History & heritage

Cook Shire Mayor, Peter Scott is looking forward to the upcoming festival, stating, "The Cooktown Discovery Festival is a celebration of our community's rich cultural heritage and the special place Cooktown has in Australian history. It is a time for us to come together and celebrate all that makes Cooktown and this region so special."

An incredible makeover for one of the Sunshine Coast’s beloved boathouses has sparked a trip down memory lane. The heritage listed Maroochy River ‘Wheel House’ has been lovingly restored thanks to specialist heritage advice and the handy work of volunteers from the Buderim Men’s Shed.

There is a Shetland-sized hole in the hearts of the Scott family of Emu Creek this week after they said goodbye to Mickey, just shy of his 50th birthday ... It is believed Mickey was used for pony rides at the Melbourne Zoo and at metropolitan race meetings in his younger days but ended up in Bendigo at age 36 when his owners moved into aged care.

A portal to the past is opening in Ganmain on March 18 with the annual Ganmain Historical Society Open Day ... ‘Step Back in Time’ and be transported and immersed in history that includes static displays and working demonstrations of machinery, tractors, home appliances and farming equipment.

HM Woodhouse-Herrick. The first day of Autumn was a beautiful cool day for our day out for the Volunteers who man the Visitors Information Centre Nhill one day a month. With thanks to the Hindmarsh Shire, we filled the bus with those who were able to come along and familiarised ourselves with places such as the grand old Church at Pella out of Rainbow, the painted Silo at Albacutya ...

Kaniva born and bred, Beryl Meyer is the ultimate reminder of the sheer simplicity and joy of life. From humble beginnings, Beryl still maintains that ‘a home full of love is all you need to enjoy life for what it is’.

More and more people are rediscovering South Australia’s natural beauty with visits to some national parks skyrocketing 35 per cent over the past year. Naracoorte Caves saw a 35 per cent increase in visitors in the past 12 months while Seal Bay had a 33 per cent increase over the same period as tourists and locals head back out to explore our unique national parks.

... what I also loved about this book was how it painted a picture of life at the time when these various criminals were active. Jim adds information about the laws of the day, government, and social norms to give context to the dastardly deeds of his cast of criminals. There’s no doubt this book will delight fans of true crime. True stories of true criminals from Australia’s past have definitely resulted in a book that’s one heck of a darn good read.

Like many country shows, The Robertson Show experienced flood and COVID cancellations over the past few years. But, the Show is finally back – bigger and better than ever for two FULL days of fun and entertainment.

For 12 months through 2021 and 2022, Golden Dragon Museum in partnership with Grimwade Conservation Services, The University of Melbourne, delivered the Loong Conservation Project ... To mark and celebrate the completion of this award-winning Project ... presenting a day focusing on Loong and those personal treasures we all look after in our homes.

Narrandera-based artist Vic McEwan, who is also the National Museum’s 2015 artist-in-residence, created the large-scale still photography and video works in ‘Haunting’, in collaboration with curator George Main ... Haunting honours the Murrumbidgee River and its communities of people and other living beings.

Gini Gale. Padthaway and Lochaber branches shared our guest speakers Kym and Hass Palka who are former residents of Naracoorte ... Kym’s father, Wally, was Ukrainian born in a village near Lviv, in western Ukraine near the Polish border. During World War II, as a 15 year old, he was taken back to Germany by the retreating Nazis and made to work in labour camps.

A proposed development application was submitted to the Southern Downs Regional Council late last year by the Allora & District Historical Society, for the relocation of two buildings on the original museum site on Drayton Street to the site of the old Shire Hall on Warwick Street Allora.

Two of Queensland’s most popular national parks have expanded thanks to a partnership worth more than $600,000 between the Department of Environment and Science (DES) and the Foundation of National Parks and Wildlife (FNPW). More than 185 hectares of undisturbed forest habitat has been added to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage listed Lamington and Main Range National Parks.

“The Queen got pulled up in The Gap. The Olympic torch got pulled up. I was there.” ... For eons people wishing to enter Arrernte land north of the ranges, through the magnificent landmark, had to have consent from the locals. It’s a requirement the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Board clearly failed to observe ...

Jo Mason (nee Collins) ... The Collins family has a significant place in local history, being the earliest settlers to still have family living in the Upper Murray today. John Collins and his wife Sarah Luke came to Australia from Hampshire, England in 1839 on board the ship Susan, with their seven children.

There was only one occasion on which Granny’s Tea Set actually did duty. It was an auspicious one. It was in the mid-1930s. The Great Depression was biting, Groupies were leaving their blocks in droves and things were tough. The then-Premier of Western Australia, James Mitchell (known derisively on the Groups as “Moocow Mitchell”), had finally been convinced that he should come down and have a look at what was going on, so he could appreciate the plight of the Group Settlers.

The Shire of Broome, in collaboration with several community organisations, will host a program of events to commemorate the Broome Air Raid on Thursday, March 2 and Friday March 3, 2023, marking one of the deadliest wartime attacks on Australian soil ... "March 3 marks tragedy for Broome, although it is also a story of inspiration for those that helped the victims of this brutal attack and those victims that survived and lived to share the tale": Shire of Broome President Harold Tracey.

“Rachel” is the culmination of a forty year journey for author Jeff McGill ... Jeff first “met” Rachel Kennedy in 1982 as a teenager, when his grandfather Arnold handed him her newspaper obituary from 1930 ... She was born into and lived most of her life in a world that no longer exists – a world that Jeff’s meticulous research brings to life here.

NSW Minister for Environment James Griffin said the population of one of Australia’s rarest birds, the Lord Howe Island Woodhen, has increased five-fold in four years, and more than doubled within 12 months ... "The NSW Government’s rodent control program is a world first for a permanently inhabited island, and the results for the biodiversity on Lord Howe are remarkable": Minister Griffin.

It’s an unusual book in that the target audience is almost exclusively people who attended those schools (and perhaps local historians) – and it has sold mostly by word of mouth. It is punctuated by historic photos, news clippings and documents.