Category Archives: Uncategorized

We’ve just had brunch – baked beans (Watties’ from NZ), toast, bacon and the last of our home grown tomatoes. And it struck me that everywhere we’ve been that was governed by Britain in colonial times has a local brand … Continue reading →

Early photography, and we’re talking 1850’s and early 1860’s here, was a cumbersome process. Photgraphic plates had to be prepared almost immediately before use – in itself a messy fume laden business, and then processed almost after exposure, so unstable … Continue reading →

Mount Buffalo was Victoria’s first National park, and really where winter sports began in  Victoria in the late 1800’s. So popular was the park that in 1910 someone had a plan to build a hotel for skiers and summer walkers … Continue reading →

At the top of the hill in Beechworth is a big complex of buildings set in spacious grounds which houses a hotel, some council offices, a day spa, the local ghost tour operators, the local arts society and possibly some … Continue reading →

Following on from yesterday’s family history investigation, I did what I should have done a long time ago, I had a look at the 1901 and 1891 censuses. The 1901 census was more or less what I expected: James, my … Continue reading →

I spent the week between last Christmas and New Year messing about with family history research. At then end of it I had some questions I had answered and I felt reasonably satisfied with my time spent with Scotland’s People. … Continue reading →

In colonial Australia bottles were valuable things. Before 1872 next to no glass was produced in Australia until Felton and Grimwade, better known as a pharmaceutical manufacturer, established a bottle works at Spotswood in Melbourne. Incidentally, the Spotswood glassworks is … Continue reading →

We were on Norfolk Island, a rock in the Pacific halfway between Australia and New Zealand. Getting there had been fun with an international flight on Air New Zealand between two parts of Australia – a legacy of the time … Continue reading →

We spent last week on Norfolk Island. J had arranged to go on a painting trip to the island, and it was only the cost of a second airfare for me to tag along, so why wouldn’t you, especially as … Continue reading →

When we went to Laos at the end of 2005, on a complete whim, I bought myself a hardback Moleskine notebook at the airport, and started keeping a travel journal of our trip. I later used these notes to write … Continue reading →