Guard duty on the staircase or is it time for a cat nap?

Test fans: here is Don Bradman's home turf in Bowral.

Hunter street shop windows. It must be Christmas. I'm out of here!

From a tiny island the natives commute by tinny or ferry to meet the train at Brooklyn or to their car to reach Sydney etc

Barge is off to an early start in a wonderful workplace.

Early morn ferry leaves Brookland Brooklyn. That is Brookland Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury.

Here is the submarine Archerfish.  Nobbys in the background. Is the flag at half mast?

Visit of U S submarine Archerfish in 1964.  The wharf would be high above the sub. State Dockyard Newcastle is opposite.

Port of Newcastle once upon a time when people drove around the wharves to have a look. 
Usually, in these particular photos, the pet dog and a few people feature without revealing much at all about the surroundings unfortunately. Who knows what was there just out of view.

Fashion for the day of the agricultural show

Seaside holiday in days gone by. Did the pets go along as well?  Days of fishing and canoeing at Minnamurra - nice sounding name. No sleepy village on the south coast, today it's Bali, Indonesia, at least, for Christmas hols. I must be the only Australian who has never visited Bali which must become wall to wall Aussies who converge over Christmas time. Conforming to resort culture would be one thing but there would be alternatives.  For a complete knockout seen on the 'net are some totally original buildings constructed from bamboo in Ubud.
 As for alternatives there is Mandela's funeral on live tv now, after all there was no one just like him.  Voting in South Africa was a significant landmark I witnessed from afar.      

We always write the date in the correct format! And that makes today 11-12-13.

Fashion. Pearl necklace. Teapot? What about gloves? Another Show Day in the 'bush'.

Sargeant Toohey - according to the back of the photo. Another Irish policeman! About the ring cycle of life, and nostalgia, lodes of which feature in the English show Call the Midwife which in its straightforward and evocative way delivers something past, special and overtaken.   The series always deserved a special mention. It contrasts with the growth we have seen into a juggernaught service. Perhaps it marks the start of National health and social housing and how they began to fulfill the dream of better times for the underprivileged. There was need enought for grand beneficial policies likes those. Seen on ABC TV. Support the ABC!

A carefree expedition to Nobbys when a drama is spied where the beach sands meet the road.  Exceptional numbers of  Shearwater birds have died over much of the east and south east coast.
A major cause: starvation.  The birds have flown a vast distance direct from the far northern Pacific in accord with their annual migration and their life depends on finding food on their return. It is said that their diet of seafoods from our coastal waters is in short supply. Warm currents and wild weather events are likely causes of the shortage.
Experts are figuring out whether all this is within normal bounds.
Biodiversity is crucial for all life and for the food chain to continue. Humans reap the food chain like never before. Preservation of biodiversity is a global imperative. Permit your garden to grow bugs, insects, lizards and snakes - insectacide free! Limit plastic - it fills the oceans - most of it changed to minute forms of plastic.
They say no sardines were found off California this year - if that is to the point.
 

Fashions
Show day in country town was another time snaps were recorded

Fashions.
A visit to Sydney was often captured by a street photographer who mailed the photo back to the home address.

Horseshoe Beach within Newcastle harbour.

What's the technical difference about the Port of Newcastle and Newcastle Harbour. Whatever. The name port is in more recent usage.

Kings street steps. Between a rock and a hard place or take the stairs - up or down.