Vintage Cove

April 22, 2010

BOOKS ABOUT COLLECTING

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April 21, 2010

BIG BOOK O' DAYS ~ 21 APRIL ~ MARK TWAIN

21 April 1910 was the day that Mark Twain died.

Born Samuel Langhorn Clemens, 30 November 1835 during the appearance of Halley's Comet.

Clemens worked as a river-boat pilot and this is where his pseudonym Mark Twain comes from. The call "mark twain" means the river was only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation.

Writing under the name of Mark Twain, Clemens was an accomplished author and satirist. Best known for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876), "The Prince And The Pauper" (1881), "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884). As time progressed, the pseudonym took over.

Twain predicted his own death. A year before his death, Twain commented, "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it..."

Mark Twain died on 21 April 1910.

April 20, 2010

CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAY ~ ASBESTOS MESOTHELIOMA

Castledare Miniature Railway
Castledare Miniature Railway is a fond memory from my childhood. The joy of riding around in an open cart pulled along by a miniature steam train. The train travels along a 5km track along the Canning River. It is a memory I'll not forget.

The Railway is located in Wilson, a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, on the grounds of Castledare Boys Home, an orphanage run by Christian Brothers. It was a purpose built institution for the treatment and training of intellectually handicapped children, underprivileged boys, and English migrant children, in many ways ahead of its time. It is the only known school developed according to the new ideals for treatment of the intellectually handicapped in the late 1920s in Western Australia.

Castledare is a site of early settlement in the Canning district, and the homestead Niana represents the growing wealth of the district at the turn of the century.

Castledare Boys Home closed down in 1984, but the original Niana homestead remains in place, and the later development into a children's home remains clear. The miniature railway continues to run today.

But sadly, in the 1960s and 1970s, the swamp around the area was filled using asbestos tailings from the James Hardie factory at the invitation of the Christian Brothers. The base for the track was also laid using asbestos, as were some of the old paths.

James Hardie has been embroiled in Asbestosis and Mesothelioma cases from previous employees for a number of years. But now there is a case involving a visitor to the Castledare Boys Home in the 1970s.

Child's play sparks fears of a new breed of asbestos victims - The West Australian, August 2009.
Young asbestos victim a 'tragic case' - The West Australian, April 2010.

Modern asbestos laws would not allow this to happen today. It is a shame that such a fantastic memory is now tainted. My heart goes out to the victim, to Castledare, and to the people who grew up and worked at the home.

April 19, 2010

BIG BOOK O' DAYS ~ 19 APRIL ~ CAPTAIN JAMES COOK

1770 - Captain Cook and his crew first sighted the eastern coast of Australia.

On 19 April 1770, officer of the watch, Lieutenant Zachary Hicks, sighted land and alerted Captain Cook. Cook made out low sandhills which he named Point Hicks, although he did not yet know whether they formed part of an island or a continent.

Cook went on to chart the east coast of what was then known as New Holland, and claimed it for Great Britain under the name of New South Wales.

Can you imagine what life was like back then? They had only recently worked out that the world wasn't flat. There was land we didn't even know about.

We take it for granted that the countries we know today have always been there, and they were, we just didn't know they were. It must have been an amazing time.

But then I guess most people would not have even been aware all this was going on. There were no newspapers or internet for the everyday Joe. Maybe the rich people knew what was going on, but they were probably too busy being socialites.

April 18, 2010

WILD BILL HICKOK

Whether or not he used a card-cheaters clip, we will never know. But Wild Bill Hickok was certainly one of the Wild West boys.

Wild Bill grew up on a farm, became a stagecoach driver, a constable, a scout for the union army, and later a professional gambler, before returning to law enforcement. Hickok acheived fame after killing a number of outlaws. But his good deeds also produced many enemies.

When he played poker, he always sat with his back to the wall of the saloon, preferrably in a corner. He poured his drinks and handled cards with his left hand, so the hand holding his gun was always free.

His undoing came one afternoon when he had been unable to find a corner chair. With his back to the door, he was shot in the back of the head.

According to legend, he was holding a hand of two aces and two eights. Since then this goup of cards in poker is called a "dead man's hand".