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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…
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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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  • Hector Haden
    Hector Haden was born in Liverpool, Sydney in 1894 and moved to Forster with his family when his father was appointed engineer of the Dredge Forster…
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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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  • 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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  • Granny Rennie
    In 1852 on the ship “Argyle”, Mary Keleher aged 19 left her native County Clare, Ireland to become one of the first assisted immigrants to arrive directly into Moreton Bay (Brisbane), Qld...
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  • A sawmiller and beef farmer
    When Trevor Newell inherited 160 acres in 1974 from his parents Royden and Florence Newell, at Strathcedar on the Mooral Creek Road, it was going back to tea tree scrub and weeds...
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  • Hobson’s Store - 135 Victoria Street, Taree
    Late in 1922 an imposing two storied commercial building was under construction in Victoria Street, near the intersection with Manning Street...
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  • The Blue Cross - Taree landmark
    The Blue Cross atop the tower of St John’s Anglican Church in Victoria Street has long been prominent on the Taree skyline...
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  • George William (Gunyah) Green – timber craftsman
    The Bulga Plateau, is well known for the quality and abundance of its timber.  Large timber mills once provided employment for its menfolk, but one man had a lighter touch...
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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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  • Harold Robert McCormick
    Harold Robert McCormick was born in Taree on 3 October 1911 to parents Robert and Margaret. After school he went to Rotorua, New Zealand…
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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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  • Our Manning River: 1978 Flood
    Midday, Monday 20 March 1978 the Manning River at Taree hit a flood peak level of 5.45m just 15cms below the record flood of 1929...
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  • Channell's, 54 Church Street, Gloucester
    Henry James Channell was a hairdresser in Sydney with two salons in Park and George Streets. In 1907 he and his brother Arthur bought land at the Waukivory Subdivision...
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  • Spanish Flu in the Manning Valley
    The pneumonic influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919 had a devastating impact on the world population, leaving more casualties in its wake than the Great War…
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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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  • 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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  • The Green Hornet
    The Green Hornet began life in the workshops of John Fowler & Co in 1910. Of course, it wasn’t known as the Green Hornet then...
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  • Our Manning River: Industrial Heritage of Brown's Creek (Crooked Creek), Taree
    The creek has a long industrial history with ties to quarrying, railways and shipbuilding to name a few...
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  • The Gorton Family two generations on…
    Noel Gorton was born at the Australian Agricultural Company’s headquarters in Carrington around 1828. His father George had arrived in Australia in 1826 to work for the company…
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  • From the Manning to Majdanek
    I never did meet Max although he was known to my parents. Max was often discounted as “odd” but after reading what he endured during WWII I understand why – it was horrific...
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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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  • The Davey holiday home, Hawks Nest
    Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest were sleepy little villages when Joyce Davey first ventured there in the 1930s. Hawks Nest was the main area but not much more than a few bush tracks...
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  • Captain Cromarty buried at Carrington Cemetery
    During a storm in 1838, a steamer lost its smaller boat which was stranded at One Mile Beach. Cromarty was asked to retrieve the boat and row it back to Port Stephens…
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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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  • Massacre at Belbora
    In 2017, the University of Newcastle began documenting massacres of Aboriginal people at the hands of early settlers. One such massacre occurred at Belbora…
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  • Olaf Harris – a quiet achiever
    Olaf Harris was a younger brother of the well-known children’s illustrator and author, Pixie O’Harris. He executed seven of the twenty-five paintings…
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  • The accidental death of John Nicholson, shipbuilder
    The day Nicholson died he was travelling from Raymond Terrace to Port Stephens in a horse and cart (having moved to Karuah). The morning was wet as…
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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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  • A Life on the Ocean Waves: Hugh McColl McCrindle
    In the 19th century, the Scottish city of Glasgow was a centre of shipbuilding. It was here, in 1880, that Hugh McColl McCrindle was born…
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  • Robert Clyde Smith and the Dalfram Strike
    No. 4 Jetty at Port Kembla was the scene of a shocking fatality on 7 November 1938. A young man from Tea Gardens, Robert Clyde Smith, was crushed to death while unloading pig-iron (wrought iron) on to a ship bound for Japan…
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  • Breach of Promise of Marriage…
    “I could kiss you to death.” “I am going to fill this letter with kisses…” The letters from James Campbell Summerville to his fiancée Margaret Charlotte Challinor were filled with these endearing statements…
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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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  • Carlyle Hospital Wingham: Nurse Phyllis Bidner
    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…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • The Brick Machine Case
    On 28 September 1927, the court house in the small town of Stroud was abuzz with anticipation.  Albert Herbert Thompson was to be tried for the fraudulent appropriation of money from two brothers, local dairy farmers Andrew and Anthony Jacob Weismantel...
