Sixpence a Bag

These hard homes of tiny soft bodied molluscs that once lived on the sandy bottom of the Pacific Ocean, washed up on the beaches of the Solomon Islands, and eventually became souvenirs for Paulene White, a young woman from Morpeth, NSW. While employed by the British government, probably in the 1950s, Paulene travelled from her […]

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Commerce and Grandeur

A grand house deserves fancy furniture. Perhaps that’s why James Martin Hillhouse Taylor (c1814-1875) purchased this elaborate dining chair and ‘grandmother’ chair in about 1849 – to furnish his new residence in Morpeth. As a shipping agent for the Hunter Valley Steam Navigation Company, with a profitable side business selling spirits and other goods, Taylor […]

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