Fifty Pounds Worth of Silver

Made before decimal currency was adopted in Australia, this bank bag was used in Berry by customers and staff of the local English, Scottish and Australian Bank (ES&A Bank) up until its closure. In 1884-5, the ES&A Bank began building a branch in the country town of Berry. The building was one of five small-scale […]

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Clanging of the Locks

brassy-coloured, metal padlock

Tough voices, heavy footsteps, and the clang of brass padlocks on iron bolts echoed around the cold stone walls and floors of the cell blocks, day after day. ‘I often think of the clanging of the locks. If an inmate wanted something, he would usually get the lock and bang it on the bolt to […]

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An Enduring Mystery

When visiting the white sandy beaches around Wreck Bay on the NSW South Coast in the 1920s-30s, beachgoers  must have been surprised by the curious sight of small, brightly coloured, earthenware tiles half-buried in the dry sand. Their once sharp edges slowly made smooth by the action of the waves. Hundreds of tiles, or perhaps thousands, […]

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