Gordon David (Bunny) Nunn, family man and extraordinary athlete

(First published 8 Jan 2015; updates—21 November 2015, 30 January 2016, 5 April 2016, and 2 September 2022). Bunny Nunn was one of Australia’s leading sportsmen of the 1940s and 50s. He excelled at the highest level and left a lasting legacy.  Born in Ipswich,...

Aged donkey served rich and poor

 Longevity of the ass – Bury and Norwich Post 4 January 1854: A donkey has just died at Fornham All Saints, having attained to the venerable age of 70 years and upwards. It formerly belonged to the Cornwallis family, and was ridden by Lady Ann, after whom it was...

Christmas generosity blesses struggling villagers

Warren Nunn A few lines in an English newspaper highlight the extraordinary generosity of a gentleman that blessed several Suffolk villagers who may otherwise have had a miserable Christmas. In December 1852 (and again the following year), William Francis Farmer,...

We all wear masks

Funny business, that storytelling ©Warren Nunn Scientific storytelling is sometimes so obvious that it could even be laugh-out-loud funny if it weren’t so serious. An article <Shape shifters, The Economist, p. 70, 9 May 2015> which claimed the ancient ancestors...

Those with unpopular views face extreme sanctions

Warren Nunn Extremists/fundamentalists whose unpopular views sometimes cause public outrage now face extreme sanctions that reek of extreme fundamentalism. We live in extreme times where public discourse is out of control. Rare is the situation where a person is able...

Swamp Fox Tony Joe White passes into eternity

Warren Nunn (Updated 4 Nov 2018 with links to tributes. Scroll to bottom of article) It’s a hot October morning in Brisbane. I open my email program to a message that Tony Joe White has died at 75. It’s only a handful of weeks since I received in the mail...

Long shot survivor

Battled on for 40 more years – Reading Mercury 01 July 1799: DIED – At Northam, aged 80, J.Padmore, who, at the battle of Minden, received a ball through his head. It is a little odd that the passing of an individual would be so casually recorded. Note...

Links to articles published elsewhere

Since having been made redundant from Queensland Newspapers in 2013, I have been writing part-time for two Christian organisations … Creation Ministries International and radio station 96five. There follows links to articles I have had published with them:...

Reverend Alexander Silver of Dunnottar

By Aberdeenshire Silver descendant Warren Nunn Reverend Alexander Silver was for about 40 years the spiritual leader of Dunnottar church near Stonehaven in Scotland. He was described as “many-sided and sterling in character”. He was a larger-than-life, quick-witted...

Retracing my tracks across the Nullarbor Plain

Warren Nunn Long rail journeys such as the trek across the Nullarbor Plain used to be something one had to “suffer” to travel throughout Australia. It now takes about 41 hours (including stops) on the Indian Pacific to travel the 2669km between Adelaide and Perth...

The gifts inside that shouldn’t be locked away

Warren Nunn An art exhibition now on display in Brisbane is an expression of the talents of various individuals with a shared, but not-so-common experience. They are prisoners—individuals removed from society for a time—but, given the opportunity to express...

Renovations 2018

Before, during, and after images of renovations. Ready for the next step. January 2019. Finally, the fence is completed.

Under the tamarind tree

By Coker descendant Warren Nunn A tamarind tree planted 100 years ago brought together about 100 descendants of eight siblings of the Coker family at Kabra on Saturday 23 June 2018. When the youngest of Harry and Emma Coker’s children, Cyril, was born in 1918, his...

Fake news past and present

Warren Nunn The fake news catch-cry has become part of everyday language mainly because of America’s 45th President Donald Trump. Newspaper reporting down the years has included much serious, accurate recording of history;  and some that has been downright sloppy and...

James Tetley and Betty Stockdale’s wedding

Warren Nunn Many people tend to see genealogy as a boring, uninteresting pastime. Why spend time in the past looking at old records? Why not focus on the people around you and enjoy your family who are actually alive? In some ways you can understand where they are...