My childhood at North Sydney took place in post-War Australia of the 1950s. Thankfully I still have many fond memories of not only the district but also the people I met there.
The Blind Traveller
James Holman was born in 1786 in his father’s apothecary shop in Exeter. Exeter was a prosperous, inland port in south western England.
The shop, a forerunner to what we now know as a chemist, was full of unfamiliar things from all around the world. It played a big part in determining James’ childhood decision to one day travel the world and explore the places from which all these strange items came. It also stirred his lifelong fascination with the unfamiliar and uncertain things in life.’
Continue reading “The Blind Traveller”Ella Zuila – Heroine of the Highwire
Nobody knows her – but she was the most famous Australian public entertainer in the world in the last two decades of the 19th century.
Like her near contemporary and compatriot Nellie Melba, she assumed a continental-sounding stage name, but unlike the great diva we don’t know her real name. Continue reading “Ella Zuila – Heroine of the Highwire”