Armistice Day... the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th Month, 1918. The time that the big guns went silent from the North Sea to the Swiss border in Europe, along with explosions in Belgium and France that could be heard as far away as three hundred kilometres, 26 years before the invention of nuclear weapons...
Even living on the far side of the planet, families in Australia and New Zealand were massively affected by the carnage that was World War 1. Nearly one person in ten served in the armed forces, with just under half of all men between 18 and 44 were serving in uniform. This meant just about every third family had someone who either served, was injured, or died. Everyone in Australian society in 1918 knew someone personally, who did not come home. The North Shore of Sydney was no exception. The very first 4 regiments of 1st battalion AIF, comprising of our "best and brightest" were raised here on the North Shore and the suburbs of Sydney. Sadly, many are now posthumously commemorated on the honour rolls of our schools, sporting clubs and surviving public buildings - with ages at which they died, so appallingly young. But not all - doctors such as Gother Clarke, who was in his fifties as one of the main surgeons in the Australian Army Medical Corps, or Eastermorn Waller, a nurse in her thirties - were killed ministering to the wounded in hospitals and a church, many miles behind the lines. Cannon shells killed so many, so indiscriminately - and often left little, if anything to bury . In the stories of families and their sons and daughters who served in this little church graveyard, is is the story of the men and women who served in all branches of the armed forces and the families that were left behind.We remember them in a special tour. We visit the houses of some of these people, some of which have been restored to their former glory. We also visit memorials of people who served, who not knowing if the government would remember them, were memorialised by their families on the family tombstone. If you would like to come, please CLICK HERE
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Family Ghost tour in Sydney Are you looking for a spooky, yet safe way to celebrate this Halloween with your "Little Monsters"? Real life is always creepier than anything an author can ever imagine. In the tradition of the Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1930's and '40s where they are scripted so that a child gets a child's understanding, and an adult percieves many more levels of understanding - we have put our "Family Friendly" ghost tour together. That way you you and the younger members of your family can enjoy the Ghost tour, without feeling like you had a "one size fits all - small, that is.." experience. We will show you a whole different side to Sydney that never seems to make it into History classrooms, that will change your impressions of much of what you see in Sydney every day. Everything from major landmarks to suburb names have a rich story that is buried with the skeletons of Sydney's hidden past. We will also explain how Halloween came about, it's history, and things like halloween costumes, evil spirits, vampires bonfires, fortune telling, trick or treat, and finish the tour with a "Halloween Skull & Sweets Hunt" in a graveyard. If you would like to dress up and come along to play - knock yourself out! ( and that goes for big kids, too!).Click on the "Our tours" tab to find out more! "TRICK OR TREAT – DON’T DO IT!”
SydneyGhostTour.Com founder comes out against Australians adopting US style “Trick or Treat” ‘sugar soliciting’ this Halloween… “Don’t put your ‘Little Monsters” on the door step of a REAL Monster this Halloween”! Ghost Tour operator and local historian Daniel Phillips, of SydneyGhostTour.Com warns … “Trick or Treat” originally was an extortion demand from Scottish hooligans of the 15th and 16th centuries, of “Give me food or alcohol to go away & party, or I will play a trick by hiding something you own.” Today, more and more parents are being pressured into the North American custom of “Trick or Treat” or “Sugar Soliciting”. Children dressing up in costume, either on their own, in a group, or dragging a parent, are landing on the doorsteps of people they don’t know , expecting to be given sweets. At first, it seems like an innocent request, asked by a child saying things like “ Mum / Dad, all of the kids are doing it now...” Yet parents have to consider the wider implications of what their kids do. At best, as a parent you would have to be very trusting of what total strangers are giving to your children to eat, most of which is not good for them. It is also imposing on your neighbours for your kids to turn up uninvited, and then demand things . Yet there are much more uncomfortable things to be concerned