History Snoop

In 1852 Thomas Chippendale snr left his four boys ranging in age from 11 to 18 years in charge of his newly acquired, and now famous NSW grazing property, Bolaro. What could possibly go wrong? Well a great deal in fact. The youngest brother…

Coombes Church, West Sussex is famous for its medieval religious frescoes, discovered when a piece of plaster fell from a chapel wall during maintenance work in 1949. The Church, built into a hillside amidst lush pastoral surrounds has…

Tracking down Ned Kelly and searching for the place where he murdered three policemen on 26 October 1878 ended in a history scoop.  Clouds hung low over the Wombat Ranges making visibility poor and driving conditions hazardous but this…

Plastics polluting Fairhaven beach on Victoria's Surfcoast highlights a modern day environmental curse. Renowned for its rolling surf, rock pools, rugged beauty, imposing sand dunes and the Mad Max House, the beach is now choking with…

Treating asthma with smoke is not a joke. Before the advent of inhalers and corticosteroid drugs asthma really was treated with smoke. Who would have thought smoke, a chief lung irritant, could successfully relieve an asthma attack?

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot, Flying Officer Francis Ewen, was the first to die when his plane crashed while participating in a fly past for the afternoon military review on opening day. The second death occurred on 27 July 1927…

The Yarrangobilly bush cemetery is hidden away at the end of a bush track off the Snowy Mountains Highway in the Kosciusko National Park.  This quiet little patch in the Australian bush is the final resting place for some of the pioneers…

An air fatality in Canberra in 1927 left a permanent yet hidden scar on an historic day in Australia. Flying Officer Francis Ewen died tragically when his plane swept from a flying formation and nose-dived into the ground during a military…

A mystery memorial in Kosciuszko National Park has risen from the ashes of the 2020 summer bush fires in Denison, an area of dense bush land close to Adaminaby and favoured by fishing enthusiasts.

Combating Spanish flu in Australia was a massive challenge for government authorities, the medical profession and the population at large.  There was a steady stream of precautionary advice on what to do to avoid getting sick and what to do…