The 1850s were a time of great challenge for Australia’s European settlers, as the new migrants struggled to grapple with a land so foreign to their own back home. In particular, the Australian river systems proved to be a great mystery to the settlers as they were prone to both drying and flooding. The small … Read on
Australia’s very first royal visit was full of controversy, tragedy and huge crowds – both in support and in riot. On 31 October 1867, Queen Victoria’s second-eldest son Prince Alfred embarked on the first British royal tour of the new land down under. After joining the Royal Navy at 14, Prince Alfred attained a captain … Read on
By Elisa and Anna Jakymin Several years ago, when we reached out to a Ukraine-based genealogist to track down our long-lost family, we could never have imagined where the journey would take us, and we wrote about it in an earlier blog post. To think that we would have the fortune of meeting relatives in … Read on
By Elisa and Anna Jakymin ‘It’s Ukraine, not The Ukraine.’ Following the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine’s declaration of independence in 1991 marked a turning point in a centuries-long and turbulent history fought for by our forefathers. Given that the prefix was used by Soviet Russians to refer to Ukraine as one of its own, … Read on
Australia’s far north is renowned for its wild weather. Each year, up to 10 cyclones develop in Australian waters, with around six of those hitting land. Unfortunately, some of those cyclones prove to be deadly, too. Australians have witnessed the devastation that came with Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy in 1974, and with Queensland’s Cyclone Yasi in … Read on