Robert Onfray

Hostages to fortune – soldiers and civilians lost and forgotten in the fog of war

19 July 2024 / 5 Comments
Rabaul and its strategic military importance

Rabaul, a town of striking beauty nestled on the north-eastern tip of New Britain in Papua New Guinea, boasts magnificent deep-water harbour encircled by a stunning volcanic flooded caldera three kilometres wide.  This natural fortification, combined with its strategic location, made Rabaul a coveted prize for colonial powers and, eventually, a significant battleground in the Pacific theatre of World War II.

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Can rangeland pastoralists survive by riding on the goat’s back? 

5 July 2024 / 5 Comments

During our trip through western New South Wales in March 2022,  we saw significant numbers of feral goats. These goats were everywhere, spanning from Broken Hill east through Wilcannia and Cobar onto Nyngan, covering over 600 kilometres in mulga country.

We had an overnight stop on the Barrier Highway at the Meadow Glen Rest Area, about 60 kilometres west of Cobar.

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What makes Surrey Hills so special?

28 June 2024 / 8 Comments

With the help of several people who have generously contributed, the monthly blogs or stories about Surrey Hills have reached their conclusion after four years.

All good things must eventually come to a natural end.

In finishing my Surrey Hills stories this month, I thought it worthwhile to sign off by reflecting on the varied views on what makes Surrey Hills so special and unique.

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A sleepy coastal town comes alive during wartime

14 June 2024 / 3 Comments

Gold fossickers were the first settlers to the Evans Head area on the far north coast of New South Wales. Not finding gold, they turned to oyster farming and prawning, with Evans Head becoming Australia’s first commercial prawn port.

In 1919, an Italian immigrant, John Rosolen, built the first General Store.

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The best Hollywood script ever – the brumby cull in New South Wales

10 June 2024 / 20 Comments

Any Hollywood film producer needing a blockbuster script should look no further than New South Wales and the aerial culling of brumbies. It is a highly polarised issue and has been for many years. After all, the concern about culling brumbies is not matched by concerns to kill other feral animals or pests, such as deer, pigs, rabbits, foxes and cats.

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Timber’s role in the rise of Australian butter 

31 May 2024 / 3 Comments

While researching for my three-part series on the truth behind the rainforest wars in New South Wales (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), there was a constant theme in the historical account of utilising one species of rainforest timber. While the cutting of hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) was undoubtedly very extensive in New South Wales, the scale of utilisation in Queensland was even more significant, and one of its primary uses was for butter boxes.

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Going Home

3 June 2024 / 18 Comments

In this penultimate Surrey Hills blog, I have the privilege of providing a deeply personal story from Brian Rollins about his association with Surrey Hills.

While I provided a shorter, more sanitised version of Brian’s Surrey Hills involvement in Chapter 13 of “Fires, Farms and Forests” under the heading Soothing the Soul and Raising Awareness of Early VDL Co. 

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The rise and fall and rise again of a valley’s Rattler

10 May 2024 / 2 Comments

As settlers moved into the rich, fertile areas of the Mary Valley in the 1860s, they wanted a railway to connect them more readily to the outside world and markets for their produce.

The government ignored their early calls, but all that changed when prospectors discovered gold at nearby Gympie in 1867.

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The 6th Mass Extinction Crisis – speculation without substance?

25 May 2024 / 2 Comments

“Unfortunately, conjecture based on limited facts has produced “research” trumpeting catastrophic fears of extinction”. Jim Steele

Introduction

“Our planet now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades”.

As the world commemorates another Endangered Species Day, you will undoubtedly read or hear claims like the above.

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Special ANZAC stories

25 April 2024 / 8 Comments

I have decided to write this blog to commemorate and remember the men from settlements in and around Surrey Hills who fought in wars.

In Chapter 10 of my book, “Fires, Farms and Forests”, I outlined some of the war service by men from Guildford Junction. This blog goes into more detail and includes stories about men from Parrawe and Bulgobac.

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