July 2026

The Maryborough butter factory

31 July 2026 / 3 Comments

Cream, co-operation and the making of a Wide Bay industry

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Maryborough was one of Queensland’s busiest regional centres, a visitor approaching the town would have found the air filled with the scents of industry. Timber mills lined the river, the clang of engineering workshops echoed, the whistle of locomotives sounded, the sweet aroma of sugar cane wafted through the air and the faintly sour smell of milk and cream arrived at the town’s dairy works.

Wings over the sand

24 July 2026 / 5 Comments

There is a long stretch of beach on the eastern side of Fraser Island where, at low tide, the sand hardens into something that eerily resembles a runway. It is straight and wide, and from above it looks almost intentionally designed, as if nature itself had foreseen the arrival of aeroplanes and laid out a landing strip accordingly.

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Old Vines, New World: how the Barossa became the custodian of wine’s lost history

10 July 2026 / 2 Comments

Some wine regions thrive on novelty and fashion, while others maintain their authority more quietly, grounded in continuity rather than reinvention. The Barossa Valley clearly falls into the latter group. Its hold on the world’s imagination isn’t based on being new or clever but on having survived — sometimes intentionally, sometimes by luck — while much of the Old World was forced to start afresh.

Living with fire in the Adelaide Hills

3 July 2026 / 4 Comments

A history of burning, management and the illusion of control

Spending time at Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills over Christmas and New Year at the end of last year and beginning of this year, it’s impossible not to see the landscape through the lens of fire. The orchards, vineyards and tourist towns are real enough, but they sit lightly on a deeper, more enduring reality that the Adelaide Hills have always been a fire-prone landscape.