Explore dinosaur trails less travelled Looking for dinosaur trails in Australia that go beyond the usual tourist circuit? This Dinosaur Trails Australia road trip begins at Lightning Ridge in northern NSW, home to rare opalised dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous period. From Lightning Ridge to Queensland’s dinosaur country, this is a prehistoric journey for curious […]
Journey Along the Queensland Dinosaur Trail Through Winton Looking to explore the Queensland Dinosaur Trail beyond the brochures? From Charleville’s clear night skies to Winton’s world-class fossil discoveries, this outback road trip reveals prehistoric Australia at its most compelling. WHERE to from Lightning Ridge? North! We’re heading to Winton, but there are a few interesting […]
Is it the Queensland Nut, Macadamia Nut or Bauple Nut? WHEN I was a boy, we’d occasionally get a treat that we knew as a Queensland nut. I was amazed to learn a few years later that they came from Hawaii. That’s only part of the story, though and, as with many stories, it involves […]
Clochemerle: What’s with the pissoir in the town square? WHEN I was a boy, I think my mother had a problem with toilets. Not the functions but the architecture. Mum was quite “distressed” by the outhouse, which was situated some 10 metres from the house, out in the back yard. Hence, the one horror story […]
From Table Centrepiece to Design Motif: Pineapples as Prestige A tropical fruit, a rented centrepiece, and a quiet marker of wealth — the story behind the pineapple is stranger, and more revealing, than it first appears. HAVE you ever wondered why pineapple motifs are a recurring theme? I have. They appear on shirts (think Hawaiian), […]
What do the cemetery symbols and emblems mean? HAVE you ever wondered about the symbols and emblems found on headstones and monuments at the cemetery? If you grew up in a religious family, there were no doubt some symbols that appeared frequently. For me, it was the Celtic Cross. This is an interesting combination, including […]
Mortuary chapel, the nucleus of M’boro Cemetery HAVE you ever been to the Maryborough Cemetery, the Monumental Cemetery, south of Walker St? Of course, you have! However, if you have visitors and you’re looking for something interesting on a balmy afternoon, there’s no better place to visit. Apart from the forest of beautiful and interesting […]
Who was Francis Stanley? FRANCIS Drummond Greville Stanley. That’s a name to conjure. “Who was he?”, many of you may ask, and yet you will all know his work. Francis Stanley was born in Edinburgh in 1839 and came to Queensland in 1860 or thereabouts. He was an Edinburgh-trained architect and began work with the […]