Lifting the lid on history
Arriving in Dowerin on the morning of the show on 14 September 1927, Mr Valentine quickly endeared himself to locals. He attached himself to the party of James Macfarlane M.L.C. (claiming he was well-known to the man), which added to his legitimacy. Over the course of the day, he spun words together and wove stories.
Often when I’m researching using the archives, I’ll look for what I need, then I’ll look at all the other pages. The Western Australian Police Gazette at the State Library of Western Australia is one such fascinating resource. While most of it consists of text, there are also photos: people recently discharged from prison, unidentified deceased people, and occasionally missing people. It was the latter category that immediately caught my attention many months ago. In front of me was a photo of a young man, wearing a hat, crouched, with his hands resting on two dogs. His infectious smile expressed joy and happiness. Yet, in late January 1930, he went missing from his farm at Mollerin. What was his story?
Continue reading “A Story from a Photo”On 14 January 1930, the Minister for Agriculture, Harry Millington, announced that, in addition to the Rural Women’s Course, there were also plans to hold a short wool-classing course specifically for women. It was to be held at the Technical College in Perth, and would start on Monday, 10 March, and would end on Friday, 14 March.
The idea arose from a direct request from a woman to the Minister at the Lake Grace Show in 1929. The course was believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, and was to be run by Alfred Stewart, who was the wool-classing instructor at the Technical College.
Continue reading “Wool-classing for Women”
The Dusty Box 