© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Dulcie Hartley

Read more about the article Rob the Ranter in 1861 Newcastle, NSW
The Herald article from 1993 included an imaginative artist's impression.

Rob the Ranter in 1861 Newcastle, NSW

Rob the Ranter first crossed my path 30 years ago. That was when my attention was drawn by the then archivist at the University of Newcastle, Denis Rowe, to the existence of an interesting three-part serial article that had been published in The Newcastle Chronicle in 1862. The article was titled Reminiscences of a Three-month sojourn in Newcastle, and was written by an anonymous figure who used the pen-name “Rob the Ranter”. Impressed by the content of the piece, I persuaded the editor ofThe Newcastle Herald to re-publish an edited version – again in three parts…

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Read more about the article Dulcie Hartley’s memories of the Depression

Dulcie Hartley’s memories of the Depression

Some years ago my late dear friend Dulcie Hartley shared these memories of the Great Depression with me. Dulcie was an amateur historian with wide-ranging interests. She wrote a number of very good books. Her Depression recollections are so interesting I'd like to share them more widely. Thanks to Dulcie's daughter Venessa for her help. My birth in January 1929 heralded the onset of a most disastrous year for the Goddard family. An unplanned addition, I joined my eight year old sister Vera and completed the family group. During the same year my father, Sidney Goddard,…

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Read more about the article A century of Australian Christmas
A 1960s Christmas. Photo from Barry Shoesmith.

A century of Australian Christmas

Going to sleep on Christmas Eve was difficult. As a child, growing up in Newcastle, Australia, in the 1960s and 1970s, I was unconsciously witnessing great changes in Australian "culture". The introduction and spread of television, consumer credit and the optimistic belief that increasing prosperity was a national birthright made for bright, shiny Christmases full of exciting material presents. Toys and games, big, brightly illustrated books, dragster pushbikes, Lego sets and endless supplies of sweet foods arrived with December 25, punctuating the long hot summer holiday like the bright star on the top of the tinsel…

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