about than upset stomachs, rotting teeth, and angry neighbours. Paedophiles have to abide by rules, as terms of their release from prison, like staying away from schools, parks and places that children frequent. “For a parent, as a practical matter, you won’t know where paedophiles live – they can literally be anywhere. Having your kids “Trick or Treat” by going house to house, asking for sweets, is like a home delivered, moving smorgasbord for a paedophile. We have to be mindful that there are people in the community who have committed crimes driven by a mental illness we still don’t know how to treat, and as a result, they have a high chance of re-offending." With this in mind, if you “Trick or Treat” you might as well be painting a bullseye on your child’s forehead – you are making them a target. “Rather than put your kids at risk – it makes more sense to have a Halloween party at home or with other parents, in a controlled, safe environment. Music, food, party games and fun activities like decorations, costumes, and fortune telling, have a long and established Halloween history. www.sydneyghosttour.com has links to party, music, and decoration ideas to keep your little kids – and your “big kids” – happy and safe." Of course, if you would like to have a spooky, yet safe night out this Halloween, SydneyGhostTour.Com & Beyond the Grave History tours are approved by the NSW Commission for Children & Young People, and vetted by the Australian Federal Police, as passing the “Working with Children Check”. SydneyGhostTour.Com Ghost tours are run on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in Cammeray / Crows Nest, and in St Leonards / Gore Hill. ‘Family friendly” tours are running from 6.15pm to 8.00pm during Halloween week, and “Adults Only” Ghost tours start at 8.20pm Enquiries or Bookings for either of these Ghost tours can be made on 02 8197 0363, or here on the web at SydneyGhostTour.com What is Halloween? It would be easy to think that Halloween is a creation of the United States of America, and spread through popular mediums like television and movies to other parts of the English speaking world. But you would be wrong - it goes back much, much further than that, to the Celtic peoples of Western France, Scotland and Ireland, pre-dating the Roman empire. Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain, that was taken over by the later creation of the Christian holiday All Saints Day, but is today largely a non-religious celebration. Common Halloween activities include trick or treating, wearing costumes, and attending costume parties, carving jack-o-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films. History of Halloween According to Wikipedia, historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)". The name is derived from Old Irish, and means roughly "summer's end". A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf ( pronounced Kálan Gái av). The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the OtherWorld / spirit realm, became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home, while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise yourself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid being harmed. Evil spirits were stated to go looking for bodies to possess – and dressing up as a ghoul was a way of discouraging them, by effectively hanging a “no vacancy” sign over your head. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual. Another common practice was fortune telling, which often involved the use of food and drink. The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era. Origin of the name Halloween The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Eve, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hálȝena mæssedæȝ, the feast of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556. Rookwood Cemetery, or Necropolis ( meaning "City of the Dead") is 300 hectares / 877 acres in size, making it the largest cemetery in the southern hemisphere. Rookwood Necropolis is vast..... one of the best preserved Victorian era "gardenesque" cemeteries in the world, with burials starting here in about 1867. It was always going to be a tough job to even touch the sides of the heritage involved in a cemetery as big as this one - but Julie Rusten, Jane, and Kevin of the "Friends of Rookwood" gave it a shot this last weekend at their yearly open day. Rookwood was founded in the 1860's as two older cemeteries became full, and the land was needed by the living. When the Devonshire Street / Sandhills Cemetery,(where Belmore park and Central Railway station are now,) and the former Graveyard of the St Andrews Cathedral in George Street in the Sydney CBD were closed and the land resumed, many graves were then re-located . As a result - a huge slice of our early colonial history has either been moved here to Rookwood from these places, or buried here ever since. This painting above is one of the old Sydney burial ground in George Street, where the Town Hall is now. It seems hard to imagine that the heart of our CBD was once considered the "outer, outer limits" of town - in 1802! The site was chosen for:
