CIRCUMNAVIGATING AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY - TROVE TUESDAY 19th MAR 2019 Pt. 19

    N.B. Very approximate position

Ever wanted to circumnavigate Australia? We still have a way to go...we'll be going on quite a journey, at least virtually, and clockwise. So as to make sure all states and territories are covered, we started in Western Australia and explored a little of the early history of a small part of this massive state via TROVE...from Rottnest Island to Broome..then across to Katherine Gorge, then Tennant Creek, from there to Darwin on the way to the Tiwi Islands, Bathurst and Melville.

We've had to travel back to Darwin, before leaving the Northern Territory, then across to Cairns, in North Queensland... but we didn't stop there, instead headed to the tropical north, to one of the most beautiful areas you can imagine... isolated yes, but perfect for that great getaway... to Cape Tribulation. It seems you loved that area so well, that Cairns was the obvious place to travel to next... not too far south. That was another very popular place...as was our visit to Fraser Island...

We then headed inland, on an approximately 6 hours flight to a place steeped in history.. what a contrast to the sub tropical island of Fraser ...no waterfalls or clear lakes or rainforest, but Longreach has so much to offer.

We then returned to Hervey Bay, by plane, and then took a short drive of approximately 25 minutes to a town founded in 1847... the charming historical town of Maryborough. So many of you loved that place as I do.

What a contrast the next destination was, though it is also very much steeped in history... a beautiful place, but it was a place of horror, of deprivation and loneliness... St. Helena Island. To get there, we left on a ferry from Manly, across to the island. 

Then we returned to Brisbane, to explore the beautiful, sub tropical capital city of the Sunshine State. Brisbane today, is the third largest city in Australia and growing rapidly... 

It has come a long way from it's beginnings as the Moreton Bay convict settlement, with such an interesting history. In an earlier issue, we explored some of the history of Brisbane, then visited Brisbane of a later period. There is so much to see and do in this beautiful city, once known as the biggest country town in Australia...

After a break, we resumed our travels...  heading in to New South Wales... not too far over the border, to a place that literally stands out, begging to be noticed. It was first given a European name by Captain James Cook...  he recorded seeing " a remarkable sharp peaked mountain lying inland". That place was the very imposing Mt. Warning.. you can refresh your memory here

The New Year saw us travelling again, refreshed and ready to go to yet another beautiful place. Many of you will have stopped there, if only to get a photo taken on the border between Queensland and New South Wales..Coolangatta one side, Tweed Heads on the other. Hard to believe that this was only known as Point Danger in times past, as indeed it was... the lighthouse is a clue... 

That place brought back many wonderful memories for so many of you...it was lovely to read your comments and receive your emails..

We moved south again, to a place that means a lot to my family, but also has a very colourful past. It is beautiful, a popular tourist place, the centre of a very busy district, steeped in Australia's colonial history.. it's the bustling town of Port Macquarie. It is around 5 hours drive south of Point Danger.

I concentrated on the convict history of Port Macquarie, perhaps we will return another time to see how the city has changed.

We then headed down the coast a bit, then inland, to another town connected to my family.. the country town of Aberdeen, where my father and five of his brothers were born, him being the youngest. It seems many of you have driven through this town, but never explored it. You would have passed my family's old home .. on the north side of town, just over the bridge on the left hand side heading north.

After backtracking a few hours and heading back to the coast, we explored the bustling city of Newcastle. It was great to hear that a number of you who thought you knew Newcastle reasonably well found a few new places to check out on your next visit.

It was only a relatively short drive, just a couple of hours away from Newcastle, to our next destination... Wiseman's Ferry. Heard of it, but never been there? It took me many years to actually visit, but I'm glad I did. This is another place that has a family connection for me... this time, on my maternal line...and so many of you enjoyed the visit also, going by your comments and emails. Thank you.

Now we're heading to a place that I'm sure most of have heard of, once a year at least... a reasonably thriving place which has the best New Year's Eve fireworks in the world. 

Sydney Harbour Bridge (i)

Ok, I could be slightly biased and yes, it is Sydney, capital of New South Wales, site of the oldest settlement in Australia and another place which is linked to my family.





Then again, this looks rather familiar to most...

Sydney Opera House (ii)

Maybe fewer of you have ever seen or know of this icon...at least from this vantage point..

Sydney Tower (Centrepoint)  (iii)

Darling Harbour is also a great attraction, there is so much to do and see there.. 
just one aspect of it is beautifully portrayed by 
this game...

