Panorama of MelbournePhotographer: Row, 251 Bourke Street. Courtesy State Library Victoria (SLV)The photograph can be enlarged or downloaded via this link https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/111604 The image above is an amazing rooftop panorama of Melbourne in 1920, taken from somewhere near (or possibly in the tower of) the General Post Office at the north east corner of Bourke … Continue reading A Panoramic Trip around Melbourne 1920
Australia 1914-1919
Peace Day in Melbourne – 19 July 1919
Although the Armistice was signed just after 5 o’clock in the morning of 11 November 1918 and the guns fell silent at 11 o’clock, the war did not officially end until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. To mark this longed for moment, King George V requested that a special … Continue reading Peace Day in Melbourne – 19 July 1919
Review – There and Back: The Story of an Australian Soldier 1915-35 by A Tiveychoc
There and Back: The Story of an Australian Soldier 1915-351 is the memoir of Rowland Edward Lording (1899-1944) writing as A Tiveychoc. The pen name is a reference to the 8th Infantry Brigade commanded by Major General Edwin Tivey in which Lording served. Lording, writing as Tiveychoc, says at the beginning that the narrative ‘mirrors … Continue reading Review – There and Back: The Story of an Australian Soldier 1915-35 by A Tiveychoc
An Aquatic Carnival on the Somme – May 1918
During World War 1 when soldiers were not in the front line, they were considered to be at ‘rest’. This was not leisure time but rather a rest from the trenches. They were kept busy, often with the manual labour of working parties as well as drills, training and parades. These periods also provided soldiers … Continue reading An Aquatic Carnival on the Somme – May 1918
We Will Remember Them: Albert Arthur Reader M.M. Part 2
This post continues from We Will Remember Them: Albert Arthur Reader M.M. Part 1 France The HMT Corsican arrived in Marseille on 5 Apr 1916. After a short march from the wharves, they boarded a train, the troops cheering as it left the station. They travelled through picturesque countryside with olive groves, vineyards and blossoming fruit … Continue reading We Will Remember Them: Albert Arthur Reader M.M. Part 2
We Will Remember Them: Albert Arthur Reader M.M. Part 1
Albert Arthur Reader was born on 16 June 1888 at Plenty, a rural locality on the River Plenty, about five miles north-west of New Norfolk, Tasmania. His birth was registered by his mother, Hannah Woodhouse just over a month later. Hannah, born in Tasmania in July 1855, was the only child of two transported convicts, … Continue reading We Will Remember Them: Albert Arthur Reader M.M. Part 1
People mentioned in And The Women Watch and Wait
This is a list of the lesser known but real people who are mentioned in my novel And the Women Watch and Wait. It is a work in progress and I will be adding to it, slowly, over the next few months. So far, I have been unable to identify Private J Hopkins for whom … Continue reading People mentioned in And The Women Watch and Wait
Australia Will Be There
On 22 December 1914, just three days before Christmas, eight transports carrying soldiers from Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania sailed from Melbourne to join up with the rest of the second convoy of the Australian Imperial Force at Albany. For these men Christmas 1914 would be spent in the Great Australian Bight. The convoy, including … Continue reading Australia Will Be There
When Irish Eyes are Smiling
Lines from the chorus of When Irish Eyes are Smiling are a motif in And the Women Watch and Wait, occurring at several points through the novel. The song is a romanticised tribute to Ireland and was written by Chauncey Olcott, and George Graff Jr, with the music composed by Ernest R. Ball. Olcott was … Continue reading When Irish Eyes are Smiling
The Wearing of the Green
My latest novel And the Women Watch and Wait is set in Coburg, a northern suburb of Melbourne, during the Great War and its immediate aftermath. The characters are, mainly, from the Australian-Irish community and, as with my other novels, music plays a part in their lives. Over the next few months I’ll post some … Continue reading The Wearing of the Green
Catherine Meyrick 