One of our friends, Emma Dryden, is in a band called Half-Cooked. We like her and think she is very talented, so we went along to the Pot Belly to see her in her latest project. The photos are very blurry, but I think they give enough of the vibe for you to get the picture (do you see what I did there?).
Him Outdoors was ruuning a race at One Tree Hill, so I went along to be supportive wifey and to get some fresh air and exercise myself.
Later in the weekend, we went out to Fyshwick to get some shopping and we enjoyed a trip to Dirty Janes. I haven't been to this place before, but it is a huge warehouse full of vintage treasures. Nearly 100 stallholders offer collectibles, antiques, homewares, furniture and clothing. One could spend the whole day here, pottering about and viewing what's on offer. We browsed for a short while and then had breakfast at the adjacent Salter's Cafe.
I also read about the namesake of the place. Although there is no explanation for the missing apostrophe, this is her story:
'Dirty' Jane Dumphrey was born in the back half of a two-room stone cottage in Northern Ireland. She came screaming into the world as chickens pecked the room's dirt floor, and her father, the local rag and bone man, was miles from home in his pony cart.By age five, Jane had joined her fathter on his run, taking over by the age of nine. She learned to spot valuable items to turn a profit and charm the locals into parting with precious things in exchange for hard-to-find clothing.By her fifteenth birthday, both Jane's parents were buried in a pauper's grave, and the squire had claimed her home. She walked to Belfast with a bundle under her arm and what littleshe had sewn into the hem of her skirt.Jane found a place in a poor house where the stout English owner expected equal quantities of cleanliness and godliness in every boarder. Jane's quick aptitude found favour with Mrs Fahrney, and she soon gained a position as a scullery maid in a good doctor's house.The doctor's house was grand, Jane spent months blacking the hearths and polishing the silver until she met Bill, a man from the wrong side of the tracks.Bill persuaded Jane to steal some rare treasures from the doctor's collection. To cut a long story short, Jane was caught by the doctor's butler, presented to the bailiff and 'hung out to dry'.Jane was found guilty of stealing a carved ostrich egg and transported to Australia on the Surrey I with 27 other female convicts, arriving on the 13th of July 1840. On the voyage to Sydney, Jane served the captain and his wife. George Sinclair sensed a quiet determination in Jane. He sent her with a letter of introduction to his cousin Tom Gully who owned the local general store at the trading outpost of Gundagai.When the young orphan arrived on his doorstep, she was caked in so much mud from her 240-mile journey he immediately christened her 'Dirty Jane'. Over the years, Jane worked for Mr Gully, learning to order stock and keep shop. She helped Mr Gully identify the valuable knick-knacks customers brought in to trade for basic commodities. Tragedy arrived in 1852 when the mighty Murrumbidgee flooded, taking Tom's life. Good man that he was, he left his business to Jane.'Dirty Jane', as she was known, continued to run the prosperous general store, buying and selling all things brought to her from local and outlying communities. Something here at Dirty Janes we are very proud to carry on.On the 13th of May 1883, 'Dirty Jane' died of old age.
