Year: 2009

History, Postcards

Town Reach Brisbane River

by NeilEnnis 6 August 2009 1 Comment Shortlink

A postcard from Angela in England.

I am guessing, but I think this picture looks north-east towards Petrie Bight from Customs House. It’s probably dated between 1900 to 1910. Unfortunately there’s no stamp on the back of the postcard, and no postmark. The writer didn’t date the card, so we can only guess!

At the turn of the century, Petrie Bight, downstream from the city centre was occupied by wharves.

The houses in the top right of the picture are probably on Bowen Terrace, New Farm.

For comparison, see another picture of this area around the same time.

History, Postcards

RMS Baltic

by NeilEnnis 4 August 2009 No Comments Shortlink

A Postcard from Miry.

RMS Baltic is the twin funnelled ship whose stern is visibile in the picture.

At the time she was built in 1903, RMS Baltic was the largest ship in the world, with a GRT of 23,876 and a length of over 222 metres.

She was the third of a set of four ships dubbed “The Big Four”, abd built for the famous White Star line by Harland and Wolff in Belfast – the same yard that made RMS Titanic.

Her maiden voyage was from Liverpool (the port seen in the picture) to New York in 1904. Her Captain, Edward J Smith was later to be the captain of RMS Titanic in 1912.

In 1909 she rescued survivors of the collision between another White Star Liner, RMS Republic, and SS Florida off the coast of Newfoundland.

In 1912 she transmitted ice warnings to RMS Titanic before that ship’s fateful collision with an iceberg.

In 1929 she rescured passengers of the sinking ship, Northern Light.

She was scrapped in Osaka in 1933.

This postcard was mailed in 1928 from Liverpool to France (see reverse side for details).

So much history in one postcard. How wonderful!

Postcards

The Kings Head, Bexley

by NeilEnnis 4 August 2009 No Comments Shortlink

A postcard from Miry.

My father worked as a barman at “The Kings Head” in the early sixties before we migrated from the UK to Australia.

It wasn’t far from where we lived (Bexleyheath).

The owner of the pub, Frank Petty, begged Dad not to leave for Australia, but thankfully we did. Frank kindly sent us “The Times” calendar every year for many years after that. It hung proudly in our loo, showing a picture of one magnificent British garden for each month of the year.

Thoughts

Some technical articles if you’re interested

by NeilEnnis 2 August 2009 No Comments Shortlink

I have a technical blog that I occasionally add articles to, so that I don’t bore you with hi-tech ramblings here. But in case you’re interested, here’s a brief summary of some recent articles.

Cool technology – fun with PVRs
Some amazing facts – just incase you’d like to be impressed.
My Inbox – This is an amazing feat for me!
Slideshow from RSS for WordPress – Some pretty stuff for blogs

I also have a ShipWatcher blog that has some interesting articles about ships. I add all my ship articles here. But if you’re interested:
SS Orford – A short life. Don Bradman travelled on this ship.
RMS Orion / SS Orion – The first “Ten Pound Pom” ship, launched by remote control from Brisbane.
New Instant Slideshows! – A cool new feature I’ve added to ShipWatcher
Crystal Serenity / Crystal Symphony – some new ships I’ve added to ShipWatcher