Darling Harbour (iv)

All stunning buildings/places, however the ones that really get my attention are those places and buildings of long ago, some of which are still standing and a few are still in use, either for everyday needs or as monuments to the past.

Darling Harbour looked a little different in 1900.. 

Darling Harbour 1900.. (v)

Lachlan Macquarie, who was selected to be Governor of NSW in 1809 and took office in 1810, had quite a few ideas for the development of the new settlement of Sydney, as outlined in this article...

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Saturday 6 October 1810  National Library of Australia    http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628087

By 1878, there had been lots of progress...

Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 20 April 1878

National Library of Australia  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162692441

This article appeared across several publications in a similar form...

National Library of Australia     http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211166061

Among the many items available through TROVE is this interesting book.. you can read the whole edition here... courtesy of

The Australian Historical Society ...

Historical Sketches of Early Churches in NSW....

Two of the older buildings still standing and in use are as follows...

Lord Nelson Hotel & Brewery - Miller's Point, Sydney, New South Wales. Built c1836. Licence issued 1842. The Lord Nelson is the oldest working licensed hotel in Sydney. Located at 19 Kent Street, on the corner of Argyle Place.

Cadman's Cottage - The Rocks NSW

Cadman's Cottage - The Rocks NSW. Built 1816 as the Coxswains Barracks, it gets its name from John Cadman, the longest serving and final Coxswain to reside there from 1827 to 1846. It was located on the original shoreline of Semi-Circular Quay, as it was then known. From 1846 it was the headquarters of the Water Police up until the construction of the Water Police Courts in Philip Street.

It continued to be used as a lockup by the Water Police, and in 1864 became the residence of the Superintendent of the Sailor's Home next door. It was vacant by 1962 and in 1970 it was acquired by the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority. It is the third oldest building in Sydney. Located on George Street.

www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDe...

Three images above are courtesy of sv1ambo Some rights reserved

    

The following are courtesy of TROVE.. both still in use...one as a heritage home to visit..

Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta, 15 miles from Sydney. The oldest building in Australia, built by John Macarthur, a British army officer, who founded the Australian wool industry and pioneered the breeding of merino ship, on a grant of 1900 acres in 1793. Photographer J. Fitzpatrick 1961.

Garden Island Naval Base.. buildings 21 & 22...oldest buildings on the base. City of Sydney Archives.

There are so many more beautiful old buildings around Sydney, a thriving metropolis, which, at this stage, still has retained much of it's past... but for how long? Perhaps we need to revisit while we can...

Credits and further reading..

Sydney Harbour Bridge  (i)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge

Adam.J.W.C. - Own work      CC BY 3.0

Sydney Opera House (ii)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House

Solvasity CC BY-SA 4.0

Sydney Tower (Centrepoint)  (iii)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tower

Sardaka  CC BY-SA 3.0

Market Street, Sydney, Centrepoint Tower in centre, monorail on the right (now dismantled) (6x6 slide scanned at 6400)

Darling Harbour   (iv)

deepfocus   Some rights reserved

https://darlingharbour.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darling_Harbour

Darling Harbour 1900  (v)

Powerhouse Museum     Public Domain

modern website        https://darlingharbour.com

Biography of Lachlan Macquarie

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macquarie-lachlan-2419

TROVE TUESDAY 1ST AUGUST, 2017 - WEEK 1 RUTH PARK - POOR MAN'S ORANGE WEEK

Today marks the beginning of National Family History Month... each week the Blogging Challenge has a suggested theme.

 This week it is as in the title..

WEEK 1 RUTH PARK - POOR MAN'S ORANGE WEEK ...


As a long time fan of Ruth Park, I had already written a post on her, which I hope many of you have already read, but just in case you missed it, there is an excerpt at the end of the page and the link to the whole post...

POOR MAN'S ORANGE  was set in the then working class suburb of Surry Hills. The Dictionary of Sydney, a great go to site, has a very comprehensive article on the history of Surry Hills...





From the collection of the 

State Library of New South Wales

[a147197 / PXE 92, 197]

Another site, one of a few, tells of the history of Surrey Hills..

http://www.surrey-hills.com.au/surrey-hills-history.html

 A few excerpts...

If the worn sandstone street kerbing of Surry Hills, Sydney, could talk it would tell some of the most riveting tales of Australia's past.

......................

Surry Hills history mirrors the history of Sydney city. Soon after the First Fleet's 1788 arrival at Sydney Cove, wealthy settlers spread into the fringe areas but within a few decades the wealthy were moving further out of town and the working class was taking over Surry Hills.

