John Guilding’s Bitter-Sweet Dream
Through the abhorrent use of an enslaved workforce, plantation owners in the West Indies had made huge fortunes from the cultivation of that most sought-after commodity – sugar…
A very old and very good ginger beer recipe
In our family homemade ginger beer and Christmas go hand in hand. Recently I came across an old ginger beer recipe at the NSW State Library…
Charles Poole: a “gentleman” prisoner
Charles Poole, did not fit the usual profile of a transported convict…
Francis McNamara aka “Frank the Poet”
A poem entitled “A Convict’s Tour to Hell” was composed by Frank McNamara in 1839. It has been said that it draws inspiration from Dante’s “Purgatory”…
William Johnson: a marked man
Many convicts transported to Australia in the nineteenth century bore tattoos. These marks were recorded along with other physical characteristics…
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…
Santa Claus at Tahlee House
Two days before Christmas 1927, an article appeared in NSW newspapers entitled ‘Santa Claus at Tahlee House’. It was a story set on Christmas Eve 1832 during the time when…
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…
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…