Spent the last couple of weeks at @slnsw looking for animals on detailed plans of Sydney city street blocks from 1880s to 1930s. Not much to see. Mainly the odd stable hidden away behind the street fronts. So then I visited the grand daddy of Sydney stables.

Top morning last Friday talking history with these legends and many others during a Museums of History NSW symposium at the Mint. Looking forward to joining efforts to connect historians working across the state.
Photo © Joshua Morris for MHNSW.

Just for you

Looking for historical animals in Sydney’s Centennial Park. And why historians need a stout pair of boots.

Is this happening in your place? Theft of plaques from monuments and memorials apparently for the value of the metal? Are the thieves unwitting allies of iconoclasts?

Which Australian bark are you?

They could always play hockey (well, ok, they would have had to invent it) but I wanted to share this photo of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment hockey team awaiting transport to England in 1917, and especially, their adorable sweaters. Some skilful women behind them, I think.

It contributes to making the case for why the 26th of January, the day on which the colony of New South Wales was officially launched, is not a day of celebration but a day of mourning for the continent's First Peoples.

There is some irony in seeing that my former colleague, the late Professor Lyndall RYAN AM, has been made an officer of the Order of Australia today "For distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly Indigenous history and colonial settlement through research and publications."

1940 bushfire poster from New South Wales linking them with the housing shortage that existed before the war and became much worse as it progressed, as resources were shifted to war purposes.

It is Christmas day here in Australia and as part of my bushfire series, what seems like a highly inappropriate way to wish someone Christmas joy.

In 1948, the Bush Fire Advisory Committee reminded the people of New South Wales of their Christian duty to provide stewardship to birds and animals. They put a strong emphasis on charismatic native species but didn't forget the economically important sheep in the background.

Playing with perspective in this 1947 anti-bushfire poster. The white cuff and well groomed hand suggest this is a city dweller unfamiliar with the protocols that needed to be observed in the bush.

A series in the lead up to Christmas Australian-style. What is more seasonal than the threat of bushfires? Some cautionary posters from the NSW Rural Fire Service, starting with this tasteless one from 1946. All nicked from www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/ourstory/gal...

An ibis’s work is never done. At Sydney Botanic Gardens.

A simple message post the Riding Tide protest in Newcastle, Australia. But the ships keep coming and leaving a day later full of coal mainly bound for Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China. More coal is exported here than through any other port. #coalmustfall.

Wild Life always seems to promise something different than wildlife does. The crocodilian binding suggests this book could go either way. 🐊

Just a proof of life post as I have not been using this account. A bluebottle and a seagull on Newcastle Beach, Australia.