Newcastle, NSW, Australia Archives - Page 23 of 64

Gloster Meteor jet fighters on service with the RAAF in Korea.

Fatal Meteor jet crash at Williamtown, NSW, 1957

Post author:Greg Ray
Post published:December 10, 2020
Post category:Aviation History Militaria Newcastle, NSW, Australia Vintage Photographs and Photography
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Recently, while I was visiting old acquaintances Doug and Peggy Paton, Doug mentioned a terrible plane crash he said he witnessed while he was a member of the Royal Australian Air Force, working at Williamtown fighter base north of Newcastle. Doug said the plane crashed while landing at the base, and he feared at one point that it might have smashed into the building where he was working. It was around meal time, he said, and there were few people around. Doug Paton in his RAAF uniform in the 1950s. He showed me some photos he…

Nobbys sunset 2017 by Mark Goolmeer

Newcastle by Itself, 2000 – 2020

Post author:Greg Ray
Post published:November 6, 2020
Post category:Greg Ray's Writing Miscellaneous Newcastle, NSW, Australia Vintage Photographs and Photography
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WHEN 2020 began with a storm of anxiety about fires, drought and the global pandemic, we found ourselves locked down and wondering what sort of book we should create this year. Sylvia had been talking for some time about putting together a book of contributed digital images - ever since a discussion about the potentially transient nature of digital data compared with the relative durability of old-school photographic negatives. I mean, in theory, digital data might seem more durable, but hard-drive failures, flash memory corruption and outright technological change suggests the opposite may be the case.…

Newspapers, families and skeletons

Post author:Greg Ray
Post published:September 30, 2020
Post category:- Personal writing Greg Ray's Writing History Newcastle, NSW, Australia
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It's interesting to see how much newspapers have changed in Australia. And interesting too, to reflect on how much is lost when small papers close. From the point of view of historical or family researchers, old newspapers are a tremendous storehouse of information, from important stories to bits of trivia that help flesh out pictures of people in the receding branches of family trees. While access to many old papers is difficult, Australia's amazing Trove resource offers much more than many people might imagine, as I discovered this week. It started when it suddenly occurred to…

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