In 1788 a young gentlewoman raised in an English vicarage married a handsome, haughty and penniless army officer. In any Jane Austen novel, that would be the end of the story, but for the woman who would play an integral part in establishing Australia’s wool industry, it was just the beginning. Elizabeth Macarthur landed at…
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HARRIET CLISBY Storm-centre of Two Continents SPENT CHILDHOOD HERE Harriet Clisby, whose death is announced, wore ringlets and frilled pantalettes when she arrived in Adelaide in 1837—but she had a brain that made her a storm-centre of two continents! There was nothing early Victorian about the woman, who left a pioneer music shop in Adelaide…
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Perth Gazette, 17 October 1835 Perth Gazette, 24 October 1835 Perth Gazette, 27 December 1850 Perth Gazette, 13 Jun 1851 The Inquirer and Commercial News, 2 April 1856 Perth Gazette, 11 April 1856 Perth Gazette, 14 August 1857 Perth Gazette, 12 November 1858 The Inquirer and Commercial News, 8 June 1859
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I found this one on the wall of the tea room at Franklin House, a spinster and governess!* Charlotte’s brother ran a boys school at Franklin Village, but she “was forced to gain employment. This she found at the Archer family house of Northbury near Longford” (pictured above). At first she worked as “a governess…
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Adelaide Observer, 7 December 1872 Express & Telegraph, 1 August 1873 South Australian Register, 14 November 1873 Express & Telegraph, 31 January 1873 South Australian Chronicle, 21 November 1874 South Australian Chronicle, 4 November 1874 Express & Telegraph, 17 May 1882 Adelaide Observer, 23 July 1892 South Australian Register, 1 August 1893
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Jeannette Milne Photo from TAHO (Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office), record, available Flickr Jeanette Milne was a nurse from Edinburgh who came out to Australia during the time when the “Nightingale system” of nursing was still being introduced, hospital standards were generally poor and nurses rarely received formal training. (That’d be 1880s and later for most…
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Hobart’s “Grand Old Woman” The keen sense of loss that will be felt by a large number of Tasmanians at the passing of Mrs Henry Dobson at the ripe age of 91 years must be tempered by a feeling of pride in her almost unequalled record of service and achievement and thankfulness that she was…
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A slight detour on the way to NSW. I found this account in the back of a book, of the capture of Captain Melville. So, Victoria 1852… Having had a good dinner at the Corio Street pub, Melville and hie mate, leaving their horses in the stable, strolled along past the police. station, down a…
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I thought this would be easy. I could do a brief summary and then link to a web page. Of course that required finding a suitable web page. So then I thought I’d just do a short post with the little that I already knew, and that would do. But first, it wouldn’t hurt to…
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