Wherein we consider what counts as an amusement… Argus (Melbourne), 22 September 1855, p. 8 (‘Amusements’ column) A dance manual by one of Mr Denning’s teachers, Eugene Coulon. Find the full text of the second edition (c. 1852) here. Hm…By Robyn Annear

Wherein we plunder suitcases full of mystery… Herald (Melbourne), 18 December 1893, p. 4, col. 5 Here’s a sample of the headlines that would follow railway lost property sales – And why not read on – here and here Moreover, there was this – and this – That last item, in The Catholic Press (Sydney) in 1898, noted: ‘That the Lost Property Office has …

Wherein we shed some light in the phonebox… Space travel in the Sun (Melbourne), July 1969. (Blame the tilt on a lack of gravity) ‘The Pals’ Corner’ with ‘Grandad’, Advertiser, 23 June 1933, p. 5 Leaf through the whole issue at Trove Newspapers – including the two missing pages! The yawn-inducing headline. Read the paper in its entirety at Trove. T…

Wherein voices are thrown and pigs educated. Age (Melbourne), 27 September 1884, p. 10, col. 6 Read it with the rest of the day’s news here. from Ventriloquism: Ancient and Modern – Containing A Complete Explanation of the Secrets of Ventriloquistic Deception by Richard Hughes, Exchange Press, 264½ Post Office Place, Melbourne, 1902. Anyone wishing…

Wherein we consider propinquity of liberty, literacy and soap. Age (Melbourne), Monday, 17 August 1874, p. 2, col. 6 – read it on the newspaper page here Joseph Juliff took a penknife to a copy of the Argus in the newspaper reading room at the Melbourne Public Library – and was caught in the act. He had thought to expunge the public record of his e…

Wherein tins and nerves are rattled. Geelong Advertiser, 12 January 1885, p. 3, cols. 4-5 See the rest of that day’s news here A bawdy depiction of charivari by the French caricaturist J.J. Grandville. It appeared in the journal La Caricature in 1831. Here’s a rare image of colonial tin-kettling, roughly contemporary with the events at Germantown –…

Wherein we entertain tales of treasure and avarice. Men Dig in Richmond Yard And Carry Away – What? (the question-mark, perhaps) Sun News-Pictorial, 27 March 1936, p. 4 (copied from microfilm at State Library Victoria) Children Spy on Mysterious Digging Operations (News (Adelaide), 30 March 1936, p. 3) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/110340…

Wherein we drill down on a fin-de-siècle folly. Welcome to Season Two of Nothing on TV. Here’s how it begins… Herald (Melbourne), 19 February 1887, p. 2, col. 7 Read the article in situ here Argus (Melbourne), 3 February 1882, p. 8, col. 5 Could the ‘Miss Symonds’ teaching swimming at Captain Kenney’s ladies’ baths have been our Miss Simmons, latel…

Wherein we encounter a ‘phosphorescent charmer’ in fin de siècle Melbourne . Herald (Melbourne), 8 August 1892, p. 2, col. 8 See it on the page, here. Did you know that The day the ghost walks is slang for pay-day? Originally theatrical slang, it supposedly originated among the cast of an early production of Hamlet. Much later, it would come into m…

Wherein we consider the point of hatpins. Argus (Melbourne), 9 August 1911, p. 14, col. 4 Or read the whole page here A comic postcard from 1907. I found it at http://whatsinthetrench.weebly.com/blog/archives/09-2016 Here’s some hats, at the opening of the new nurses’ quarter, Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne – from the Weekly Times, 15 April 191…

Wherein we learn who to blame for the perennial naughtiness of boys. Argus (Melbourne), 10 November 1914, p. 8, col. 2 Read it in full here Titles in the Deadwood Dick Library – ‘Issued Every Wednesday. Price 5 cents’ From the ‘Nickels and Dimes’ collection of Northern Illinois University Libraries – click here to access the whole collection. Here …

Wherein we have our cockles warmed by Lord Hopetoun’s liquid largesse, as dispensed by an anarchist on the mean streets of Melbourne in 1902. Argus (Melbourne), 26 June 1902, p. 5, column 3 Read the whole of the report, plus all that day’s news (including the king’s illness) here. Critic (Adelaide), 5 January 1901, p. 3 Australasian, 12 January 190…

Wherein we plunder drapers’ shops, cloakrooms, and the Lost & Found column in search of the poncho cloak and its shoddy brethren. Argus (Melbourne), 23 June 1855, p. 1, column 6 Or take a look here at what else was lost and found that day The full poncho range of Benjamin Lazarus & Co., Sydney drapers – Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 1855, p. 8, co…

Wherein we trace the curious career and prehistory of a ‘petrified man’ dug out of a New South Wales marble quarry. See post for The Marble Man part 2 for further reading and links for this two-part episode.By Robyn Annear

Wherein we continue to trace the curious career and prehistory of a ‘petrified man’ dug out of a New South Wales marble quarry. Further reading and links for this episode: Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal, 21 May 1889, p. 2, columns 4-5 Read the full article in situ and see what else was happening in district news that week. from The Legend of …

Wherein we chart the declining fortunes of a performing elephant in goldrush-era Victoria. Further reading and links for this episode: Age (Melbourne), 7 November 1854, p. 5 – or read it in situ (look at the top of column 5), to see what else was happening in the news that day. Argus (Melbourne), 16 October 1854, p. 8 – or read it in situ (column 5…