“Nambour, the once jewel in the crown of the beautiful Sunshine Coast, the sweet sugar sprinkles on the parfait that was Queensland’s fruit salad bowl of yore. These days a much derided poor cousin, whose fall from grace was as swift and as merciless as the sub tropical sun that bakes the tree fringed valley in which it’s nestled, its former glory gone, like the black snow that once settled on freshly laundered sheets, a blessed gift from the towns beating economic heart, the Sugar Mill.”
OHQ member, Hamish Sewell’s brainchild, a series of podcasts here.
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BBC Sound Effects free download
There can be few organisations that have used more sound effects than the BBC, so there’s bound to be great interest in the news that the corporation has now made more than 16,000 of its FX available for free download. Click here for more information.
Pioneering Life in the Snowy Mountains
In Bold Horizon: High-country Place, People and Story (Rosenberg, 2018), Matthew Higgins leads us on a voyeuristic trek from Kosciuszko to Kiandra, from Brindabella to Bimberi and beyond, a journey that began with regular family visits to the snow as a seven-year-old and continues to this day with solo adventures across Australia’s rooftop. For full story click here.
Z Force Families
Researchers from the Australian War Memorial and the Australian National University have been piecing together the threads of information that exist on the Australian special forces, known as the Z Force Special Unit, in Borneo. For full story, click here.
Ireland Defence Forces
The history of Ireland’s Defence Forces has become vividly accessible in recent years as the Military Archives make more material easily accessible to the public. For full story and videoed interview excerpts, click here.
University of Newcastle Collection
The Margaret Henry Oral History Archive is a collection of audio tapes, transcripts, summaries and essays that were part of the Oral Histories Open Foundation Course (1986-1989). Margaret Henry was a history lecturer at the UON in the 1980s. The oral history tapes have been digitised by Cultural Collections, UON Library and made freely available to the wider global research community thanks to the generosity of The Vera Deacon Regional History Fund. For full story click here.
Australian Generations interviews
How do different generations of Australians reflect upon the big topics of their lives, like love, relationships and family and transitions from school to work to parenthood? For full story and download audio here.
Tombstone Tourism
Ghoulish or not, tombstone tourism is on the rise, according to a band of volunteers unearthing the history of South Australia’s Limestone Coast, who are “giving new life” to the dearly departed. For full story click here.
Talking about cars we had when young
Looking back to the 50s and 60s, driving requirements seemed to have been pretty casual. There were not, of course, nearly as many vehicles on the road and not nearly as many restrictions as there are today. The compulsory wearing of seat belts was not introduced until the 1970s and most of us could remember little cars packed with children who slid and tumbled and fought in the back seat. For full story, click here.
Rosie the Riveter
For many American families, the Great Depression and Dust Bowl struck like swift punches to the gut. New Deal work relief programs like the Works Progress Administration tossed lifelines into the crushing economic waves, but many young people soon started looking farther west for more stable opportunities. Read full article and watch video interview excerpts here.