19 AUG 2026
Soaking winter rain
Soaking winter rain used to happen almost every year in southern Victoria during late August and early spring, but has become less frequent over the last 40 y...
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2 AUG 2026
Sovereign Hill and Lola Montez
Visiting Sovereign Hill at Ballarat for the first time in 50 years was a worthwhile experience, complete with the drama of Lola Montez horse whipping the edit...
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1 AUG 2026
HSBC quitting Australia
I was disappointed to hear the news that HSBC is quitting Australia after offloading its loan portfolio, leaving retail customers needing to find a new bank. ...
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23 JULY 2026
The former family castle in Germany
I'm descended from the Burgdorf family in Germany and 700 years ago we had our own castle in the Harz Mountains . Historian Georg Bode wrote about this . H...
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23 JULY 2026
Bills horse trough
Walking along Pleasant Street South in Ballarat towards my local supermarket, I came across a horse trough on a nature strip outside an ordinary house. I ...
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10 JULY 2026
Thirty years of computing
I've just bought a refurbished Dell XPS 15-9530 laptop, built in 2023, and it has double the memory of the 2019 Asus Zenbook, which I've been using for the ...
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9 JULY 2026
Wake-up call with Robbo
Today I spoke with Mark Robinson on Gold Central Victoria radio about what's happening in the Central Goldfields Shire, filling in for the Council CEO. I've ...
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6 JULY 2026
Nimmons Bridge, Newtown
Nimmons Bridge at Newtown was built in 1889 for trains to traverse a creek on the Ballarat to Skipton railway line. It was Victoria's fourth-largest timber t...
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4 JULY 2026
Bridge Market in Ballarat
On a cold Ballarat day, it's very tempting to stay under the doona and read or binge watch something on streaming TV. However, today I forced myself outdoors ...
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3 JULY 2026
Best wishes to the Socceroos
Football (soccer) isn't really my sport. I'm more of a rugby union and cricket fan, but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on the Socceroos tomorrow when they...
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