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  • Coded postcard message
    This postcard was bought by a stamp collector in 2009. Can you imagine his surprise when he turned the postcard over and discovered the coded message written on the back? He thought it was a message between teenagers but this is not so...
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  • St Luke’s Anglican Church, West Street, Coopernook
    St Luke’s Anglican Church at Coopernook is built on land donated by William Newton of “Coopernook House”...
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  • 32 Eric Street, Taree
    32 Eric Street, Taree is a modest, yet eminently practical residential development, which has stood the test of time...
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  • Young boy mauled by shark at Forster
    A real case of jaws in our very own small town? One Friday afternoon in January 1944, a 14 year old boy named Keith Weir was out with his friends surfing at Main Beach, Forster…
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  • Mrs Maude Scharkie
    In April 1906, Maude Hall married John Edward Scharkie in Newcastle, NSW. The early years of their marriage were marred by the death of their three year old son…
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  • Former Union Church, Craven
    The village of Craven was settled in the early years of the twentieth century. For many years there was no church in the village…
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  • Wingham Brush
    Imagine this…it is 1920 and you are travelling along Isabella Street, Wingham. You see an enormous fig tree on one side and foliage on the other. At the end of the street is the Wingham Wharf leading onto the Manning River. What is this place?
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  • Charles Edwards: Purfleet Sportsman and Entertainer
    Charles Edwards was a talented man. He lived at the Purfleet Aboriginal mission station four kilometres south of Taree. Charlie was an outstanding sportsman playing both cricket and rugby league...
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  • Manning Miniature Golf
    171 Victoria Street, Taree – the heart of the CBD – not the most obvious place for a golf course, albeit a miniature course. But, for a short time, one did exist there...
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  • White's Corner, Gloucester
    Archibald Joseph White, prominent townsperson, Shire Councillor and District Coroner was found dead in a hut on his grazing property at Bundook in 1939. He had died of a heart attack soon after arriving there...
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  • Taree gaslight foot races
    “And in first place we have A. Worthing with M. Brislane close behind, followed by R. Tonkin”. Imagine the atmosphere of hundreds of people trying to find a spot to watch the Taree Gaslight Races...
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  • The Harrington Maritime Pilot Station
    The Manning River is the only double delta river in the southern hemisphere with one entrance at Harrington and the other at Old Bar. Harrington has long been the river’s gateway, but its treacherous bar has been the ruin of many ships. From as early as 1824 vessels have come to complete ruin at Harrington.…
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  • William Robert Hill Franks
    William Robert Hill Franks came to Australia with his mother in 1876. Soon afterwards his mother died leaving 12 year old William alone in Sydney…
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  • Manning River VJ Sailing Club
    Sailing resumed on the Manning River after WW2. When the VJ Club was established in 1947 it occupied the North Coast Steam Navigation Company wharf...
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  • William Oscar Ryan
    Following rowdy melees at the 1923 Boxing Day Regatta at Croki, William Oscar (Spike) Ryan was convicted of the manslaughter of Frederick Smith. Narrowly avoiding a jail sentence, Ryan turned his life around and is remembered as a highly skilled boat builder.
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  • Australian Botanical Products Limited
    In the early years of the 20th century, Eric McMaster arrived in the Nabiac area. In 1912 he married Catherine (Katie) McKinnon, the youngest daughter of the late Captain Donald McKinnon of Glen-Ora, Nabiac.
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  • Taree’s Volunteer Air Observers Corps
    Tom Dyball was not only science master at Taree High School during World War II, he was Zone Commandant of the Volunteer Air Observers Corps (VAOC) in Taree…
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  • Library and Visitor Information Centre, Gloucester
    In 1937 George Harold Matthewson, a well-known stock and station auctioneer in Gloucester, built new premises for his next venture – a car and farm machinery sales centre…
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  • A successful farmer with a wooden leg
    After losing a leg due to an accident with a cricket ball, Royden Robert Newell made use of a wooden replacement…
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  • The Great White Train
    The Great White Train steamed into Taree in the early hours of Thursday 2 September 1926...
