Mark D and Laila E are historians based in Sydney, Australia. When they are not working or doing other things, they are busy scratching the surface of their gritty, harbourside city.
For eight years until December 2015, they got up bright and early every Friday morning at 8.15am to broadcast the Scratching Sydney’s Surface segment on Sydney’s Fbi Radio. But no more! Do not despair – if reading the blog isn’t enough, you can listen to a selection of segments on Soundcloud.
You can also check out the Scratching Sydney’s Surface facebook page here: www.facebook.com/ScratchingSydneysSurface
Scratching Sydney's Surface 
February 20, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Hi Mark
This is Kylie – Kate and Steve’s friend. For some reason every Friday I miss your show on FBI. Anyway, today at about 9am they were talking about this website so I’ve had a quick peek at it. It looks great and when I have more time I’m going to have a thorough look at it.
Just wanted to say hi and congrats on such an interesting site
February 21, 2009 at 11:46 am
Hi Kylie
Glad you dropped in on us. I’m a bit tardy in the updates but we can only try. Hopefully you’ll hear us soon, we are much more entertaining in the vocal compared to the written.
Cheers mark
June 23, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hi guys. Great show but I don’t always get to catch it. Any chance you could do a podcast of the segment on the website or through FBI?
Cheers
Mel
July 9, 2009 at 3:36 pm
hey guys,
Everyday I walk past the beautiful old ‘Australian Workers Union’ Building at 238 Castlereagh, opposite the fire station. I’ve always wondered what its history is.. I can’t find anything about what’s currently in there now or why it seemingly is still run down in such a prime location etc?
Ta!
July 10, 2009 at 10:18 am
Dave
Yeah I know that building and have often thought the same thing. I always suspected it was still owned by the AWU or some other Union. Might do a i bit of an ask around and see if we can’t come up with anything.
Cheers
July 16, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Hi Dave, the AWU building is listed on the Register of the National Estate – search here: http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl – and is probably also listed by the National Trust. This might be of interest: http://marcellous.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/the-awu-building-is-not-a-heritage-item
Also suggest that you check out Places, protests and memorabilia: the labour heritage register of New South Wales by Terry Irving and Lucy Taksa, published by the Industrial Relations Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in 2002, as there is a bit of history in it about how the building was used by the labour movement in the nineteenth & twentieth century.
Cheers, Laila
September 23, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Hi Guys,
Love your Blog!
I am a writer in Melbourne researching the razor gangs of the thirties. I really enjoyed your articles highlighting this period and will be taking part in the Razorhurst tour when I come to Sydney in November. As local historians, are there any particular resources/places you would recoomend?
Cheers, Leisl
October 1, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Leisl
Are you doing this tour with HHT? They have alot of material in the Justice and Police Museum worth looking at. A couple of books like Razor by Larry Writer, or Chow Hayes: Gunman by David Hickie are also good. But a wander around Sydney’s Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, a couple of beers in the East Village (old Tradesmans Arms Hotel and favoured razor gang haunt) or a bar in Kellet Street (scene of a 1928 gang war) should get you in the mood.
October 14, 2009 at 10:41 am
Hi Guys,
I booked the tour through the Razorhurst website, which stops off at a lot of those places. Razor by Larry Writer has become my bible, I am leafing through it every day and making notes, but I’ll have a look for the other one you recommended.
Do you have a link to the HHT website? I haven’t heard of that one.
Leisl
November 26, 2009 at 9:59 am
when will there be a scratch and sniff Sydney episode? Olfactory Sydney.
November 27, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Hmm, good idea. Will look into it!
January 22, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Great site! Well done- keep the info coming!!
February 5, 2010 at 9:19 am
Really love your spot on FBI on Friday mornings. You guys are great. Keep scratching!
February 5, 2010 at 9:21 am
Thanks Lucas! Nice to get the feedback, and we will indeed keep scratchin’.
February 6, 2010 at 11:13 am
Hi Guys
Any chance you would like to come and present to a bunch of archivists during history week?
February 11, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Hi Mel,
Probably – but will check with my commrade!
We’ll be in touch.
April 23, 2010 at 3:41 pm
How would I get some info to you about some potentially very Scratching Sydney’s Surface stuff?
