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Dec 9, 2024 | 
taste.co.za | Ivor Jones
1. Rub the skin of the pork belly with salt and place in the fridge overnight to rest. Wash off the salt, brush with white vinegar and place in the fridge overnight once more to rest. 2. The next day, make the salsa, then set aside. 3 .Remove the pork from the fridge, dry well with kitchen paper, butterfl y and spread a 1 cm-thick layer of the sausage meat over the inner belly. Cover with a layer of the salsa, setting a little aside for serving. 4.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
Since I started writing in this publication, many new residents have moved into the areas of the Hills and Hawkesbury districts. In this article I hope to explain the origins of various suburb and locality names. AGNES BANKS, a locality in the Hawkesbury region, was named after Agnes Hilson, the mother of Andrew Thompson (1773-1810), who was described by Governor King as the “Father of Windsor”.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
Remember in times past, when your mother would possibly take you to have your photo taken in a photographic studio. Perhaps you may have been photographed by a studio photographer as a baby. Maybe during December you would have visited a Department store to have a photo taken with Santa. Then of course there were the group photos taken at school or at your workplace.
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
As we age, there is no doubt that we need more medical care. Having to attend a medical centre every two days during recent months my mind has turned to medical centres within the area. When my wife and I moved to the Hills 40 years ago, there was a medical practice owned and operated by a well-known GP at the time. That GP went on to become a celebrity who amassed a great fortune.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
The Hordern family once controlled the largest Department Store in the World. The store Anthony Hordern & Sons built on a small hill in the Southern part of the Sydney CBD known as Brickfield Hill covered an area of 52 acres (27 hectares ). The company was founded by Anthony and Ann Hordern in 1823 from a small bonnet and corset shop in King Street, Sydney with a saddlery located at the rear. The business eventually grew into a department store located in George St Haymaket.
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
To be an Archibald Art winner is a dream that many a budding artist wishes for. Such a dream has come true for a young resident of Glenhaven. A beautiful portrait of her mother, Jane Blatchford, has seen Leah take out first prize in this year’s Young Archies 16 – 18-years old category. Leah who now teaches at her mother’s art school at Castle Hill says – “My mum’s unwavering dedication to the arts over the years has undeniably ignited a flame within me.
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Sep 19, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
In the Hawkesbury district, travelling west along the Bells Line of Road near Bilpin, a road on the right leads to the very small locality of Mountain Lagoon,14kms away. This small locality was the home of the Stewart sisters, Myra and Ivy. Their father and grandfather were pioneers in the area and also in the fruit growing industry in the Hawkesbury region. The property where they lived was named “St Anne’s”.
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Sep 8, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
Recently, a plaque was installed in Martin Place, Sydney where once stood the “Black & White 4d. Milk Bar” which was credited as being the first Milk Bar in Sydney. The Black and White Milk Bar that Mick Adams (Joachim Tavlarides) opened in 1932, sported a sleek bar topped with soda fountain pumps and gleaming milkshake makers. Trade was brisk on its first day, with 5000 customers breasting the bar, and soon, weekly patronage had grown to 27,000.
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Aug 21, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
France has been in the news recently with the Olympics held in Paris so I thought – “what connection does our area have with France”? Did I know of one French connection of the Hills District? It is claimed that the first white settler in Castle Hill was a Frenchman, Pierre Lalouette de Vernicourt who was born in Paris, on 4th April 1754. Pierre arrived in Sydney on 14th December 1801, aged 47 years, after serving in the French army and then later with the forces of an Indian Prince in India.
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
hillstohawkesbury.com.au | Ivor Jones
Exactly 100 years ago, in August 1924, the last regular stagecoach run by the famous Cobb & Co., was held in Queensland. That 100-year anniversary has got me thinking of the various coach runs in the Hills and Hawkesbury districts and also the history of stagecoaches in Australia. Whilst Cobb & Co was not founded until 1853 by Freeman Cobb, and eventually became the largest coach company in the Southern Hemisphere, there were a number of coach companies operating before that time.
