SARAHCRAZE

How beer, AC/DC, violence and pokies created a local institution.

When I started this blog, I did not want to shy away from the darker history of Ashburton and the surrounding areas. From writing about...

Update 5 May 2024: After 47 years, J & T Electrical Services in Ashburton closed its doors for the last time. Wishing Peter a long and...

First up: I am keen to keep doing my potted histories of Ashburton’s iconic shops. Now the kids are back at school I have all this space...

Writing about the local history of Ashburton and its surrounds for two years has given me a new appreciation for the way Australian...

A big thank you to my readers! I've really enjoyed writing this blog this year and will be back with more on Ashburton and its surrounds...

Over the summer – should that ever arrive – I hope to run a series on some of Ashburton’s longest continuously operated shops. On High...

If you’re a reader of a certain age, you may remember waking up very very early in the morning – far too early for your mother’s liking –...

Few people want to go on record with their pre-conceived judgements and assumptions about Ashburton. Or for any other suburb for that...

In this post, I’m taking a break from writing about Ashburton’s growing list of murderers to cover something far more pleasant: the...

This week, I gave a presentation at Ashburton Library for Victorian History Month on the history of Ashburton's green spaces. The...

I realise this is a complete departure from the usual subject matter of this blog. However, as I was unable to find much information...

Almost a year ago, I began documenting the 1965 murder of a young Jordanville woman called Maureen Ferrari by an Ashburton man. Since I...

It’s Book Week! Or, as I call it in my house, F#@king Book Week. I love books. I love them so much I wrote one. You don’t become a...

On a cool Sunday morning on 8 August 1980, Bertha “Beth” Miller called out a farewell greeting to her housemate/brother-in-law Bill Ross....

I recently presented on this topic at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. Just as High Street turns down the hill towards Glen Iris...

This is the second post in my series on interesting things I find in Ashburton’s old community newspaper Progress Press (1946-63) In the...

Once upon a time in Ashburton, there was a community newspaper called Progress Press. This was a locally produced and edited publication...

When I first started writing this local history blog, a major resource was a document I found called ‘Ashburton through the Ages’, by...

For the 2022 Federal Election, the parents of Ashburton Primary School (located in Melbourne's Eastern Suburbs) ran a Sausage Sizzle and...