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  • Bohnock Literary Institute Hall
    Before 1925 the people of Bohnock had to travel long distances to attend dances and other night-time functions. After many years of discussing building a community hall, the dream finally came to fruition in 1925. Local identities, Vic and Ettie Carle, generously donated a corner section of their property on Bohnock Road for the purpose…
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  • How 'Poitrel' brought a touch of glamour to Taree
    Poitrel was a chestnut stallion, a racehorse, best known as the 1920 winner of the Melbourne Cup...
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  • Ghost sign: Lifebuoy soap, Wingham
    In the alleyway beside the building at 89 Isabella Street, Wingham you will see a ghost sign. A ghost sign is a hand-painted advertisement on a brick wall from years gone-by. This particular advertisement is for Lifebuoy soap which was popular in Australia between the two world wars. Lifebuoy soap was introduced in 1894 as…
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  • Dan Bros of Taree
    ‘Dan Bros’ was the first Lebanese family to set up business in Taree in 1932. Nicholas Dan arrived in Australia in 1927 with his brother Toufic ‘George’...
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  • Nancy-Bird Walton (1915 – 2009)
    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…
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  • Duel to the death: Copeland Tops
    For a week in 1929, three camps of timber getters and gold diggers near Copeland Tops lived in a state of fear. Then at dusk on 9 October their fears came true when James Herbert Curran, 47, came seeking Alfred Lawrence Edwards, 23...
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  • George Stevens of 'Killarney' Dyers Crossing
    George Stevens was 79 years of age when he died at ‘Killarney’, Dyers Crossing surrounded by family. He had been active until four months prior to his death.
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  • Trooper Percy Lyon – 7th Light Horse Regiment
    Generally speaking, the names inscribed on war memorials indicate that the individual has experienced the horrors of the battlefield, but this is not always the case. For these exceptions, their stories are, nevertheless, poignant. Percival Ernest Lyon was born on 22 November 1891, the fourth son of James and Alice Lyon. His father was a…
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  • George Cassimaty: Local hero
    George Cassimaty was a well-known business identity in Taree running a fruit exchange and refreshment rooms in Manning and Victoria Streets for many years. Born on the Greek island of Kythira, it can be imagined that George knew how to swim. On 8 December 1923, two year old Gwen Graham was playing in her…
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  • Harry Wilfred Webster
    Harry Wilfred Webster was born in Essex, England in 1885 and undertook his architectural training there...
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  • The Man in the Hut
    Around the 1940s an unassuming man moved into a hut on the edge of the ocean at Crowdy Head. At times he worked in the Fishermen’s Cooperative, becoming well known to the locals. With no electricity or modern conveniences, he lived a simple, hermit-like lifestyle.
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  • Taree Hospital Christmas Tree
    For over 32 years the pine tree at the Manning Base Hospital was lit up as a Christmas tree for everyone to enjoy...
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  • Violet Isobel Jobson: 1912-1934
    On the morning of 12 April 1934, Violet Jobson, a young waitress at the Harrington Hotel, started her shift about 6.30am, but was too ill to work…
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  • Air Pageant and Aviator’s Ball – Taree 1930
    In the 1920s the fledgling aviation industry was thriving and progressive towns wanted an aerodrome. Thus it came to pass that a portion of Taree Showground was combined with adjoining land donated by Mr H Beeton to provide Taree’s first in-town aerodrome. The official opening was celebrated with an air pageant and aviator’s ball on 7…
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  • Clancy's furniture store Taree
    Walking through Clancy’s furniture store one wonders what was this building’s prior use? An old sign referring to a bakery is not an item for sale but instead a signal to the past...
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  • Message from the Sky
    On the morning of Thursday 23 August 1928 a light plane was seen to approach Taree from the south, turn along Victoria Street and jettison a small bag, weighted with sand, which landed close to the War Memorial (then located at the intersection of Victoria and Manning Streets)...
