Outback Family History

A Token of Esteem – John J Victor

10/02/2018 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

Presented to J J Victor Esq (Pictured centre) Secretary As a token of esteem by the members of the Boulder Amateur Swimming Club. 1911 Presented to J J Victor Esq (Pictured centre) Secretary J (John George) Cosson President T Carberry Captain and Instructor T Jenkins Judge G Stevenson – Starter A Shea – Prop […]

Swearin ‘n’ Spittin – by Arthur Dunstan

07/02/2018 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

Swearin ‘n’ Spittin – Kalgoorlie Goldminers were a great bunch of blokes. Their work was hard and dangerous and most of them spent their leisure time in one of the 37 pubs. They drank beer as if it was their last day on earth. Sometimes unfortunately it was. Besides living from day to day, the […]

Death of a Bushman – a family story

02/02/2018 By Moya Sharp 4 Comments

I was recently sent this most poignant story from OFH reader Ray Jackson. Although it occurred in Queensland, there are many incidences like this in Western Australia. It tells a tragic family story:- Life was very hard in the Charleville area of Queensland in the late 1800s and work was very hard to get. Two […]

And Be Home Before Dark – a book review

27/01/2018 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

Some of you may recall this excellent publication some years back, and some of you may have a copy, or have read it. Published in 2008, Im sure that you will agree with me that is is a wonderful recollection of a childhood spent ‘on the edge of nowhere’. The book has sold 25,000 copies […]

The Sandalwood Puller – a verse

26/01/2018 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

We have another great verse from well know writer and poet John Terrell:- In the rugged goldfields scrub he pulls sandalwood for a living Beyond all bitumen roads in conditions unforgiving He’s a different type of bloke, a recluse some might say But spot a big ‘un in the bush and he’ll holler, hip-hoorah! His […]