History

Moving to Substack

Jessica Barratt

2023 is the year I follow my intuition. Initially, this started with regard to stories. When I came across a little-known Sydney story, I decided to follow it. As I researched, the familiar feeling of anticipation washed over me. It was a story I had to write.

I decided The Dusty Box needed a refresh. Searching for a new theme took time. Investigating whether to move to one of WordPress’s full site editor themes took time. Tweaking it took time. Time away from research. Time away from writing. Nothing about my endless clicking felt intuitive. There had to be a better way.

Some people know that podcasting has been at the back of my mind for a while. Again, it’s something that takes time. The initial setup was also very overwhelming. Recording, editing, and finding somewhere to host it. I kept the goal at the back of my mind knowing I would revisit it when I was ready.

I felt stuck, not with writing and research, but with the website. Something wasn’t quite right. At the start of February, a flash of insight hit me: Substack.

I read other writers’ work on Substack, but until that moment, I hadn’t thought of moving there myself. After thinking about it for over a week, I set up an account for The Dusty Box. I wanted to see what it was like.

From the start, everything clicked into place. All the artwork designed for me in 2021 fitted perfectly. I moved my current story into a Substack draft and continued to work on it. I loved how it felt to write. I loved how it looked. I loved that I didn’t have to think about the nuts and bolts of a website. It all felt intuitive.

Substack has the option to add a podcast, so I added it. I thought of the artwork created in 2021 that had been waiting for years (my guilt ever-increasing that I hadn’t used it yet). I downloaded it from my files. Would it work? In a moment, it was uploaded. Again, anticipation rippled through me. It all felt right. I connected it to Apple Podcasts. The Dusty Box podcast was ready to go. I just needed to use my voice.

For the longest time, this, and solely this, has been what I want to do. To write, create, and bring little-known historic stories to life. Another benefit of Substack is that it allows writers to offer paid subscriptions. It means I can provide additional stories and information to those interested in reading more. In saying this, please only take up a paid subscription if you are financially able to. I plan to have plenty of stories available for everyone to read (and listen!).

Finally, the existing stories will remain on this website. Everything new will be on Substack. If you are a current or new reader and would like to receive stories direct to your inbox, please subscribe here: https://thedustybox.substack.com

Thank you always for reading and supporting The Dusty Box. I hope you will join me in a new intuitive space that, I feel, will enable me and my writing to grow.

WA History

The Māori Whaler

Jessica Barratt

It was the people who knew him best who, after he had passed, recounted the early years of William Parr, also known as Butty. While it was likely that they knew these details because he had told them the tales of his life, it was also possible that there were some inaccuracies due to the second-hand nature of the telling of the story.

Butty was born circa 1813 and was said to be from Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) in Aotearoa (New Zealand). He was the son of a Māori chief and was given the names Pah or Putty, which later became Butty. In the 1820s, during the musket wars, he was captured by another Māori tribe from the Bay of Islands. He lived with them for many years until, at age 16, he joined a church mission and sailed on their schooner Columbine.

…his face and chest were scarred with tatoo markings.

The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954); 22 July 1933; Page 4; Old Colonial Days
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History, WA History

Poisoned at Day Dawn

Jessica Barratt

Dressed in her best clothes and halfway through drinking her tea, Georgina Hussey doubled over in pain. Unable to bear it, she went to lie down. In bed, she proceeded to have a fit. Horton Sibley, the man she lived with, hovered nearby. He decided to find a doctor. Before doing so, he asked their neighbour, Ellen Clarke, to sit with her. Ellen tried giving Georgina water, but it did not help. After reviving a little, she had another fit. Frightened, Ellen told her younger sister, Janet, to fetch their older sister, Sarah Ann.

Sibley returned without a doctor but received some advice from the chemist, Andrew Taite. It was of no use. Georgina knew her condition was fatal. As Sibley sat beside her, she turned to him and said, “Kiss me Jack, and say goodbye.” On 16 September 1906, at about 7 pm, less than half an hour since the pain started, Georgina Hussey died.