Email…?
April 24, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Hi there, best email to get us on is: scratchingsydneyssurface@gmail.com
April 30, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Mark and Laila,
you may be interested in a new book (forthcoming June 10) by Terry Irving and self titled Radical Sydney; see our blog for details
.
May 5, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Thanks Rowan – we’ll check it out.
August 6, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Love the show on FBI guys, so interesting..
August 20, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Hi Mark,
Where is the old tram depot at Concord? Where the current bus depot is opposite Concord Oval? And where is that tram you said is stationed at Rozelle?
Also, do you recommend other books or sites to dig further into the topic? I find all this stuff fascinating.
And a separate question. I recall a good chat last year when you were talking about how much of the lands along the Parra river, and indeed in and around the Ryde area were citrus plantations. Again, do you recommend sites or books?
Cheers, Howie
August 24, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Howie, yes it is the bus depot opposite Concord Oval, while the old trams at rozelle are in the old tram sheds behind Wentworth Park. Try David Keenan’s many books on Sydney trams. Written a few years back they give a good overview of the system as well as (very) detailed info on each line. Libraries have them or the rail heritage centre at Central station. As for Ryde, there are a few pictorial histories of the area that have info and photos, or histories of Parramatta river including one a few years back called The River by G Blaxall.
The Dictionary of Sydney (http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/) also has stuff on the trams and ryde
March 28, 2011 at 10:35 am
Saw this and thought it would be fun to make a Sydney version. (And thought of you guys). I really like how he finds example architecture that would have looked similar had the plans gone ahead.
March 30, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Great little doco – ta for the link!
March 28, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Laila!
I’ve just found your blog, and am enjoying it very much.
Thanks for the copy of Beneath The Pines, a great read.
I don’t check my pigeonhole very often, and only found it the week after you emailed saying you were changing jobs.
I don’t have your new email so I couldn’t thank you before!
Perhaps you sould send it throught to me?
March 29, 2011 at 10:05 am
Hi Dave, good to hear from you – and ta for comment. Will send through email. Cheers! L
September 30, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Wentworth Park is a long way from Rozelle. What you mean is the Harold Park racetrack, on the other side of Glebe from Wentworth Park (and slightly closer to Rozelle), and that’s where the trams are. At least you’re taking an interest in this stuff but I worry when such a great-looking website contains clunking inaccuracies. Like your Melbourne fan who wants to study razor wars of the ’30s, when by and large they were over by 1930. And the old Tradesman’s Arms is a travesty, entirely lacking in atmosphere, but then again most Sydney pubs have been scrubbed clean of not only the blood and spittle but even the local people, populated instead by phonies, fakes and Johnny-come-latelies. (Or should that be Johnnies-come-lately?) Anyway, don’t let an old grump put you off. Keep up the good work. JS
September 30, 2011 at 3:17 pm
James
Oops, sometimes things slip by, thanks for picking it up. I can’t however find the post? Which one has Wentworth Parkl in it? Is it the Circus, because that is where the circuses did set up. Anyway ta.
As for Razor Wars, while the big fights (as currently being shown by shows like Underbelly) certainly did calm down by the early 1930s, razor slashings and razor attacks remained a favourite form of intimidation in Sydney and Melbourne right through the 1930s and 1940s, with some appearing before the courts in Sydney as late as the mid 1950s. It was a cheap easy weapon and difficult to get rid of. And while the Trademan’s Arms has certainly had a make-over, at least its still trading as a pub, which is more then can be said for many of its contemporaries. The slow cleansing and closing of Sydney’s pub scene is a sad sad story indeed.
Thanks for reading, and for taking an interest.
September 30, 2011 at 3:44 pm
The info about trams was in your letters page – 24 August. And, yeah, Chow Hayes was still fighting his own war until the 1970s or so but I wouldn’t count that as razor gang stuff.
November 28, 2011 at 7:54 am
Hi Mark and Laila, I love your blog and radio show. Can you help solve this little Darlinghurst mystery: http://mydarlingdarlinghurst.blogspot.com/2011/11/darlinghurst-blog-detritus-secret.html
The workers’ hole that leads to these “secret tunnels” is due to be filled in today. Would be great to know what these tunnels are.
