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Astley 3: The Gallant Ship Australia
“a more worthless set of men he had never before sailed with.” …Captain Benjamin Avery stated, as he stood once again before the magistrate in the Water Police Office and denounced nearly half his crew paraded before him in the dock. Seventeen large and aggressive men shouted angrily as they were, as …
Astley 2: For Sail
Ships disappeared at sea all the time. There was no such thing as GPS, It would be another half century before wireless radio was invented. Passing vessels hailed one another and exchanged names with their captains, who would report who they had encountered, where and when, at the next port they arrived at. It was …
Astley 1: Orphans of a Perfect Storm
I started writing this story for posting about the time of Valentine’s Day but only now that it’s St Patrick’s Day do I find myself completing it. This is not altogether inappropriate as ultimately this is a love story from Ireland.
When the apocalypse comes
A few days ago the early warning systems of the islands of Hawaii announced that a intercontinental ballistic missile was heading their way and it was not a drill. Forty-eight hours ago, black ash floated down on the suburbs of Perth. The air not only felt hot, it smelt it. The mid-afternoon light dimmed to …
The Stranger In the Mirror
There is currently no known authentic likeness that exists of James Dyson. He was a prominent man of his time— merchant, land owner, Perth City Councillor—he was present at certain key events in the history of the city: He was definitely present at the opening of the Perth Town Hall, he was most likely present at …
An Anthemic Ancestor
Television and photo-plays have theme tunes. Nation-states have theme tunes which they call National Anthems. For most of Australia’s past two centuries, the national theme tune has been “God Save the ” (which does say quite a lot about the mentality of those who made that choice). Outside show-business identities and fictional characters, real people …
The Smoking Gun
Today is a red-letter day. Today I found the smoking gun. I discovered the actual connection between the Dyson family and the construction of the Wesleyan Church in Perth Western Australia.
Happy Gunpowder Treason Day
Bristol, England at dusk on an evening in November 2015. The pops and bangs were very loud and seemed to be right outside of the tiny bedroom I was staying in. It was right outside my window and I was bemused on investigation to find that a collection of children and their parents were setting …
Dyson’s Hotel
The story of the corner of King and Murray Street in the city of Perth, Western Australia, continued.
Dyson’s Corner (the First)
The corner of King and Murray Street in the city of Perth, Western Australia
All the articles:
An introduction to the Dysons
The Lancashire Hotpot
Van Diemen’s Land
A Dark Deed in a Damp Land
Too outrageous a coincidence?
Twenty-one Children
Stones in Cumberland
Stuffed
Are you my Mummy?
Joseph Dyson the Elder: The Respectable one
Dorothy Dyson Dances
In Old Hobart Town
All the girls love a soldier
Going Postal: The great family rift.
“The Poste Restante”
Hello Sailor…
CSI Halifax
Leetown to Auchterarder
Rottnest Island #1: It’s a start
Secret Squirrel Business
Know your Guv’nor
The Little Boy Lost: Enter Drewy.
Timber!
Steam Powered Luddites
Kill the Joke (AKA: “You had to be there”)
Literally —ing the Patriarchy: Introducing Jane.
Aberdeen
Thurso
Francis Armstrong: Thesis
I hate Maitland Brown
Under the Establishment
The Sons of Australia: Foundation and Foulkes
Winterbottom’s End
Dyson’s Corner (the First)
Dyson’s Hotel
Happy Gunpowder Treason Day
The Smoking Gun
An Anthemic Ancestor
The Stranger In the Mirror
When the apocalypse comes
Astley 1: Orphans of a Perfect Storm
Astley 2: For Sail
Astley 3: The Gallant Ship Australia
Recognise this face?
I demand the right to be labelled a bastard
On Cemetery Hill
The Fate of the First Wife, Part I
The Fate of the First Wife, Part II
The Fate of The First Wife, Part III
Thomas Dyson: The Canny one
Our George Dyson
Dyson’s Corner (the Second)
On a Roll
A Tale of Three Cities
Dyson’s hat
Pavement Archaeology
A Trial on Trial
Choose your own Adventure
Rename Canning Bridge
Alias Hoffington
Boom time.
Won’t you think of the children?
Grave Matters
Going to the Fairies…
What has been left unsaid..
Reconstructing old Perth out of cardboard (so it lasts, this time)
New Government House
A little bit of war profiteering
How 2020 ended…
Bio: Richard Edwards (jr)
Are you … kidding me?
Rank Hypocrisy
Locating the United Service Tavern
Researching a Convict Ship
Tales of the Moffatt
Perth City Council Minutes 1858-1875
Unreliable Witness
A departure from Van Diemen’s Land
Bio: Henry Nickolls
Bio: David Williams
Bio: Lt Pearson Foote (RN)
Bio: Samuel McKee
Four days with the VDL Establishment
The One that Got Away
I’m sure this is all completely normal
Bio: Edward Hales Taylor
Central Perth in cardboard
Shadowy Spouses
Flame out
Missing an Allpike link?
Thompson’s Swamp
Jane Develing no more.
The point of no return.