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  • Wingham Wharf
    The remnants of the Wingham Wharf have witnessed nearly 190 years of activity. Apart from stories of the timber and shipping industries, there are tales of celebration, sadness and madness. Read on…
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  • Tinonee Broom Factories
    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...
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  • Karuah River Mystery
    In 1917 a young man was found at Karuah River unable to hear, speak or move his legs. Stories began circulating that he had encountered a ghost…
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  • Darawank Public School
    The former Darawank Public School is a heritage listed building and a fine example of a nineteenth century brick school in the New South Wales Mid-Coast region. The school was built on land owned by James Brown, a farmer, who bought 100 acres of farmland along the Wallamba River in 1889. Soon after, two acres…
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  • The New Manning Valley Pioneers
    Around about 2003, we three couples were on the cusp of retiring from Sydney. We knew that as retirees we might have difficulty adjusting to a major move. So we thought, let’s move together...
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  • Louis Debreceny – Entrepreneur
    Allen Street, Deb Street, Louis Street, Eric Street, Georges Lane, etc, have you ever wondered about the origin of these Taree street names? Read on to find out...
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  • Nurse Avery’s Private Hospital, Tea Gardens
    In 1927, Mabel Avery completed her training in Midwifery in Sydney before opening a private hospital in the large house called ‘Glengarry’, Myall Street, Tea Gardens...
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  • Just a child: Private John Lancelot Andrews
    John Lancelot Andrews enlisted in December 1916 to fight with the Australian Imperial Forces in World War 1. Within three months he was a private in the Lewis Machine Gun Section of the 54th Battalion and encamped in England...
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  • Camphor Laurel Trees, Albert Street, Taree
    In the early twentieth century, the planting of street trees for town beautification was strongly advocated...
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  • The kindness of fisherman: Broughton Island
    Broughton Island’s pristine environment has long been popular with fishermen. In the 1880s Italian fishermen established a small settlement on the island followed later by Greek fishermen who arrived around WW1...
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  • New Years Day 1911
    The Christmas holiday: traditionally a time for families to get together. Such was the case for Bartholomew Lyons...
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  • The Great Race
    In 1847 after two years of crafting, John Nicholson a shipbuilder of the Manning River, completed the 270 ton barque Fanny Fisherwhich had been commissioned by (William) Henry Fisher. The ship was named after Henry’s daughter. Coincidentally, in another Manning River shipyard, a barque of similar proportions, Rosetta Joseph, was being built at the same…
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  • The first Pilot of Cape Hawke Pilot Station
    On Pilot (Flagstaff) Hill overlooking Forster Harbour are the remains of a Pilot Station established in 1883. The first pilot, Captain Amor Hicks Kendall, took up residence at the new station where he remained until his retirement in 1908...
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  • A new road for Strathcedar and Mooral Creek
    During the late 1800s, access to Strathcedar and Mooral Creek was along a road carved out by early Mooral Creek settlers, the Fords…
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  • Private Willie Alway
    When you find a personalised photo in your Aunt's collection from someone you have never heard of before, your curiosity can't help but get the better of you...
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  • Tales from the Bulliac Railway Tunnel
    The Bulliac Railway Tunnel, situated 20kms north of Gloucester, opened 4 February 1913 as part of the North Coast Line, the major trunk line between NSW and Brisbane...
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  • Those rascally rabbits: Broughton Island rabbit experiment
    Audiences tend to love fictional rabbits such as Thumper or Bugs Bunny, but in Australia rabbits have caused widespread environmental and economic devastation since their introduction in the 1850s. Governments have spent millions of dollars fighting these pests. In 1906, Broughton Island became the scene of one such attempt. Microbiologist Dr Danysz from the…
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  • Anne Baxter – Hollywood Actress
    On 12 December 1985 the Los Angeles Times reported the death of Anne Baxter aged 62. This followed a stroke suffered some eight days earlier. Anne Baxter was a grand-daughter of the influential architect Frank Lloyd Wright. More importantly she was a very successful American actress with a career spanning her Broadway debut aged 13…
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  • 'Holmlea' Copeland
    In 1889, Joseph Fallon bought crown land, Section 8 Lot 1, in the village of Copeland. He sold it a year later to Janet Higgins…
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  • Black Head Surf Club or is it River Club?
