Derham Groves

  • The Travels of Peter E. Sayers: Melbourne to Nandi

    From time to time I’ll transcribe Peter E. Sayers’ travel diary: Sunday 8th February 1959, Melbourne At 2.30 am (about) I took leave of Midge (80th time out) after spending the night before (Saturday 7th) at the Comedy seeing The Summer of the 17th Doll (4th season) and after at Scot’s supper dance with Hans Read more

  • Wart Goo

    Earlier this year I bought a little notebook for $1 at a flea market in Geelong, which had belonged to J. Davies, a student at the Gordon Institute of Technology. Davies had used it to record information about a trip he made to Western Australia in 1965. He made several extensive and very puzzling lists, Read more

  • The Mickey Mouse Club in Australia

    In 1959, seven members of Walt Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club — Jimmie Dodd, Doreen Tracey, Bobby Burgess, Sharon Baird, Tommy Cole, Karen Pendleton, and Cubby O’Brien — toured Australia along with the pop group, The Diamonds. Many people were very surprised that ‘dorky’ Doreen, as seen on the early episodes of the TV programme, Read more

  • On the Road — 1959

    Recently I purchased Peter E. Sayers’ travel diary on ebay for five dollars. In 1959, Sayers of East St. Kilda and nine other ‘boys’ — Peter M. Scott of Mosman, E. Phillip Brandt of Wahroonga, Richard Blaiklock of Castlecrag, James Trigg of Lake Cargelligo, Trevor Combe of Largo Bay, John Hammond of Darling Point, Ross Read more

  • Television and Australian Crime Fiction

    Television was introduced in Australia in 1956 and remained a ‘novelty’ for about 10 years. Even Australian crime fiction fell under its spell. In The Cold Dark Hours (1958) by A.G. Yates (a.k.a. Carter Brown), an advertising agency executive devises an ad campaign to sell defective TV sets; in the series of pulp novels by Read more

  • Danish de Luxe

    Danish de Luxe was a furniture company founded by Neville Askanasy, John Westacott and Borg Gjorstvang, which operated in Melbourne, Australia, between the late 1950s and the early 1990s. They made some wonderfully comfortable and stylish chairs, including the Adeena chair (pictured), which was the company’s version of an Eames Lounge chair. Recently I purchased Read more

  • June Wright

    Along with S.H. Courtier, I am also currently reading and researching the Melbourne-based crime writer, June Wright (b.1919). June wrote six crime novels between 1948 and 1966. The last three, Reservation for Murder (1958), Faculty of Murder (1961) and Make-up for Murder (1966), all feature her detective, Reverend Mother Mary St. Paul of the Cross Read more

  • The Ghosts of My Friends

    The Ghosts of My Friends is a kind of autograph book that was published around the turn of the 20th century. The directions inside it state: ‘Sign your name along the fold of the paper with a full pen of ink, and then double the page over without using blotting paper.’ The resultant smuges sometimes Read more

  • Graham, Panda and Joff

    This photograph of Graham Kennedy and Panda Lisner in a buggy and Joff Ellen on a horse was taken by C.P. Goodall of Ballarat in the late 1950s or very early 1960s. On the back of the photograph Mr Goodall wrote: ‘Graham and Panda head off on their drive at a smart trot. Graham tries Read more

  • Collins Architects and Builders Diary 1961

    Whenever I come across a used autograph book, diary or journal going cheap, I usually buy it. This Collins Architects and Builders Diary of 1961 appears to have belonged to a delivery van driver, whose run took in the NSW towns of Auburn, Blacktown, Blackheath, Blaxland, Camellia, Concord, Chullora, Faulconbridge, Homebush, Katoomba, Mascot, Medlow Bath, Read more