Perfect for Father's Day - bonus offer!

It's Dad's day this Sunday! Here are Inside History, we're all about family and history! To help you celebrate, we'd like to offer a bonus free copy of our launch issue, if you subscribe to Inside History for 6 or 12 months before 5pm Sunday, 4th September.

Issue 6, our military special, is out this week and we think this issue is the perfect starting point for your Dad's Inside History subscription. He'll love Inside History magazine's range of family history, military history and heritage stories in every issue.

Purchase a gift subscription by September 4, 2011, and we'll include a bonus copy of Inside History! Simply subscribe for 6 or 12 months and your dad will receive a copy of our launch issue delivered free to your door!

Terms and conditions:
Offer ends 5pm September 4, 2011. All new subscribers will receive a copy of issue 1. Valid for Australian and New Zealand subscribers only.

NSW History Week - Dine with Tony Bilson Giveaway

Inside History magazine is a proud sponsor of the 2011 NSW History Week. We love history and one of our favourite things is food. Happily, you can combine both during History Week, with this year's EAT History theme!

To help History Week celebrate, we’re offering two tickets to dine with Tony Bilson at his famously brilliant Bilson’s Restaurant on the 9th September, at the History Week event: 'The Art of Living in Australia: A Special Event with Tony Bilson".

All you have to do is name Tony Bilson’s first Sydney restaurant and send your answer in an email to cass@insidehistory.com.au, with the subject: “Tony Bilson Giveaway” and you’ll go into the draw to win this fabulous fine dining prize, courtesy of History Week and the NSW History Council! Entries close 5pm EST Monday, 29th August 2011.

'The Art of Living in Australia: A Special Event with Tony Bilson"
At this event, Tony Bilson and Darren De Bortoli will discuss the development of Sydney’s food and wine scene with Simon Marnie from ABC 702 Sydney, while guests savour a specially created menu inspired by recipes featured in Philip E. Muskett’s book, The Art of Living in Australia.

• Friday 9 September 2011, 7:00pm to 9:30pm.
• Bilson's Restaurant, Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney, 27 O'Connell Street, Sydney.
• Free for our lucky winner, your tickets get you a gastronomic dinner and De Bortoli wines.

‘It is curious to see the inhabitants of a semi-tropical country like Australia living in wilful contradiction to their climactic necessities, and eating the same kind of food as did their fathers in the old land, with its dampness, its coldness, its ice and its snow,’ wrote Philip E. Muskett in 1893.

Muskett, a public health reformer, advocated the consumption of seafood, fresh produce and Australian wines. Eighty years later Tony Bilson transformed NSW dining with his first Sydney eatery Tony’s Bon Gout.

NSW History Week runs Saturday, 3rd September to Sunday, 11th September. Go to the NSW History Council site for more information or follow them on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Terms & Conditions:
Entries close 5pm EST on 29/08/11. The first correct entry drawn at random will win two tickets to the "event" on Friday, 09/09/11 valued at $440, courtesy of History Week 2011. The winner will be notified on Tuesday, 30/08/11. The prize is not redeemable for cash.

New Zealand Family History Fair :: 26 - 27 August 2011

Inside History magazine is proud to be supporting the New Zealand Family History fair and can't wait to visit Hamilton next week!

The New Zealand Family History Fair 2011 is at the Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton. Exhibitors, seminars, New Zealand Society of Genealogists branches and interest groups, help desks and look-up services will all be returning along with an internet cafe, where you can try out some of the key websites focused on researching your Whakapapa.The recently revamped centre has plenty of free parking and there will be a cafe and coffee cart open throughout the show, if you prefer not to bring your own food and refreshments.

2011 is the International Year of the Forest, so the Fair will focus on Growing and Conserving your Family Tree.

National bodies such as NZBDM and Papers Past will be present, as will the international organization FamilySearch, regional groups such as the Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries and commercial entities such as findmypast.com.au, Ancestry.com.au, Guild of One-Name Studies, Unlock the Past.

Where: Claudelands Events Centre
Address: 2 Brooklyn Road, Hamilton
When: Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August, 2011
Parking: Free, enter through Gate 4
Tickets: Available through Ticketek

To find out more about the fair, go to the New Zealand Family History Fair site or follow the fair on Facebook and twitter for updates. The NZFHF team have also answered FAQs on their site. See you there!

Sydney's Crown Street Hospital

The Next Chapter History Group runs on the 4th Thursday of every month and uncovers the history of the local area with special guest speakers. Inside History Magazine is the proud sponsor of the group and supporter of Randwick Branch Library.

