© 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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Mike Scanlon: history without cobwebs

It's disconcerting, but not really surprising, that very often as I sit down to write about some aspect of Hunter Valley history, I discover that Mike Scanlon has already been there and done that. Not surprising, because Mike has been working on Newcastle newspapers for more than 60 years with barely a break. Despite officially retiring 20 years ago, Mike keeps producing a weekly history column of remarkable verve and interest. By his own count he's produced about 1200 columns in his post-retirement career and he shows no sign of wanting to slow down. In conversation…

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Read more about the article Lancelot Threlkeld’s labour of language
Lancelot Threlkeld in his later years and one of the volumes of his reminiscences

Lancelot Threlkeld’s labour of language

When Christian missionary Lancelot Threlkeld first arrived in the colony of New South Wales he observed that many whites insisted that the Blacks had no actual language but simply made noises. He remarked that: This was a convenient assumption, for if it could be proved that the Aborigines of New South Wales were only a species of wild beasts, there could be no guilt attributed to those who shot them off or poisoned them as cumberers of the earth. While he was at Newcastle Threlkeld borrowed a tent in which, every day at first, he met…

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