Aster is a naughty cat. Or tigon to be picky – a cross between a Bengal tiger and African lioness. Once upon a time the big moggy starred at Ashtons Circus, traveling the country and exposing his fangs on cue. That was until Aster mauled a toddler’s arm back in 1994 – the kid poking [...]
Before he could walk – or run a quick single – our greatest cricket Sir Donald Bradman grew up at 52 Shepherd Street, Bowral. Here, during the Depression, the stripling kid honed his reflexes, swatting balls off a tank stand – since demolished with the onset of town water. Come his teens, the Don and [...]
Came across a obscure booklet on the weekend called Ozzobooko – Australian Place Names Revisited. Back in the Bicentennial year of 1988, perhaps over a cask of shaggy red, authors Bruce and Brian Ridley cooked up possible definitions of homegrown towns. Here’s a sample of the W pages. (Feel free to suggest your own town-name [...]
Loop-the-loops, snap rolls, lazy eights and a vertical chandelle may not be your cup of tea, but there’s no way any tourist brave enough to take the Aerobatic Super Decathlon with Adelaide Biplanes will be able to sip a cuppa en route. Based at Aldinga, a short drive south of the city proper, Adelaide Biplanes [...]
Verbatim from ABC online is this update on a boarish bar: The Pub In the Paddock at Pyengana in north-east Tasmania has a new tourist drawcard. The pub is world-famous for its beer-drinking pig named Priscilla, who can scull a watered-down stubby in seven seconds. Priscilla is getting old, so a mischievous successor – Priscilla [...]
Peaceful Bay, just south of Nannup’s Valley of the Giants in WA has been tormented over the years by a 6-metre white pointer nicknamed Skidder. While onshore paddlers are safe, the fishermen have copped their share of hell in deeper water. One bloke ran a heavy-duty line trying to catch the pest, and found himself [...]
Over 40 years ago, picnicking on Marlborough Creek, 250 kays north of Brisbane, Thora Price stumbled upon a lump of jade. Hmmm, thinks Thora, imagining the riches. She and her family took out a mining lease in 1962 and started combing the ground for more. Trouble being, Thora’s jade wasn’t jade. What they uncovered was [...]
MANDARING, WA – Jesus of Nazareth turned water into wine. Charles Yelverton O’Connor made water run uphill. Necessity, as usual, mothered invention. CY O’Connor had been head-hunted in the late 1800s by WA burghers to bring water to the Kalgoorlie Goldfields. Trouble was, the Golden Mile was 600 kays inland, with the most reliable water [...]
HUTT RIVER PROVINCE, WA – Five men stand in the painting. The central figure is Jesus. He’s healing the blind man at Siloam, in Jerusalem. But there’s more to the blind man than meets the eye. In 1971, the artist, Frank Pash had been commissioned to paint several Bible scenes for the private chapel of [...]
As the name implies, night parrots are hard to find. Only 22 had been collected since white man set foot on this island. Explorer John McDouall Stuart shot one bugger in 1845. A rare live specimen went to London in 1867 – and died. Then things fell quiet for 78 years when Walter Boles, in [...]