It was a fitting afternoon to begin our tour at Tasmania’s World Heritage convict site of Port Arthur – reputedly one of Australia’s most haunted places. We met at dusk, it was chilly, the sky was leaden grey and spires of the convict-built church were cast into shadow as several people were made lantern bearers. …
Recently, a friend told me about an alleged pyramid site in south-east QLD with a controversial history. I decided to investigate… After driving roughly 160 kilometres north of Brisbane, QLD, towards the small town of Gympie, my family, some friends and I camped about 20 kilometres from town. The following morning we headed to the …
I’d caught wind of a story, that somewhere out the back of Gosford, in Kariong, NSW, there are over 200 Egyptian hieroglyphs carved into sandstone which have caused quite a stir. Some believe them to be ancient Egyptian symbols, while many believe them to be fake. As I was in Gosford country just last week …
Egyptians Among the Eucalypts? The Gosford Hieroglyphs Read More »
It was a bleak, drizzly January morning and not a coffee shop was open at 7:50am in Guyra, a small highland town about 30 minutes north of Armidale in NSW. I was a couple of days early for the town’s main drawcard – the annual Lamb and Potato Festival (which actually starts today) – although …
I enjoy exploring a place’s shadows, not because I have a particular fascination with morbidity, but because they tell me so much about life, which I dearly love. Shadows illuminate history in a way unlike any other, which is why I found myself standing outside Brisbane City Hall – beneath tall pillars blazoned with neon …
“He is coming! He is coming!Like a bridegroom from his room, Came the hero from his prison To the scaffold and the doom.”~ W.E. Atouyn Number 1 Division I arrived at Brisbane’s Boggo Road Gaol – reputedly one of the most nefarious, hardened prisons of its time – hours before my tour. Thinking I’d do …
I’m often visiting Fremantle in Western Australia, as most of my family live in the surrounding suburbs. However, up until last week, I had never visited the Fremantle Arts Centre – a beautiful, colonial-gothic style building that’s today a prominent centre for the arts. It’s also one of Western Australia’s oldest buildings, and admittedly I was …
I lived in the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe for over six years. It’s a wonderful part of the world with plenty of things to do, which I’ve written about here. However on a return trip to this leafy, colourful suburb just last weekend, I discovered a side to the place I never knew existed. …
I recently investigated a local legend that gained worldwide attention in the late ‘70s, early ’80s. The Story In 1907, 29-year-old railway worker William Steenson died in a shunting accident at Mullumbimby train station in NSW, after he bravely tried to stop a runaway train carriage. He was buried in the old Pioneer Cemetery in …
Searching for a piece of fascinating history, perhaps mixed with a hint of malice, a haunting and some fine architecture, I was drawn to the city of Ipswich in south-east Queensland. Now I wasn’t familiar with Ipswich, however upon closer inspection, I found out it’s an old, gothic city (for Australian standards) that offers everything …
Yesterday I found myself wandering through Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane, a beautiful place located only a few kilometres from the city. The cemetery contains lots of trees and grassy hills that roll handsomely into shaded pathways. The place is also home to the quintessential graveyard inhabitant, the black crow, which, at least on this day, …
A letter from a dead man. “Seven hundred level. North Lyell mine, 12-10-12. If anyone should find this note convey to my wife. Dear Agnes. – I will say good-bye. Sure I will not see you again any more. I am pleased to have made a little provision for you and poor little Lorna. Be …