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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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  • Temple Chambers - 138 Victoria Street, Taree
    Manning born David Cowan had established a legal practice in Taree in 1899. In 1921 a fire threatened his offices which were then located in the Belmore Hall, a timber building in Pulteney Street, Taree…
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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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  • Eliza and George Stevens' Daughters
    Dyers Crossing pioneers, Eliza and George Stevens, had nine children. Below are brief details of the lives of their four daughters...
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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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  • Rushby Casino
    Vic Rushby had a secret. During the week he was the ‘mild-mannered’ manager of Rushby Shoes, while on the weekend he unleashed his superhero powers on Old Bar…
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  • “Coast Town” – A Prizewinning Film
    In 1939 the Society invited entries to find the best 16mm film made in Australia and which referenced Australian life or history. This was the first national…
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  • Charles Hugh Algie
    If you have ever driven through Haberfield in Sydney you may have noticed ‘Algie Park’. Ashfield Council unanimously decided in 1911 to name it after Charles Hugh Algie…
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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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  • 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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  • ‘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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  • Old Bar Recreation Reserve and Pavilion
    The first pavilion on Old Bar Recreation Reserve was built in 1887 to provide refreshments and shelter to beachgoers…
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  • Kevin Gilbert: activist, artist, author, playwright and poet
    Kevin Gilbert was born in Wiradjuri country near Condoblin in 1933. While in prison for murder he asked for books on…
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  • Pietro Muscio’s diary
    In the twilight of Pietro Antonio Muscio’s life he sat down to write his ‘little story’ over a fortnight in November 1922. Using a fountain pen, exercise book and in English (his second language) he wrote his life story in 43 pages…
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  • Commonwealth Bank Mural – 176 Victoria Street, Taree
    In 1956 the Commonwealth Bank commissioned Byram Mansell to design a mural for its new premises to be erected in Victoria Street, Taree. Born in Sydney in 1893, William Arthur “Byram” Mansell was trained as an engineer, but attended evening classes at Julian Ashton’s Art School. Seeking to further his experience, he travelled overseas and, whilst…
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  • Postcards from the muddy trenches of France
    On 10 January 1916, three brothers from the Gorton family - Tom, Fred and Herbert - enlisted in WWI…
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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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  • Dee, Me and Three
    I was born after WWII. We lived in a reasonably modern home at Shalimar built by my father. We bathed in a tub in front of the fuel stove…
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  • The Dunn Family from ‘Dunnville’, Failford
    In 1902 Thomas, Eliza and their children moved into a mill workers’ cottage at Failford before acquiring a property on the bank of the Wallamba River opposite the mill which became popularly known as ‘Dunns of Dunnville’...
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  • 101 Bungay Road, Wingham
    In the back shed of 101 Bungay Road Wingham is a child’s handprint pressed into the concrete slab with the date 17-7-54. After watching episodes of Restoration Home during Covid19 social distancing measures, the hunt was on to work out whose print…
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  • Gerard H B McDonell – Award Winning Architect
    Gerard H B McDonell, born in 1908 at Cundle Plains, was the fifth son of John Joseph and Emily Mary McDonell (née Bussell)…
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  • Cape Hawke Memorial Hospital
    After WWII, the population of Forster-Tuncurry had almost doubled and there was a growing need for a local hospital…
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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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  • The McAskill Murders, Booral Wharf
    In January 1878, the Booral Wharf store was alight and there was no sign of the wharfinger Alan McAskill or his wife Mary...
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  • This too shall pass...tepees and Covid19
    In March 2020, Australians joined the rest of the world in practising social distancing techniques to slow the spread of the global pandemic Covid19. It was during this time that a series of driftwood shelters appeared along Old Bar Beach...
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  • Daphne Cross (nee Trotter) - A caring mother and outstanding teacher
    Daphne Trotter was born at Pampoolah to Clarence and Victoria Trotter, a descendant of Manning River pioneers Thomas and Mary Trotter...
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  • William 'George' Sawyer and his 1934 Dodge Tourer
    After the Dodge was sold a letter arrived at Connie’s home together with a photograph of the restored vehicle...
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  • Christmas Bells at Crowdy Head
    Between Crowdy Head and Diamond Head is a great plain that has long been home to Australian wildflowers, particularly Christmas bells, Christmas bush and flannel flowers…
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  • The kindness of fishermen: 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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  • Tunbridge Wells, 81 High Street, Taree
    Henry Wilson Alcorn began his life on the Manning as a farmer and later advertised his services as a brick merchant and building contractor. He constructed many brick buildings around Taree, including the Exchange Hotel and his own home 'Tunbridge Wells'…
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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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  • Formation of the QUOTA Club of Taree
    On Friday night the 20th August 1947 a meeting was called in the CWA rooms to form a Quota Club of Taree…
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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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  • 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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  • Old Taree Showgrounds
    Did you know that the Taree Showgrounds near Muldoon Street were not always there? We have discovered that they were much closer to the centre of Taree. Read on to learn more...
