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Next ASHET event


Thursday 24 May, 2012
Note that the date of this meeting has been changed from Tuesday 22 May
Talk by Robert Croft
Sydney to Penrith milestones

Robert and Sandra Crofts began in 2009 their self funded project to investigate and record the sandstone, concrete and timber milestones/mileposts in Sydney and surrounds.  During the course of the project they have recorded the location and photographed the remaining milestones along all the major roads out of Sydney. They are currently seeking a publisher for their book entitled Discovering Sydney’s Historical Milemarkers and Boundary Stones.  Robert brings his passion for Australian history and photography while Sandra brings research skills from her nursing background to the project.

Robert’s talk will include a brief history of the milestones, and focus on the Macquarie Obelisk in the city of Sydney, and the 22 remaining milestones between Sydney and Penrith.

This is a joint activity of ASHET and the Royal Australian Historical Society.

Venue: History House, 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Time: 5.30 for 6 pm
Cost: $8.00 Includes light refreshments on arrival?
Bookings: phone RAHS on (02) 9247 8001 or email history@rahs.org.au

More ASHET events

Tuesday 26 June, 2012
Talk by Michael Waterhouse
The New Guinea goldfields between the wars

Michael is the author of the highly regarded book, Not a Poor Man’s Field. The New Guinea Goldfields to 1942 – An Australian Colonial
History.

His talk will provide insights into a little known period in Australia’s history – its colonial experience in New Guinea, viewed through the prism of the goldfields. He will tell how they were discovered and, against all the odds, developed into the second largest gold-producing province in Australasia and why, during the 1930s, New Guinea came to lead the world in commercial aviation.

He will particularly discuss the activities of Bulolo Gold Dredging and how aviation was used to support a major mining operation for the first time on such a scale anywhere in the world. Everything required to construct and maintain eight large dredges, three hydro-electric plants and two townships was flown in, mainly on two Junkers G31 aeroplanes. The talk will be liberally illustrated with unique photos. Michael will then show a short silent film which shows the establishment of Bulolo Gold Dredging’s operations and the aviation activities that made them possible, as well as extraordinary footage of two black-white encounters. This film was shot in the 1930s and is in both black and white and colour. It includes footage rarely shown in Australia since World War 2.

Michael Waterhouse, an economist and historian, has held senior positions in government, having been a Senior Adviser in the Commonwealth Treasury in Canberra as well as to the government inquiry (the Campbell Committee) in the early 1980s whose report led to deregulation of the Australian financial system. Michael was subsequently a senior executive in Westpac and later consulted on business strategy to many financial and non-financial businesses

Venue: History House, 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Time: 5.30 for 6 pm
Cost: $8.00 Includes light refreshments on arrival
Bookings: phone RAHS on (02) 9247 8001 or email history@
rahs.org.au