A place to set up camp: 1850s - 1880
In March of 1880 newspapers reported the death of 61 year old Edward Smith Hill at his home in Woollahra. The obituary noted that he was...
A royal performance (part 2) - 1868
In the last post we saw how Aboriginal people had been gathering in their hundreds around Sydney in February and early March 1868. They...
A royal performance - 1868
In late February 1868 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that a feast was to be held in Sydney in March to give Aboriginal people a...
Gruesome 'curiosities' - 1862
[PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS BLOG POST DISCUSSES ABORIGINAL SKELETAL REMAINS] As we saw in last week’s blog post, by the 1860s most Europeans...
Last of the tribe? - 1863
As I have written about in past posts, Aboriginal people were still a part of Sydney life in the 1840s. Many European Sydneysiders knew...
An Aboriginal entrepreneur - 1850
In early February 1850 the Sydney Morning Herald reported the death on 31 January of Mahroot (also known as Boatswain), aged in his...
Fighting fires - 1845
In the 1840s, the eastern suburbs was still largely uncleared scrub with the occasional interspersed house - prime tinder for bushfires....
A friend's passing - 1845
In the blog post of 19/12/16, we heard about the Christmas feast hosted by Sydney businessman Charles Smith for several dozen Aboriginal...
A Christmas feast - 1844
On Christmas Day in 1844 several dozen Aboriginal men and women entered the back yard of Charles Smith’s residence and butcher shop...
Rough treatment - 1842
Last week we saw how local man William Warrell often travelled into Sydney town from Aboriginal settlements in the Domain and elsewhere...