The story of rabbits in Australia is usually related to James and Thomas Austin’s notorious success in releasing rabbits in the colony of Victoria in 1860. Earlier attempts in New South Wales had failed, but by the 1880s the rabbit population of Victoria was spreading north and starting to cause concern amongst farmers and pastoralists […]
Standing in front of this portrait of Queen Victoria you might wonder why there are vertical lines running through it but stepping to either side solves this mystery. A step to the right reveals a portrait of Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and a step to the left reveals a portrait of his wife, […]
Fashionable in its day, this travelling trunk certainly saw a lot of the world during its lifetime. Its journey began when it was purchased in Bombay, India, by Beatrix ‘Trixie’ Straw (1906-1985) and her husband, Arthur ‘Jack’ Straw (1893-1983), for their honeymoon in Paris and Venice. Trixie and Jack were married at the British Embassy […]
Following the frenzied days of the gold rushes, which swept across various parts of New South Wales and Victoria between the 1850’s and the 1870’s, there was an influx of Chinese miners from these areas to Holbrook, then known as Germanton. A vast number of these men sought to find their fortune in the abandoned […]
This handwritten letter was discovered among the contents of Beatrix Edith Straw’s travelling trunk, an object donated to the Woolpack Inn Museum in Holbrook. Beatrix, better known as Trixie, was born in Parel (a suburb of Bombay, India) on 2 July 1906. She grew up as the eldest of eight children in Parel and later […]
It is quite easy to picture this brass dinner gong sitting proudly on a sideboard within a well-furnished dining room ready to call the guests to dinner. The gong was produced by Koninklijke Metaalwarenfabriek Daalderop (KMD) of Teil in Holland. The company was started in 1880 by J. N. Daalderop, became known as KMD in […]
Margaret Prendergast was born on the 2nd of May 1854 in Clonpet, Tipperary in Ireland. Only eighteen years later and half a world away in southern New South Wales, Margaret became the school teacher at St. Patrick’s Catholic School in Holbrook, a town which at that time was known as Germanton. These silver cufflinks were […]
In 1902, the real estate agency Holmes, Wickham, and Co. received instruction to sell by auction a subdivision belonging to J. E. Spurr in Germanton (now known as Holbrook). On the 14th of March, the day prior to the sale, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express reported that Germanton was quickly developing, and that this […]
While Elizabeth Broadhead (1822–1894) was stitching this sampler, little could she imagine that she and her sampler would soon emigrate to New South Wales. Elizabeth was born in Barnside, Yorkshire to David (1799–1872) and Ann (nee March) (1802–1875) and the family emigrated in 1842 aboard the William Sharples. The family settled at ’Inverary Parke’ near […]
On a Saturday evening on the 7 March 1903, a banquet was held to say thank you to a loved and valued member of Narrabri. During the evening, Narrabri’s Mayor, Mr. H. V Mumford, presented Eugene Vincent Coleman (1863-1922) with this hand-painted address, still contained in its original wooden frame. Coleman was born in Boggabri, […]
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