By the turn of the century, Surry Hills had become very overcrowded because of this shift in the population.

......................

When walking past the rows of Victorian terraces today, it is hard to image that 19th and early 20th century Surry Hills was indeed even more crowded.

......................

                 

From the collection of the 

                                                           State Library of New South Wales

                                                          [d1_37992 / GPO1 37992]

However, my interest is a bit more personal. This is the Crown Street Women's Hospital .. where I was born. My mother was very young and was also very ill at the time of my birth. Her memories were very mixed of her experience there. She was in a large ward with women of all ages..what she first noticed was that there were few male visitors, in fact, few visitors at all. 

The staff were very offhanded with her and dismissive of most requests. The first day she had trouble getting anyone to listen to her, or even to get a drink of water. 

Image courtesy of State Library of NSW

She had been admitted with some bleeding and when she asked to be changed, she was told that it didn't matter, it'd all be over soon and then she could leave and find somewhere to stay. She protested and said she needed help, then got reprimanded for getting herself into trouble and expecting others to take care of her problems. It was only when the sister left, that another patient told her they treated all unmarried girls like that. My mother was horrified, she was married and showed the girl her ring. She just laughed and said we all buy one of those, not that it makes much difference. 

 It wasn't till a few hours later when my Dad arrived and insisted on seeing her, that they accepted that she wasn't putting her baby up for adoption as the others were...It took quite some convincing, but she was moved to another ward on my father's insistence. The attitude there was entirely different and she not only got the help that she needed, but an apology as demanded by my father.  He was horrified that any of the mothers to be were treated as Mum was.. he tried to get the newspapers to publish a story about it, but they were reluctant to do so, using the excuse that if the girls couldn't go there, they would be forced into having their babies in the streets... as few places would take unmarried mothers.

 In later years, more stories were revealed... such as this...

 My mother never quite forgave them for treating her and the others  in the first ward as if they didn't matter and spent much of her life quietly helping girls who 'got into trouble' as they said then.

Thankfully, those days blended into others.. changes in attitudes and acceptance over time meant that society didn't, for the most part, treat people like that. By no means were all the staff like this, I have nothing but praise for nurses in general, but it always saddens me that my teenage mum went through such a terrible time. She had no mother to assist her, she had died when my mother was just 11, and must have felt so alone. My parents were always very close all their lives and when Mum passed at just 51, it broke my Dad's heart.

 One of my mother's sisters had been born there many years before, so my mother had been very confident about going there.


 Crown Street Women's Hospital closed in 1983, and with it, went so many memories, some good, some not so good. It was known to be an innovative place regarding women's health and re the survival rate of babies that may have been a lot less if born elsewhere. It had many good outcomes, but hidden away are also many sad stories. 

......................

TROVE TUESDAY, 4TH APRIL, 2017 : A BUSY PARK, RUTH BY NAME

TROVE

THE GIFT THAT GIVES ON GIVING

http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/51576616

pre 1947 

reproduction rights owned by the State Library NSW

I would think that few of us would instantly recognise this lady, but there would be few Australians, and lovers of great stories, who wouldn't recognise a number of her thoughtful portrayal of the lives of early Australians in "Poor Man's Orange" and "Harps of the South".. the author is Ruth Park. I loved both those books and have reread them over the years. I don't recall reading the third in the trilogy, "Missus".. I must look for that. 

Her works included novels, non-fiction and also children's books. She also wrote the children's serial "The Muddle Headed Wombat"...

Rosina Ruth Lucia Park was born on the 21st August, 1917 in Auckland and though she didn't migrate to Australia till 1942, she is often thought of as an Australian writer. I like to think that both New Zealand and Australia can share her.

She lived till the age of 93, passing away on 14 December, 2010.

There is a wealth of information 'freely available' in the 'Pictures, photos, objects' section of TROVE.

You can even read one of her childrens' books, Playing Beatie Bow, by going to open library at 

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4262325M/Playing_beatie_bow

either online, or by borrowing the ebook as it becomes available. You may have to join the waiting list, or links are given to look for it elsewhere.

     

About the Book

A lonely Australian girl from a divided family is transported back to the 1880's and an immigrant family from the Orkney Islands.

Edition Notes

For 10-14 year olds.

A photo taken in 1962 of Ruth Park holding her cat, can be found at Ruth Park holding her cat outside her home in Balgowlah, Sydney, 10 December, 1962 / John Mulligan. As the copyright is in place for some years yet, I am unable to reproduce it here.

Continued here...  link