Newcastle Archives - Page 15 of 23

Ray Standen’s Newcastle earthquake video

Post author:Greg Ray
Post published:November 14, 2019
Post category:History Miscellaneous Newcastle, NSW, Australia
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Back around Christmas 1989, Islington man Ray Standen, 64, was making a video in Hamilton. It was a jolly yuletide film about the suburb - and particularly the shopping strip of Beaumont Street - preparing for Christmas and New Year celebrations. Ray had made video his hobby about three years before, after he'd suffered a heart attack and stroke, and he credited the hobby with helping him find a reason to keep living. (My source for this information is an article by Mike Scanlon, in The Newcastle Herald. I'm afraid I don't know the date of…

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at BHP steelworks, Newcastle, NSW, February 9, 1954.

Queen Elizabeth visits Newcastle, 1954

Post author:Greg Ray
Post published:October 7, 2019
Post category:History Newcastle, NSW, Australia Vintage Photographs and Photography
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On Tuesday, February 9, 1954, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II visited Newcastle with her husband, Prince Philip. It was part of a nationwide tour - the first visit to Australia by a reigning monarch. To say Newcastle was excited would be an understatement. These following colour slide images, by the late John Stedman, show some of the efforts the city and its traders went to to mark the occasion with vivid decorations and night-time lighting. Newcastle City Hall Hunter Street Hunter Street Watt Street Hunter Street Winns store by day Winns at night The Store,…

300 diamond rings a year: Caldwells jewellers

Post author:Greg Ray
Post published:September 9, 2019
Post category:History Newcastle, NSW, Australia
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WHEN Geoff Caldwell left Newcastle Boys High School in the 1930s, he told his father he wanted to be an engineer. His father laughed at the idea. "Dad told me I should just join the family business and help him run the jewellery store," Geoff laughed. He took his father's advice. The fledgling Caldwells jewellery business was launched at the end of the Great Depression years, survived World War II and went on to enjoy an extraordinary period of prosperity during the era when a prime location on thriving Hunter Street, Newcastle, was money in the bank. "We used to sell 300 diamond rings a year," Geoff…

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