Thanks so much, Violet.
December 2, 2011 at 9:18 am
Hi Violet,
These photos and the story of the tunnels are very interesting. There are probably site plans of the gaol / national art school that show what these tunnels were used for, copies of which are available at State Records and perhaps also Sydney Water if they were used for drainage. Also, I assume the heritage branch would have required an excavation permit for any excavation work on the Caritas site? – the permit might have some background on what the tunnels were used for too. But perhaps other people might have memories of the tunnels. Great blog btw.
Cheers! L
December 13, 2011 at 10:02 am
Hi Mark and Leila;
The blog is great and have enjoyed reading through. Thought you might like to see some Sydney stories that I’ve put together on my blog.
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/death-of-dr-claude-tozer.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/lost-streets-of-surry-hills.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/great-sydney-hailstorm-of-1947.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/07/scheyville-experiment.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/04/shark-attack.html
May 4, 2012 at 9:39 am
Hi,
Firstly love the show on FBI and your blog. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction in regards to a book or books that deals with Sydney’s history? A general overview would suffice at first. Also any chance of arranging a Podcast through FBI?
Cheers,
James
May 5, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Hi James
Thanks for listening and for reading, glad you are liking it.
There are many books on Sydney but a few that are good overviews include Ian Hoskins recent book Sydney Harbour: A History; Grace Karskens The Colony for very good and very readable colonial history; the series of books published by Sydney Council a few years on Sydney, Millers Point, Chippendale, Pyrmont/Ultimo and Surry Hills are all good and in libraries. Parramatta Council, Fairfield and Manly have also published histories of their areas. There are heaps around. Another good online history source is the Dictionary of Sydney-worth checking out (www.dictionaryofsydney.org).
As for the podcast, we are trying to get that happening and hopefully it will be soon.
Cheers
June 20, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Hi folks; just completed an article about Darlinghurst Gaol on my blog. Its at http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/darlinghurst-gaol.html Hope you find it interesting
Cheers Dick Whitaker
March 9, 2017 at 3:27 pm
Dick, a brother of my grandfather was instrumental in gaining Darlinghurst Gaol for technical training after the Great War. If you made it easier to contact you I could give you further details. It’s an interesting tale related to post-war legislation to install an industrial base in Ausatralia, and in the development of motor body construction.
July 12, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Hello. Love your blog. Started my own a couple of months ago called ‘The Good, the Bad and the Italian’, about growing up Italian in Australia (among other things). One of my recent posts talks about the Caffe Sport in Leichhardt Sydney and might be of interest: http://ambradambra.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/hold-the-traffic-i-have-another-coffee-story-to-write/
I’ll also be writing about living in Balmain in the 1960s in future posts.
Cheers, Ambra Sancin
July 19, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Hi Ambra
Nice one on the Caffe Sport-now there is a Sydney coffee institution. Good luck with the photo and the traffic.
We look forward to your Balmain posts as well.
Cheers
July 19, 2012 at 6:27 pm
Yes, I visited Cockatoo Island last week for the Biennale. That brought up lots of memories, so look out for a future post on that.
cheers
July 22, 2012 at 11:15 am
I’ve just stumbled across you while reading up on the history of Redfern. What a fabulous interesting and well researched blog. So glad i found you.
July 22, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Thanks Kerry!
August 17, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Love your segment, have been listening intermittently for a while as I can’t always tune at 8:15, love the blog. Keep up the great work!. would love to hear the occasional segment on Western Sydney past Parramatta. As you may know 2013 is the 200th anniversary of the crossing of the Blue Mountains, it also happens to be the 125th anniversary of the building of Prospect Reservoir, the first earthfill embankment dam in Australia.
August 31, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Hi Molmo, we now have a facebook page where you can link to the podcasts: http://www.facebook.com/ScratchingSydneysSurface
Ta for the tip about Western Sydney! Keep your ears to the airwaves…
September 29, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Hi folks,
I’ve only just been introduced to your website via your facebook page. I think it is really great. I agree with you that Dictionary of Sydney is a wonderful resource for history of Sydney.
Meanwhile I am wondering if you can tell me where I might find a physical copy of your Woods Lane photo: https://scratchingsydneyssurface.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/woods-lane-1947-ml-hood_21699r.jpg
I’d love to be able to scan it at high res.
