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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
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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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I hate Maitland Brown
Historians are not supposed to ventilate opinions like this. Actually, when studying for my degree we were also not supposed to write in the first person (Is there not an “I” in history?). I don’t believe we as historians have any licence to make things up. I also don’t believe we have any right to…
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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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Bio: Edward Hales Taylor
[CONTENT WARNING: This biography contains mentions of clowns]
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I’m sure this is all completely normal
There was nothing particularly unusual about the citizens of Perth suing each other in the civil courts during the 19th Century. It was more out of the ordinary not to be embroiled in some sort of legal action at any given moment.
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The One that Got Away
Much as I would dearly love to visit Tasmania again and wallow amongst the microfilm, that’s not going to be possible any time soon. Then, thanks to a lead not affiliated with any of the “official” sources of knowledge, I learnt that a certain religious sect have in their possession the documents I seek
All the articles:
extinct on the mainland,
you shouldn’t kick it like a football,
or feed it by the hand.