This month's subject is presented by:
Speaker: Dr Judith Godden
Title: Researching the history of Crown Street Women's Hospital

When: 10.30am - 11.30am, 25th August 2011
Where: Randwick Branch Library
Address: Level 1, 73 Belmore Rd, Royal Randwick Shopping Centre
Bookings: Bookings are not required
Cost: Free
Contact: For more information, call Jane on 02 9314 4888
Email: contactus@randwick.nsw.gov​.au

Dr Judith Godden is a professional historian who is writing a commissioned history of Crown Street Women's Hospital. Her book Lucy Osburn, a lady displaced. Florence Nightingale's envoy to Australia (Sydney University Press) was short-listed for Australia's 2008 National Biography Award. She will have two books published this year: Australia’s Controversial Matron: Gwen Burbidge and Nursing Reform (The College of Nursing, Sydney) and, with Carol Helmstadter, Nursing before Nightingale 1815-1890.

Her illustrated talk will be on her work in progress writing the first comprehensive history of Crown Street Women's Hospital in Surry Hills. Her talk will focus on the reasons for writing its history and why people protested so vigorously against its closure in 1983. An important theme is how the surviving records, and gaps in that record, determine our understanding of the past. She especially welcomes the opportunity for discussion and to hear any memories you might have of Crown Street.

Are you researching relatives that worked or were patients at the Crown Street Hospital? Here is where we would start our research:

• State Records NSW: Archives in Brief 88
• State Library of NSW
• City of Sydney Archives , or direct your query to
• The Medical Records Manager, Royal Hospital for Women, Locked Bag 2000, RANDWICK NSW 2031 | (02) 9382 6111

Photograph of Crown Street Women’s Hospital courtesy of State Record

Korean War :: Australian War Memorial

Event: Korea: In From the Cold
When: International Conference, Thursday 6 – Friday 7 October 2011
Where: Australian War Memorial, Treloar Crescent Campbell ACT 2612
Contact: Alissa Gabriel
Phone: (02) 6243 4238
Registrations: Close 28 September 2011
Parking: The Memorial has two free car parks.

The Korean War was one of the most significant conflicts of the twentieth century. Coinciding with the 60th Anniversary of Australia’s landmark battles in Korea, at Kapyong in April, and Maryang San in October 1951, the Australian War Memorial is convening a major international conference including leading international military historians.

Professor Robert O’Neill, Australian Official Historian of the Korean War and former Chichele Professor of History at Oxford University is keynote speaker. The conference includes a reception at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Canberra and an optional dinner on the first day of the conference. A must for Cold-War history buffs!

Want to know more about the Korean War? Search the Australian War Memorial site or follow them on Facebook and twitter.

Have you got a WWII Red Cross story?

Throughout World War II the Red Cross sent millions of care packages to soldiers in POW camps. Author Mark Webster reported in our Issue # 2 on how important these parcels were to New Zealand troops serving on the other side on the world, and the risks people took to ensure their safe arrival.

What was in a Red Cross care parcel?

Every aspect of a package was recycled: string was used for binding, cardboard was made into paper for writing and cloth came in handy for repairs to clothing. Food-wise, a typical parcel, such as the one pictured to the left, might contain:

• 8 ounces (225g) of chocolate
• 6 ounces (170g) of tea 
• 14 ounces (395g) of jam 
• 10 ounces (280g) of brown sugar 
• 14 ounces (285ml) of Highlander milk 
• 13½ ounces (385g) of Nestlé coffee and milk 
• 6 ounces (170g) of sultanas or raisins 
• 16 ounces (450g) of cheese 
• 16 ounces (450g) of canned mutton 
• 12 ounces (340g) of lamb and green peas  
• Some parcels also contained honey

Total cost: 13 shillings and sixpence

The statistics at a glance:

• At the outbreak of World War II, NZ’s population was 1,632,000
• Around 205,000 served during World War II
• Ozf those, around 135,000 served overseas
• N suffered 36,038 casualties, of which 11,625 troops died
• There were 9140 NZ Prisoners of War in World War II

Mark Webster is writing a history of Red Cross parcels sent from NZ in World War II. He is very keen to hear from anyone who experienced packing or transporting the parcels, and also from anyone who received them.

Please email Mark and tell your stories of the Red Cross's brilliant work.

Don't forget that back issues of Inside History magazine including Issue # 2 are available online.

Barani Barrabugu - Sydney's Aboriginal Journey

Barani Barrabugu - Yesterday Tomorrow is a beautifully illustrated guide on Sydney’s long Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, from first contact to today's living culture.

The 84 page booklet describes over 60 significant Aboriginal sites across Sydney using stories and maps - from Bennelong and his wife Barangaroo, through to contemporary communities in Redfern, Alexandria and Waterloo.

Download your free copy from the City of Sydney council site and walk the paths that the first Australians walked across Sydney.

Several walks are described, along with suggestions for cultural institutions and organisations to visit, making this a valuable resource for Sydneysiders and visitors. Enjoy!