While today it’s considered a staple of men’s formal attire, the bow tie has more humble origins. Inspired by the scarves which Croatian mercenaries tied around their necks during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), the style was soon adopted in French fashion as the ‘cravat.’ In the 18th Century, a man named Beau Brummell – […]
Do you remember the excitement of a new toy? Australia in the 1960s was another world. In an era which was marked by the excitement of technological innovation, particularly the ‘Space Race’ mission to land on the moon, innovation was the key to childhood joy. The streets of Australia’s small towns rang out with children’s […]
Wounded at the end of the bloody campaign at Gallipoli, Lieutenant Leith MC was evacuated to a hospital ship. Anchored offshore at Cape Helles, Leith sketched his view. What he recorded was not just the landscape but the final weeks of the failed allied campaign at Gallipoli to crush Germany’s ally, the Ottoman Empire. Near […]
Thomas Nichols of Bonshaw, a small town on the border of NSW and Queensland, must have been a patient man. Crafted in 1917, this rope required a process that took him several weeks. Made from the skin of a bullock owned by Len Mott of Llangothlin, a town 150km south of Bonshaw, the first step […]
According to the manufacturer, the ‘Irish Mail’ cart was the only form of outdoor exercise that kept children in robust health: ‘Their bright eyes, rosy cheeks and well-developed little bodies will be your best reward.’ First manufactured in 1906 by the Hill Standard Manufacturing Company from Indiana, USA, the Irish Mail cart became a wildly […]
In Australia, particularly in regional or isolated communities, pharmacists were some of the most trusted and respected people as they applied their knowledge to keep their community healthy. Pharmacy in Australia was largely based on practices that had been established in England, where pharmacies were separate from doctors and held sole dispensing rights for prescribed […]
We know Ethel May Snow (née Lynn) (1900-1965) of Glen Innes in northern NSW, preferred to be called May because, in her portrait, she wears a brooch with that name at her throat. In the studio photograph, May is impeccably dressed in the idealised fashion of the 1910s. It was a style that would soon […]
Established in Glen Innes in 1886, Kwong Sing & Co was more than a store — it was a sensory experience. Visitors were met with the clatter of horse-drawn carts, the aroma of sawdust on wooden floors, the soft chime of tonic bottles and coins against shop counters. The emporium supplied everything from medicines and […]
There are ‘few better loved women’ in Glen Innes, northern NSW, than Miss Kate McCann. As the longest-serving teacher at Glencoe Public School just south of Glen Innes, McCann (also known as Biddy) had a ‘kindly heart’ and ‘sterling character.’ McCann was born in Ireland in 1865 and emigrated to Australia with her family. At […]
Lucky number 160? The Glen Innes Salvation Army Corps may think so! In 1887, they became the 160th Salvation Army corps to be established in Australia. The corps (church) was opened by first officer Captain Ernest Booth, who some believe was a relative of the founder of the Salvation Army in London, General William Booth. […]
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