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Vintage Photographs and Photography

Read more about the article Wartime fears of a seaman’s daughter
Wounded seaman being carried from the damaged freighter Allara in Newcastle, 1942

Wartime fears of a seaman’s daughter

FOR young Daphne Roper the most important thing about any ship entering Newcastle Harbour in the difficult years of World War II was its funnel. Daphne’s father Alexander McMorran was a chief engineer with the “iron ships” of BHP, and she knew the company’s ore-carrying vessels bore two blue bands on the top half of their funnels. Seeing a ship with the two blue bands make its way around Nobbys was an exciting sight for Daphne, her mother Anne and her little sister Annie. “During those years, with Japanese submarines haunting Australia’s east coast, each goodbye…

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Read more about the article On a hot Australia Day in 1945
A broken water main on the corner of King and Darby Streets, Newcastle, NSW, January 26, 1945.

On a hot Australia Day in 1945

Believe it or not, this photograph was taken at the corner of King and Darby Streets, Newcastle, on Australia Day, 1945. A lug on a King Street hydrant had snapped off and for about 15 minutes some local children took advantage of the cooling spray. The photo is somewhat disorienting, since the buildings have long gone and the land they stood on is now part of Civic Park. Even the Salvation Army People's Palace in the background has gone, making way for the Conservatorium of Music. The now-demolished buildings can be seen bottom left in this…

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Read more about the article Maitland’s “double-headless” murders of 1960.
Police at the scene of the murder at East Maitland, 1960

Maitland’s “double-headless” murders of 1960.

On Saturday, April 23, 1960, Maitland reeled in shock when news broke of a gruesome double murder in a small isolated hut off Turton Road, not far from the East Maitland brickworks. Sydney Shelley, 34, and his 21-year-old wife Elva had been killed and their heads cut off and removed. The couple’s baby was found alive but distressed in a cot in the house. A post-mortem revealed that Elva had been pregnant with a second child at the time of her death. Sydney and Elva Shelley were murdered and decapitated When news of the murders broke,…

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