Queenstown

Special ANZAC stories

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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Happy 100th birthday, Wee Georgie Wood!

Like many places on the West Coast, before 1964, when the Murchison Highway was opened to vehicular traffic, the only access was via the Emu Bay Railway. However, Tullah wasn’t on the Emu Bay line, and like the silver town of Magnet, it relied on a tramway spur for a link to the outside world.

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A bushman and his dogs

Herbert Illichmann has provided some bits and pieces about a gentleman called Harry Fisher. Unfortunately, information about Harry is scant, but there are references to him in Kim McDermott’s excellent book Last of the Wildcats and the memoirs of Herbert’s father-in-law, Lindsay Wilson.

There are also a couple of newspaper articles about Harry, but because Lindsay didn’t provide specific dates, I cannot find them.

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A fiery summer in north-west Tasmania

Introduction

The summer of 1933-34 was very dry across most of Australia, including Tasmania. It began a pronounced drought period that lasted until early 1939. 

Victoria had significant bushfires in 1932. “Red Tuesday” on 19 January saw many fires in almost every part of the state, particularly West Gippsland, where nine people died. … Read more

The Burridge family – synonymous with Guildford Junction

Last month I shared a blog written by Lloyd Wilson, who grew up in Guildford in the 1940s and 50s. This month I want to share another Guildford story from Margaret Brown who was born at Guildford in 1935 and lived there until 1958.[1] She is the longest-serving resident born at Guildford.… Read more