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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Maud Mabel Wilkes
    In June 1917 Maud Mabel Wilkes married the Cape Hawke Regatta Champion Rower Albert George Chapman...
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  • “Invermay”, 70 Wynter Street, Taree
    The story of “Invermay” is connected to the story of Catherine Thomson. Catherine was a commercial institution in Taree…
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  • Mysterious Suicide in Taree Park
    On the afternoon of Wednesday 9 May 1923, a tragedy unfolded in Taree Park. A visitor, Phillip William Osborne, committed suicide by ingesting strychnine…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • The remarkable life of Lloyd Haig Moule
    Lloyd Haig Moule was captured just west of Tobruk in 1941 and was interned in the POW Camp No 57 Grupignano, Italy…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • The Bridge Service Station, Cnr Victoria and Commerce Streets, Taree
    In the early 1920s Russian born John Kusnetzoff and his family arrived in Queensland. He later moved to NSW and joined the staff at Sanders Dairy…
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  • 12 Alban Street, Taree
    12 Alban Street, Taree sits on traditional Birrbay land which later became part of the 2560 acres granted to William Wynter in 1839...
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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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  • Ladies’ Old Bar Surf Club
    In September 1930, a proposal to form a Ladies’ Surf Bathing Club at Old Bar in conjunction with the Old Bar Surf Club was eagerly adopted and five weeks later the club house was complete…
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  • Rare wooden grave marker
    This rare example of a legible wooden grave marker was found behind a shed at the Great Lakes Museum in 2014. It once marked the grave of 14 year old Joseph Edwin Hadley...
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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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  • George Albert Chapman
    George Albert Chapman was born in Raymond Terrace and in 1880, aged 23, he walked up the beach to the Wallamba looking for a place to settle…
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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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  • “Mr Hockey”: Allan Taylor
    Allan Taylor had many titles over his life “King of the respirator kids”, “Mr Hockey” and “Tate”. No matter what he put his talents to he led and inspired…
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  • One of the first trucks and mail run in Strathcedar
    One of the first trucks in Strathcedar was a 1926 Chevrolet with a wooden cab. It was purchased by Royden Robert Newell and wife Florence, and was used to take their cream cans to the Wingham Factory…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • The Great White Train
    The Great White Train steamed into Taree in the early hours of Thursday 2 September 1926...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Emmeline Ann Everingham - a right to vote
    In the Port Macquarie Museum is an ‘Elector’s Right Residential Qualification’ for Emmeline Ann Everingham. In 1902 the Australian Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act giving women over the age of 21 the right to vote...
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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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  • 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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  • Edward Cannon: Bight Cemetery
    Edward Cannon was one of many British teenagers assisted to migrate to Australia between 1911 and 1939 under the Dreadnought Scheme…
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  • Percy Sotheron: The Sailor and the Siren
    On the evening of St Patrick’s Day 1884, Percy, a seaman from the “Renard” was approached by a young woman in King Street, Sydney…
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  • The Cloud Wallaby
    The Cloud Wallaby is a fable written and illustrated by Pixie O’Harris. It was published in The School Magazine in August 1949. It goes something like this...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Not all wartime tragedies happen on the battlefield
    On the Bulga Plateau, in the Wingham hinterland, a small number of blocks were set aside for selection by returned service personnel after their repatriation following World War I...
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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 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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  • 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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  • Breckenridge Scandal
    This painful scandal played out across NSW newspapers in 1899. Thomas Breckenridge was a storekeeper at Forster who worked with his sister Mary. When Thomas’ fiancée Jane Ann Benson became pregnant...
