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…
Last year I discovered images of a Moura café in my late father’s slide collection. These images date from the early 1970s. The collection also includes images of several other sites in and around Moura. As I reflected on that time (early 1970s), I recalled that my father and mother visited Moura a […] Read more…
This story is an Anzac Day tribute to my late mother, Evelyn Proposch (nee Beaumont), who was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II. It’s the second part of a two-part series. The first part, My mother’s years in the WAAAF (Part 1): Brisbane, which I posted on […] Read more…
In December last year my husband and I visited the Banana Cemetery. It’s located on the outskirts of Banana, in Archer Street. The cemetery is no longer used for burials. Established in 1862, the Banana Cemetery holds the mortal remains (along with a few secrets) of many of the district’s early non-indigenous residents. The […] Read more…
On 26 February last year I wrote an article about the history of Bogantungan and the 1960 Medway Creek (Bogantungan) rail disaster and posted it on my “Love in a little black diary” Facebook page. The response was overwhelming! Since that date, the post has reached 70,383 people, had 18,831 engagements, received 423 comments and […] Read more…
In your family archives, do you have an old letter or two? I do. One is a 3-page letter dated 13 March 1952 my father wrote to my mother, brother and me. I would recognize my father’s handwriting anywhere. Seeing his handwriting and reading the words and expressions he used in this letter makes me […] Read more…
On 5 May last year, 10 days after Anzac Day, I visited the Apple Tree Creek War Memorial. My husband and I were en route from Brisbane to Rockhampton when we stopped to take a break at the Apple Tree Creek rest area. The Apple Tree Creek War Memorial is situated in a fenced off […] Read more…
How do you wash and iron? Do you find these tasks tiresome? Spare a thought for your mother or grandmother in the 1950s. Washing and ironing prior to the 1950s were time-consuming, labour-intensive chores for most Australian households. These tasks were almost always performed by women. Typically they set aside a couple of days each […] Read more…
A funny thing happened when my husband Tony and I visited Isisford last year and Tony spied a bakery in the main street of this tiny remote Queensland town. Isisford is located in the Longreach Region of central western Queensland. It’s 117 km south of Longreach via the Isisford Ilfracombe Road, 123 km west of […] Read more…
