somehow didn't match my understanding of how…

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Read more about the article The sailing ship Lawhill at Newcastle in 1944
Lawhill off the coast of Newcastle, NSW, 1944

The sailing ship Lawhill at Newcastle in 1944

On September 9, 1944, when the veteran four-masted barque Lawhill arrived at Newcastle, NSW, on a trading visit, the city must have responded with excitement. With the world still at war - although by now it was clear the Allies were on the front foot in both Europe against Germany and the Pacific against Japan - the appearance of a big sailing ship would have taken the minds of old-timers back to their youth, when such vessels were regular visitors in the busy harbour. Younger people would have realised too, that this was likely to be…

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