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Read more about the article Gloucester via Newcastle in the mid-1800s
The paddlesteamer Williams, built in Scotland in 1854 for the Hunter River service. Image from the State Library of Victoria

Gloucester via Newcastle in the mid-1800s

Church histories aren't everybody's cup of tea. The theological debates and schisms that exercised many of our European ancestors are almost forgotten in the 21st century, and it's hard to grasp the central role that the church, in its various denominations, occupied in society not all that many generations ago. Today, accounts of the various doings of the churches may seem dust-dry and irrelevant and, as a result, it's tempting to leave church histories sitting unread on shelves. Now and then, despite this disinclination, I do pick up church histories and occasionally I'm rewarded with some…

Continue ReadingGloucester via Newcastle in the mid-1800s
Read more about the article Notes from the frontier wars, NSW, 1848
Unrelated illustration from The Town and Country Journal, December 14, 1872. Indicates how white people viewed the frontier wars.

Notes from the frontier wars, NSW, 1848

Ten years ago I was loaned two fascinating letters, which I was told had been written from the NSW settlement of Stroud in 1848. The letters are of great interest since they bear very strongly on the conflict between indigenous people who had been living in the area near Gloucester and the white settlers who were moving into their territory to claim the land as their own private property. For a long time I had no idea who wrote the letters, having been told they may have been written by somebody named "Robert Scott". Since the…

Continue ReadingNotes from the frontier wars, NSW, 1848
Read more about the article Stories from old postcards: Part 1

Stories from old postcards: Part 1

Old postcards can be interesting for a variety of reasons. For a start, they are often interesting for the subject matter they depict. And sometimes they also carry interesting titbits of historical information in the messages written on their backs. I've picked a handful from my collection and transcribed the often hard-to-read inscriptions. . Your parcel is on its way . . . This one is easy to read, at least, having been typed by a staff member of renowned Newcastle department store Winns. Mrs Lowrey, of Booral, has ordered a parcel from Winns, and Winns…

Continue ReadingStories from old postcards: Part 1
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