© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Read more about the article The Coffee Pot, at Toronto and Merewether
The Coffee Pot at Toronto.

The Coffee Pot, at Toronto and Merewether

It looked a lot like an old-fashioned outdoor toilet with wheels, with its weatherboard cladding and hopelessly unstreamlined shape. But the "Coffee Pot" was a remarkably serviceable little steam tram motor that functioned from 1899 to 1909 as a weekend picnic conveyance at Toronto and later as a coal-hauling engine at Howley's Colliery at Merewether. The Coffee Pot, looking its best, with trail car attached. The Coffee Pot was built in Sydney by Hudson Brothers. It was originally owned by Thomas Saywell, owner of coal interests on the NSW South Coast. It was used on the…

Continue ReadingThe Coffee Pot, at Toronto and Merewether
Read more about the article A tale of two world tours: the MGM trackless train and the steam truck Britannia
Britannia steam truck on world tour in Newcastle NSW 1971

A tale of two world tours: the MGM trackless train and the steam truck Britannia

A "trackless train" and a steam lorry made compelling subjects for Australian photographers when they visited the country during world tours at opposite ends of last century. MGM trackless train outside Auburn Garage, Sydney, c1928 . Among a number of interesting photographs in one collection of glass negatives we were privileged to borrow was this oddity: a strange train-shaped truck outside J.A. Goldthorpe's garage in Auburn, Sydney. A little research discovered that this was the famous "trackless train" owned by MGM film studios, which came to Australia in 1928 as part of a world tour promoting…

Continue ReadingA tale of two world tours: the MGM trackless train and the steam truck Britannia
Read more about the article A family’s journey from postwar Bremen to Greta migrant camp
Eastern European migrants arrive in Newcastle NSW on the Fairsea, 1949.

A family’s journey from postwar Bremen to Greta migrant camp

During World War II Australia’s industrial infrastructure received an impressive boost, as the nation fought to make itself defensible against Japan and to become as self-sufficient as it could. Much of this capacity remained after the war, and for some decades Australian industry flourished, creating jobs and putting healthy paypackets into the pockets of the working middle classes. There was so much work, in fact, that Australia reached out to Europe – much of it still struggling with postwar reconstruction and deep poverty – for more potential workers and citizens. Still unwilling to let go of…

Continue ReadingA family’s journey from postwar Bremen to Greta migrant camp
×
×

Cart