Secrets Uncovered

Uncover the secrets of a great fashion designer x marks the spot, just dig a little. Today discovery is made easy with the advent of internet. Suddenly the world is flat and people are freed from the compounds of copyright. Genghis Khan conquered nations to free its people from oppression and feudal systems; internet has the same levelling effect.

On Common Ground

French and British find common ground; Silk tie by Louis Feraud, Cufflinks by London Badge and Button. And adding flavour to cultural diversity, native wildflowers from Australia.

The Battle of Waterloo and The Eureka Stockade

On February 26th 1815, barely ten months after the end of the Peninsular War, Napoleon sailed from Elba to bring about the end of his brief period of exile. It was the beginning of the final, momentous chapter of the Napoleonic Wars that would culminate in the great battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's final downfall.

The campaign was also to result in a head to head between the two great commanders of the age, Wellington and Napoleon, two men who had yet to face each other in battle. Napoleon landed in France on March 1st and entered Paris on March 20th. He immediately set to work raising an army, the so-called Army of the North which, by the time of the Waterloo campaign consisted of 125,000 men. Facing Napoleon were the armies of the Seventh Coalition - it had declared Napoleon `an enemy and disturber of the world' - which numbered as many as 800,000 men. But of the various armies opposed to him it would be the Anglo-Dutch army, under Wellington, and Marshal Blucher's Army of the Lower Rhine that would be the object of Napoleon's thrust in June 1815.

The Eureka rebellion, which is often referred to as the 'Eureka Stockade' is a key event in the development of Australian democracy and Australian identity, with some people arguing that ‘Australian democracy was born at Eureka’ (Clive Evatt). In addition, the principles of mateship, seen to be adapted by the gold diggers, and the term ‘digger’ was later adopted by the ANZAC soldiers in World War I.

The rebellion came about because the goldfield workers (known as 'diggers') opposed the government miners' licenses. The licenses were a simple way for the government to tax the diggers. License fees had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in any gold. Less successful diggers found it difficult to pay their license fees.
1854 - The year of the rebellion

In 1854 there were about 25,000 diggers on the Ballarat goldfields. The majority of these were British, especially Irish, but also included Americans, French, Italian, German, Polish and Hungarian exiles as well as many other nationalities. The largest nationality group was Chinese. Aboriginal people were also present on the Ballarat goldfields in many capacities: as Native Police, guides, wives and gold diggers, as well as trading cultural items and food. Women on the gold fields were assisted by Caroline Chisholm.

Law and order on the goldfields was enforced by the Gold Commission's police force which was later reinforced by a garrison of soldiers.

Heritage is style too.

The 60’s

Reminiscent of the sixties flower power era. Subsequently it triumphed in every decade since. Also The Monkees hit number one Billboard Charts with hit song “I’m A Believer” penned by Neil Diamond.

And, Some Famous Quotations by Albert Einstein, which surfaced timely during the 60’s hippy era

"When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of the globe,
he doesn't realize that the track he has covered is curved.
I was lucky enough to have spotted it."

"I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive."

"It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer ."

Nothing that I can do will change the structure of the universe.
But maybe, by raising my voice, I can help in the greatest of all causes
-- goodwill among men and peace on earth.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

"If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber."

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music.
I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music."

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...
the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind.
If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine.

The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

"A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of others ."

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."

"Two things inspire me to awe -- the starry heavens above and the moral universe within."

"My life is a simple thing that would interest no one.

It is a known fact that I was born and that is all that is necessary."

"As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue."

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."