© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Childhood memories of The Newcastle Show

Newcastle Show, to me as a child in the 1960s, was an extravagant feast for the senses that marked it as one of the great highlights of the year. The smells, sounds, lights and crowds of the nighttime show made it seem to me like a magical town, with its streets and alleys and the big public square of the main ring. I drank in the excitement of the event with wide-eyed enthusiasm. The Show really seemed like a city to me – so huge, with so many different areas, each with an entirely different feel,…

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Read more about the article A gallery of motorcycle photos
Mount Hudson, past Rose Brook, Hunter Valley, NSW. Photo by Doug Brown.

A gallery of motorcycle photos

Rummaging among collections and albums of old photographs and negatives I very often find images of motorcycles. And from talking to old-timers I gather that motorbikes were seen for many years as a relatively inexpensive means of transport. When coupled with a sidecar they were cheaper than a small car - both to buy and to run. That's not to say they didn't have an aura of glamour about them. Here's a selection of some vintage motorcycle photos, gathered from a variety of sources. It's got pedals, but it's also got a motor. Does that make…

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Shelley Beach, Mayfield: a casualty of industry

The rare photograph above, taken by Newcastle girl Doris Schuck in about 1919, shows Shelley Beach, on the Hunter River at Mayfield. Shelley Beach and its adjoining park were treasured by Newcastle people until overwhelming pressure from the BHP steelworks led to the public reserve being handed over to the corporate giant for reclamation and industrial expansion. These days the former park and beach are buried under tonnes of industrial fill in the approaches to the Tourle Street bridge, leading to what is now Kooragang Island.Shelley Beach fronted “Platt’s Channel”, once a broad arm of the…

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