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Vintage Photographs and Photography

Read more about the article Boambee, an unlucky steamer
Boambee, sunk in Newcastle Harbour, NSW, May 1947.

Boambee, an unlucky steamer

Boambee was an unlucky vessel. The 236-tonne wooden steamer was built in 1908 on the Bellinger River by E.D. Pike and Co for the Manning River Limestone and Steam Ship Company to replace its wrecked ship Kincumber. By the time it ran aground and was dismantled 40 years later (under the name Illalong) it had sunk three times, including once at the wharf in Newcastle. Boambee at Harrington, near the wreck of the Burrawong. Photo from the book The Good Old Days, Volume 2, by Jim Revitt. Contributed to that book by H. Emerton, of Jones…

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Read more about the article Pet emu ate the engine nuts: a guided tour of 1920s Swansea
Swansea Bridge, NSW, as it was

Pet emu ate the engine nuts: a guided tour of 1920s Swansea

Nearly every weekend and holiday from the mid-1920s to 1930, Maitland boy Neville Chant spent at Swansea with his family in their weekender on Black Neds Bay. More than 100 years old when I met him in 2019, Neville retained vivid memories of his beloved childhood haunts, and could paint an evocative word-picture of the people and places he saw. I asked him to take me on a tour of the Swansea of his distant memory. Here is what he told me: Neville Chant, sharing his memories of Swansea in the 1920s You have to understand…

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Read more about the article Japanese mini-submarines on tour
Japanese mini-submarine on fund-raising tour in Newcastle in 1942

Japanese mini-submarines on tour

On May 31 and June 1, 1942, mini-submarines, launched from a large Japanese mother-sub, the I-24, attacked Sydney Harbour.The subs caused havoc, sinking the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul (being used as a navy depot ship) with the loss of 21 lives before they were themselves destroyed. A few days later I-24 attacked and sank the merchant ship Iron Chieftain off the Central Coast, killing 12 crew. The Kuttabul, here seen being fitted out at Walsh Island dockyard, Newcastle, in 1922. After the mini-submarines were destroyed, Australian defence authorities raised the remains of two, assembled parts from…

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