62 pages : illustratednon-fictionIn 1839 a runaway horse crashed into a tree stump that stood in the middle of Bourke Street; and in 1840 there were holes in Collins Street so deep that a child was nearly drowned in one. Early Melbourne Sketchbook recaptures the exciting early days of the city, days when rainy weather rendered Elizabeth Street impassable without a punt, and when Melbourne's first city councillor was elected on the promise of free beer to his constituents. Brian Carroll has sought out an interesting collection of contemporary illustrations to take us back to the beginning of Melbourne, from the original discovery of Port Phillip in 1802. David Collins' abortive settlement at Sullivan's Bay was abandoned in 1803, and it was not until 1835 that John Batman settled on his now famous 'place for a village'. Here are fascinating stories of the men who founded and shaped Victoria's capital city: Batman, Fawkner, Bourke, La Trobe. In addition, there is a wealth of information about Melbourne's buildings and landmarks - places such as St Francis', the Post Office, the Town Hall, Princes Bridge, and Young and Jackson's. Early Melbourne Sketchbook describes vividly the historical development and cultural growth of the city that was to become Australia's financial capital and its second largest city. (Inside cover)melbourne, historic buildings

Index, bibliography, notes, ill (maps), p.565.non-fictionPasschendaele epitomises everything that was most terrible about the Western Front. The photographs never sleep of this four-month battle, fought from July to November 1917, the worst year of the war- blackened tree stumps rising out of a field of mud, corpses of men and horses drowned in shell holes, terrified soldiers huddled in trenches awaiting the whistle. The intervening century, the most violent in human history, has not disarmed these pictures of their power to shock. At the very least they ask us, on the 100th anniversary of the battle, to see and to try to understand what happened here. Yes, we commemorate the event. Yes, we adorn our breasts with poppies. But have we seen? Have we understood? Have we dared to reason why? What happened at Passchendaele was the expression of the 'wearing-down war', the war of pure attrition at its most spectacular and ferocious. Paul Ham's Passchendaele- Requiem for Doomed Youth shows how ordinary men on both sides endured this constant state of siege, with a very real awareness that they were being gradually, deliberately, wiped out. Yet the men never broke- they went over the top, when ordered, again and again and again. And if they fell dead or wounded, they were casualties in the 'normal wastage', as the commanders described them, of attritional war. Only the soldier's friends at the front knew him as a man, with thoughts and feelings. His family back home knew him as a son, husband or brother, before he had enlisted. By the end of 1917 he was a different creature- his experiences on the Western Front were simply beyond their powers of comprehension. The book tells the story of ordinary men in the grip of a political and military power struggle that determined their fate and has foreshadowed the destiny of the world for a century. Passchendaele lays down a powerful challenge to the idea of war as an inevitable expression of the human will, and examines the culpability of governments and military commanders in a catastrophe that destroyed the best part of a generation. Collapse summary world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - western front, france - campaigns - passchaendaele

tree stump

Possibly from 17th May 1884 to commemorate North Bendigo Cricket Club winning the Cricket Trophy for that year. From TROVE : A banquet in connection with the above cricket club was celebrated at the Johnson's Reef Hotel last evening. There were about 50 people present. Mr. W. M'Lean, on behalf of the donors of the cricket trophy, presented the handsome claret jug to the president of the North Bendigo Club. Band has J. R C 84 - 13 on back - Possibly J.R (Johnsons Reef) C 84 (Circa 84 - 1884 ) 13 on back possible the number of the player it was given to.3 8cm wooden stick all held by a metal band . The sticks/bales are pointed at the end.J.R. C84 - 13 on backcricket, cricket history, north bendigo cricket club, 1884