In February 1861 sixty Aboriginals attacked Coochin Coochin Station only to be repelled by the wife of the station owner L.E. Lester who wielded a revolver. A later inquiry heard that the Aboriginals had been angry over the loss of their native hunting grounds and it was also suggested that the homestead was too close [...]
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 [...]
Recently I was invited to chat briefly about my work at Gleebooks in Sydney. The idea behind this video series is to showcase the Sydney Mechanics School of the Arts (SMSA). It's Australia's oldest lending library having started way back in 1833 when reading was high on the list when it came to entertainment, for [...]
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 [...]
Wool was one of Australia's largest industries by the 1890s. But as the wool industry grew, so did the number and influence of shearers. By 1890, the Australian Shearers’ Union boasted tens of thousands of members, and at their annual conference in Bourke in 1890, the Union laid down a new rule, which prohibited members from working with [...]
This year I’ve thoroughly enjoyed remembering some of Australia’s most influential pastoral artists, painters who have left a significant imprint on Australian history through their depictions and reflections of rural life. To wrap up this series of blog posts I’m going to take a look at one final artist, well-known painter Russell Drysdale. Above [...]
The Australian bush has its own unique light; a natural glow that pierces through the Eucalypt branches and radiates across the land. An artist who recognised this beauty, and consciously immersed himself in these images of the outback was Tom Roberts. He was a creative who captured the vast perimeters of rural living and the [...]
The 1950s was a time of cocktails at 5. But far from being limited to more urban areas where devoted apron-housewives of the television variety waited at the door for hubby with a throw-it down martini on a tray, the bush had its own particular favourites. Yes, beer was consumed by the litre however when [...]
In order to attract a bigger crowd to the first Melbourne Cup in 1861, the secretary of the Victorian Racing Club, Robert Bagot decided to issue members with two ladies tickets, calculating that ‘where ladies went, men would follow’. The marketing ploy worked with a crowd of 4,000 men and women watching the race, although [...]
Influential artist, Margaret Preston loved stalking around the Australian bush. She left a great impression on the Australian art scene, and was both a talented early modernist artist, and a provocative writer, passionate about giving Australian art its own identity. With both her art and her writing, Margaret Preston pushed the boundaries, and wasn’t someone [...]
