Paleography – transcribing old letters

Transcribing Elizabeth Macarthur's letters is at once illuminating and frustrating. I'm currently working on one that Elizabeth sent to Captain John Piper, in 1804.  The original is held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.  John Macarthur was away in England at the time and Captain Piper, a good friend to both Elizabeth and John, was stationed at Norfolk Island (a secondary penal colony, some 1600kms northeast of Sydney). The letter is a crucial one because in it Elizabeth describes how she and her children fled  from their farm in Parramatta to [...]

2018-03-21T16:43:58+11:00November 25th, 2014|Elizabeth Macarthur, Work in Progress|0 Comments
Read More

Bombay Anna by Susan Morgan

You've likely never heard of Bombay Anna.  But I bet you have heard of Mrs Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of the King of Siam. If you've ever seen the movie or stage version of the King and I, you've seen Mrs Anna. Mrs Anna, however, was far more than a figment of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's imaginations. Anna was born in 1831, a poor, mixed-race army brat in India. There she married an English soldier, Private Thomas Leon Owens, and with him had four children.  Between 1853 and 1857 [...]

2018-03-21T14:55:43+11:00September 23rd, 2014|Book Review|6 Comments
Read More

Sidesaddle

Esther Stace cleared a record 6'6" at the Sydney Royal Show in Australia in 1915 riding sidesaddle. Photo source: Walcha Historical Society. Elizabeth Macarthur was a horsewoman.She wrote a letter describing riding through the bush on a three day trip to the Hawkesbury.  Governor Macquarie wrote about encountering her on horseback.But that's all I know.  I can't tell you if Elizabeth rode for pleasure, although her friend Betsy Marsden certainly did (Betsy's husband wrote to friends bragging of his wife's riding prowess).  I can't tell you if amongst the [...]

2018-03-21T16:45:37+11:00August 28th, 2014|Colonial History, Elizabeth Macarthur, Work in Progress|0 Comments
Read More

Camden Park House & Garden Open Days

Photo Source: https://macarthur.com.au/camden-park-house-and-garden-open-weekend Open 20 - 21 September 2014. Saturday 12noon - 4pm; Sunday 10am - 4pm Historic Camden Park House built in 1835 for John and Elizabeth Macarthur and their family is open for one weekend a year. Tour through this historic Georgian mansion designed by John Verge. Explore the colonial garden filled with spring blossoms and rare botanical plants, and enjoy devonshire tea or BBQ lunch.  Plant, gifts and produce stalls on display as well as Vintage Cars. More information available here at www.camdenparkhouse.com.au. Elizabeth Macarthur [...]

2018-03-21T15:36:04+11:00August 19th, 2014|Elizabeth Macarthur, Uncategorized|0 Comments
Read More

Camden Park House & Garden Open Days

Photo Source: https://macarthur.com.au/camden-park-house-and-garden-open-weekend Open 20 - 21 September 2014. Saturday 12noon - 4pm; Sunday 10am - 4pm Historic Camden Park House built in 1835 for John and Elizabeth Macarthur and their family is open for one weekend a year. Tour through this historic Georgian mansion designed by John Verge. Explore the colonial garden filled with spring blossoms and rare botanical plants, and enjoy devonshire tea or BBQ lunch.  Plant, gifts and produce stalls on display as well as Vintage Cars. More information available here at www.camdenparkhouse.com.au. Elizabeth Macarthur [...]

2018-03-21T14:56:16+11:00August 19th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments
Read More

Visiting Bridgerule, Dreaming of the Past

Bridgerule Millhouse Thanks to every TV and cinema adaptation of Pride and Prejudice it isn’t hard for a modern reader to imagine the quiet corner of England that Elizabeth Macarthur left behind. Elizabeth Veale, as she was then, was born in 1766 and raised in the very English village of Bridgerule, on the border of Cornwall and Devon.   Rolling green hills, flowering hedgerows, majestic trees surrounding an ancient church, picturesque gardens beside quaint little cottages — the location ticks every English stereotype on the bonnet drama list. And [...]

2018-03-21T16:39:27+11:00July 31st, 2014|Elizabeth Macarthur, Writing|10 Comments
Read More

Australia’s First Cookbook

Published in 1864, Australia's first cookbook has gone on display at Tasmania's State Library in a celebration of its 150th anniversary.  The venue is fitting, given that the author was a Tasmanian, Edward Abbott. The English and Australian Cookery Book: Cookery for the Many, as well as the ‘Upper Ten Thousand by Edward Abbott, published London, England, 1864 Recipes include roast wombat, kangaroo steamer and slippery bob - which was battered kangaroo brains fried in emu fat.  Yum, yum. Also included are domestic tips and advice regarding smoking, tea [...]

2018-03-21T14:56:19+11:00June 30th, 2014|Colonial History|2 Comments
Read More
Go to Top