Thanks and keep up the great stuff.
October 3, 2012 at 11:55 am
Thanks for the feedback!
The image in question is from the State Library of NSW – here’s the link: http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=28882
February 17, 2013 at 9:44 pm
Big fan of your work!
February 27, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Thanks Jack
July 14, 2013 at 11:49 pm
Hi Mark and Laila,
What a pleasure to ‘discover’ your blog. I stumbled across it from a link by unhurried traveller. I’m just beginning to scratch Sydney history myself. My main interest is in NSW genealogy, but I believe we can’t hope to begin to understand our ancestors without learning about the world they lived in.
My 3x great grandfather, Nicholas Delaney, was an Irish convict who worked for Macquarie as a roadbuilder. Some of his (and his gang’s) work still survives: Maquarie Place and the Macquarie Culvert in Mrs Macquarie’s Drive (finishing that on Mrs M’s birthday earned him and his gang five gallons of rum).
I’ll be coming back here a lot now I know your blog exists. Is there any way I can sign up for an email alert for new posts?
August 9, 2013 at 1:19 pm
Hi Frances
Thanks for following us along, I hope we can help with you getting into the history of our fair city. You should be able to get an update by clicking on the RSS feed for the blog. This will give you a notice each time we update it. Otherwise, check back as we try to get things up every week (mostly).
Good luck with your convicts. Lucky some of his work is still around so you can get close to him. Is Nicholas Delaney the same who ended up as a publican out on the Nepean?
Cheers
October 17, 2013 at 1:41 pm
Hi,
Do you have an email address I can contact you on?
I am from the State Library of NSW and we would be interested in archiving your website/blog
Thanks.
October 17, 2013 at 2:03 pm
sorry – correct email address attached to this comment, if you’re interested in allowing your blog to be archived.
Thanks
October 31, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Would you please note that no windmill was built at Parramatta in 1798!
It would be another 20 years before a windmill was built at Parramatta!
The second government windmill in Sydney was completed in early 1803 which you have incorrectly shown as having been completed in 1802.
Ceres
AKA Ron Madden
Wagga Wagga
waggamad@yahoo.com.au
November 19, 2013 at 11:36 am
Ron, Governor Hunter reports on a mill being built in Parramatta in 1798-99 but being destroyed in a storm before it could be put into operation.
Further, John Bolger of Parramatta was advertising his ‘well built and substantial’windmill at Parramatta for lease in March 1811. See here for details: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/628203?searchTerm=john%20bolger%20windmill&searchLimits=l-decade=181|||l-title=3
This suggests that Bolger’s mill probably dates from 1810.
December 6, 2013 at 5:09 pm
I am interested in the brewery industry in Sydney, especially during the period form the late 1870s to 1904 when the brothers John, James and Samuel Cornwell (Jr.) were operating the Australian (a.k.a Cornwell’s) Brewery on Bourke Street, Waterloo. The Castlemaine Brewing, Malting and Wine and Spirit Company, Limited (1870) changed it’s name (1890) to the “Australian Brewery and Malting, Wine and Spirit Company Limited” when it was publicly floated, with Samuel Cornwell being retained as Managing Director.
They mostly weathered the economic depression of the 1890s when smaller breweries did not have the resources to survive the downturn in trade. With Federation (1901), the Commonwealth took over excise collection from the states, resulting in the Beer and Excise Act regulating the making and selling of beer. Structural adjustment in the brewing industry resulted in 16 of Sydney’s 21 breweries folding or being amalgamated with larger firms. Within the family there is a story that the move towards entering into trade agreements with ‘tied hotels’ for the distribution of their product led to the purchase of a hotel with undisclosed debts that resulted in having to wind up the company.
In 1904 Samuel, James and the executors of John Cornwell’s estate sold their brewing interests to Mauri Bros and Thomson. In 1906 the Mauri Bros & Thomson Engineering Works moved from 36 York St to Bourke St, Waterloo, reflecting a new phase in food industry and manufacturing: filters and crowners, soda fountains, ice cream making machines, egg whisks, dough and cake mixers, complete baking plants, chilling and carbonating cylinders for beer, and automatic bottle washing machinery.
