© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Audley Reay’s memories of Newcastle and the Hunter in the 1880s

Among some papers given to me by Barry Magor - son of transport collector Ken Magor - was a photocopied pamphlet titled: Memories of the Hunter and Newcastle in the Eighties, by Audley Reay. That name was unfamiliar to me, until I spent a morning interviewing centenarian Neville Chant, who unexpectedly brought up the same unusual name in the course of discussion, describing Audley Reay as Maitland Council's health inspector who once lived - according to Neville - "next-door to the pigyards". A newspaper photo of Mr Reay at the time of his retirement in 1939.…

Continue ReadingAudley Reay’s memories of Newcastle and the Hunter in the 1880s
Read more about the article Hartley Spurr, legendary bait man
Hartley Spurr in 1943, photo by Ivan Ive. State Library of NSW

Hartley Spurr, legendary bait man

Quite a number of years ago my elderly next-door neighbour asked me what I knew about a man named Hartley Spurr. I told him I had never heard the name, and he asked me to help him find out. All he knew, he told me, was that the name "Hartley Spurr" had made its way into a saying among some of his acquaintances. "If you wanted some obscure tool or object, somebody would pipe up and say: 'Hartley Spurr had one of those'," my neighbour said. I assured him I would try to find out, and…

Continue ReadingHartley Spurr, legendary bait man
×
×

Cart