A man with an eye for passing trade, Mr John Selfe built the Imperial Hotel on what was to become Wee Waa’s main road. The 40-room hotel had already changed hands a few times and was leased by Mr W. Maher when a fire consumed the street on Valentine’s Day in 1912. The blaze started […]
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It’s a familiar tale in the outback. A city slicker, rolling into a mining town with dreams of striking it rich, only to be met with the brutal reality of life in the desert. Brian Maloney’s cartoon satirically depicts what Lightning Ridge locals refer to as ‘Going Gougin’,’ reminding us that opal mining isn’t for […]
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Imagine if your monthly grocery shopping took nearly a week! In the colony’s early years, settler women and their children living on remote properties often had to travel a few days by buggy on dirt tracks to get to the nearest township for supplies. Overnight stays at inns and hotels were common, and a good […]
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Milton Price was born in Nyngan, NSW, in January 1921. Doctors didn’t expect Milton or his two brothers, George and Stanley—all underweight and two months premature— to see the next day dawn. Miraculously, the triplets survived and Milton had the opportunity to thrive. Milton spent his formative years on the family’s property at Trangie; riding […]
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