Posts relating to solving historical mysteries
Treasure Troves in Laman Street We recently unearthed a couple of interesting newsclippings relating to finds of treasure troves in Laman Street Newcastle. First Find 1877 The first occurred on Friday 13th April 1877, when a cache of over 60-70 silver and 400-500 copper coins was found in a well in Laman Street. Dating from … More The Treasure Troves of Laman Street
The coloured engraving above is a view taken from the hill overlooking Darby Street in the current suburb of Cooks Hill, Newcastle. Features include: St John’s Anglican Church, (between Darby Street and Dawson Street), directly behind is a train on the Newcastle Coal Company’s Railway, (running along Bruce Street and curving towards Dawson Street), a … More Cooks Hill in 1865
The State Library of New South Wales has digitised a selection of Conrad Martens‘ drawings. Among them are drawings that document his travels though the Hunter in the years 1841 and 1852. Conrad Martens (1801-1878), artist, was born in London England. In 1832 he joined the scientific team aboard the Beagle with Charles Darwin, replacing … More Conrad Martens in Newcastle and the Hunter
Here are two beautiful thoughts from Polybius (204-122 BC), relating to the study of history, and its importance to our lives. The knowledge of what has gone before affords the best instruction for the direction and guidance of human life. and History furnishes the only proper discipline to educate and train the minds of those … More Polybius on History
The above video “A True ANZAC Memorial” was posted on You Tube in November 2010 and recently entered into the Laman Street Trees debate with the description: The current Newcastle City Council intends to cut down the Laman Street fig trees in order to construct a NEW ANZAC memorial. The problem is, these trees, planted … More The Inauguration of Newcastle’s “Tree Spirit” – Are the Laman Street Trees a Memorial for the War Dead?
It was an accidental delight this morning to come across an engraving of John Rae in the Illustrated Sydney News of December 1853. John Rae captured Newcastle in two famous panoramas, one painted in 1849, and again in a photograph circa 1880. These two images capture the changing landscape of the town and are among … More John Rae and Newcastle
Nobbys Head on Planet Mars Exciting news from Col Maybury, President of the Astronomical Society of the Hunter, with the inclusion of the name ‘Nobbys Head’ on a geological feature on the planet Mars. Col Maybury Writes to NASA Col wrote to the NASA team for naming rights a year or so ago as … More Nobbys Head/Whibayganba on Mars
The plans of Newcastle City prepared by surveyors Mahlshedt and Gee in January 1886 are now online through our Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627126833932/ These copies of plans of Newcastle were compiled in 1975-1979 by A.P Pulver from plans by Mahlshedt and Gee, surveyors and draughtsmen. The plans are of Newcastle streets with names of land owners … More Newcastle in January 1886
“NEWCASTLE. (From Thursday’s Chronicle) AN INTERESTING RELIC. – On Friday morning last, as the workmen were employed in pulling down the walls of the Bank of New South Wales, in Watt Street, they found embedded between the plastering and the wall, a kind of small leaden case, containing a piece of white paper, about the … More An Interesting Relic
Background to the original 2010 post. (Please note the links to the LPMA site are now dead) This post was updated in 2019 with extra material kindly provided by Susan Effenberger. “We attended an information session yesterday (1 December 2010) organised by Andrew Ling from the LPMA, and the designers Steve and Barney Collins who … More The Mysterious Origins of the Bogey Hole