Murray River, Mannum, South Australia

The river town of Mannum is less than a half hour drive from our home in Murray Bridge. This popular tourist town is quiet with a good range of facilities including an excellent caravan park and several hotels. The picnic area at Mary Ann Reserve on the banks of the river is a popular spot. It is also where several touring boats moor, including those which provide meals, short trips of the river and longer week long cruises.

An excellent Tourist Information Centre which features the historic nature of the old Mannum River Port which was in its heyday in the paddle steamer era of the late 1800s.

Murray River, Mannum, South Australia

Silver Gulls and the Murray River, Mannum, South Australia

Bendigo, Victoria

The central Victorian city of Bendigo, built on the wealth gained from the gold mines in the area, boasts many fine historic buildings from the Victorian era. One can also find many modern buildings mixed in with the old, gracious structures of that bygone era.

Soldiers Memorial Institute Museum, Bendigo, Victoria

Buildings such as the one shown above, the Soldiers Memorial Institute Museum, stand out out as fine examples of architecture of the Victorian age. The statue of Queen Victoria herself looks out over several of them. I almost cut off all of her head in the photo below. No doubt she would not have been amused.

Statue of Queen Victoria, Bendigo, Victoria

Old kitchen furniture, Susannah Place, The Rocks, Sydney

The Susannah Place Museum in the Rocks district of inner Sydney preserves some of the social history of this interesting part of Australia. This group of terrace houses was built in 1844 and has been in continuous use ever since. Now it is only a museum, but one of the houses was still occupied a few years ago.

Relics from the past, Susannah Place Museum, Sydney

Each of the former homes have been decorated and furnished in a different era of its history. Moving through the various homes and rooms in each home on the guided tour is like walking through the pages of early Australian history.

This museum is only a short walk from Circular Quay in central Sydney. It has proved to be very popular with tourists and locals wanting to taste a little of Sydney’s past.

Old furniture, Susannah Place Museum, Sydney

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, Sydney

Although I was a little uncertain at first, I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Susannah Place Museum in The Rocks district of inner Sydney. we went there on the advice of our daughter who was with us on this holiday. A teaching colleague of hers had previously been there and had recommended a visit.

Basic laundry at Susannah Place, The Rocks, Sydney

We went on an hour long guided tour of these old historic terrace houses and shop. The houses were generally occupied from 1844 until relatively recently, one of them until only a few yars ago.

The houses are furnished and decorated in keeping with various eras in the life of this building. Some of the facilities, like the outdoor laundry tub and water heating fireplace and copper tub shown above, seem primitive when compared with what we have today.

Furniture in Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, Sydney

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, Sydney

Late last year we travelled to Sydney with our daughter. One of the places she was really keen to visit was the Susannah Place Museum in The Rocks district of inner Sydney. I was a little dubious at first but after going on the guided tour of this old historic shop and terraced houses I had radically changed my mind.

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, Sydney

The tour of this museum illustrates so graphically how people lived in this area in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Some of the houses are furnished as they would have been in that era. Other houses have a more modern feel with furnishings from the early twentieth century.

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, Sydney

September 2007

Right next to the caravan park in Lake Cargelligo, central New South Wales, is a museum. We didn’t take the time to visit the museum; you have to leave something for second and subsequent visits to places like this. What we could see just over the fence from the cabin we stayed in during our stay was a collection of old farm equipment on display.

Museum in Lake Cargelligo, NSW

This display included old tractors, ploughs, harvesters and a variety of other old pieces of machinery used in the early settlement days on this farming district. I recognised a number of items similar to those used by my father on the family farm back in South Australia.

Museum in Lake Cargelligo, NSW

I didn’t have time to get all nostalgic for the old days on the farm where I grew up. We had to be on our way to our next destination on this holiday.

Museum in Lake Cargelligo, NSW