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  • The Australian Agricultural Company: Introduction
    The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) is Australia’s oldest continuous company. It was established in 1824 through an Act of British Parliament for the purpose of improving flocks of Merino sheep...
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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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  • Bob Hope in Taree ‘Thanks for the memories’
    On Monday evening 14 August 1944, Chief Observer of the Laurieton Volunteer Air Observers Corps (VAOC), Mrs I M Grierson, was on duty when she saw a Catalina flying boat make a forced landing…
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  • Call of the mermaids at Crowdy Head Lighthouse
    For centuries watery sirens have lured sailors and their vessels onto Mermaid Reef 10 kilometres off the coast of Crowdy Head creating sadness and destruction. In 1878 the government fought these forces by erecting a lighthouse to warn ships of their impending doom...
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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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  • North Coast Steam Navigation Co Ltd
    In August 1891 the North Coast Steam Navigation Company was formed by the merger of the Clarence, Richmond and Macleay Rivers Steam Navigation Company and John See and Company...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • When Hollywood came to Gloucester
    In the 1930s visiting the cinema was a favourite pastime. Most films shown in Australia at that time were Hollywood productions and, in 1935, the NSW government took steps to promote the Australian film industry...
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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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  • Dan Bros, Gloucester
    ‘Dan Bros’ was an early business in Gloucester established in 1929. The brothers who emigrated from Lebanon were...
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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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  • The Great White Train
    The Great White Train steamed into Taree in the early hours of Thursday 2 September 1926...
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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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  • 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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  • Shipwrecks at Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse
    Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse is one of the shortest lighthouses in Australia yet it towers above the wild, dramatic coastline. Built in 1875 to warn of the perils of Seal Rocks, it was Colonial Architect James Barnet’s first lighthouse design. Shipwrecks were an unfortunate part of life. In 1876 three vessels stranded simultaneously during a storm.…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • ‘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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  • 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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  • Vincenzo Fazio (1865-1962)
    Driving around Tuncurry, you may notice iconic sites such as The Great Lakes Cinema, the abandoned BI-LO, and the Rockpool. But one lesser known locale is Fazio’s Transport and Bricks…
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  • Purfleet Butter Factory
    Most days I drive past the site where a magnificent butter factory once stood tall. The Purfleet Butter Factory was opened on 14 December 1897 by the Australian Dairying Company...
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  • Fire in Victoria Street, Taree, 1905
    Shortly before 7 pm on 29 November 1905, fire broke out in Victoria Street, Taree. It started in a small room at Donnelly’s Red Colonnade Store...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Taree Literary Institute
    Tucked away upstairs from the busyness of Victoria Street is a hidden gem that has been operating for over 150 years, the Taree Literary Institute. Also known as Schools of Arts, Literary Institutes were established to provide a combination of adult education and recreation facilities and often became the heart of small town activities...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • First television in Taree
    Peter and Dawn Calvin were proud owners of the first television in Taree. Owners of Calvin’s Electrical at 70 Manning Street (now 34 Manning Street), Taree they proudly showed off this technology to the Taree community in the early 1960s. Living behind the shop, they offered the television for everyone to enjoy. Dawn remembers that…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Former National Australia Bank, Taree
    Hardly recognisable today (2019) in its Priceline Pharmacy livery, this building started life in 1935 as a branch of the National Australia Bank…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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 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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  • 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 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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  • ‘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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  • 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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  • Sander’s Dairy
    Christian Sander, his wife and three daughters, arrived in Brisbane aboard the Japanese steamer “Aki Maru” in December 1923. Sander, an Estonian national, told of colourful adventures in escaping from the Bolshevik regime in Russia. Circa 1926 Sander commenced the production and sale of ice-cream in a small premises in Victoria Street, Taree. The success…
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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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  • Hector Holmes Service No. 3555 – POW
    In November 1917, in the midst of the Great War, newspapers nationwide carried the heartening news of two Australian escapees from a German prison camp. One of these combatants was Hector Holmes...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Failford - a name on a map
    Failford is a locality set amidst pleasant countryside, but dominated today (2019) by large lot residential subdivisions. Perhaps not historically interesting? But, then again...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Private Maynard Basham, Tinonee
    Of the 19 Tinonee men who enlisted in WW1, 12 were killed in action. Two of these men were awarded the Military Medal, one of those was Private Maynard Basham...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Albert Augustus Smith
    Albert Augustus Smith was a baker who owned ‘The Old Bakery’ in Comboyne, and a bakery and the ‘Majestic Theatre’ in Church Street, Gloucester. After his wife’s disappearance in 1930 police searched his ovens but found no clues, only a length of fuse which they could not link to the case...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Taree West Public School
    Taree West Public School, aka the best school ever, opened in January 1953. Since then it has changed a lot. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to see how the school began...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • James Arthur Winney – music teacher and journalist
    James Arthur Winney was born in London on 18 July 1859. He received a musical education at the Tonic Solfa College in London and as a young man was…
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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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  • 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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  • Murder at Monkerai
    Frank Rudkin was married to Jessie, a woman some 20 years his junior. On the morning of 5 July 1921, a neighbour’s son, found Frank’s body lying...
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  • Alfred Cavalchini: Baker, Confectioner and Photographer
    Italian born Alfred Cavalchini arrived in Sydney at the age of 16 in 1900. During World War I, Cavalchini took photographic portraits of young men as they headed to war in their uniforms...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Pixie O’Harris paintings
    In 1957, renowned Australian illustrator and author, Pixie O’Harris, painted a series of 24 murals for the Children’s Ward of the Manning River District Hospital in Taree. The paintings (measuring around 1.5 m x 1 m) depict scenes from children’s stories including Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and Robin Hood...
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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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  • 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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  • Gloucester Advocate
    The Gloucester Advocate newspaper was founded by Frank Townshend who released the first issue 8 July 1905...
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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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  • “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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  • 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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  • 'Joker' the cattle dog
    'Horrie the War Dog’ is a well-known Australian novel documenting the true story of Private Moody and his dog during World War II. But did you know that Old Bar had its own war dog? His name was Joker...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Harry Wilfred Webster
    Harry Wilfred Webster was born in Essex, England in 1885 and undertook his architectural training there...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Simsville - a Settlement in Purgatory
    Located in the Purgatory Scrub east of Stroud, Simsville, also known as The Jarrah, was the site of a timber getting and sawmilling operation spanning the years 1911 to 1947…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Alban Albury Maloney
    At the south-western corner of Taree Park stand memorial gates dedicated to the memory of A A Maloney. But who was A A Maloney? Born in Albury in 1888, Alban Albury Maloney was a highly skilled dentist. He settled in Taree circa 1912, acquiring the dental practice formerly conducted by Mr H A Tuck. Following…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • "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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Eliza Stevens nee Hickey
    Eliza Hickey married George Stevens in 1889. After living their first two years of marriage on the Myall River, they moved to 'Killarney', Dyers Crossing where she lived for the next 49 years with her family.
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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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  • Alice Ann Withycombe – an exemplary seamstress
    A finely carved headstone in Woola Cemetery, near Taree, marks the final resting place of Alice Ann Withycombe…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Tom L Dudgeon – Stonemason
    Born in 1884, Tom Dudgeon followed in his father’s footsteps and became a stonemason…
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website contains images and voices of deceased people which may cause sadness or distress. The stories of the MidCoast could not be told without recognising their achievements. Do you wish to proceed?