The railway line started from a purpose built Mortuary station in Regent Street, off Broadway in the Sydney CBD, seen here. This is just around the corner from Central Railway station, where it remains to this day. The special train would then steam from here out to Rookwood, and dropped people at 5 different railway stations, either for a funeral, or a day out with the "passed on" relatives, within the cemetery itself. Victorian society had an entire etiquette around the subject of dealing with grief. It was a fairly common thing for people to spend time at the grave site, and part of popular culture was to be re-united with loved ones in death. Tragedy could strike families in cruel ways - and often did. On some grave sites in Rookwood we can see a generation of children in a family taken away in a measles, typhoid, dysentery or influenza epidemic, for example. Industrial accidents and related chronic health conditions from dangerous work practices that eventually resulted in death, such as lead poisoning, breathing coal dust, and problems that we now associate with the third world, were commonplace. Without antibiotics, a scratch in the garden could get infected and kill you, as easily as falling off a horse, or walking in front of a carriage at the wrong time. God help you if you were having children in the 19th century - 3 or 4 out of 10 didn't make it to adulthood, with 3 in 20 mothers dying in childbirth. Death was a much more prevalent fact of life that Victorian era people had to cope with. Trains left the Mortuary station in the morning, and then typically returned in the mid to late afternoon. There were first class, second class and third class passengers - with the dearly departed travelling in the luggage car for free! This is what the Mortuary railway stations at Rookwood looked like. Rookwood was designed as a Victorian era garden where the living went to spend time with the dead, with gardens, flowers, rows of trees, pavillions to shelter from the sun and have picnics in, streams and fountains.This is the Serpentine canal, a series of ponds, fountains and canals that act as the main drainage of the Cemetery. The "serpentine" path of the canal is intended to mitigate the speed at which the water flows to the sea, as there are reed beds and bullrushes at different points that effectively filter the water on the way out. Ironically, after going to so much effort to put in a railway, this was discontinued after the second world war, and the five railway stations in Rookwood were removed - one of which was removed lock stock and barrel and sent hundreds of kilometres south, where it is now the All Saints Church in Ainslie, in the nation's capital city, Canberra. You can see from the Glass entrance on the front - this was where the trains used to go through! Now there is only an "architectural interpretation" of the old Mortuary station No:1 remaining There are many famous people who have been buried at Rookwood over the years, here are just a few:
Anglican Section
Old General Section
Independent Section
Catholic Section
"Will I see a Ghost if I come on one of your tours?" It seems like standard operational procedure these days that I get asked if someone will see a ghost when they come on one of my tours, or if I have ever seen one. Tarella, the mansion on 3 Amherst Street in Cammeray, along with Graithwaite, down on Union Street in North Sydney, and a number of other locations in the lower north shore have all had supernatural events, reported by many different people, in the recent past. Some of these events, it is rumoured, are about to be formally investigated by Paranormal researchers. In a playground at the back of the St Thomas Cemetery, two little girls who reportedly died in the 1920's have been seen to play in the background of a couple of photos taken there, as recently as 12 months ago. However, ghosts, like people with bodies, can be a bit fickle about when they choose to show up. So we had to find a reliable one.... As a result - we now have a " Grey Ghost" on staff...His name is William, and he is my four legged shadow . William is a three year old Weimaraner dog - and this is a photo of him at last years Christmas party. So - while I can't guarantee you will see a two legged ghost - your chances of seeing a "four legged ghost" are pretty good! Have you ever wondered how Santa Claus, Christmas trees, Rudolph & the Reindeers, Mistletoe, Christmas pudding, and other Christmas oddities became part of our established traditions?
