Category Archives: History

Lives of ‘Gratified Activity’: A quest to unpack the inspirations & motivations of a family of ‘Awakened’ women in settler-colonial South Australia.

Posted on 1 December 2024 by sheg4184

My title comes from the words of South Australian suffragist Catherine Helen Spence, who once described herself as a new woman, awakened to her sense of responsibility to both family and community, that ‘the world may be glad that she … Continue reading →

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A Walled Garden and a Copper Pig

Posted on 9 June 2024 by sheg4184

I have been waxing lyrical about the National Trust for the past few months, as we made plans to travel through the UK. The National Trust – in case you haven’t heard me mention it before – is a charity … Continue reading →

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Roaming Through Gippsland

Posted on 19 April 2024 by sheg4184

Thou through the fields and through the woods dost stray,Roaming the countryside, a truant boy,Nursing thy project in unclouded joy,And every doubt long blown by time away.~ Matthew Arnold, The Gypsy Scholar We’ve snuck away for a week or two … Continue reading →

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The Sound of Music

Posted on 4 June 2023 by sheg4184

Now we are back in South Australia and in the depths of a damp winter, it is hard to believe that only a few weeks ago we were wandering through Rome, immersed in spring. Early in the tourist season, the … Continue reading →

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A Final Glimpse of Tasmania, Past, Present and Bucolic

Posted on 3 March 2023 by sheg4184

‘Scrimshaw.’ My favourite new word for the week. What is scrimshaw? A character from Harry Potter perhaps? No, not quite. That was Rufus Scrimgeour, I believe. Scrimshaw is, in fact, the art of engraving images on objects made from whale … Continue reading →

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‘A Pack of Thieves’

Posted on 13 February 2023 by sheg4184

Port Arthur. Today, it is an hour and a half’s drive from the pretty, waterside city of Hobart. Two hundred years ago, it was a day’s sailing from the decidedly seedy and often violent waterfront of Hobart Town, which had … Continue reading →

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Post Production Ponderings

Posted on 15 December 2022 by sheg4184

November arrived with a clash of cymbals, a tarantara of trumpets and thunderous drum rolls. I submitted my thesis on the first of the month, which was a huge weight off my shoulders. The following day, the Lyceum Club Adelaide … Continue reading →

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Of sheep and seaside daisies…

Posted on 8 November 2022 by sheg4184

The first sign that the town had a connection with Scotland was its name: Glencoe. The second sign: a redheaded ‘Weasley’ walking down the main road… Glencoe is a small country town in south-eastern South Australia, to the north-west of … Continue reading →

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Christina & Her Sisters

Posted on 12 September 2022 by sheg4184

These eight, somewhat startled-looking women were all born during Queen Victoria’s reign, in the colony of South Australia. Meet Annie and Clara, Edith and Grace, Lily and May, Christina and Kathleen. All sisters. There was a ninth sister, Alice, but … Continue reading →

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Not Another Brick in the Wall

Posted on 13 March 2022 by sheg4184

While I have always loved a good chat, I used to dread the thought of speaking in public. My voice and my hands would shake. My mouth would go dry. The page before me would go blank. I would wither … Continue reading →

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