The dogman is the assistant of the crane operator, responsible for assuring that the load is safely on the crane’s hooking and then directing the crane operator by radio when it can be raised and advising him until the load is properly placed for the riggers to remove it from the hook. Why is the name [more...]
The Australian game of two-up is a simple game of chance, being not much more than “heads or tails” with two coins thrown at once. Nevertheless it has been played for over two hundred years. It is particularly remembered as a way that the troops amused themselves during World War I. The game is straightforward. One [more...]
There are many definitions of what constitutes a “city”. The distinction between a city, a town and a village varies from country to country, and throughout history. Here are just a few of those definitions. In the United Kingdom, the monarch declares that a town has become a city. However, a few cities were grandfathered in [more...]
Quezi, I am told, is Australian slang for question, as in, ’scuse me, mate, I’ve got a quezi for ya’. Don’t believe me? Try looking up the history of the word in old newspaper archives. There are a number of free online newspaper archives covering Australia and New Zealand. Here are the major ones you should [more...]
The name of the Australian National Anthem is “Advance Australia Fair.” Before it was adopted as Australia’s national anthem, Advance Australia Fair saw other use. The Australian Broadcasting Commission, used it to announce its news until 1952. It was also often played at the start or end of official functions. Proclaimed the National Anthem [more...]
Melbourne is the capital of the State of Victoria and the state’s largest city. It is also the second largest city in Australia after Sydney. It was established by free settlers in 1835, declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847, and became the capital of Victoria when the area was declared a separate colony from [more...]
Australia is a large but lightly populated island country lying between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It was constituted in 1901 from a merger of six former colonies of the United Kingdom. The national anthem is Advance Australia Fair. How big is Australia? Australia has an area of 7,686,850 square kilometres (2,967,909 square miles). This is more [more...]
Adelaide is the capital of the Australian state of South Australia, and is Australia’s fifth largest city. Adelaide was founded in 1836 as the capital for the only freely-settled British province in Australia. The wide streets, city squares and green areas make Adelaide an interesting city to explore. It is not possible to provide a complete list [more...]
Brisbane is the capital of the Australian state of Queensland and its largest city. It is also the third largest city in Australia, behind Sydney and Melbourne. Queensland was named a separate colony in 1859 with Brisbane as its capital. It was not incorporated as a city until 1902. The original settlement grew from a penal [more...]
Dunlop Volley tennis shoes were a big hit in the 1960s, but tennis players nowadays wear more specialised footwear. The Volley is way out of fashion and hard to find anywhere else in the world. So why do people in Australia keep buying them? And who has taken over from tennis players as the customers? Dunlop [more...]
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia and the territory’s largest city. In February 1869, George Goyder, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin. With Commonwealth administration in 1911, Darwin became the city’s official name. Darwin has been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to [more...]
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the largest city in Australia. Sydney was founded in January 1788 and was named after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney. During July 1842 the municipal council of Sydney was incorporated and the town was declared the first city in Australia. Sydney is one of [more...]
If you want to escape the tourist traps, you’ve come to the right place! The population of Eromanga is 80. You can get there by flying to Quilpie (population 620) then driving a hundred and a bit kilometres west, or you can start in Brisbane and drive over a thousand kilometres. Either way, you’ll pass [more...]
In 1977 a referendum was held in Australia to choose the national anthem. It would have been quite bizarre if Waltzing Matilda had been chosen, but it did come second. (Advance Australia Fair won, and God Save The Queen is still used for royal occasions.) But what is the meaning behind the words of Waltzing [more...]
The traditional Australian milk bar enjoyed its heyday during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, when the influx of migrants from Italy and Greece brought new life to the old Welsh tradition of the Milk Bar. There are still a few around, though they’ve become rather thin on the ground now that Australians have access to [more...]