In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sydney’s Mortuary Station served as the departure point for funeral trains bound for Rookwood Necropolis, the city’s largest cemetery. Twice each day, these trains would arrive at the station’s ornate sandstone platform, where coffins were loaded into specially designed hearse carriages. Up to 30 coffins could be carried in one train.
The platypus is arguably the strangest of Australia’s creatures – seemingly a mix of bird and mammal, with fur, a bill and poisonous foot spurs. It’s no surprise that they were quite startling to European settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries.
This is a sneak peek into edition 26 of Traces!
Most of what we know about Australian mosses is thanks to Ilma Stone’s amazing research. Her work opened the scientific world’s eyes to the incredible diversity of moss in Australia
Today, a flight between Darwin and London typically takes less than two days; but over 100 years ago, it took almost a month.
