Month: November 2023

From Bischoff Tinlanders to Parrawe Rovers – a potted history of the Waratah District Football Association

Football was played in and around the Waratah district not quite continuously from the 1880s until 1953. However, organising a competitive competition was a challenging enterprise. At any time, the local competition only had three teams and played under different rules, the main one allowing less than 18 players per side. There could have been …

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The Waler – a remarkable horse and an Aussie legend

“By members of the Desert Mounted Corps and friends, to the gallant horses who carried them over the Sinai Desert into Palestine, 1915-19. They suffered wounds, thirst, hunger and weariness almost beyond endurance, but they never failed. They did not come home”.  Inscription on a monument erected by returned soldiers in Sydney As we stop tomorrow …

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Three days of hell in the valley

Introduction This month marks the 55th anniversary of the worst fires experienced in the Bellinger Valley since European settlement. The late spring and early summer of 1968 was one of the worst fire seasons experienced in New South Wales. Spring was exceptionally dry in coastal areas, with Sydney only receiving 29.5 mm for the season, …

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