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Vintage Photographs and Photography

Read more about the article The 1926 Aberdeen rail smash and the heroine who saved a tenor

The 1926 Aberdeen rail smash and the heroine who saved a tenor

It was June 10, 1926, and the Brisbane Limited train was on its way from Sydney to Wallangarra with 143 passengers aboard. Among the passengers was a member of Australia's federal parliament and a number of members of the cast of a J.C. Williamson touring production of Katja the Dancer. Aberdeen Station, in the days following the accident The steel bridge over the Hunter River at Aberdeen At about 9.50pm the train, with eight carriages hauled by two engines - a heavy NN type and an AD class in front - had just passed Aberdeen station…

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Read more about the article Rail smash at Ardglen, NSW, July 9, 1926

Rail smash at Ardglen, NSW, July 9, 1926

Steam trains and long tunnels are a dangerous combination, especially when not enough attention has been paid to ventilation, and when safe breathing apparatus hasn't been provided to the train crew. Poisonous gases from the combustion of the coal can overcome crew members and the train can go out of control. This is what happened in the tunnel through the Great Dividing Range in NSW, on the line between Muswellbrook and Quirindi, on July 9, 1926. A 44-car goods train, hauled by a 53-class locomotive, stalled on the steep grade and the engine crew was overcome…

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Read more about the article Woodlands and Ellimatta homes for boys and girls in the 1940s
Woodlands, circa 1940s.

Woodlands and Ellimatta homes for boys and girls in the 1940s

While scanning some negatives taken in the late 1940s by former Newcastle press photographer Milton Merrilees, I struck a batch labelled "Woodlands" and "Ellimatta". Ellimatta home for girls at East Maitland, late 1940s. Photo by Milton Merrilees Having grown up in South Wallsend I was familiar with Woodlands as a home for boys. I recall meeting some of the boys who lived there, either through soccer or school. I had never heard of Ellimatta, but quickly discovered that it was a home for girls, run by the same organisation that operated Woodlands. This organisation was the…

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