I have been researching how the Georgian(1714-1837) and Victorian era( 1837 to 1901) pioneers of the North Shore of Sydney, would have celebrated Christmas – and the results were surprising, to say the least....Many people who lived and died on the North side of the harbour, tended to be the ‘movers and shakers’ of the Colony. As a result – we know a fair bit about them. They really got into Christmas in a big way! I discovered that many of the popular Christmas traditions that continue to this day, have their origins in Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert - who brought with him, amongst many things, the German tradition of Christmas trees.. Christmas trees have been a German tradition since as early as the 17th century, but many ancient civilizations held evergreens to be a symbol of life during the long winter months and decorated trees as a symbol of eternal life. In 1841 Prince Albert, German husband of Queen Victoria, introduced the charming custom to the royal family. In 1850 a tinted etching of a decorated tree at Windsor Castle was published and the Tannenbaum became a necessity for every fashionable Victorian home. It was a tradition quickly embraced by Victorian England. Live trees were set up for the Christmas seasondecorated with lighted candles, draped with tinsel, ribbon, paper chains, cookies and candies. The exchange of Christmas Presents, of ancient origin, symbolized the good luck, prosperity, and happiness wished for friends. The Victorians began planning their presents many months ahead. The most cherished presents were handmade, needlework, or something useful. People exchanged remembrances with family and friends. Children made their gifts as well. Although the Victorian idea of Christmas was not commercial, having more to do with food, and the exchange of handmade gifts, entrepreneurs soon saw the commercial advantages of a holiday full of the exchange of gifts. In America, by the 1880's New York’s Macy's department store's windows were filled with wonderful dolls and toys from Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland. Another window boasted scenes with steam driven moveable parts. This pattern was quickly copied around the world. Homemade cornucopias of paper filled with fruit, nuts, candy, and popcorn were hung from branches of trees in Australia, America and England. Beautiful shaped cookies were hung for treats on Christmas day. Often the gifts were also wrapped and hung from branches. With the growing popularity of Christmas trees manufacturers began producing ornaments around 1870. Also popular were molded wax figures of angels and children. Many ornaments were made of cotton-wool wrapped around an armature of metal or wood and trimmed with embossed paper faces, buttons, gold paper wings and "diamond dust", actually powdered glass. In Victorian era Australia – a lot of things were literally bought by catalogue, and sent from main cities, or even overseas, by mail – even by people living on the North Shore of Sydney. So planning for Christmas started early, and had to take into consideration mail delays – some things never change!!!! The “ Fairy lights” that you see on Modern Christmas trees, and the fairy lights we hang around the home, were originally candles…..In this case, modern technology has been a life-saver – literally! Lit candles on trees, particularly in the Australian summer, were a safety nightmare. (One of the gravestones on the North Sydney Ghost tour is actually of a little girl that lived in Lane Cove in the late 1860’s, who died from a house fire, and a resulting bushfire that wiped out hundreds of acres of land on Sydney’s lower north shore, from an accident with a lit candle on a Christmas tree,,,) Christmas Holidays. Once apon a time – there was no such thing as Christmas holidays! The wealth generated by the new factories and industries of the Victorian age allowed middle class families in England and Wales to take time off work and celebrate over two days, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Boxing Day, December 26th, earned its name as the day servants and working people opened the boxes in which they had collected gifts of money . Those new fangled inventions, the railways, allowed the country folk who had moved into the towns and cities in search of work, to return home for a family Christmas. Hence – the start of the great Christmas Exodus!!! The Scots have always preferred to postpone the celebrations for a few days to welcome in the New Year, in the style that is Hogmanay. Christmas Day did not become a holiday in Scotland until many years after Queen Victoria's reign and it has only been within the last 40 years that this has been extended to include Boxing Day. In Australia –as our summer holidays coincide with Christmas – we get more time to celebrate Christmas than nearly everywhere else in the world. After watching the Eurostar train between the UK and France snowed under, and speaking with friends in Utah and Illinois in the USA who are digging their cars out of snow every morning, and off to work again on December 27th – personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way!!! Christmas Tinsel, Mistletoe, Holly and the Christmas Garlands we decorate our homes with today had their origins in the greenery that people used to decorate their homes with in Victorian times. Greenery in northern European cultures during winter was a symbol of continuing life. Christmas decorations began appearing well before the holiday for many. The favourite plants were the berried evergreens, mistletoe, holly and ivy. During the Roman Solstice Ceremony known as "Saturnalia" holly was exchanged as it was believed the red berries would ward off lightning and evil spirits. It had to be carried in the house by a