Boston & Company

The first boatbuilders to use all local timber and build an ocean going vessel were the most unlikely boatbuilders  … possibly of all time.  John Boston was a young republican who decided to emigrate with his wife and three children.  At the time, five Scottish radicals were convicted of treason and sentenced to transportation.  KnownContinue reading “Boston & Company”

The Hospital Creek Massacre

In researching the Hospital Creek Massacre just north of Brewarrina in 1859, I kept coming across the likes of Keith Windschuttle refusing to accept that it even occurred. He writes; “I looked up Trove to see if any of the country or metropolitan newspapers of the day had reported the incident, but found no mentionContinue reading “The Hospital Creek Massacre”

Blacks Tribal Fight 1880s

Coffs Harbour and Dorrigo Advocate Thursday 14 April 1927 Blacks Tribal Fight A Unique Experience        Mr. Walter Harvie of Coffs Harbour, who is now 83 years of age, was the only white witness of the biggest aboriginal tribal fight along this coast in the last 60 years. It was about 40 years ago. Mr.Continue reading “Blacks Tribal Fight 1880s”

Corroboree 1775 at Wogganmagully (Farm Cove)

FEBRUARY 12, 2018 BY KEITH VINCENT SMITH YOO-LONG ERAH-BA-DIANG 1795 Keith Vincent Smith The engraving shows five Aboriginal boys among fifteen who have just graduated as men after facing the final ordeal in an initiation ceremony that took place in February 1795 at Wogganmagully, a shallow bay in Sydney Harbour we now call Farm Cove. Initiation, theContinue reading “Corroboree 1775 at Wogganmagully (Farm Cove)”

Busby’s Bore

The first pond you come across, when you enter Centennial Park at the Entertainment Quarter gates, is called Busby’s Pond.  In the mid 1820’s, the chain of fresh water ponds that are now enclosed within Centennial Park were known as “Lachlan Swamps”.  It was the closest source of fresh water for colonial Sydney.  It wasContinue reading “Busby’s Bore”

Sydney’s Garden Palace 1879-1882

My GGgrandfather George Coleman Robinson was born into a coach building business at Cheshunt on the northern outskirts of London.  The London to Greenwich railway was completed between 1836-38 and in his memoirs, he tells of his father taking him to see it and declaring that it is going to spell the end of coachesContinue reading “Sydney’s Garden Palace 1879-1882”

Aboriginal skin cloaks

https://www.nationalquiltregister.org.au/aboriginal-skin-cloaks/ by Fabri Blacklock Assistant Curator, Koori History and Culture, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Aboriginal people throughout south-eastern and western Australia wore skin cloaks, as these temperate zones were much cooler than the northern parts of Australia. The cloaks were made from the skins of possums, kangaroos, wallabies and other fur bearing animals. Early European observationsContinue reading “Aboriginal skin cloaks”