In September 1907 Mauri Bros. and Thomson Ltd. purchased the goodwill and process of manufacturing malt extract.
The vinegar and malt-based products bearing the Cornwell’s name and logo are still being manufactured by the company that has since acquired Mauri Bros. and Thompson.
May 2, 2014 at 3:59 pm
Hello, I’m currently writing a poetic saga of the ferries of Sydney Harbour, from Arrival to The Bridge. I will keep you posted when the book is going to be published. I’ve done a lot of factual research, think its pretty-well covered, but there’s not a great deal in the way of personal information – dramas, gossip, general colour – about any of the characters involved and I’d be interested in such tidbits. For instance, I found my way here searching for this sort of material on John Edye Manning. There’s plenty of dry history, but nothing about him as a flesh’n’blood human being. Likewise with Henry Gilbert Smith – I’ve read his correspondence and diaries, all very dry stuff – Henry Cater Perdriau – all very formal public – nor for that matter anything much about any of these guys as people, and I can’t find their family papers anywhere. Do you know if such exist?
May 15, 2014 at 1:37 pm
Terri, that sounds like a great project. Don’t know where the papers might be. Have you tried Stanton Library at North Sydney? Their local studies collection and archives has lots of material about the harbour and ferry operators. Good luck
June 28, 2014 at 5:02 pm
HI, love your site! I just wanted to point out that you’ve got a broken link in you “Neighbourhood” part of your links. The link to “Glebe Society” should be http://www.glebesociety.org.au.
June 30, 2014 at 1:04 pm
Thanks Bill, we will fix that up. Cheers
December 14, 2014 at 10:45 pm
Hi there. I thought that you might be interested in an online version of the 1936 Gregory’s Sydney Street Directory, since your blog is about Sydney’s history: http://voommaps.com/historical-maps/1934-gregorys-sydney-street-directory/
January 19, 2015 at 10:54 am
Cheers, thanks Easton
June 17, 2015 at 12:21 am
Hello, in your 10 April 2015 post you showed a pic “Quarry at Castlereagh c1960. (Penrith in Pictures)”. Did you know “Puddledock” along Castlereagh Road (at upper right in your pic), a heritage listed old house and one of the oldest in the district. It has disappeared and I have been trying to find out about this for quite some time. Also have long been trying to find anyone else currently interested in the history of the area. Cheers, John
June 17, 2015 at 3:01 pm
Hi John
Yes I did know Puddledock but was not aware it had gone. Was it demolished?
There are a few historians working on and around the Castlereagh area and at least one major book coming in 2016/17 (not by us I might add), so keep your eyes out for it.
Cheers
June 17, 2015 at 3:43 pm
Thanks for your continuing efforts. I was looking on the web for Hadley Park. Does it have another name? James Scanlon
On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 2:01 PM, Scratching Sydneys Surface wrote:
> scratchingsydneyssurface commented: “Hi John Yes I did know Puddledock > but was not aware it had gone. Was it demolished? There are a few > historians working on and around the Castlereagh area and at least one > major book coming in 2016/17 (not by us I might add), so keep your eyes out > for it.”
June 17, 2015 at 6:02 pm
James, Hadley Park is still standing and goes by no other name that I know of.
June 19, 2015 at 2:07 am
Hi Dave. Puddledock was demolished some years ago now and I have been trying to find out when the Council first knew about it. The Council says that it is aware of nobody other than myself currently interested in the area. However Grace Karstens has for many years now been writing a book about Castlereagh that could be major. Do you know of anyone else? Or indeed anyone else working anywhere currently on the Cumberland Plain? I am also compiling Darug history (especially at Plumpton Ridge – the first ‘Blacks Town’ area) and all of Penrith, Hawkesbury and Blacktown Councils have advised that they know of nobody currently researching any aspect of Aboriginal history. There have been some recently retired (e.g. Dr James Kohen) but the Councils say they know now of nobody else presently either doing anything or even considering commencing anything. There is currently one archaeological thesis, however, on the subject of silcrete artefacts that I am aware of myself. Have you heard of Lees House at Upper Castlreagh? Besides Puddledock disappearing, on a recent trip there I discovered that the heritage nominated Lees House site (a ruin with well/s and other brickwork) has been totally destroyed as well, seemingly by a bulldozer. And nearby the heritage nominated Pioneers Grove has been slightly damaged by a new road (apparently the road makers were not aware that there was any nominated heritage at the spot when they made the road.
