Do you wonder what school was like for children growing up in Australia 100 years ago? My mother Evelyn, who grew up in rural Queensland in the 1920s, often spoke of her schooldays and the small one-teacher school she attended. … Read More
Some of us have the privilege of meeting and getting to know our grandparents. I was fortunate to meet all four of my grandparents and to get to know each one, to some extent, even from afar. This story is … Read More
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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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. … 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 … Read More
When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a precious keepsake, one of her old postcards. It has a fabric insert, organza embroidered with the words “To my Sister”, richly embellished with dark pink roses and greenery. I … Read More
