by Rachel Franks | May 28, 2021 | Blog
One of my very favourite letters in the collections of the State Library of NSW was written by a wool merchant by the name of Joseph Whitehead. In an 1838 letter to his uncle in England, Whitehead describes Sydney as ‘without exception one of the most wicked places...
by Rachel Franks | May 6, 2021 | Blog
On 7 May 1832, John Hammell (also reported as John Hammill, John Haymell and Charles Hammell) was hanged for the murder of his boss George Williamson. Not everyone was sorry Williamson had been bashed in the head with a spade, but committing murder has consequences....
by Rachel Franks | Apr 7, 2021 | Blog
Research on the epitaph on a tombstone in Sydney’s old Devonshire Street Cemetery led to the shocking story of the deaths of Samuel Bradley, 59, and his wife Esther, 65, who were brutally murdered at their home in Birch Grove on 15 August 1822. Listen to Rachel...
by Rachel Franks | Mar 16, 2021 | Blog
In Governor Arthur Phillip’s great outdoor gaol in Sydney Cove, most eyes were on the convicts. It was logical to assume that those who had already proven themselves as felons were those most likely to offend in a new settlement. Yet, it was a military man, not a...
by Rachel Franks | Mar 15, 2021 | Book Reviews
Robert Clancy, The Long Enlightenment: Australian Science from its Beginning to the mid-20th Century Halstead Press and the Royal Societies of Australia, 184 pp., ISBN: 9781925043532, h/bk, AUS$49.99 Robert Clancy – who would be familiar to many through his work as a...
