celebrations

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165295248 - the Sydney Mail, 19th January, 1901...'A Balloon Ascent'... 'One of the most interesting features of the Imperial contingent has been the representation of the Royal Engineers by field telegraph, balloon, pontoon, and other sections. The men were a smart and intelligent body, well officered by Captain Powell and Lieutenant Spieght, and their displays were always most attractive. The realistic Indian fort, and realistic explosions which followed each shot of the field artillery at the fort, were the work of the engineers. The explosions were effected by electrical mines fired by Captain Powell disguised as an Afridi. The balloon section was in the special charge of Lieutenant Spieght, and its working was always of interest. A member of the "Mail" photographic staff went up on one occasion, and the snapshots here reproduced show both the balloon and how the earth looks from a balloon car. One of the pictures gives a bird's-eye view of part of the Agricultural Ground, Moore Park, and the city beyond. Another shows the winding apparatus below which, controls the balloon and the engineers in charge, while a little way off some men of the Black Watch are drilling...'

You can think of modern bowling as a distant cousin of bocce. The Latin word bottia (ball) is the root of the Italian word boccia or bocce. During a game a ball is either rolled or tossed underhanded down a long lane with the aim of coming to rest near a smaller target ball called a pallino or boccino. Many people, such as Galileo and DaVinci, played bocce during the Renaissance, seeing its benefits to mind and body. It was also played by emperors, admirals, generals, poets, sculptors and scientists. Bocce was also exported to many countries by Italian migrants, and remains popular with bocce courts and clubs throughout the world. No one really knows how old bocce is. There were stone balls found in Turkey that date to 9,000 B.C. Some say bocce dates back to ancient Egypt (5,200 B.C.), but others argue that Greece was its birthplace around 600 B.C. When you really think about the simplest game a child can play – tossing a stone – you might think of bocce as the very first game man ever played. Even the child’s game of Marbles is based on bocce. Source: orderisda.org/culture/sports/italian-sport-the-history-of...

Saturday 2 April according to Trove - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27978947 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_Britain_(1930)

beachcomber australia Thanks - have updated the date.

Love these old photos. It really feels like you are taken back into time.