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…
In December last year, my husband and I visited the Gayndah Railway Complex where we were surprised to discover four M Class Series carriages of the former Sunlander. Do you remember The Sunlander? It was a long distance air-conditioned passenger train operated by Queensland Rail (QR) on the North Coast line between Brisbane and Cairns. […] 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…
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…
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…
Do you find it difficult to tell your father that you love him? Do you want to tell him while there is still time? This was my problem, 19 years ago. My father was in his late 70s and terminally ill. I suspected he had only months to live. I wanted to tell him how […] 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…
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…
In 2011 I had a revelation. It was Saturday 29 January. I knew I would be preoccupied the next day, so I decided to do Sunday’s Bible reading on Saturday evening. The set passage was Psalm 116. As I read the psalm, the following words jumped out at me: “Precious in the sight of the […] 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…
I met Ben when he was 92 years old. I never had the pleasure of meeting Elsie. My husband Tony met Ben and his wife Elsie four years earlier, when Ben was 88 and Elsie 97. It was soon after Tony was appointed by St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Rockhampton as Assistant to the Minister. Ben […] Read more…
The Kentish cake was one of my mother’s specialties. I remember her baking Kentish cake often when I was a child (I wrote about this in Pasta Bake). As well as my mother’s Kentish cake recipe, this story includes a “slice of history”: food and home cooking in Australia in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s a […] 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…
This year I resolved to find and reconnect with Alwyn and Fay Neuendorf. On 16 March 2016, I posted the following message and photograph on my Love in a little black diary Facebook page: “My dear followers, especially those of you who live in PNG. Do you know any of these people – and their […] Read more…