On Saturday the 15th of April 1905, the Sawers Shield finally found its home in Moonbi after six years of stiff competition. A yearly competition between the affiliated clubs of the Tamworth Cricket Union, it would only be awarded to the team that could win twice in succession or three times in all. Moonbi accomplished […]
Published by Angus and Robertson, this ‘Australian Copy Book’ was the fifth in a series of eleven, all aimed at training the hands of young Australians in good penmanship. The ability to write quickly and neatly in a ‘fair hand’ was a valuable asset in the labour market for office and bank workers. Phrases like […]
Ernest McIlveen (1898-1963) might have been around nine years of age when he demonstrated his prowess with scissors in his standard issue drawing book. Using coloured paper, Ernest diligently made thirteen kaleidoscopic designs, recording six of them in hand drawn graphs in the top left corner with pencil and ruler. He may have made them […]
When a young shepherdess named Bridget Coleman (1856-1873) was murdered at Moonbi near Tamworth in 1873, David Wiley (1815-1876), a stranger to her, penned a poem about this crime. In the simply titled poem ‘Bridget Coleman’, Wiley expressed deep dissatisfaction that authorities did not find and bring to justice Bridget’s brutal killer. But why did […]
At the start of WWII a British military intelligence division formed to support the war effort. One of their key objectives was to assist prisoners of war to escape if caught behind enemy lines. A range of escape and evade equipment was created, including silk maps, of which the creator Clayton Hutton described as ‘the […]
In 1873, when shepherding in a lonely valley at Mulla Creek on Kamilaroi Country near Tamworth, 17-year-old Bridget Coleman (1856-1873) was assaulted and strangled. The lock of hair shown here is Bridget’s. Bridget’s brother Thomas, who was minding the sheep with her, discovered Bridget’s bloodied body lying face-down. Alarmed at the sight of her lifeless […]
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We pay respect to them as First Nations people with a continuing connection to land, place, waters and community
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