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Time!

Under the spotlight

“And as the years have passed, the time has grown longer. The sad truth is that what I could recall in five seconds all too soon needed ten, then thirty, then a full minute - like shadows lengthening at dusk. Someday, I suppose, the shadows will be swallowed up in darkness.” 
Haruki MurakamiNorwegian Wood

Time slowly passing by in a sandglass with yellow sand. ww.martinsistek.cz

Shadows from the past

Fyansford
 In the Spotlight

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Previous

Under  the  Spotlight

Expos

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Today's

Under  the  Spotlight

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Moorabool    Makeover

Blog #6 ~ mapping fast-fading memories

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When Melway's was king

 

 

Back then I collected RACV strip-maps along with many large fold-up road maps distributed by fuel producers (Shell, Ampol, ...); storing them in a shoebox (well before satnav devices).

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Working with fading memories, Google Earth and photos belonging to Jo Mitchell, Ron Grant, Andreas Makarewitsch and myself, I challenged myself to map Jo Mitchell's 5-hour kayak trip down the Moorabool with a focus on the re-routed section flowing along the lengthy man-made concrete channels. Viewers may prefer to follow Jo's blogs #1, #2, #3.

9 Jo Mitchell's Moorabool River Explorat

Playing with Google Earth

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Click first image to enlarge slideshow

Click arrows to move through the series 

With help from Ron Grant

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Click first image to enlarge slideshow

Click arrows to move through the series 

With my fading memory and a

Sunday photshoot

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Click arrows to move through the series 

A Gallery

 

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Click first image to enlarge slideshow

Click arrows to move through the series 

“And so after five hours of rocks, prickles, boxthorn, ants, bees, rushes, reeds, barbed wire and leeches we were finally done. Not exactly a "paddle" I would recommend, however a very interesting part of the Moorabool to have seen at close quarters.”                                  Jo Mitchell

"What's in a name?"       Blog #1

Can you guess

which name

we'll look at first?

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Not just any face..."         Blog #2

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My favourite Gugger happy-snaps

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A  face from the past...

Christopher Porter
James Plumridge
The Guggers

In search of
architect, Christopher Porter, and
early Fyansford potter, James Plumridge, Ca.1855

Starting Point

More clues...

Paul Bruce, President Bellarine Historical Society, vigneron (author of book on the wine and aerated water Company called “Chas Cole & CO” in Geelong) and with a particular interest in Fyansford has thrown additional light on this subject:

  • Christopher Porter, an architect, owned a pottery site, possibly Geelong’s first pottery and brickworks.

  • James Plumridgea Staffordshire potter, was brought out from England in 1855 by Porter. It was Plumridge who worked at the pottery near Fyansford.

  • James Plumridge eventually ran a series of Potteries in Victoria and NSW and is well documented in Geoff Ford’s book, “Australian Potteries: the first 100 years”.

  • Porter designed a number of buildings in Geelong and Ballarat before moving to Queensland where he became an influential architect.

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Thanks, Paul! 

I'm looking forward to meeting with you.

In some ways I am like others I know:

  • a neighbour currently away searching for gold somewhere north of Kalgoorlie, WA, or

  • Nathan with his scanner; ever in search of hidden treasures whether buttons, badges, the odd coin or two, even bottle-tops.. 

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Over the years, as I've researched the history of Fyansford, I keep coming across names interwoven through the very fabric of our locality's history; Fyans, Atkins, McCann, Monier, Monash, Buckley, Gugger...

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Gugger!  Now there's a name I'd like to know more about.

Fyansford Township Ca 1880

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