Short story blog
Last October, during a visit to outback Queensland, my husband Tony and I included the tiny town of Windorah in our itinerary. What a good decision that was! We discovered a neat well-kept town rich in history and a community that honours its forebears and cares passionately for its extraordinary natural environment. In this post […] Read more…
The feature photograph, taken in 1973, shows my grandmother, uncle and a visitor inspecting a prickly pear tree on my grandmother’s property at Rannes, 100 kilometres southwest of Rockhampton, Central Queensland. This huge pear tree is an ominous reminder of the “green plague” that took over large tracts of agricultural and pastoral land in central […] Read more…
During a visit to the Mount Morgan Cemetery in 2017 I came across the grave of EMMETT BEAUMONT McSWEENEY, an infant who died in 1921. At the time I was looking for the grave of my aunt THYRA GRACE BEAUMONT, also an infant, who died in 1920 and who was also buried there (read A […] Read more…
This story is an Anzac Day tribute to my late mother, Evelyn Proposch (nee Beaumont), who was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II. It’s the second part of a two-part series. The first part, My mother’s years in the WAAAF (Part 1): Brisbane, which I posted on […] Read more…
On 26 February last year I wrote an article about the history of Bogantungan and the 1960 Medway Creek (Bogantungan) rail disaster and posted it on my “Love in a little black diary” Facebook page. The response was overwhelming! Since that date, the post has reached 70,383 people, had 18,831 engagements, received 423 comments and […] Read more…
In your family archives, do you have an old letter or two? I do. One is a 3-page letter dated 13 March 1952 my father wrote to my mother, brother and me. I would recognize my father’s handwriting anywhere. Seeing his handwriting and reading the words and expressions he used in this letter makes me […] Read more…
On 5 May last year, 10 days after Anzac Day, I visited the Apple Tree Creek War Memorial. My husband and I were en route from Brisbane to Rockhampton when we stopped to take a break at the Apple Tree Creek rest area. The Apple Tree Creek War Memorial is situated in a fenced off […] Read more…
How do you wash and iron? Do you find these tasks tiresome? Spare a thought for your mother or grandmother in the 1950s. Washing and ironing prior to the 1950s were time-consuming, labour-intensive chores for most Australian households. These tasks were almost always performed by women. Typically they set aside a couple of days each […] Read more…
A funny thing happened when my husband Tony and I visited Isisford last year and Tony spied a bakery in the main street of this tiny remote Queensland town. Isisford is located in the Longreach Region of central western Queensland. It’s 117 km south of Longreach via the Isisford Ilfracombe Road, 123 km west of […] Read more…
I never knew my aunt, my mother’s sister. She died long before I was born. There are no photographs of her, so I can only imagine what she looked like. But I do have something that belonged to her. It’s a lock of hair. A carefully preserved lock of hair, fastened with a tiny silk […] Read more…
Lucas and Dida (that’s Granddad in Croatian dialect) love cricket. Dida introduced Lucas to the rudiments of the game about 6 years ago. At every opportunity, they play cricket together. For more than a year now, cricket’s become the subject of an elaborate charade, enacted by just two persons: Lucas and Dida. If you don’t […] Read more…
Have you ever wondered how people in outback Queensland prepare for Christmas? How do they decorate their streets, buildings and homes, and with what? Where can they do their Christmas shopping? How and where do they worship? What is special about Christmastime in outback Queensland? Two weeks ago, in early December, my husband Tony and […] Read more…
Television came to Rockhampton and district in 1963. I was only a child. But I remember it well, for a particular reason, as my story will reveal. Television had already been in Australia for 7 years. Two commercial stations, TCN9 Sydney and HSV7 Melbourne, commenced regular transmissions on 16 September 1956 and 4 November 1956 […] Read more…
I’m re-posting this story to coincide with the first game of the 2017 State of Origin series, which is scheduled for Wednesday this week. My story is a little “tongue-in-cheek”, but it has a serious side as well. Read on to discover why. Meet “Buffy”, a gigantic fibreglass cane toad. Buffy’s over 1 metre wide […] Read more…
This story is about a sewing machine. An old treadle sewing machine. In fact, a sewing machine that’s nearly 120 years old! My story’s also about sewing, dressmaking and other sewing machines I have used and owned over the years. I learnt to sew from an early age. I must have been very young when […] Read more…
