With the Winter Blues Festival behind us, we decided to have a wander around the town of Echuca and in particular visit the old port area, now a tourist precinct with numerous vestiges reminding the visitor of the town’s rich history as a major port on the Murray River.
Continue reading “A wander around the (old) Port of Echuca – Day 319”
The Towrang Stockade and the Great South Road
When Messers Hume and Meehan visited the Goulburn area, the first Europeans to properly explore the area and see its potential, in 1818 they certainly did not do the trip from Sydney in two hours, along to-day’s multi-lane Hume Highway which connects Sydney to Melbourne via Goulburn. Rather, they would have travelled across country on horseback and on foot, if lucky along Aboriginal tracks. The 200kms trip would have taken many days, if not weeks, through a heavily, and almost impenetrable, forested area covered with Bargo brush. Continue reading “The Towrang Stockade and the Great South Road”
St Saviour’s Cemetery Goulburn
While there are a small number of graves in the grounds of St Saviour’s Cathedral (mainly bishops, deans and other church officials) the cathedral’s official, though now closed, cemetery is located at Cemetery Road on the Sydney side of the City. Continue reading “St Saviour’s Cemetery Goulburn”
The Goulburn Club
The Goulburn Club, ‘a social club for gentlemen’ until 1988 when it opened up to anyone wishing to join or visit, was established in 1877. It originally met as a group of whist players in the Commercial Hotel then located on the corner of Market Street and Sloane Street – less than one hundred metres to the right of the current club premises and now the site of the Goulburn Soldiers Club (worthy a visit in its own right). Continue reading “The Goulburn Club”
Palmerville Heritage Park – Imagine the History
Strolling down the main red gravel avenue within Palmerville Heritage Park my mind wandered back one hundred and fifty years. I was imagining a Victorian couple out for a Sunday promanade along the pathway lined with gorgeous elms and poplars. It had that feel, notwithstanding the very un-British temperature when I visited – somewhere in the mid thirties (centigrade). Continue reading “Palmerville Heritage Park – Imagine the History”
Cotter Reserve
Located less than 30 minutes drive from the centre of Canberra, this is one of the City’s most popular recreation areas, especially for families at weekends and around public holidays. Continue reading “Cotter Reserve”
The Fellowship of First Fleeters
Wandering around the delightfully named suburb of Woolloomooloo I came across a small building called First Fleet House. The shingle above the entrance announced this to be the business premises of the Fellowship of First Fleeters (1788AD). Above the shingle a Union Jack proudly fluttered in the light breeze. Continue reading “The Fellowship of First Fleeters”
Dead in the Town Hall – Old Sydney Burial Ground
In 1792 the first formal burial ground for Sydney was established on the site which is now occupied by the Sydney Town Hall. In 1792 this was deemed sufficiently far from the settlement area such that it would not affect the health of the living and it would provide a place of quiet repose for the dead. Continue reading “Dead in the Town Hall – Old Sydney Burial Ground”
Cadman’s Cottage
Totally overshadowed by Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, it is little wonder that most visitors scarcely notice Cadman’s Cottage and those that do pay it scant regard, being intoxicated by its world famous neighbouring sights. Continue reading “Cadman’s Cottage”
Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre
In the days of Empire Britain acquired, and used, Australia as a dumping ground for its undesirable and unwanted citizenry. By the late 18th century Britain’s prison system had reached its breaking point and Australia, at the other end of the world, provided the perfect solution to overcrowding in British gaols. Continue reading “Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre”
The Rambling Wombat 