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  • William Baird
    This photograph from the 1960s shows the headstone of William Baird at the Angel Close Historic Cemetery in Forster. William Baird was born in 1851 in Sydney…
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  • Alfred Baker: Baker of Taree
    While Alfred Baker was born into a shipbuilding family, his taste and skills for baking was stronger...
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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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  • Taree War Memorial Clock
    The Taree War Memorial Clock stands in Fotheringham Park, but did you know that it wasn’t always there? Do you know why it was built? And did you know about the secret capsule hidden inside?
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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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  • 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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  • George Gorton and the Australian Agricultural Company
    A smallpox epidemic 200 years ago on Lord Barrington’s Estate in Berkshire, England brought tragedy to the Gorton family. William Gorton was an agricultural labourer who lived and worked on the estate…
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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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  • Albert George Chapman – Champion Rower
    In 1886, the Balmain Working Men’s Rowing Club established itself just a few hundred metres from the Balmain Rowing Club. In these early days a working man…
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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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  • SS Urana
    The Urana proved a saviour for the crew of the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving boat in February 1926 when…
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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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  • Badgers to Boogie Woogie, 31 David Street, Old Bar
    For over a century, tourists have frequented the seaside village of Old Bar. The building on the corner of David and Clerke Streets was, and still is, central to the ‘vibe’ of the town…
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  • 1 Manning Street, Taree
    This building is a rare survivor. A purpose-built dental surgery, constructed for Cuth Haddan in 1938…
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  • John “Wylie” Breckenridge Third
    Like his forebears, Wylie Breckenridge was a boat enthusiast. He had an idea for making the sport of motor boat racing popular at Cape Hawke and set about designing a speedboat...
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  • Westcrag Lodge of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows
    The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows was conceived as a friendly society which provided financial support to its members in need and promoted their moral, social and intellectual development. It was established in Australia in the 1840s. Lodges proliferated in Australia and even small communities were able to generate sufficient numbers to form local Lodges…
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  • Alexander Croll
    Alexander Croll learned the trade of shipwright. During his apprenticeship he shared quarters with another youth named John Wright, the pair ultimately shared life and business together…
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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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  • 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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  • John Wylie Breckenridge: The Laird of Failford
    John Wylie Breckenridge (1846-1917) was the eldest son of John Wylie Paton Breckenridge of Forster...
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  • Nicholas Boyaze
    Nicholas Boyaze (Voyatzis) was born in Crete and settled in Bohnock, a small township on the Manning River, where he managed oyster leases for the Comino Brothers…
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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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  • Bessie Taylor of Kitty Kitty
    Mabel and Harold Carter owned a dairy farm at Kitty Kitty, Cundle Flat. Mabel’s half-sister, 18 year old Elizabeth “Bessie” Taylor, lived with them as a dairymaid. She was engaged to a labourer called Francis Dennes...
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  • Mud Bishop, birth of the Australian Crawl
    You may have heard stories of the recluse and retired policeman, Mud Bishop, who made his home at the entrance of the Manning River at Old Bar from 1923 until his death in 1944. But have you heard of his amazing place in Australian Sporting History? Wallace James ‘Mud’ Bishop was born in 1878 in…
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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 Chevrolet truck, a fence and a way to the Wingham Show
    In the early 1900s the owners of one of the first trucks in Strathcedar, was Royden and Florence Newell. This truck was used for the mail run…
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  • Former Rural Bank of NSW, Taree
    On Tuesday 25 June 1935 at 10am the newly built Taree branch of the Rural Bank of NSW opened for general business. The opening of the bank...
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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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  • Message in a bottle
    On Monday afternoon, 18 November 1946, while the old residence of the Manning Ambulance Superintendent was being demolished to make way for a more modern building, a letter in a bottle was found...
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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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  • Premonition at the Australian Hotel
    Mr Cregg, a well-known tea traveller, spent the night at Wingham’s Australian Hotel on Friday the 8 November 1901 where he had a vivid dream…
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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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  • 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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  • 41 Florence Street, Taree
    I have always admired the lovely house that sits on the corner of Florence and Wynter Streets, Taree. The property was part of the original Taree estate granted to William Wynter in 1834…
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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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  • Fire at the Bellevue Hotel, Tuncurry
    In the early hours of 13 July 1954, a fire started within the Bellevue Hotel at Tuncurry…
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  • “Malvern” 120 Manning Street, Taree
    Ray Hurst has been a long time resident of 120 Manning Street, Taree and was interested in the history of this old house. Here is what we found…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Wilsie Wilson 1905-1986
    Wilsie Wilson was always a generous, hardworking woman. Born on Dumaresq Island in 1905…
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  • The Changing Fortunes of Algar and Cath Bunyard
    A headstone in Wingham Cemetery marks the final resting place of Algar Bunyard. He died in Taree on 22 July 1910 of cirrhosis of the liver, aged 47 years…
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  • Redex, The World’s Toughest Car Trials
    Redex Trials were novel with 200 amateur and pro drivers circumnavigating Australia in a contest. Bill Nelson was always passionate about cars and talked his mate into...
