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 [...]
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 [...]
Alice Springs the city wasn’t always known by this rather optimistic name. The settlement came about after John McDouall Stuart led an expedition through Central Australia in 1861-62, to the west of what would eventually become Alice Springs. Stuart was the savvy explorer that established a route from the south of the continent to the north [...]
For more than eighty years Quail’s saddlery business made, supplied and repaired harnesses, saddles and all manner of leather goods in the Cooma region. What makes this business so fascinating is that it endured through the advent of the motorcar, aeroplane, trains, buses, two world wars and a depression, finally closing in 1972. The longevity [...]
It’s a super moon, blue moon, eclipse and a blood moon. If we were alive in ancient times we’d be getting ready for some odd activities. I’m sure Nostradamus would have a chapter on it somewhere…. Full moons were and still are associated with some strange and even insane behavior, including the old werewolf chestnut. [...]
The New England area of New South Wales was opened up in the 1830s, when squatters moved their sheep northwards onto the tablelands. Having been displaced by the massive acreage granted to the Australian Agricultural Company graziers had no choice but to move further out, into uncharted territory. A remarkable area with bushland, steep gorges [...]
‘A hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of nature, the sort of place one gets into in bad dreams’. This is the description of the plains by English explorer Edward John Eyre, a man who was a definite authority on the Nullarbor after his successful crossing in 1841. This area is desolate, a vast [...]
A Scottish massacre and a shearing shed in South Australia. How history weaves itself around the world. A 30-minute drive west of Mount Gambier in South Australia is the small rural town of Glencoe. A community that was built up from a sheep station, the town and the property were named after the rugged highland [...]
High Country in the Victorian Alps. Home to the legendary cattlemen immortalised by poet AB 'Banjo' Paterson in 'The Man from Snowy River'. You can still find their historic huts built by the cattlemen for shelter when driving their cattle up to the plains in summer. These age-old buildings have provided protection from the weather [...]