    Calls for a lifesaving club at Black Head started as early as 1915 after the near drowning of four people. Ten years later in 1925, the surf club officially opened. While rescues have been a part of regular duty, a special rescue happened in Taree in 1929. Black Head and Taree-Old Bar Surf Clubs have…
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  • Geoffrey Blake Hammond
    Geoffrey Blake Hammond was born 1898, Wingham and served in WW1. He was granted land under the Returned Soldiers Settlement Act of 1916...
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  • Sewing Lessons at Mitchell’s Island Public School
    The year was 1973 and on Thursdays, sewing was on the agenda at Mitchell’s Island Public School (for girls only of course!)...
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  • The wrecking of the Empress of India
    The schooner, Empress of India, was travelling from Port Macquarie to Sydney loaded with sawn hardwood when she encountered fierce weather. Captain Peter Williams sheltered in Cape Hawke Bay but during the night the winds were so violent that the ship started leaking and was in danger of being driven ashore...
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  • Richard Stoddart – buried far from home
    Richard Stoddart did not die a lonely death. He was surrounded by friends, with, presumably, no thought that his life was about to be cut short...
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  • The Walter Plummer Hall
    ‘The Walter Plummer Hall’ is a two-storey brick building situated in the heart of the Taree Showgrounds. It was built in 1910 as an exhibition hall for the new showgrounds. Some declaring it ‘the best hall outside the great cities of the state’. Walter Plummer was an auctioneer and one of the most popular men in the district.
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  • Waukivory Community Hall
    In 1903 The Gloucester Estate Ltd purchased a large tract of land from the Australian Agricultural Company and embarked on a programme of staged subdivision...
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  • Stevens Brothers’ Letters Home WW1
    The following extracts are from letters brothers Jack and Jim Stevens wrote home to their family at Dyer’s Crossing during WW1…
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  • Strange coincidence: Brown sisters
    Behind the humble façade of this Tuncurry Cemetery headstone lies the extraordinary coincidence of the Brown sisters’ death...
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  • Dorothy Hayter Memorial and 2BOB Radio Station
    On 29 July 1949, 4 year old Dorothy Hayter was playing in Railway Parade, Chatham just near the Peters Creameries Factory with her sisters and other children from the street…
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  • Tinonee Ghost
    Just imagine you are roaming around an empty paddock when you hear a mysterious sound, you turn around and come face-to-face with a … GHOST???!!!
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  • Boomerang Theatre
    “Drum roll please! Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight at the Boomerang Theatre…Blind-folded Boxing!” In 1921, Taree Theatre was open for business...
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  • Zulu – the dark horse
    The 1881 Melbourne Cup remains famous for one of the most genuine surprises in the race’s history. Zulu, who was listed in the betting at 100/1...
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  • Market Square, Cundletown
    In November 1854 an advertisement was placed in the Sydney newspaper Empire seeking the services of “a competent surveyor to lay out for sale the township of Cundle on the Manning River” The set out, and probably also the design, of this private township was subsequently awarded to Walter Clayton. Walter came from Sussex, England…
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  • Blackout Practice
    Blackouts were considered the best form of defence against possible night time bombardment and practice drills were initially held in Sydney…
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  • Arthur William Mackenzie Mowle – Architect and Dairy Cattle Enthusiast
    Arthur was born at Bondi on 27 October 1894, the eldest son of William Stewart Mowle and grandson of Mr A K Mackenzie of “Boonara”, Bondi...
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  • Chinese Market Garden of Wingham
    Just north of the Cedar Party Bridge at Wingham is the site of an old Chinese market garden that was originally worked by Ben Lee (Yee Sow) in the early 1900s...