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  • Miss Vera Abbott’s Cricket Team
    In 1933, Miss Vera Abbott was Wingham’s candidate for the Upper Manning Agricultural and Horticultural Association’s Popular Girl Competition…
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  • It's the way we have in Tinonee.....
    John Martin Waterman’s talent was apparent when in 1929 he was awarded a special prize in a state wide essay writing competition run by the Dickens Fellowship…
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  • Cynthia Chapman 1921-2006
    Born in 1921, Cynthia was the first daughter of Albert and Maud Chapman of Chapman Island. She was a demure, softly spoken girl who was her father’s pride and joy...
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  • Forster’s first police constable: Edward William Mitchell
    Early policing in NSW began in 1789 when civilians called the “Night Watch” were tasked to guard Sydney Town. On 1 March 1862 the NSW Police Force was established…
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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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  • Purfleet Gum Leaf Band
    Gum leaf playing is deeply linked with the culture of First Australians who have always played this unique instrument. It is believed gum leaves were used in hunting, signalling, rituals, as spiritual instruments and even toys...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Alfred Basham and Jane Middlemiss
    In the Angel Close Historic Cemetery at Forster lies the remains of Alfred Basham and Jane Middlemiss. While these two youths were not related nor did they die together they were nevertheless connected...
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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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  • Charles Poole: a “gentleman” prisoner
    Charles Poole, did not fit the usual profile of a transported convict...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Driving Miss Maisie…Philp
    Maisie started work on the Forster-Tuncurry-Taree bus service owned by Brien Ivens as the conductress in 1941…
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  • Tales from Old Bar Airstrip “Mystery Island”
    In September 1936, Australian film star Brian Abbott, leading lady Jean Laidley and a crew of 30 set off for Lord Howe Island on the SS Morinda to film the movie ‘Mystery Island’…
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  • Kerewong Estate
    In 1906 the NSW Government passed legislation to enable the construction of a railway connection from Maitland to South Grafton. Many owners of large land holdings along the route saw this as an incentive to subdivide their property...
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  • Edward Langley (Teddy) Whitbread
    Edward Langley Whitbread is buried in Woola Cemetery on the outskirts of Taree. The headstone describes his death on the 12th February 1909 as accidental. Look a little closer and you may be able to make out a jockey’s cap and crop incised into the stone. A local lad, Teddy Whitbread was born in 1888 and…
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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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  • “Rito” 25 David Street, Old Bar
    “Rito” at 25 David Street is known as the second oldest surviving house in Old Bar…
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  • John Wylie Paton Breckenridge
    John Wylie Paton Breckenridge Senior (1818–1899) emigrated from Scotland with his wife Lilias Reid (1826–1870) and two children John Wylie Junior and Agnes on board the “Nimroud” in 1859…
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  • Ernie Gorton, leather craftsman, Nabiac
    Ernie became interested in leather goods and entered the trade of saddler and bootmaker. He set up business in Clarence Town but believing he would be more successful…
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  • Sad tales of Glenthorne Public School’s teachers
    Glenthorne Public School operated for 63 years with nine teachers serving the small community. Of these teachers, four suffered tragic events while serving in their roles. William Percy was a popular teacher who loved playing cricket. He passed his pupil teacher’s examination at 13 and worked his way to full teacher. He taught at Glenthorne…
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  • Christina ‘Ruth’ Gardiner
    Christina ‘Ruth’ Cameron was born 31 March 1909 at Wingham to Alexander and Agnes Cameron and is believed to have been the first baby born at Nurse Cameron’s Private Hospital…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Waukivory School
    In 1907 The Gloucester Estate Ltd put to auction the first blocks in the so called Waukivory Subdivision. As the land was taken up the community saw the need for a school…
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  • Grandfather’s birthday
    Writers like Steele Rudd and Norman Lindsay have made much of the humorous side of Australian rural life in the late nineteenth century. A counterpoint to this humour was the hardship and tragedy endured and overcome by the Australians of that era…
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Recent Posts
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  • Taree’s First Eisteddfod
  • Lincoln Brick Works, Wingham

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We acknowledge the traditional owners, the Biripi and Worimi people, on whose lands these stories are told. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised this website contains images and voices of deceased people. The stories of the MidCoast could not be told without recognising their stories. Do you wish to proceed?