© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Milton Merrilees, Newcastle press photographic legend

Among numerous fine photographers to be employed over many decades by the Herald and Sun daily newspapers in Newcastle, NSW, the name of Milton Merrilees stands out among the best. An extremely dedicated newsman and a passionate photographer, Merrilees was popular with workmates and the public alike, establishing a reputation as a gentlemanly but tenacious photo-journalist. He began working as a cadet photographer in 1937 and was pictorial editor for the Herald and the Sun when he retired in 1979. With a career that spanned the years of World War 2 he saw tremendous changes in…

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Read more about the article Some of Australia’s Great War “trophy guns”
German trophy gun and Boer War memorial at St Kilda, Victoria, January 20, 1937. Photo by Bevis Platt.

Some of Australia’s Great War “trophy guns”

With assistance from David Pearson, of the Australian War Memorial As The Great War of 1914-1918 ground to its end on the European continent, many countries decided they’d like to collect and take home officially captured trophies of their victory. That’s not surprising, considering the enthusiasm with which many individual soldiers had collected unofficial souvenirs of various kinds throughout the entire war. Many German prisoners, for example, complained bitterly of being forced to hand over personal belongings to some of their captors. Watches, field glasses and similar items were particularly at risk of being “souvenired” and…

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Read more about the article Ice cream treat saved them from fighter crash
Aerial view of the crash site. A truck is parked outside Mona Bradley's house at 60 Glebe Road, where the doomed pilot's body landed.

Ice cream treat saved them from fighter crash

Mona Bradley hardly ever splashed out on treats for her grandsons. Having lived through The Great Depression and World War 2, she was one of a frugal generation. So it was unusual when, on August 16, 1966, she took the two boys, Peter and Richard, across the road from her house to a nearby ice cream parlour. Richard Bradley remembers the night of the Sabre crash, August 16, 1966. Mona's house was at the back of a converted former cycle shop at 60 Glebe Road, The Junction, an inner suburb of the industrial city of Newcastle,…

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