Mary Reibey

LINKS TO NEWS STORIES (with opening paragraphs): It is the lunch hour. In Macquarie Place, office workers who spend their working hours in the tall buildings round about, have come out to sit on the park seats or the green grass. There, as they enjoy the warm spring sunshine, they eat their sandwiches and read…

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Elizabeth Macarthur

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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100 Years of Disappointed, Disgruntled, Discredited Husbands

Sydney Gazette, 16 October 1803 Sydney Gazette, 19 June 1808 Sydney Gazette, 12 February 1810 Hobart Town Gazette, 19 October 1816 Hobart Town Gazette, 12 August 1820 Sydney Gazette, 16 October 1823 Sydney Gazette, 23 October 1823 Sydney Gazette, 9 January 1826 The Australian, 10 September 1828 Sydney Monitor, 20 September 1828 Sydney Gazette, 21…

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Women of Sydney

I trawled the first three years of the Sydney Gazette (1803-1806) to see what I could find in the way of advertisements from women. The population of the town, less than 20 years after the start of British settlement, was just a few thousand, so there probably wasn’t much need or incentive to pay for…

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