June 17, 2015 at 4:03 pm
In support of Scratching Sydney’s Surfaces’ argument that Castlereagh and Penrith Lakes represent the symbolic and material culture churn and absence indicative of a post colonial Sydney in an imagined globital dystopia see the use and celebration of their desolation as a set in the recent blockbuster Mad Max Fury Road. In an unintentional ironic turn the NSW Govt Press release lauds their transmorgification as the replica vehicles parade victoriously over the very modernist concrete structures of sand and gravel – like the Cahill Expressway – into which that place is now transformed. See http://nsw.liberal.org.au/nsw-shines-mad-max-fury-road/
June 19, 2015 at 2:14 am
In similar fashion Max Max was previously filmed at the State Brickworks, Homebush Bay (another heritage area) and at The Pinnacles near Broken Hill. The latter is regarded by some Aboriginal persons as a Marnbi sacred site and there was some mild protest as them blowing up a vehicle there.
June 20, 2015 at 10:29 am
Re that Puddledock has disappeared I asked Penrith Council when were they first aware it had disappeared. There has been a MOST curious answer with someone at Council saying it has NOT disappeared. But I believe it has. So has the road in front of it (Castlereagh Road) – that too has vanished over a large length.
January 1, 2016 at 2:29 pm
Hi Scatchingsydneyssurface,
Happy New Year. Re your “Yes I did know Puddledock but was not aware it had gone. Was it demolished?” – yes it was, but following extensive enquiries to Penrith Council, State Government and others through 2015, I’m afraid that I could not get the date when it was demolished. Nor any details of its demolition at all. Fortunately, however, I did find a local who told me he actually saw it happening .. and that they put it into shipping containers. Hence the rude timbers (split logs?) at least of the place have been preserved it seems. As you’d be aware, all quarrying ceased in late 2015 and as in accordance with a deal the quarrying consortium made long ago with the State Government, in gratitude for being allowed to turn Upper Castlereagh into what became at its peak “The largest sand and gravel quarry in NSW”, all this, my lad (or most of it anyway) now passes to the State Government to have and to hold (provided they don’t just flog it off for more housing?). Therefore I wrote to State Gov. suggesting they re-erect something from the Puddledock timbers .. at least a basic slab hut say .. next to the Wesleyan church and cemetery. I got no reply so I have again written asking can I come and see them (Office of Penrith Lakes) a.s.a.p., in 2016. If anyone were interested, I can keep informed of any progress.
John Byrnes – (my web, https://someinterestingsites.wordpress.com )
January 6, 2016 at 3:39 pm
John, that is very disappointing about Puddledock. So much has been lost around Castlereagh already. Keep us informed about your progress.
Cheers
May 5, 2016 at 9:56 pm
Hi Mark and Laila,
I am doing a thesis on the social value of community pools. I was just reading your history on community pools and was looking to reference some writing.
What names would you like me to reference?
Additionally, do you have anymore info on the history of community swimming pools?
Thanks,
Matt
June 24, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Hi Matt, that sounds really interesting.
If you want to reference us, you can just reference the blog itself. As for other writing I am not sure but there is a book in the pipeline about Balmoral pool which will be published this year I think.
March 9, 2017 at 3:20 pm
The first coin betting machines brought into Sydney by the one of the Rooklyn brothers was in 1939, not the 1950s. Please contact me if you want further details.
March 18, 2017 at 11:07 pm
I am writing the first spreadsheet from the American point of view about 19th century rotunda panoramas. These were the biggest paintings in the world, 50 x 400=20,000 square feet, housed in their own rotundas which were 16-sided polygons. Chicago in 1893 had 6 panorama companies and 6 panorama rotundas. INFO TO SHARE ABOUT THE REED & GROSS COMPANY of Chicago who set up 2 rotundas in Melbourne, 1 in Sydney and 1 in Adelaide. Gene Meier 1160 Bailey Road, Sycamore, Illinois USA 60178 genemeier@frontier.com