Over the last month or so, I’ve been playing around with ideas on how to end our Blog Affair. For a while I thought I would just stop posting. Walk out without saying goodbye. Or leave a note: ‘Good-bye. Won’t be back. Sorry!’
Author: Kandos History
Four things about me. I like reading, writing, researching and living in the country. In particular I like living at Kandos, where we have been for more than a decade. I have deep roots in this part of the country. My mother spent her early life in Kandos. My father was born at Rylstone. My grandparents were pioneers of Kandos and Rylstone. And I was born at Lue - and went to school in Mudgee. The history of this area excites me and I would like to share it with you.
My monthly blogs are posted on the 1st of each month. However I intend taking a six-month furlough from blogging to continue a project that has been sitting on the shelves for too long. Also, after 71 posts and 59 articles I feel a bit stale. I posted my first blog in May 2017.
There is plenty to read on this site. If you are looking for a particular person or subject use the Search function. My last post is scheduled for 1/3/2022.
If you pressed "Follow" and gave your email address, the blogs will be sent to you when I return.
Thank you readers for your interest, comments and support.
Colleen
In the Interests of Truth and Justice
Numerous newspaper articles praised Rylstone’s solid public buildings and the excellent quality and colour of the sandstone. Enough reason to enter Rylstone stone in the Sydney International Exhibition at the Garden Palace in 1879. And win first prize.
Imagine There’s No Bridge
On 11 October of that year, 1862, 300 inhabitants of the ‘usually quiet little township’ (almost the population) celebrated the opening of their ‘beautiful new bridge’ on a ‘gloriously fine day' when ‘the heavens looked blue and the earth smiled green’.
In Memory of Sarah Howe
Their generation and their parents’ were referred to as currency lads and lasses. These free young colonials were thriving in the climate and landscape of Sydney, judged to be fitter, healthier and happier than their forbears.
A Mother’s Solace
One day in late January 1947 Flora opened a typed two-page letter that began, ‘Dear Mrs Clarke…I was a friend of your daughter Mary...was with her when she was last seen.’
Solace in a Stained-Glass Window
Light of the World, the largest window, the oldest, set in the most prominent place behind the altar and, at that time, probably the most recognised...It was the subject of sermons, speeches, letters to the editor and news articles. Over 300,000 people saw it at Sydney Art Gallery.
Solace in a Church
The year St James was completed, 1858, was one of the darkest in its history.
A Constipated Hippopotamus
"A book rather gets its hands around your throat and shakes you until your fillings fall out."
It Takes a Community to Raise a Church
It is human nature to want to leave your mark on the world and there are plenty of opportunities in a new town. Street names and foundation stones for two.
Walking With Ancestors
I ask myself why am I drawn to family history, a passion I have had for forty years, a passion aroused by stories of fame (or at least brushes with fame) and fortune (or at least the desire for it). But I am not alone. Genealogy research is a booming business.
Dogged Determination for Rylstone Railway
A timber railway station at Rylstone is a conundrum. All other stations on the line, large and small, were brick: Piper’s Flat, Ben Bullen, Capertee, Clandulla, Lue, Wallerawang and Mudgee. Most of the public buildings in Rylstone were built of stone.
Kandos History 