© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Planespotters on the job in World War 2

ONE of Australia's military problems in World War 2 was trying to keep track of the movements of large numbers of aircraft over the giant land-mass. Planes, both friendly and hostile, crossed the skies at all hours, and it was important to try to keep tabs on as many of them as possible. A big part of the solution was the Volunteer Air Observers Corps, an organisation of thousands of civilian men, women and children who spent untold hours in observation posts they built on top of houses, on handyman-created towers in backyards, in the middle…

Continue ReadingPlanespotters on the job in World War 2

Dressing up: a goofy costume gallery

People love dressing up, but not everybody can score a role on stage. Family photo albums are a rich source of images of amateur actors, young and old, pretending for a time to be somebody else. Of course, almost all of these photos would raise eyebrows today for cultural appropriation. She's a fairy, of course, with spotless outfit in a lovely woodland setting. From a glass plate negative, circa 1910. Remember "F Troop"? This classic 1960s colour slide by Eric Sutherland shows youngsters Kerry Stahlut and Mark Sullivan at Newcastle's East End. The young photobomber in…

Continue ReadingDressing up: a goofy costume gallery

Remember Green Coupons?

In decades past, many Australian households had little pocket-sized albums in which were stuck hundreds of tiny stamp-like coupons. These were diligently saved until the books were full and then traded for items at special stores that were operated by the companies that issued the stamps. A number of these loyalty schemes existed, but for many years the biggest and most popular was probably the Green Coupon. It seems that Green Coupons began in the United States in 1896 when the Sperry and Hutchinson Company introduced their clever scheme, under which they sold sheets of "trading…

Continue ReadingRemember Green Coupons?
×
×

Cart