male, as the berries are only on the male plant. Ivy was twined in the holly as a symbol of the 2 halves of divinity. Mistletoe was not allowed in churches because of it's pagan origins. In ancient times, Druid priests harvested it from sacred oaks on the fifth day after the new moon following the winter solstice. Norse warriors who met under the mistletoe declared a truce for that day. The Victorians used mistletoe suspended from the ceiling. Those who met under it could claim a kiss. The number of kisses allowed under each plant depended on the number of berries. Each time a kiss was given, a berry was taken off. No more berries, no more kisses! In Australia – we improvised! Without access to English plants, our pioneer’s homes used Gum nuts, cones, paint, sweets, fruits, nuts, Christmas bush and ferns to decorate at Christmas..... Christmas caroling – and Carols by Candlelight - comes from a purely English tradition that was almost wiped out in Puritan England. In Oliver Cromwell’s time, after the deposing of King Charles 1st , it was associated with Catholicism, the sworn enemies of the Puritan movement, and the Church of England. It was quite ruthlessly put down, along with many other forms of Christmas celebration, such as the Christmas feast, drinking, and other enjoyable activities, as somehow” immoral”. Singing Christmas carols in the wrong person’s hearing in those times could land you in Jail!!!. It was largely revived in Georgian and the Victorian times, when Carols we would recognize like: .1843 - O Come all ye Faithful 1848 - Once in Royal David's City 1851 - See Amid the Winters Snow 1868 - O Little Town of Bethlehem 1883 - Away in a Manger were all written. In cities of Victorian times, the approaching holiday season was marked by strolling carolers, usually in groups of three, one caroler to play violin, one to sing, and one to sell sheet music. Holiday shoppers would pause to purchase music, joining in the trio for a few stanzas, before hurrying homeward. Carolers would stop at houses to sing, hoping to be invited in for a warm drink. Not surprising when you think about it considering one of the stanza’s of “We wish you a Merry Christmas” is: “Oh, bring us a figgy pudding; Oh, bring us a figgy pudding; Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer”!!!!! So, when you think about it – our modern “Carols by Candlelight” events in parks in Australian summertime – is a tribute to – busking!!!!! Christmas Pudding, or Plum pudding is an English dish dating back to the Middle Ages. In these days prior to refrigeration, seasonal fruits were dried to preserve them for later use, Suet, flour, sugar, raisins, nuts, and spices are tied loosely in cloth and boiled until the ingredients are "plum," meaning they have enlarged enough to fill the cloth. It is then unwrapped, and to crisp the outside of it, is soaked in rum or a similar spirit, and set on fire. It is then sliced like cake, and topped with cream. Essentially – it was intended to warm you from the inside! In a cold European winter that feels like a God-send. Egg Nog, being a mixture of cream and spirits invented in early North American winter , had a similar intent. Christmas Crackers were invented by Tom Smith, a London sweet maker in 1846. The original idea was to wrap his sweets in a twist of fancy coloured paper, but this developed and sold much better when he added love notes (motto's), jokes, paper hats, small toys and made them go BANG! Christmas cards, were a direct result of the first Postal service being put in place during Victorian times. The "Penny Post" was first introduced in Britain in 1840 by Rowland Hill. The idea was simple, a penny stamp paid for the postage of a letter or card to anywhere in Britain. This simple idea paved the way for the sending of the first Christmas cards. Sir Henry Cole tested the water in 1843 by printing a thousand cards for sale in his art shop in London at one shilling each. The popularity of sending cards was helped along when in 1870 a halfpenny postage rate was introduced as a result of the efficiencies brought about by those new fangled railways. Christmas stockings, came from children hanging stockings ( socks) on their bedpost or near a fireplace on Christmas Eve, hoping that it will be filled with treats while they sleep. In Scandinavia, similar-minded children leave their shoes on the hearth. This tradition can be traced to legends about Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint, which in Dutch is called “Sinter Klaas”, became what we now call “ Santa Claus”. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and travelled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. St. Nick left each of the three sisters gifts of gold coins. One went down the chimney and landed in a pair of shoes that had been left on the hearth. Another went into a window and into a pair of stockings left hanging by the fire to dry. Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland. Santa, his reindeer, and his sleigh became part of our popular culture as we would recognise him now, largely from this poem: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Dr Clement Clarke Moore 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below, When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; "Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!" As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too. And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow; The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose; He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night." Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you and your family Daniel Phillips, on behalf of SydneyGhostTour.com & beyondthegrave.net.au |
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