Most of my four hundred and three postcards are about travel – the great Australian pastime of the last four or five decades – leaving home, coming home and, for the recipient, staying home.
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
Who Owns St Patrick?
When I started researching Kandos history almost two decades ago I was intrigued by the number of newspaper articles about St Patrick’s Day in our industrial town. This month I headed back to St Patrick and discovered a few unvarnished truths.
The Emergence of Lue
the beginning and emergence of Lue village
Our First Government House
Concerns were raised which led to an archaeological survey. It revealed the fragile remains of the first government house - the only in situ remains from the first year of British settlement.
A Building Inquiry
The Depression had a devastating impact on Kandos property. At the second mortgagee sale in 1934 seven “fine” Kandos properties sold for a total of £135 (one property worth an estimated £800).
Thrills and Throbs at Kandos Picture Show
On 15 July 1933 Kandos Talkies would treat you to a double-bill, Beauty and the Boss, a “radiant romance, spicy and snappy – She had ‘IT’ but she hid it”; and “a sparkling satire Once in a Lifetime which reveals what goes on in the private offices of Hollywood film studios”!
Kandos 1920
As early as February 1920 the cement workers were agitating for a pay increase. The trouble was, the area was in severe drought, the company dams were empty and the company was importing 40,000 gallons of water by train daily.
A Woman in History
That was Meg’s secret, like many women at that time. Keeping it secret enabled her to gain employment and a husband.
Devotion to Motherhood
Some cultural celebrations have an obscure origin. Not Mother’s Day. Its founding is indisputable.
Dabee Country
They were absentee landowners, colonial gentry, fraternising with their peers, making deals, raising capital and writing letters to public officials and newspapers. They paid an overseer to manage their holding.
Aboriginal Connections and the Australian Dream
I ask myself: why did my Aunt Meg, an openhearted, gregarious woman, who set me on the path of family history, and recorded so much of it, not tell me about my Aboriginal connections?
Kandos History 