It is not clear how James Wilson (1834-1901) had obtained his ‘thorough knowledge of surveying.’ His family connections, his schooling, nor his early work in the English postal service can account for this skill which became so valuable to his adopted community in Broughton Creek (now known as Berry, New South Wales). Wilson was born […]
Keyword: Kiama
Eighteen Blocks of Gold
The first butter factory in Australia was established at Kiama, on the NSW South Coast, in the early 1880s. Until then the trade of dairy products occurred directly between the farmer and buyer. Butter was made in small quantities using centuries-old techniques to separate the cream from cow’s milk and churn it into butter. It […]
Something Blue
In the 1930s Gwen Wiley of Berry patiently cut out the silk fabric, sewed the seams and chain-stitched and embroidered these handkerchief sachets. And it may not have been an accident that she made them in blue. Gwendoline ‘Gwen’ Wiley (1914-1991) was the third daughter of John and Pearl Wiley. She gained her intermediate certificate […]
Tools of His Trade
When 22-year-old Leslie Campbell Lupton (born 1896) returned from World War I to his family home in Bondi in 1918, having been shot in the back and had the fingers of his right hand crushed, he must have wondered what sort of occupation he could take up. Before enlisting, he had worked as an insurance […]