To meet the growing demand for cordial and fizzy drinks, soft-drink factories established in many NSW towns and villages in the second half of the nineteenth century. The glass and ceramic bottles shown here were used by Heavener (later Ashelfords) of Blayney, Bathurst and Lithgow; and the Derwin Bros. at Carcoar and Cowra. They illustrate […]
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Along with ice-cream, advertising has been a mainstay of the cinema experience in Australia. Indeed, as soon as the large movie screen appeared it was used for promotion, and cinema advertising quickly became an important revenue stream for operators. In the 1950s, and before the main feature movie, these colourful, or ‘talkie’, slides were shown […]
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The son of one of the earliest Ukrainian Jewish migrants to Broken Hill, Ralph Krantz (1879-1948) was a central figure in the town’s entertainment industry in the mid-1920s. He bought the Crystal Theatre and roller skating rink in 1924, adding a glittering jewel to his empire’s crown in 1926 – a dance and supper club […]
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In the nineteenth century, among the traditions migrants brought to NSW was music. This included European band music and as many regional centres established town bands were formed. By the late nineteenth century the village of Eugowra, in the state’s central west, had its own town band. Among its members was Harry Esperance who rose […]
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In Australia throughout the twentieth century wedding dresses were often kept as a reminders of a woman’s transition to her new life as a wife, and for most women, mother. As a historic garment, a wedding dress can tell us a number of things, including information about the wearer and the times in which it […]
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Coiled straw work, also known as lip work, has a long tradition and is practiced by many cultures from around the world, including Anglo-Celtic cultures. Margaret Casey, who was born to an Irish father and English mother, learnt and used the coiled straw technique to craft this sun-hat in the 1880s. She made it from […]
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Barrett’s Ice Cream, the ‘Cream of the West’, was sold during the mid-1960s in this round blue-and-white tin. Barretts also packaged their ice cream in a waxed, rectangular cardboard container known as ‘The Brick’. For obvious reasons, this once-familiar packaging has not survived. Barrett’s Orange-based ice cream business was founded by Walter E. Barrett in […]
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In 2006 a number of Qing Dynasty coins were uncovered at the northern end of Fitzmaurice Street in Wagga Wagga. Originating in China they are tangible evidence of the Chinese ‘camp’ located there, alongside the Murrumbidgee River, in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. The story behind the coins reveal one of the many […]
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