The Iluka Memorial Hall was fit to burst. One hundred and fifty guests in their best formal attire had gathered to celebrate the 21st ‘birthday boys,’ John Collis and William (Bill) Coombes. Attendees sat along formal dining tables decorated with fragrant flowers and Bangalow palms, filling themselves up with generous servings of crab sandwiches and […]
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Since Australia’s colonial beginnings, Irish migrants have played a major role in the development of townships across the country. The Hickey family in Iluka, a small fishing town at the mouth of the Clarence River, was no exception. John Hetherington Hickey Sr. (d. 1926) and Eliza Gore Hickey (née Phillips) (1861-1894) were originally from Clonmel, […]
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Prior to Federation, the six colonies were truly separate entities, each with borders maintained by their own small militia. But small permanent forces supported by volunteers and British naval patrols were not going to cut it long-term. The fallibility of these forces was broadly understood and so the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in […]
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Sydney Wentworth (Syd) Nicholls (1896-1977) was the creator of one of Australia’s favourite comic strips, Fatty Finn (1924-1977). It followed the weekly high jinks of a rambunctious schoolboy and was drawn in a 1920s style which kept the series frozen in time. Though Nicholls predominantly lived in Sydney throughout his life, the success of his […]
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