Lyn Johnston

A glowing testimonial, written in 1888 by Port Albert JP John Shepherd begins, “I have known Mr B. M. Gubb over twenty years as Head...

When The Albertlanders was being compiled in 1925, those original settlers who were still alive wrote down their memories of the early days. Some of...

Excerpts from the memoirs of Clarence Irvine Curel (1898-1991) My father, Edwin Curel was harbour pilot, signalman, then lighthouse keeper at Pouto from 1885 until...

The Sellars (originally spelled ‘Sillars’) family came from the Isle of Arran in Scotland and many of their men were master-mariners. Daniel Sellars came to...

Lord Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand from 1897 to 1904, travelled around the country visiting small settlements where he liked to meet veterans not long...

This year is the 150th anniversary of the start of World War I so many stories are being told about that conflict.  However, only 21...

The Levet family from Ely, Cambridgeshire, were among the first Albertlanders to leave England. Charles, Kezeiah and their five children, Joseph, Charles, William, Frances and...

When I consider the rigmarole involved in building a house these days, I think of how simple it was in my grandfather’s day.  It was...

Marcus Wilkins was born in 1854 in a little village just outside Coventry. When he was two, his father moved into the city and, with...

In my late mother’s scrapbook there is a small flyer advertising an Australasian Sculling Championship. The word ‘Australasian’ had been crossed out and my grandfather,...