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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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  • Mudlarking in the Wallamba River
    For decades Graham Boyd dived along the riverbanks of the Wallamba River searching for artefacts…
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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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  • "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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  • 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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  • Bessie Irene Bastin
    Bessie Irene Bastin was an attractive young lady who married John Thomas Forwood after he returned from fighting in WWI…
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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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  • The Wrecking of the Urana
    It was just after 9pm on the night of 31 August 1937 when the Postmaster at Old Bar noticed the impending disaster – ship’s lights looming out of the fog and heading towards submerged rocks just off shore. The Urana, a steamer carrying 100 tons of coal from Newcastle en route to the Macleay River,…
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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 Mustard Gas Men: Ross Ashley Bryan
    A photograph of a carved rock inscription outside a disused railway tunnel reveals a Taree man’s involvement in a top secret operation in WWII…
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  • Bombardier John Daniel Stevens
    John Stevens, known as Jack to all, was the eldest son of George and Eliza Stevens of Dyers Crossing…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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 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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  • Whitbread's Corner
    The corner of Victoria and Manning Streets, Taree where the Exchange Hotel now stands (2020) was once known as ‘Whitbread’s Corner’. Samuel and Mary Whitbread arrived from England as assisted immigrants on the ship ‘Equestrian’ in 1848…
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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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  • The Owl Store, Gloucester
    On 27 March 1929 ‘The Owl Store’ opened at 36 Church Street, Gloucester. It was a Self-Serve Grocery Store – a new method of shopping at the time…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Young Ping
    Although Young Ping was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1860, his family were likely of Chinese origin. Ping came to Australia in 1879 aboard an American mail boat…
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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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  • 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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  • ‘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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • A forgotten pewter plate
    An intriguing lost family story is that of my seven times great grandparents Sarah Batt and James Gaite who married 6 September 1767 in Flax-Bourton, Somerset, England…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Apparitions at Limeburners Creek
    For many years there stood near the junction of the Karuah River, a large house surrounded by flowers and fruit trees. It was built by the late Captain Griffin, who reared a large family therein…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Clyde Smith and the SS Reliance
    Following the war, Clyde returned to Tea Gardens where he worked on the passenger steamer “SS Reliance” owned by Thurlow and Co. He held both an engineer’s ticket and master’s ticket so at times captained the ship…
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  • Henry Woodward, Oyster Merchant
    Henry Woodward has been called ‘Father of Australia’s oyster industry’ after he was granted the first ever oyster lease in 1884. The lease was No. 41 in Breckenridge Channel, Wallis Lake – just off Little Street, Forster...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • The Steam Packet Hotel, Taree
    It was here that he erected an hotel reputedly known as the “Ship Inn”, and later the “Steam Packet Hotel”…
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  • Forster Ocean Baths and Casino
    The Forster Ocean Baths opened on 20 December 1935 with an official ceremony conducted on 18 January 1936. The baths and buildings were designed by…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Mervyn Chapman
    Mervyn Chapman was born in 1918. His trip from Taree Hospital to his home on Chapman Island in the Wallamba River was a perilous journey on the back of a motorcycle…
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  • Joseph Graham’s Dinghy
    Joseph Daniel Graham was born on Cabbage Tree Island in 1882 and 1965 aged 83 years. He lived on the island all of his life following in the family tradition of working as a boatbuilder, oyster farmer, fisherman and farmer…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 35 Victoria Street, Taree
    As the township of Taree continued to expand in 1912, the land at Section 82 along Victoria Street was offered for sale…
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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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  • Old Bar Public School
    In November 2019, Old Bar Public School celebrated the completion of their new building. As students proudly showed off their modern learning place...
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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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  • 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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  • Leslie Hopetoun Osmond-Dreyer (1901-1959)
    Leslie Hopetoun Osmond was born in 1901 in Marrickville. At the age of 10 years he was orphaned and, with his sister, was taken in by Mr and Mrs Dreyer at Koribar (Dyer’s Crossing)…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Norman Barry Pritchard: a life cut short
    Norman Barry Pritchard was the son of Beryl and Henry (Harry) Pritchard and brother to Beverley, Sandra and Gordon. In 1953 the Pritchards lived in the Wallamba Cabins situated on the River at Darawank…
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  • Our Manning River: Transformation of Brown's Creek (Crooked Creek), Taree
    It’s heartening to see that waterways once used as dumping-grounds are now valued by the community and restored to places of beauty and ecological health...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Wilsie Wilson: Champion Sculler
    At the age of 23, Wilsie Wilson entered into the single ladies’ scull competition at the Croki Regatta held on Boxing Day 1928…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Harry Wilfred Webster
    Harry Wilfred Webster was born in Essex, England in 1885 and undertook his architectural training there...
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  • Warren ‘George’ Perkins, OAM
    Warren ‘George’ Perkins was born 25 November 1927 and would become a highly respected builder, sportsman and community leader in Forster…
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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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  • Daphne Irene Chapman: A flair for hair
    Growing up between two world wars Daphne Chapman knew what it was like to go without. Using her flair for hair styling she realised she could…
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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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  • Guy Prior – A Young Boy’s Hero
    Only my parents would have a greater influence on my early life than Guy Prior…
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • “Uncle Lou” Waterman
    Louis Augustus Waterman was born in Balmain in 1877. He came to the Manning with his brother Harry where they became farmers at Tinonee...
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Josiah Miles
    In 1885, Josiah and his brother Thomas took over the Forster sawmill and shipbuilding yard which fronted Wallis Lake...
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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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  • Gold Freemason’s pin
    A tiny article of jewellery passed down through my family is a gold pin. On one side is a Freemason’s sign and on the other the Lord’s prayer - so tiny you can hardly make out the words…
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