Category Archives: History

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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Colonel Light’s Vision: an old chestnut or a model for the future?

Posted on 2 November 2021 by sheg4184

Through this exceptionally long, wet winter, I have spent a lot of time immersed in the history of South Australia, researching families and individuals who played a significant part in founding our state. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, for example, was a … Continue reading →

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Mintaro & Martindale

Posted on 26 August 2021 by sheg4184

Only eleven kilometres off the Horrocks Highway that sprints through the Clare Valley, Mintaro is a tiny, rural village that has been tucked into the hills since Adelaide was a toddler. In 1984 it was declared a State Heritage site, … Continue reading →

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Victoriana

Posted on 29 October 2020 by sheg4184

I love, love, love Victorian kitchens – and I don’t mean the state of Victoria, so troubled with Covid restrictions, but Queen Victoria and the era of huge basement kitchens, à la Downtown Abbey. Deep within the British stately home … Continue reading →

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‘Conspicuous Consumption’

Posted on 23 August 2020 by sheg4184

Ayers House, now run as a museum by the National Trust, illustrates one of the early success stories in the history of South Australia. Situated on North Terrace, a tree-lined boulevard in the city of Adelaide, Ayers House is an … Continue reading →

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