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Historical Snippets

The Case of Frank Griffith

Jessica Barratt

Frank Griffith arrived at Peak Hill in July 1900 after a spell of bad luck prospecting. He obtained employment at the company Peak Hill Goldfields Ltd and started working on the surface before going underground. He planned to recoup his funds before heading out prospecting again.

Peak Hill Gold Mine circa 1900. Courtesy of the State Library of Western Australia (090565PD).

Before starting work underground, he chatted to another miner and showed him some gold he had found at Quinns. The man, seeing a similarity to the specimens at Peak Hill, told him to get rid of it. Frank knew of its origins and was unconcerned. He kept it with him and buried it six inches in the ground at his camp, an act that was common among prospectors.

Almost every prospector had specimens he liked to carry with him, regardless of the risk he ran in keeping them when working for a company.

Mount Magnet Miner and Lennonville Leader (WA : 1896 – 1926); 22 December 1900; Page 2; The Griffith Case
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Historical Snippets, Mysteries

Mount Farmer Mystery

Jessica Barratt

27 September 1854
“…we buried [Charles Farmer] at sunset, sewn up in his blanket, with his saddle for a pillow, on to which we lowered him gently in a horse-rug. I read the beautiful service of our Church for the burial of the dead over him, after which we fired our guns, and retired in silence.”

T.D. was working for a contractor at Twin Peaks Station in the Murchison at the start of July 1907. He was repairing a fence with the help of an older bushman, who liked to yarn as he worked. As they went about their work, it was inevitable that talk would turn to gold. The bushman casually mentioned that there was “a rich thing that he knew of at a place called Mount Farmer.”

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Historical Snippets, WA History

Geraldton’s Air Raid

Jessica Barratt

On 19 February 1942, Japanese forces bombed Darwin. With the risk of danger increasing, men and women on the home front got to work. They constructed air raid shelters, prepared their homes, and carried out additional training. The Daily News reported, “Everywhere on the Home Front there is an atmosphere of industry and enthusiasm. Realisation of their danger has come at last to West Australians, and they are preparing in haste against it.”

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Australian History, WA History

Harry Waters and the Lightning Gang

Jessica Barratt
Harry Waters

Harry Waters was broke. As he sat drinking in the billiard saloon of the Geraldton R.S.L., a criminal acquaintance appeared. James Henry Hawkins was in the same financial position. The two men sat together, nursed their drinks, and spoke of their lack of money and how they could rectify the situation. Waters had an idea. One he had been considering for some time. He suggested they join forces, travel to country towns, and rob the co-operative stores.

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Historical Snippets, WA History

Florrie Waters Saves the Day

Jessica Barratt

As lighthouse keeper George Waters looked out across a calm ocean from Bathurst Point Lighthouse on 12 December 1912, he decided it would be the perfect day for fishing. Accompanied by his 18-year-old daughter, Florrie, they hopped into a small dinghy and began rowing out to sea.

Bathurst Point Lighthouse circa 1912
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Historical Snippets

Arthur Smith Goes Bush

Jessica Barratt

A blue Chevrolet, found seemingly abandoned in the bush off the main road four miles north-east of Merredin, was a problem for the police to solve on 2 December 1953. Their first step was to investigate the number plate ‘71-724’. The car was registered to 44-year-old Arthur Smith, whose registered address was Hay Street in Perth.

Arthur was known to be a keen kangaroo hunter, so it was assumed he was in the bush shooting. Evidence of his work was apparent. There was ammunition in the vehicle, and on the back seat were dried rabbit and fox skins. Pegged outside on the ground was a kangaroo skin drying in the sun. Also in the car were loose items of clothing as well as several suitcases containing his papers and belongings. Ordinarily, police might have assumed that the owner had not gone far. The issue in this instance was that the car appeared to have been sitting in the same spot for months.

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Historical Snippets, WA History

Vivien Grant Carter

Jessica Barratt

Vivien was born on 20 June 1891 in Blackburn, Lancashire in England. She was the fourth child of her parents, Richard and Lucy Carter. Richard was a draper by trade and emigrated to New Zealand in the 1880s, where he met and married his wife. They later returned to England in the early 1890s. Despite having emigrated once, he decided to do it again. In late July 1900, the Carter family boarded the ss Medic, and on 30 August, they arrived in Western Australia.

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