Sign of Respect

From a prominent place on a public drinking fountain in central West Maitland, this plaque saw many a carthorse approach to lap at the cool water in the trough below and townspeople stop to drink from its bubbling spout. The fountain was installed in 1889 in memory of Dr Robert James Pierce, and the plaque […]

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Out of the Woods

Seated at this elegant desk, Irishman John Hayes (c. 1861-1934) shuffled his papers, dipped his pen into his inkwell and meticulously inscribed his accounting records in his ledger books. In 1907, Hayes had been appointed as auditor to the Morpeth Borough Council and quickly proved to be thorough and reliable, spending countless hours at this […]

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Love Not War

On 31 July 1915, eighteen-year-old Winnie O’Sullivan stood on the roof of her family’s hotel the Lord Dudley. Here, she listened to the roaring crowd at the nearby Sydney Stadium, in Rushcutters Bay. Women were admitted to the stadium for free, but as a boxing venue it was considered no place for a lady. Inside the stadium […]

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