The Women Who Came Before Me; Creating Ancestor Heirlooms
8 minute read Isn’t it funny these days that we know more about the lives of celebrities than we do about the people who made us? We spend time chatting...
Read MoreShamrock and Wattle; Honouring Julia’s struggle to survive
17 minute read In the late 1980s, my great Uncle Bertie led me up the road from his childhood home in Clovelly, to the magnificent Waverley cemetery. Perched high on...
Read MoreDance Hall Days; A Quickstep to Friendship
10 minute read Almost 75 years ago, five friends gathered at their local dance hall to have their photograph taken. The year was 1949 and the young girls were having...
Read MoreThe Eulogy; the hardest, most rewarding story you will ever tell
18 minute read On Christmas Eve 2022, my father’s cousin, a man I had called ‘Uncle Willie’ all my life, passed away peacefully aged 79. I was asked to help...
Read MoreA picture tells a thousand words; Ada’s Mother’s Day story
6 minute read There is an age old saying, ‘A picture tells a thousand words.’ What does this mean and how can we use it to record the precious memories...
Read MoreFrom the streets to the trenches; Walter’s war
12 minute read Anzac Day, 2023. It is 106 years since a man in an Anzac uniform sat down in a muddy field to pen a letter to his wife’s...
Read MoreMake no mention of Dodgy Dick
12 minute read Back in my teens I would sit with my grandmother Irene and ask her to tell me all she knew about her family history. She knew more...
Read MoreOn track to Coonamble; Carl’s last hurdle
Coonamble cemetery, 1988. The headstone reads, In loving memory of our dear father and mother, Charles Robert Andriske, died 17 March 1903 aged 37 years; Emma Maria Andriske, died 18...
Read MoreWin, lose or draw; Syd’s story, the final chapter
10 minute read My maternal grandmother Connie’s older brother Syd lived an extraordinary life. I’ve spent the past two years compiling all the information I could find about Syd and...
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