The Dusty Box

Category: WA History

  • The Ginger-Haired Skeleton

    The Ginger-Haired Skeleton

    The Daily News Friday evening edition was first to break the story and deemed it interesting enough to be front page material. They ran with a concise headline, one which would immediately catch the public’s attention: Skeleton Found At South Perth Perhaps readers were initially sceptical of the find. It was, after all, 1 April 1938 – April Fool’s Day – and…

  • The Prince of the Red Desert

    WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following blog post may contain images and names of deceased persons. Roebourne, 13 August 1889 Mr. Alex. Edgar has arrived in town. While in Condon he received a letter from Mr. Alexander McPhee saying that he had caught a white native about 260 miles inland from…

  • Dirk Hartog

    In 1616, Dirk Hartog, in command of the Dutch ship ‘Eendracht’ left Holland bound for Batavia (today’s Jakarta). He was employed by the Dutch East India Company and was accompanied by several other ships when they became caught in a storm and were separated. Hartog and the crew of the ‘Eendracht’ arrived at the Cape of Good Hope without the other ships…

  • The Karrkaratul

    Last week I came across an ABC news article about the sighting of a marsupial mole (Notoryctes Caurinus) by Kiwirrkurra Rangers from the Tjamu Tjamu Aboriginal Corporation. Known as the karrkaratul, it spends most of its life underground and is rarely seen. Reading about the mole and watching the Corporation’s amazing video (above) led me to think about Trove. I wondered…

  • Old Ned of The Causeway

    I have long been of the opinion that those who are the most interesting and who have the most interesting stories are often people who lived with nothing during their lifetime. Unfortunately, this fact also means that it’s their stories which tend to be forgotten first. But, with a little digging and the help of…

  • The African American Bushranger

    WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article may contain images and names of deceased persons. Long before a vision of a state arose in the heart and mind of Sir James Stirling, American ships regularly navigated the southwest coastal waters of Western Australia in search of their quarry: whales. These American whalers had been visiting our coast since…