Towards the end of the 1960 year, my Secondary Schooling education was ending, with the focus shifting to future work. I was 17 years of age and had completed 5 years at the Launceston Technical High School/Queechy High School, where I had attended academic subjects plus a required technical subject, which for me was metal […]
Ivan John Badcock’s Early Years
On 19 May, over 80 years ago, my father, Eric, recorded my birth in his diary “……….. the baby, which was a son, was born about 1 o’clock, weight 8lbs. 6¾ozs, length 22½ inches”. With no phone service at the farm, mother wrote a letter to Dad advising details “Baby was born somewhere about dinner […]
Eskleigh, Perth (Home of Peace)
Eskleigh, previously named Scone, was provided by William Gibson Jnr in 1944 to be a home for permanently incapacitated people and continues to operate today. The Home, built in 1870 for William Gibson, features a two-story residence with 18 rooms overlooking the Perth township and the South Esk River, Tasmania. The surrounding distant mountains add beauty to […]
Members of Rosebery Methodist Church in 1963
Rosebery Methodist Church On arrival at Rosebery in 1963, I soon joined in with the Methodist Church. It was a small group of some 16-20 attending services of which only six had Methodist membership with the remainder coming from a variety of other denominations, apart from Anglicans and Catholics who had their own churches. The […]
A Strasburg Clock Replica built by Sidney Roy Boon (1893-1944)
Around 1915, 22-year-old Sid Boon of Longford visited a display touring Tasmania, where a replica of the famous Strasburg clock was being displayed. He was so impressed that he was inspired to build a replica. With only a photograph and a glimpse of the exterior and working operations, coupled with his inventive genius, he set to work. After […]
History Over Dinner on ABC Radio Hobart
Gain insights from the expertise of Ivan Badcock and his son, Andrew, as they discuss significant events in Australian history on ABC Radio Hobart with Lucie Cutting on Tasmanian Sundays (Sunday, 21 July 2024). Delve into the rich history of Australia’s oldest tertiary education institute, established in Bishopsbourne, Tasmania—a small rural town with around 130 […]
Air Training Corps 1957-1960
I joined the Air Training Corps (ATC) in 1957 as part of the Launceston Technical High School 7 Flight group, continuing until December 1960. It was stated as being the largest Flight group in Tasmania. During that time, I rose through the ranks from Cadet to Commissioned Under Officer (CUO), the highest rank achievable. […]
HINGSTON: James & Family
James and six of his children arrived at Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in August 1842, travelling aboard the 95-ton brig, “Scout”, from Port Phillip, Melbourne to Launceston. Besides James, the children were Henry, William, Elizabeth, John, James and Robert. The Hingston name is now widely known across the north of Tasmania. In Devon, England […]
Richardson Brothers: Isaac & Simeon
Isaac Richardson – 10 Feb 1804 d. 13 Mar 1873 Simeon Richardson – 21 Jun 1807 d. 6 Oct 1893 Our Richardson family reached Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, on 18 November 1831 aboard the 638 ton convict transport “Lord Lyndoch”. They sailed from England on 27 July 1831 carrying 266 convicts which included Isaac and […]
John William (William) Chapman 1792-1852
William Chapman was born at Hatfield Broad Oak in Essex, England the eldest son of Isaac Robert Chapman (1761-1850) and Elizabeth Catharina nee Blandy (1770-1847). At the age of 13, he was convicted of stealing one sheep and two lambs and received the death penalty but was reprieved and transported to Australia for life. He […]