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About

Written by Annie O'Riley (www.oddhistory.com.au) on January 22, 2012

History tells us so much about life. By reviewing history we are better able to understand what our parents, grandparents and great grandparents endured. This understanding helps all of us to treasure the bounty that we enjoy today. This is a website devoted to the history of an area in the south east of Australia.  The people who lived in the rough bush huts did their best to survive. As with any community there was a small group of individuals who were more unusual than all the rest. Their true stories are the Odd History of Australia.

Over many years I have collected and told stories about the interesting historical characters in the local area. My children tired of my repeating these stories around the dinner table. Exasperated, my eldest daughter, Bobbi, set up this website so that I could write these stories down and let the family eat in peace. Little did she realize, that as I researched, I found plenty more to bore them with.  

I have tried my best to authenticate all of these stories.  Wherever possible I have searched for matching vital records, reports and historic maps. You will notice links at the bottom of each article showing references for the information I have used. If I have got it wrong I apologize.  With any event, each individual sees it from a differing view.  I have tried to find the most accurate of these viewpoints.

Annie O’Riley, 2012

Recent Posts

Blitzed. Ash Wednesday Fires 1983

February 16th, 2023
On Feb 21, 1983, I sent a letter to my father in the form of dot points giving an outline of what we went through on the fire tankers in Upper Beaconsfield. 40 years on and it is time for this to be published. Mick and Annie with Annie's father and stepmother. Behind us is the red Blitz 21 February, 1983. It is now the fifth day since the start of the fires but it seems so much longer. Time and actions have blended into a long blur of strange numbness and emotional turmoil. I can still hear the sirens and[...]

Spanish Influenza

April 22nd, 2020
"The Nurse" By George James Coates. State Library of Victoria Image Australia was one of the last countries in the world to suffer through the Spanish flu or Pneumonic Influenza epidemic. Most of the world had already suffered through the horror and tragedy before it arrived on our doorstep. With the return of the soldiers back from the First World War an unwelcome addition to their baggage was one of the worst pandemics Australia had ever seen. Australia was in the unique and fortunate position of having knowledge, time, and medical staff to deal with the crisis. We were an[...]

Min Min Lights and Agnes

April 2nd, 2019
One of the most unusual mysteries in Australia are the famous Min Min Lights. Described as large glowing balls of light that dance or float just above the ground, they have been witnessed by tens of thousands of people. They are seen moving rapidly, floating or just remaining perfectly still. They glow like giant orbs and sometimes hover before disappearing as though someone has blown them out. I have been interested in these lights for years so have queried people about seeing them while we have been travelling through outback South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory.[...]

Silverton and The Remarkable Love Life of Beth Maynard

August 29th, 2016
On a hot dusty day in February of 1890, a woman’s body was found beside an isolated track near a water dam called Rat Hole Tank, west of Silverton, NSW. It was estimated that she had been dead 13 days and that she died from malnutrition. This was not just any woman, this was Ann Elizabeth (Beth) Maynard, a lady who simply did not follow the rulebook and who had enough money to buy food for herself. We will never know the whole story of how she came to be there but it is my guess that it was Beth’s[...]