Tag Archives: shoes

The spirit of Schumann the shoeman?

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My bizarre Book Week story:

Shoe mystery

When I spotted these shoes on a recent foggy winter morning, I was originally convinced I was seeing two birds on the rail. Trying to work out why one bird was seemingly hanging upside down, I approached slowly. Was it a bat? As I took out my iPhone to snap a quick shot, I was also bewildered as to why the other bird hadn’t yet flown away.

What remains unexplained is that these beautiful shoes aren’t even a matched pair! If you’ve read and enjoyed the poignant CBCA shortlisted picture book, “Schumann the shoeman” by John & Stella Danalis, you’ll understand why this local example of urban art gave me a few chills.

Introducing British colonisation

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4/5P is studying the British colonisation of Australia. Here are four Youtube clips that should prove useful to introduce the topic.

1980s television commercial for Old Sydney Town:


Old Sydney Town commercial [1980s]

Here is Old Sydney Town in October 2001 (mere months before the famous historical theme park was shut down). Captured here in the form of digital stills, this presentation shows all the features of one of Australia’s longest running theme parks:


Old Sydney Town (digital stills)

Historic Houses Trust has uploaded several useful video clips on the early days of Australian colonisation to Youtube:

200 years ago, convicts at Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks didn’t have lighters or matches to light their pipes. See how to light a fire the hard way:


A convict started a fire

Convicts sent to Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney weren’t always lucky enough to be issued with socks. And to make matters worse, their shoes weren’t even specifically made for the right or left foot. See what they did to ease the pain:


A convict without socks