A good place to start:
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An introduction to the Dysons
“A lot has been written and spoken about the Dyson family, the majority of which was unmitigated bunkum…” wrote a newspaperman back in 1927. So I continue a long and proud tradition.
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A Trial on Trial
A man killed his wife. When the powerful find themselves on trial, discussions happen about the justice system that don’t happen when the powerless are similarly ensnared.
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Central Perth in cardboard
A guide to the diorama of central Perth before 1880 on display in the Museum of Perth
Everything:
extinct on the mainland,
you shouldn’t kick it like a football,
or feed it by the hand.
Most recent:
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Harrenden Unclaimed
There is only one single instance of the name Harrenden being mentioned in the early historical record of Western Australia. That was a time in early 1843 when some unidentified party believed a woman named Fanny Harrenden resided in the locality of the Swan River Colony, for they sent a letter to her there that
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This was him.
Now the only known genuine likeness of James Dyson (1810-1888), Van Diemen’s Land Convict, early free settler to Western Australia, Perth City Councillor, builder, merchant, and general all-round ratbag has absconded, I post an official version, as it were.
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The Male Convict Class System in VDL
The male* convict classification system in Van Diemen’s Land was invented by Colonel George Arthur as part of his mandate to make Australia scary again. It originally applied only to those convicts in Hobart-town not already assigned to live and work for private settlers. That his system had seven classes must have appealed to the
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The point of no return.
This was one panorama you did not want to experience on your visit to Van Diemen’s Land — back when it was Van Diemen’s Land. A small speck of terror amid the rolling canopy of green. Fire has cleansed it of much of it’s horror, so now it is Tasmania’s number one tourist destination once
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Jane Develing no more.
It should be fairly common knowledge by now that Mrs Jane Dyson, before she was Mrs Edwards, was Miss Jane Develing, or Develin, Devlin or Devling… a sixteen year old orphan girl sent to the Colony of Western Australia on the first of the bride ships in 1849. But that was not her name…
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Thompson’s Swamp
I’ve been wading through the history of the Swamp lately. That is — the actual swamp that had Dyson’s name on it — not the metaphorical entity that represents the Dyson family’s life in early colonial Australia. This is the one that is currently known as Lake Jualbup.
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Missing an Allpike link?
Stephen Hallpike (1786-1844) was a convict from Lancashire sent to the Australian colonies. It was in Liverpool that he was finally busted for the most Lancastrian crime it was possible to commit — stealing 100 yards (91.44 metres) of cotton cloth.
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Flame out
The discovery of gold changed everything in Western Australia.
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Shadowy Spouses
Have I uncovered the identity of Emily Bates, the spouses of Jacky and Mabel Dyson, or parents of Mrs Jane Dyson?
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Central Perth in cardboard
A guide to the diorama of central Perth before 1880 on display in the Museum of Perth
