Shadows of the Western District

The natural beauty of original landscapes in Australia is not always well appreciated. In the nineteenth century, there was an understandable desire to recreate landscapes in the image of the old world. In the Southwest conceptions of the natural world were embedded in the minds of Europeans when they first came to Tower Hill. There… Continue reading

It is perhaps ironic that the Tower Hill Natural History Centre was designed by Robin Boyd. At the time he drafted his design for the Centre, Robin Boyd was one of Australia’s leading architects and a public intellectual. In 1960 Boyd authored an influential book called “The Australian Ugliness”, which was a critique of Australian… Continue reading

While it is not clear what financial backing the Lindsay and Carmichael families had when establishing the Union and Quamby runs at Woolsthorpe, the financial links that Neil Black had can easily be ascertained. Neil Black held the Glenormiston run at Noorat from 1840, and shortly afterwards acquired an adjoining station called The Sisters, an… Continue reading

The initial European settlement at Port Fairy is closely connected with Launceston, the Tamer River Estuary, and the northern part of the Tasmanian Midlands. During the early nineteenth century, whalers and sealers seasonally visited the Southwest coast in pursuit of their quarry. Crews would establish temporary camps along the beaches of the mainland, remaining for… Continue reading

The publication in 1963 of Margaret Kiddle’s book, “Men of Yesterday. A social history of the Western District of Victoria, 1834-1890” was at the time considered a significant milestone in the histography of Victoria. In a laudatory review, the Robert Menzies Institute asserted that the book was “a classic of Australian historiography.” In the last… Continue reading

In “Blood Meridian,” Cormac McCarthy’s great gothic novel, the character named the Judge asks his audience of killers the following question: “If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind, would he not have done so by now?” Cormac McCarthy constantly has the “Kid,” the central character, question what the Judge says. For the… Continue reading

The forebears of Lionel Jones and Patricia Reilly. Family Tree from first generation to arrive in Australia 1. Lionel Jones – Maternal Side A: James Lowndes Senior (Lionel’s great-great-grandfather) – Ann Higgins (Lionel’s great-great-grandmother, also known as Ann Lowndes upon her marriage to James in Hobart in 1827). James Senior was born England 1795, arrived… Continue reading