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St James tunnels
Drawing by Bradfield of Interior of St James' Underground Railway Station, Sydney 1926, reproduced in a supplement to Building magazine, 11 September 1926 There is nothing people like more than a secret tunnel. And while a lot of people have heard…
Kathy Mexted, Australian Women Pilots: Amazing true stories of women in the air
Kathy Mexted, Australian Women Pilots: Amazing true stories of women in the air NewSouth Books, November 2020, p/bk, 272pp, ISBN: 9781742236971, RRP: AUD$34.99 Thanks to the determination, grit, and spunk of the ten women Kathy Mexted chronicles in her first book Australian…
Hanging out with the hangman
Nosey Bob, the common hangman, The Bulletin, 31 January 1880, p4 Today is the anniversary of the death of Robert Rice Howard, the hangman for New South Wales from the 1870s until 1904, who died on 3 February 1906. Listen to…
The Waratah Festival
Waratah Spring Festival parade, College Street 1960s, City of Sydney Archives SRC18259 Celebrating Spring, and named for the state's floral emblem, the Waratah festival ran for 18 years from 1956 to 1973. It was replaced by the Sydney Festival in January…
Behind you!
Billie Barlow as Jack Grist in 'Puss in Boots' 1901, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (P1/106) This week on 2SER Breakfast, Alex and Minna were treading the boards of the old Tivoli Theatre in Castlereagh Street looking for some Christmas…
Artists' camps
Sydney Harbour: A souvenir c1897, National Gallery of Australia (Acc No: 46598) The enthusiasm for painting outdoors, embraced by the Impressionist movement in France, hit Sydney in the 1880s. A handful of artist camps were established around Sydney Harbour in the…
Amanda Laugesen, Rooted: An Australian History of Bad Language
Amanda Laugesen, Rooted: An Australian History of Bad Language NewSouth Publishers, 2020, 314 pp. ISBN: 9781742236636, p/bk, AUD$32.99 'Oh, that book is for Rachel.' It was a statement. A bit like 'it’s started to rain' or 'it’s time to put the kettle…
True brew
William Bowra, Kent Brewery cellar foreman c1925. Tooth & Company Ltd collection, Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University Archives (Z223-10-13) In 1835, two brewers, John Tooth and his brother-in-law Charles Newnham, established a new brewery on the outskirts of the…
A Scuffle on the Scaffold: the execution of Thomas Kelly
'The Gallows' from the Keep Yard / the Scaffold at Darlinghurst, drawn by a Confinee c1890. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (SSV1/Gao/Darh/2) Any event that involves a large number of people, no matter how carefully planned, carries a risk of…
Meredith Lake, The Bible in Australia: A cultural history, updated edition
Meredith Lake, The Bible in Australia: A cultural history, updated edition NewSouth Books, 2020, 518 pp. ISBN: 9781742237213, p/bk, AUS$32.99 Meredith Lake’s The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History is now available in a second edition. When I first reviewed Lake’s epic…