Short story blog
This story is a tribute to the late Elizabeth Annie (“Betty”) Anderson, of Rockhampton. Betty died on 25 February 2020, aged 100 years 6 months. I met Betty when I was a child. She was a long-standing family friend. My mother Evelyn and Betty had known each other since their late teens. My husband, Tony, […] Read more…
For more than a decade in the 1920s and 1930s, a deadly disease menaced residents of Rannes and other small communities of the Banana Shire in central Queensland. My mother’s family, who lived on a property near Rannes (about 105 kilometres, or 65 miles, southwest of Rockhampton), was among those affected. This deadly disease was […] 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…
Last year I discovered images of a Moura café in my late father’s slide collection. These images date from the early 1970s. The collection also includes images of several other sites in and around Moura. As I reflected on that time (early 1970s), I recalled that my father and mother visited Moura a […] Read more…
The years my mother Evelyn served in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II were her most formative. They shaped the strong, determined, loving and capable person I came to know. Evelyn’s time in the WAAAF was arguably the most exciting, rich and educative chapter of her young life. I came […] 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…
This story is about Longreach in its early days and one of its pioneer families. It was inspired by six illustrated postcards of Longreach I found in my late mother Evelyn’s collection of photographs and memorabilia. The postcards reveal key aspects of this small Central Western Queensland town in the late 1800s and early 1900s […] Read more…
Recently, I posted on Facebook a photograph of my great-grandparents’ house on their property Mons, Rannes, Central Queensland. To my surprise, the photograph generated a huge response, especially when I posted it on Vintage Queensland and Central Queensland Old Pictures and Yarns Facebook pages. As a result, I decided to tell this story of […] Read more…
This story is a tribute to my late mother, Evelyn. It’s about my mother as a young woman, during the 1930s and 1940s, in the years before I was born. My story reveals a lively, courageous and competent young woman. It’s a personal story, but one that I hope inspires, challenges and touches your heart. […] Read more…
People we love and who have had a big influence in our lives: How do we honour them? What is the connection between Auntie Dulcie and the Bung-in Cake? Dulcie was a special aunt. She and her husband tried but were unable to have children; I think I was to her the daughter she hoped for […] Read more…
When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a precious keepsake, an old postcard. It has a fabric insert, organza embroidered with the words “To my Sister”, richly embellished with dark pink roses and greenery. I have always cherished it, mainly because it is so beautiful. It was years later that I realised […] Read more…
