A bushman with his dog and horse outside a humpy. This picture is thought to have been taken in the Hughenden district, QLD, around 1910-1920. By the looks of it it's made from canvas and branches and you can see cooking utensils near the entrance. A humpy (or gunyah) was traditionally used by Aboriginals as [...]
In the early years of the 1860s a young wife abandoned her husband and with her son in tow went to live with a stockman named James Taylor. This woman’s leap towards a new life would probably have never been of interest were her husband not Ben Hall, who at the age of nineteen would [...]
Loved, admired, loathed. Songs sung about them and poems written. To this day the infamous Ned Kelly remains an icon but with the origins of our bushrangers beginning with our early penal settlements it was inevitable that brutal times would produce desperate people. These men who were originally escaped convicts, glanced over their shoulder at [...]
Letters to loved ones were written and received here. Telegrams studied, cheques written, gummy envelopes licked, livestock tallied and stores listed. I’ve seen a similar desk in a mail order catalogue circa 1900. Except this one sits solidly in my office, a box of old nibs in one of the drawers. They are the kind [...]
There’s an art in making billy-tea and when properly made the average bushman will tell you that it’s ‘the drink’, far surpassing the kitchen-made variety. The billy or billycan is only at its best when it’s stained and blackened from usage. The sundowners – those restless souls of the past who would arrive at a sheep station at [...]
“Such a man, could scarcely fail to be a hero to his men” - The grazier who became a Major General. Bull Ryrie was tough, an outgoing man of the Monaro who could ride like the wind as well as being a crack shot. Born into a grazing family, after attending the King’s School at Parramatta [...]
The National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving the place of women in history. It’s fitting that it’s located in Alice Springs in Central Australia, an area that was home to very few women over one hundred years ago. Those that did forge a home out of the bush on isolated properties [...]
‘There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around That the colt from [...]
Today marks the anniversary of the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia – the Bombing of Darwin. On 19 February 1942, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, the ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields. The Japanese hoped to prevent the Allies from stopping their invasion of Timor and [...]
The history of the wool industry in Australia is a story of resilience and passion, rebellion and power. One company that positioned itself as a heavyweight in the Merino industry early on was F.S Falkiner and Sons. Established in the 1880s, the business went on to build an empire of sheep stations some of which [...]