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  • My Backyard in Tea Gardens
    My backyard in Witt Street, Tea Gardens is a place I remember well back in the 40s...
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  • The joy and tragedy of young Michael Dunn
    Late in the afternoon on Thursday 23 July 1953 a four year old Taree boy, Michael Dunn, was reported missing at Coomba Park (Wallis Lake)…
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  • 61-65 Church Street, Gloucester
    In December 1936, the finishing touches were being made to Mr Robert Kendall’s new business block. Designed and built by Mr E Patmore…
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  • Harry Bennett Park, Taree
    Harry Bennett Park is located off River Street, Taree on the Manning riverfront, visible to all who cross the Martin Bridge…
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  • Adelaide Hill of Zeal Cottage, Wingham
    Everybody loves a ghost story and Wingham has its very own. Zeal Cottage in Queen Street, Wingham is purportedly haunted by the house’s first owner, Adelaide Hill. But who was Adelaide Hill? The daughter of once wealthy parents John and Mary Hooke, Adelaide was born in NSW in 1833 and at an early age…
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  • Empire Day in Taree
    Empire Day was first celebrated on 24 May 1902 after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. The day was celebrated across the British Empire with parties, festivals, and patriotic dances. But Empire Day wasn’t entirely normal...
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  • Pixie O’Harris paintings
    In 1957, renowned Australian illustrator and author, Pixie O’Harris, painted a series of 25 murals for the Children’s Ward of the Manning River District Hospital in Taree. The paintings depict scenes from children’s stories including Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and Robin Hood...
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  • Peters Factory, Railway Parade, Chatham
    The Peters group of companies was founded by American born Frederick Peters who, in 1907, saw an opening in the Australian market for ice-cream, which was not then commonly available…
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  • The Flag Dress
    Amelia Ellis was a gifted needlewoman with her own business in Tinonee at the time of World War 1...
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  • Former Manning River Times Building, Taree
    Taree’s local newspaper, the Manning River Times, has a long history dating back to January 1869 when the first issue was published by Charles Boyce and George Buckleton…
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  • Manning Steam Laundry
    In the mid 1960s whilst undertaking work on the Chapman Place parking area, traces of brickwork were uncovered which were believed to be part of an underground well used by the Manning Steam Laundry. Henry W Alcorn was a local builder who, in 1915, saw the potential in developing a commercial laundry to service Taree…
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  • Mrs M E Williams' Refreshments Room
    Since 1908, Maud Elizabeth Williams had conducted a successful tea room in Church Street. She was a confectioner, fruiterer and pastry cook...
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  • ‘Belmont’ House, Tinonee
    Perched on a hill overlooking a bend in the Manning River is the heritage-listed house ‘Belmont’ at 4 Washington Street, Tinonee. The Gollan family owned this property for over 100 years...
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  • Hills of Hate - a "lost film"
    “Hills of Hate” published by Angus and Robertson in 1925 was the debut novel of Australian author E V Timms. It tells the story of two feuding bush families...
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  • Craft Cottage: 77 Pulteney Street, Taree
    Following the death of the then owner George De Fraine of Sydney, vacant land having frontages to Pulteney, High and Wynter Streets was sold in 1908…
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  • A Film Star visits Taree!
    The Boomerang Theatre in Taree had the honour of hosting the first official NSW screening of the much publicised Australian film “Tall Timbers”…
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  • The Bungay Ghost
    In December 1887, Mr R Cameron, a highly respected resident of Bungay, was riding home from Wingham one evening when a ghost in black rode up to him...
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  • A Country Romance
    "A Country Romance", this was the newspaper headline when reporting the marriage of Phyllis Hope Lockyer and Arthur Finlay in Glenn Innes in April 1926. The event was widely reported because of the Bride’s age: she was only fourteen...
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  • Secret under the Taree Railway
    Just a railway station? Or a Lodge Motel? You would never believe what actually lies beneath!
