This photograph from the Canberra Times depicts a ghetto in Poland during Nazi Rule. A group of Jewish people can be seen wearing armbands. Their treatment is conemned by the reporter as an example of medieval barbarity, with the caption suggesting…
This article traces the roots of modern cosmetic surgery to the medieval period. It suggests that the first forms of plastic surgery were performed by a fifteenth-century Sicilian family, the Firancas of Catania. The practice then fell into disuse,…
An article on page 11 of the Melbourne newspaper The Argus in September 1937. The article reports on two benches in Berlin in Nazi Germany being painted yellow for use by Jews. The article says that the decision recalled an edict in the medieval…
This illustrated article from The Argus provides an account of a ceremony in St Paul’s Cathedral (Melbourne) to mark the consecration of William Herbert Johnson as the Bishop of Ballarat in 1936. It describes the procession - consisting of the…
This newspaper article from The Argus in 1935 reports on an amusing incident during a visit by Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons to Manchester, UK. Lyons was asked to pose with a medieval halberd for a photograph, which was mistakenly thought to…
A lengthy illustrated article by John Russell Parry about gargoyles in Melbourne that appeared in the Melbourne newspaper The Argus on August 10, 1929. The article provides the etymology of 'gargoyle', derived from Latin via Old French, and explains…
A drawing of a heraldic shield redolent of medieval manuscript annotation found on the second last page of the Journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth. Smyth (1750-1790) was the surgeon responsible for the women convicts on the Lady Penrhyn in the First Fleet,…
A scanned copy of the journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth held by the National Library of Australia. Smyth was the surgeon responsible for the women convicts on the Lady Penrhyn in the First Fleet, from 22 March 1787 – 8 August 1789. The journal…