“Wilcannia, city of wind and dust, Queen of the western plains; Where man works for his daily crust, And it seldom ever rains.” (The Barrier Miner, Friday, November 3, 1939.) The Burke and Wills expedition is well known. Burke’s impatience on reaching Cooper’s Creek on November 11, 1860 and the unfolding disaster that transpired became [...]
It’s three years since I first started thinking about my new novel which I’m close to finishing. There’s been quite a few potholes to navigate along the way. Instead of my usual female protagonist I chose a male lead of Scottish descent and named him Ross Grant. Then I decided to track his life for [...]
The rise and fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) the magnificent eastern Roman city that endured for 1000 years must surely be one of history’s great stories. How Richard Fidler managed to break all those years into bite sized chunks and make it accessible is quite astounding. His young son forms part of the narrative following a [...]
When grazier Scobie Mackinnon married 1920s Hollywood silent screen actress, Claire Adams after meeting her in England following the Coronation of 1937 life at Mooramong homestead in Skipton Victoria was bound to change. Mooramong began its life under settler hands in 1838 when the squatting run was taken up by the Scottish immigrant Alexander Anderson [...]
Imagine owning pastoral lands equal to a third of the size of Belgium. James Tyson (1819-1898) was an Australian born, self-made ‘millionaire’ who owned a string of properties around Australia. His fame as a pastoral tycoon, immortalised by Banjo Paterson in the Poem T.Y.S.O.N. By the time Tyson finished acquiring pastoral leases along the Warrego River [...]
I’ve just finished reading these two literary works. One set in Civil War era America and the other in post-WW2. I didn’t set out to read two books on war but these authors are among my fav’s. Varina by Charles Frazier "Civilization balances always on a keen and precarious point, a showman spinning a fine [...]
In 1845 George and James Hope arrived on the western edge of the Wimmera district of Victoria, near the town of Edenhope (established some years later) a scant thirty kilometres from the South Australian border. They chose the shores of a lake as part of their 48,000 ha selection, naming it Lake Wallace after William [...]
For a bushranger to be hanged but also dissected for scientific purposes in order to explore the possibility of abnormalities, you’d imagine some strange behavioural type or perhaps the very worst of crimes. Although the facts remain a little hazy, the truth gone with Alexander Pearce to his grave, there is little doubt that the [...]
I'm heading to Forbes on Thursday the 21st & Friday 22nd June 2018 for the Forbes Shire Council / Business Chambers 'Girl's Day Out' event. There's lots on: a cocktail party on the Thursday night and a luncheon at the Golf Club on Friday, plus a Friday morning shopping frenzy. If you're in the area grab some [...]
Often I come across a picture of a woolshed or an interesting story surrounding one and I can find only the smallest amount of information on the building or the history of the property where it is situated. Sometimes there are also differing names and dates, the history tumbled together so that time and place [...]
