In November 1913, twenty prisoners were sent to the Tuncurry Reafforestation Prison Camp in an experiment which was the first of its kind in NSW. The prison camp was not so much a gaol as the prisoners were serving out the last months of their sentence. Their job was to plant out acres of pine trees for which the area was once famed. Each prisoner had their own little hut with a bunk and sleeping net…
Glenthorne Provisional School opened in a room on Thomas Trotter’s farm “Orange Grove” in July 1877 with an enrolment of 36 students. Within three years, under the tutelage of Miss Eliza Plummer, the school became a Public school. In 1891 a more permanent brick building was erected, while in 1906 a cottage was moved from…
The Bulga Plateau in the rugged Wingham hinterland has always been somewhat inaccessible and sparsely populated: however a school was established in the Bulgong (now Elands) village in 1916. In the mid 1920s, the scattered settlers to the west of the village petitioned the government to provide another facility in the locality of Brinawa to…
The history of the Majestic Theatre is as dramatic as the movies that played there for over half a century. In 1926 Albert Augustus Smith, baker, bought the property and built a bakery and a picture show. The theatre, with seating for 400, opened on 21 August 1926 with Charlie Chaplin’s “Gold Rush” being one…
In 1929 Fassifern Private Hospital in William Street, Wingham became known as Carlyle Hospital; a residence transformed into a hospital. As a young woman, Phyllis Bidner joined the nursing staff in 1951 and had one week in which to make her two blue uniforms and cap. The life of a nurse in the 1950s was…
Tinonee was once home to no less than four broom factories. Joseph Edward Chapman established the industry when he distributed free seeds to farmers to encourage them to grow millet crops. The experiment was so successful that he opened a broom factory in 1894 which employed 5 people and provided work to local sawmills making broom handles…
Nancy Bird flew into the history pages in 1935 when, at the age of 19, she became the first woman to hold a commercial flying licence in Australia. She was a pioneer in aviation and used this passion to help and inspire others. Nancy was born in Kew, NSW in 1915. After attending school in…