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  • Taree's first town clerk
    Born and raised in London, Horace Beeton trained as a draper’s assistant and at the age of 21 decided to try his luck in New Zealand…
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  • Hannah Webster
    On 12 November 1913, Hannah, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Wallis, was married at her father’s homestead “Ellerslie”, Bulga. The bridegroom was Benjamin Webster, a timber worker many years her senior. Hannah and Benjamin settled into life on the Plateau. However, over the years relations between them soured and, notwithstanding their large family, they…
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  • Eliza and George Stevens' Sons
    Dyers Crossing pioneers, Eliza and George Stevens, had nine children. Below are brief details of three of their five sons...
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  • Orara Kendall
    The Australian born poet Henry Kendall was born in 1839. Never physically robust…
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  • H. Nelson & Sons
    Herman Nelson, a carpenter was born in Kempsey. The family left their general store in St. Ives and travelled by horse and cart to Taree in 1923...
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  • “Tall Timbers” a tale of treachery and deceit
    The 1937 film “Tall Timbers” directed by Ken Hall featured many scenes shot in the vicinity of Stroud and Gloucester on the Mid North Coast of NSW…
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  • St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Gloucester
    St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Gloucester was opened Wednesday 19 December 1906 and was celebrated by a service followed by photos, tea and a meeting...
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  • A Tinonee Tragedy
    On 12 January 1910, George Gollan, son of Captain Hector and Margaret Gollan married Harriett Mary Ann Polley (known as Artie). Making their home in Tinonee, they had three children...
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  • The 1956 Olympic Torch
    On 17 November 1956, forty six fit, local men relayed the Olympic Torch from Kew in the North to Burrell Creek in the South of the region, a grand total of 46 miles...
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  • Tahlee House
    Nestled in the grounds of Tahlee Ministries near Carrington is the beautiful, heritage-listed ‘Tahlee House’. It was built in 1826 by the Australian Agricultural Company...
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  • The old red shed and a tornado
    One of the few buildings that survived the march of time on the Strathcedar property that had been owned by Royden and Florence Newell in the 1900s was the house and the old red shed...
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  • The Brown Family at the Bight Cemetery
    Towards the back of the Bight Cemetery is a headstone that recognises the deaths of four members of the Brown family. What is the story that lies behind this stone?
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  • Fotheringham’s Hotel, Taree
    Fotheringham’s Hotel (affectionately called Fog’s) in Victoria Street, Taree started out as the Commercial Hotel and was owned by John Keats, then Alfred McCartney…
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  • ‘Bridgecourt’, 9 Commerce Street, Taree
    In 1949 Edward Rupert Payten invested the not inconsiderable sum of £11,000 in the construction of a ‘hostel’ on the corner of Albert Lane and Commerce Street...
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  • The Old AACo Road
    From 1826 to 1831 an area of salt marsh to the east of Karuah, known as No. 1 Farm, was the scene of intense activity as over one hundred convicts employed by the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) strove to turn it into viable farming land...
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  • 2 Commerce Street, Taree
    Between 1903 and 1906, William Wrigley bought 5 lots of land on the corner of River and Commerce Streets, Taree. William was a builder and carpenter and after completing his apprenticeship in Sydney he went to South Africa where the building trade was flourishing. He returned to Australia in 1898 and spent the next 44 years…
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  • George De Saxe and Amy Mackay, Dentists
    George De Saxe was born in 1856 and worked most of his life as a dentist in Sydney and Parramatta. He often visited smaller towns providing dental services and in September 1900 visited Wingham for this purpose…
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  • Graham Barclay: Water ski champion
    As a young man, Graham Barclay played professional rugby league football before a serious knee injury ended his career…
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  • Pindimar Shark Factory
    “Every shark taken by us lessens the chance of your being taken by a shark.” This was the catchcry of Marine Industries Ltd who in 1929…
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  • Saxbys Soft Drinks
    “Ahh Saxbys, taste it to believe it”. Recognise this famous catch phrase? Who doesn’t love the best-selling Saxbys classic stone ginger beer trickling down your throat on a hot summer’s day? Saxbys was first established in 1864...
