William and Annie McIlveen, who were members of two old and established families in the Inverell district, married in 1883. This pair of lustres, a wedding gift, decorated the dining room of their home in Brodie’s Plains, near Inverell. Surviving through the generations, they were kept as family heirlooms until they were donated to the […]
Nobody knows who made this horn, or when, but it’s believed to have sounded the daily knock-off at Colin Ross’s general store and flour mill in Inverell. Horn bugles can be blown with pursed lips like a trumpet to produce a single note that can resonate over quite a distance. The horn is decorated with […]
Until relatively recently, a strange ritual gripped Australian households at Christmas time. As families excitedly sunk spoons into Christmas pudding, they kept an eye out for a glimmer of silver between each rich and sugary bite. They weren’t simply trying to avoid cracking a molar. Instead they were hoping to find one of the charms […]
The Iluka Memorial Hall was fit to burst. One hundred and fifty guests in their best formal attire had gathered to celebrate the 21st ‘birthday boys,’ John Collis and William (Bill) Coombes. Attendees sat along formal dining tables decorated with fragrant flowers and Bangalow palms, filling themselves up with generous servings of crab sandwiches and […]
Since Australia’s colonial beginnings, Irish migrants have played a major role in the development of townships across the country. The Hickey family in Iluka, a small fishing town at the mouth of the Clarence River, was no exception. John Hetherington Hickey Sr. (d. 1926) and Eliza Gore Hickey (née Phillips) (1861-1894) were originally from Clonmel, […]
Prior to Federation, the six colonies were truly separate entities, each with borders maintained by their own small militia. But small permanent forces supported by volunteers and British naval patrols were not going to cut it long-term. The fallibility of these forces was broadly understood and so the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in […]
Sydney Wentworth (Syd) Nicholls (1896-1977) was the creator of one of Australia’s favourite comic strips, Fatty Finn (1924-1977). It followed the weekly high jinks of a rambunctious schoolboy and was drawn in a 1920s style which kept the series frozen in time. Though Nicholls predominantly lived in Sydney throughout his life, the success of his […]
Herbert ‘Bert’ Oxenford (1897-1966) was hooked on rifle shooting as soon as he won his first club championship in 1919. However, it would slowly become a family affair. Bert’s sons, John and Rex (1927-2017), were only teenagers when they first accompanied their father to the club (then situated in South Grafton). His passion was infectious […]
In 2006, as international visitors flocked to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games, another event managed to draw their attention from sporting fields to stages. Festival Melbourne was a cultural program of free events coinciding with the Games which promised eleven days of non-stop music, dance, street theatre, and visual arts in venues around the state. […]
When it comes to the history of circus arts, Australia has a major claim to fame: tightwire artist, Con Colleano (1899-1973). Born in Lismore, Colleano started performing when he was just a child and later become an international success by perfecting the forward somersault on a tightwire – a feat previously considered impossible seeing as […]
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