Short story blog
Some of us have the privilege of meeting and getting to know our grandparents. I was fortunate to meet all four of my grandparents and to get to know each one, to some extent, even from afar. This story is about my maternal grandfather, whom I met and spent time with as a child. I […] Read more…
My Christmas baking this year has included a special Aussie Christmas treat: Chocolate Slice. I made this sweet slice for two pre-Christmas functions last week and, on each occasion, it was a great hit. So much so, many people asked me for my recipe. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, you’ll know what […] Read more…
As part of a recent road trip to Queensland’s northwest and central west, my husband Tony and I returned to Brisbane via the Barcoo Shire, stopping at Stonehenge, Jundah and Windorah. For Tony, our visit to Stonehenge was much anticipated, as his previous and memorable stopover at Stonehenge, as part of his schools ministry, was […] Read more…
This story is a tribute to the late Elizabeth Annie (“Betty”) Anderson, of Rockhampton. Betty died on 25 February 2020, aged 100 years 6 months. I met Betty when I was a child. She was a long-standing family friend. My mother Evelyn and Betty had known each other since their late teens. My husband, Tony, […] Read more…
Last October, during a visit to outback Queensland, my husband Tony and I included the tiny town of Windorah in our itinerary. What a good decision that was! We discovered a neat well-kept town rich in history and a community that honours its forebears and cares passionately for its extraordinary natural environment. In this post […] Read more…
Recently I tried my mother’s 1949 spiced meatloaf recipe. It’s a good example of home cooking of that era. I used her old mechanical meat mincer to produce the mince for the meatloaf. The mincer worked perfectly, and the meatloaf was a great success. I shouldn’t have been surprised, given that my mother Evelyn won […] Read more…
Easter celebrations figure large in the annuals of St George’s Church Aramac. How do I know? Following a visit to Aramac in October last year, intrigued by people I met and what I saw, I decided to explore the history of Aramac, in particular, the early days of Aramac’s St George’s Church. Do you know […] Read more…
In my recipe collection, I have an old-fashioned honey pie recipe. It’s the only recipe in my collection attributed to “Thelma Baker”. Every time I make this sweet pie, I think of her and thank God I had the pleasure of knowing her. Why? This dear lady, long deceased, was one of the sweetest people […] Read more…
For more than a decade in the 1920s and 1930s, a deadly disease menaced residents of Rannes and other small communities of the Banana Shire in central Queensland. My mother’s family, who lived on a property near Rannes (about 105 kilometres, or 65 miles, southwest of Rockhampton), was among those affected. This deadly disease was […] Read more…
I was a child living in Rockhampton in 1960 when the Midlander crashed into Medway Creek near Bogantungan, killing seven people and injuring many more. The Midlander was an air-conditioned passenger train that operated in Queensland on the central western line between Rockhampton and Winton from 1954 to 1993. Bogantungan is located 367 kilometres west […] Read more…
Last October, during a visit to western Queensland, my husband and I stayed for three nights at Winton’s North Gregory Hotel. We were surprised to learn that this magnificent building, located in Elderslie Street, the main street of Winton, is the fourth North Gregory Hotel to grace this site. What happened to its namesakes? […] Read more…
The year 1871 began on a sorrowful note. Holiday festivities came to an abrupt end when it became known on Monday 2 January that His Excellency, Colonel Blackall, Governor of Queensland, had died. With this news a universal gloom settled on the entire population of the fledgling colony. Colonel Samuel Wensley Blackall had been in […] Read more…
In late August, I had the pleasure of an unexpected visit to the Rockhampton Mater Hospital’s historic Kenmore House. During this visit, unlike the last time I was there (May 2017), the building was open. I was free to go inside, savour the grandeur, and take photographs (most of which I share in this post). […] Read more…
The feature photograph, taken in 1973, shows my grandmother, uncle and a visitor inspecting a prickly pear tree on my grandmother’s property at Rannes, 100 kilometres southwest of Rockhampton, Central Queensland. This huge pear tree is an ominous reminder of the “green plague” that took over large tracts of agricultural and pastoral land in central […] Read more…
In December last year, my husband and I visited the Gayndah Railway Complex where we were surprised to discover four M Class Series carriages of the former Sunlander. Do you remember The Sunlander? It was a long distance air-conditioned passenger train operated by Queensland Rail (QR) on the North Coast line between Brisbane and Cairns. […] Read more…