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  • Don Athaldo: Taree’s Strongman Connection
    In 1935 Lewis Gorton and his brothers played in the Failford Football Club. As there were no gyms at the time, training was difficult, so Gorton wrote to Don Athaldo…
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  • David Stirling Sharpe: Surveyor
    David Stirling Sharpe was a land surveyor who worked for many years in the Manning region...
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  • Majestic Theatre Gloucester
    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…
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  • Castor, a man from Madagascar
    On 12 April 1856, an African man died in the vicinity of Tarree Estate. His name was Castor, a labourer aged 50 years, who died from heart disease. Witnesses to the burial were Henry Flett, William Wynter Jnr. and Thomas Dyball. His death certificate states he was born in Madagascar but this story begins in Mauritius…
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  • Fred Williams: Father of Australian waterskiing
    As the grandson of Captain Peter Williams and son of Frederick Williams, Forster marine engineer, it is no surprise that Fred Williams has had a lifetime’s association with water…
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  • Father Patrick O'Regan
    Patrick O’Regan was one of three Irish born brothers who were ordained as priests and joined the catholic ministry in Australia.
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  • Baheeg 'Bill' Saad: Manning Cafe, Taree
    Baheeg ‘Bill’ Saad was born in Douma, Lebanon in 1907. He was a well-known business man who established...
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  • The Browns and The Big Hairs
    Each year on the third weekend in August in Montana USA, the Crow Fair begins. In 1992 during the Crow Fair, the Brown family from Taree were adopted into the Al and Ruby Big Hair family...
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  • Majestic Cafe, Gloucester
    In 1926 picture show proprietor and baker, Albert Augustus Smith, built the Majestic Theatre and a year later constructed a shop (café) and five-roomed dwelling next door called the Majestic Café...
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  • James Hickey Stevens
    James Hickey Stevens, known as ‘Jim’ to all, was the second son of George and Eliza Stevens of ‘Killarney’, Dyers Crossing...
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  • Tommy Boomer / Bulmer
    Tommy Boomer / Bulmer was born at Dingo Creek in 1865. He was a very good fisherman and diver, catching up to 10 lobsters each time...
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  • The tragedy of SS 'Macleay'
    The beauty of Little Broughton Island belies the tragedy of the wrecking of the North Coast Steam Navigation Company’s S.S. ‘Macleay’ on 11 October 1911…
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  • Gloucester Advocate
    The Gloucester Advocate newspaper was founded by Frank Townshend who released the first issue 8 July 1905...
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  • Wesley Chambers, 146 Victoria Street, Taree
    For two separate Councils to occupy premises in the same regional town is not unheard of, but to occupy space just across the hallway in the same building ... now that is unusual…
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  • Record-breaking cricket partnership
    This is the story of two close friends who on the 9th March 1940 made cricket history...
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  • Victory Cafe Taree
    In 1943 George Cassimaty moved his business from Manning Street to set up the Victory Café in the Beehive Building. It was here that George changed the face of the Taree café scene...
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  • Yarads Taree
    “We are here to stay!” declared Callile Abraham Yarad and his son Michael Callile ‘Mick’ in this 1933 advertisement of their store’s opening...
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  • Married in a Military Hospital
    A corporal on the ‘seriously ill’ list married his fiancé Sister Elsie ‘Billie’ Heyne in the Yaralla Military Hospital, Sydney on 30 June 1942...
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  • Taree’s Big Oyster, 100 Manning River Drive
    On Friday 30 March 1990, the NSW Premier, Nick Greiner, opened Taree’s newest tourist attraction – the Big Oyster…
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  • Timber Building, Taree Park
    This building was purchased in 1985 by the fledgling 2BOB Radio. The purchase price was $2,000 with a small annual lease payment to NSW Department of Lands...
