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Vintage Photographs and Photography

Read more about the article The Wellen: Soviet ship in Newcastle, NSW, 1942

The Wellen: Soviet ship in Newcastle, NSW, 1942

A slowly evolving story, with some plot holes remaining to be filled. Why was the Wellen in Australian waters? And what about the Minsk, whose officers apparently visited the damaged Wellen in Newcastle? Why is information about that ship so hard to find? In May 1942 Japan and Russia were not at war. And yet in the opening salvos of Japan's submarine war against merchant shipping in Australian waters, it carelessly managed to attack a Soviet ship. This was the freighter Wellen, an elderly vessel of 5000 tons. It was apparently built in Britain, taken over…

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Read more about the article The Rose Stereograph Company: a snapshot

The Rose Stereograph Company: a snapshot

Anybody in Australia who pays even a little attention to old postcards will soon encounter some of the products of the Rose Stereograph Company. The publishing output of this long-lived firm (which operated from about 1880 until it went into liquidation in 2017) was phenomenal, and when the remains of what must have been a vast photographic archive went on sale in June 2021 with Lloyds Auctions, it attracted media attention across Australia. A young George Rose, taking a photograph. From the book, George Rose, Australia's Master Stereographer, by Ron Blum. According to a brief history…

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Read more about the article The great oil fires of Wickham, NSW
View from Bank Corner of the 1939 oil tank fire at Wickham. Photo by Russ Hughes.

The great oil fires of Wickham, NSW

Wickham residents were startled by a loud explosion at about 2pm on Saturday, December 16, 1939. Within moments the cause was clear: one of the huge fuel storage tanks owned by Commonwealth Oil Refineries near the waterfront had caught fire and was burning ferociously, sending huge black smoke clouds into the sky. Those who recalled the suburb's earlier scare with the fire on the oil tanker British Honour in 1930 scrambled to get their families and belongings out and away from the danger zone. A signalman - J. Sommers - at the Hannell Street railway box…

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