This is the story of a humble teacher who turned a wooden building on the Murray River into a kind of bush university – one that grew leaders who changed Australia. Thomas Shadrach James, was born in 1859 in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa known for its diverse racial make-up, mixed cultures and variety of religious faith. His parents were poor people determined to educate their children. His father worked his way from being an indentured labourer to serving as an interpreter for the British colonial government and a teacher in the Anglican Church. So, it’s no surprise that at the age of fourteen, Thomas was tutoring other boys and fluent in French, English and Tamil.
Discouraging family events drove 20-year-old Thomas to leave home to seek his fortune alone in Australia. His obvious ability saw him enrolled in medicine at Melbourne University in 1880, but a bout of typhus left him with shaking hands. The new immigrant made a disconsolate figure walking Brighton Beach on Port Phillip Bay on January 3rd 1881, his aspiration to be a surgeon shattered. READ MORE ...
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This photo tells a story.
This week my son Chris presented Riverbank Frank Doolan with an artwork he’s done of Bill Ferguson – he’s the bronze figure in the picture. The painting is Chris’s version of the famous photo taken of Bill standing in Elizabeth street in Sydney on Australia Day 1938 with a group of supporters. His quiet but forceful protest called attention to the sad fact that the Aboriginal peoples of our country were yet to be recognised as citizens. There are other stories hidden behind this photo. READ MORE ... Aunty Pat Doolan is one of those rare people you meet in life who radiate goodness. As a result she’s been a game-changer wherever she’s lived. You can’t help being touched by her rare blend of determination and kindness - that’s how she’s got things done. She leads by being a servant and she never wavers in declaring her faith in public.
‘We need to share our stories, accept our stories, and write a new story together.’ - Billy Williams.
In recent years, the story of Bill Ferguson has been highlighted in the main street of Dubbo. While Martin Luther King and his 'I have a dream' speech is well known, Bill Ferguson and William Cooper and others who played similar roles on behalf of the Aboriginal people, are not. Paul and Riverbank Frank take as many opportunities as they can to tell the Bill Ferguson story in schools and groups of young people. Paul wrote this short story after speaking with Bill Ferguson's daughter Isabel. 'A curtain of steady late-winter rain swathes the evening sky. Dwarfed by the leaden expanse of cloud, three figures plod steadily along the sodden roadway, picking their way through the puddles. The man is a tall, erect figure, his muscular shoulders filling out his dark suit coat, water streams from the Fedora hat pulled firmly down over his eyes. The stripling boy struggles manfully with the battered suitcase, now and then swapping it from hand to hand, while his sister strides alongside her father, head held high, hair bedraggled, clutching a parcel of food wrapped in grease-proof paper. ( Read the rest by clicking on Read More.) |
AuthorJoin The Outback Historian, Paul Roe, on an unforgettable journey into Australia's Past as he follows the footprints of the Master Storyteller and uncovers unknown treasures of the nation. Archives
January 2025
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