Feather Curlers & Cleaners

Sydney Gazette, 11 August 1825 Not an occupation I can find out much about. Feather curlers were used by milliners to produce suitable feathers for their hats. However, if you read down through these advertisements you’ll see they’re offering a different, if related, service. Bearing in mind here, hats were necessary fashion accessory, and if…

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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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On the trail of the lady detective

Lady detectives seem to have come late to Australia. The concept of them was known throughmost of the Victorian era, as they were subject of some popular novels, including Revelations of a Lady Detective  (1864) which was advertised, widely, for many, many, many years in regional Australian newspapers. (It made searching… fun.) Tracing them was also…

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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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Fruit seller

Caption: “Woman [possibly Aboriginal or Chinese?] selling fruit from small barrow” Sydney, ca. 1885-1890, photographed by Arthur K. Syer From a series of Sydney street scenes, (Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

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Whereas My Husband… Or, What’s Good For Gander

Sydney Gazette, 28 July 1821 This is sequel to 100 Years of Disappointed, Disgruntled, Discredited Husbands. I have transcribed the longer advertisements/letters where the text might be too small to read and included the image, except where it’s an ongoing debate wherein I have just included the text. TO THE PUBLIC.— WHEREAS Mr. Thomas Arkell…

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Midwives, 1820-1840

Hobart Town Gazette, 21 September 1822 These are first advertisements that I found for female midwives. They first appear in Hobart and in NSW in the late 1830s. (There is an earlier ad for a “surgeon & man midwife in 1819). They are interesting in the amount of information given about the advertisers: credentials, background, testimonials. Compare to advertisements…

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Dr Stone & Dr Berne

Constance Stone: first women registered as a doctor in Australia Studied USA, Canada & UK. Returned to Victoria & was registered 1890. Established Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, operated “by women, for women”. Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) Wikipedia East Melbourne Historical Society: the life of Constance Stone (PDF) Australian Women’s Register (AWR) Index of…

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Midwives, 1899

Warwick Examiner, 19 April 1899 These are mostly for comparison with the earlier advertisements from 1820-1840. Evening News, 2 January 1899 The West Australian, 18 January 1899 Zeehan & Dundas Herald, 11 February 1899 Launceston Examiner, 19 July 1899

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