Chiltern Journal

History

Journal entries tagged "History".

All Behind the scenes Food History Press Seasonal Travel

A regent honeyeater perched on a thin branch, black head and back with pale scalloped markings down the breast, bright yellow edging on the wing and tail, and a small identification band on one leg.

31 Aug 20265 min read

Counting regent honeyeaters in the Chiltern ironbark

The forest at the edge of town looks like nothing much. It holds one of the rarest birds in the country, and twice a year people go out and count them.

Seasonal Travel

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A row of nineteenth century shopfronts along a country main street, a newsagent with painted newspaper signs across its verandah, and drapers and emporium signage further down the row under a clear blue sky.

24 Aug 20265 min read

When Disney turned Chiltern into a town called Barambogie

In 1974 a Disney crew gravelled Chiltern's main street, took the signs down and filmed the town as a place called Barambogie. What changed, and what stayed.

History Travel

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Bare grapevines trained along wire trellises in a dormant vineyard, rows running back to a distant tree line under a clear blue sky, with yellow wildflowers growing between the vines.

17 Aug 20266 min read

Budburst season in Rutherglen's old vineyards

Out toward Rutherglen the old vines are waking up. What budburst looks like, why it happens in a set order, and the frost that still has to be watched for.

Seasonal Travel

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A dry hillside of Australian bush with dozens of wattle bushes in full yellow flower scattered through the grey-green scrub under a clear blue sky.

3 Aug 20265 min read

When the golden wattle comes out around Chiltern

Late in winter a yellow comes into the scrub along the roads out of town. The golden wattle, the forest it grows in, and the day in September named after it.

Seasonal History

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A red-brick colonial homestead with a corrugated iron hipped roof and two brick chimneys, seen through an overgrown cottage garden of roses and shrubs under a clear blue sky.

27 July 20265 min read

Henry Handel Richardson and the house by the lake

A novelist who wrote under a man's name spent eighteen months of her childhood in Chiltern. The house she lived in is still standing on Victoria Street.

History Travel

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A country football oval during a junior Australian rules match, players in dark and light guernseys scattered across the green grass with trees and low hills behind.

20 July 20265 min read

A winter Saturday with the Chiltern Swans

Through the cold months the town empties out on a Saturday and gathers at one ground. Country football and netball, the Chiltern Swans, and the red and the white.

Seasonal History

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A pair of hands cupping several round, dark, knobbly black truffles above a table at an outdoor winter truffle market, more truffles behind.

13 July 20265 min read

The winter truffle, and the dogs that find it

Under the oak trees of the north-east, in the coldest weeks of the year, a rare crop is being lifted from the ground. The winter truffle, and the dogs that find it.

Food Seasonal

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A home dining table set for Christmas dinner in warm evening light: a white damask cloth, two tall lit candles, a pine-and-rose centrepiece, laid place settings, a glass stand of gingerbread, and a decorated, lit Christmas tree glowing behind.

6 July 20266 min read

Christmas in July: a mid-winter feast, and where it came from

In the cold middle of the year, a good part of the country sits down to a second Christmas. Where the mid-winter feast came from, and why it makes sense in July.

Seasonal History

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A hand holds a golden Australian meat pie with a bite taken out, the minced-beef filling and a squiggle of tomato sauce showing, a country street behind.

15 June 20264 min read

The Australian meat pie: a short history of a winter habit

The Australian meat pie came out with the British, fed the goldfields, and never left. A short history of a cold-weather habit, and the plain pie at our door.

Food History

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