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  • Toki Simon: The smiling assassin
    Toki William Simon was a Biripi man born in Forster, NSW in 1915. When he was young, Toki worked with his family to craft cabbage tree furniture at Forster. He also played rugby league for Cape Hawke being regularly identified as one of the team’s best players. In 1939 Toki married Joyce Dungay from Taree. World…
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  • A Glimpse Into The Good Old Days
    This true life anecdote from Mitchell’s Island happened in either 1920 or 1921. It was told to me by the late Rosalie Cardow (nee Mudford) in her ninetieth year. The heartbreaking poverty of farming families in those days is hard to comprehend now.
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  • Tuncurry Reafforestation Prison Camp
    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...
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  • Glenthorne Public School: Segregated history
    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…
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  • Nigel Kennedy and Fotheringham’s Hotel Taree
    Nigel Kennedy is an English violinist, famous for bringing classical music to the masses when he sold over two million copies of his above album in 1989. But did you know of his connection to Taree?
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  • Wingham School of Arts
    The first School of Arts in Wingham began in 1875 in a single-storey building at 23-29 Isabella Street…
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  • Prickly Pear Cough Syrup – a local speciality?
    Until the mid nineteenth century cochineal was highly sought after as the pre-eminent agent to produce a rich, vibrant red dye. It was the substance used to colour the British army ‘Red Coat’ uniforms…
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  • Croki Regatta
    In its heyday around 1900, Croki was a thriving village. Croki Regatta, an annual event, was a great drawcard. Some people paraded in their finest while others looked upon it simply as an excuse to let off steam. Boat races and competitive swimming featured, while a range of…
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  • John Cassimaty: Café owner
    John Cassimaty opened his first cafe in 1911 in Victoria Street known as the ‘Elite Refreshment Rooms’…
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  • The Star Theatre, Gloucester
    George O’Gorman Boustead was a Gloucester mechanic who had a passion for moving pictures. He is credited with bringing the ‘talkies’ to Gloucester...
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  • Missing: Edith Margaret Smith
    On 20 July 1930, Edith Margaret Smith, her Pomeranian dog, jewellery and clothes went missing from her Gloucester home never to be seen again. It was not her husband Albert Augustus Smith who reported her missing but her mother who lived in Sydney...
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  • Mill Creek – Taree’s hidden waterway
    The very first entry in the 1885 Taree Municipal Council Rate Book shows a Mr Avery as the owner of a mill and dwelling…
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  • St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Taree
    On 28 July 1869 the Taree Presbyterian Church was opened by Rev. James Cameron of Richmond with the presiding minister Rev. J S Laing delivering the first sermon in the evening…
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  • "Merton", 3 Macquarie Street, Taree
    In November 1903 George Ford, a Taree butcher, paid £50 for land in Macquarie Street, being Lot 17 in Section 15…
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  • Captain Jean Benaud
    Cricket trivia question: Q: What connection does famous Australian cricketer Richie Benaud have with Taree? A: In 1963 Richie was in the NSW Sheffield Shield team which played against the Mid North Coast in Taree. And…Richie’s great grandfather lived and died in Taree. Jean Benaud arrived from France as an able seaman on the Ville…
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  • The well in the Art Gallery Carpark
    On Friday 25 May 2018, as excavators were constructing a carpark for the Manning Regional Art Gallery in Macquarie Street, Taree, an old brick well was uncovered. Seeing the handmade bricks...
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  • Lionel Stephen Whitbread
    Lionel Stephen Whitbread was born in 1885 and lived his early life at Sidebottom (Koorainghat). Son of Taree town clerk and school teacher mother, Lionel was known for his integrity and honesty...
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  • The Exchange Hotel, 154 Victoria Street, Taree
    A new brick hotel, constructed by local contractor H W Alcorn, was built on the corner of Victoria and Manning Street opposite Clerke’s butcher shop…
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  • Brinawa School
    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…
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