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A thankyou to all my cousins

26 February 2011 By 2 Comments

Gate and treesI have just generated a long-overdue update to my family tree. There is a lot of new information in it now that wasn’t there before. New cousins, new ancestors, new information about ancestors I already knew about. Of course, I didn’t have to spend all day adding all the new information I’ve found since then into my family tree program. I do this as I find it.

I also didn’t spend as much time as I should have fixing up my sources. I first starting using a program to collect my family tree information about ten years ago, and I didn’t know what I was doing in those days, I just did it. I am slowly fixing them up but it takes time – time I don’t have – so I just live with it as it is. I would rather publish the sources I have, warts and all, than leave them out.

What took the most time was adding to the list of family and new friends who have helped me along the way. The list gets longer and longer every year. I’ve lost touch with some of them, and some we’ve lost altogether. Some are now friends on Facebook.

All have been generous sharing what they know with me and with others, and I’d like to acknowledge all of them here:

Larraine Abbey, Joe Andrews, Stein Andrews, Marion Batchelor, Irene Bell, PJS Boaden, Jennifer Brooks, Judith Anne Brunskill, Margaret Burns, Talai Burness, Graham Campbell, Anne Chambers, Jean Chambers, Russell Cooper, Narelle Corbett, Orlin Craig, Mareta Davila, Gillian Eason, William Eason (“Uncle Bill”), Leigh Evans, Steven Evans, Karla Eyre, Larraine (Ewin) Abbey, Russ Ewin, Emma Field, Michael Flynn, Norm Flynn, Geoffrey Goode, Helen Harman, Dianne Marie Hoger, Deborah Horrocks, Terry Riley Hulme, Betty Hunt, Lena Irvine, Raewyn Irwin, Jackie Jensen, Olwen Jonklaas, Terri Keck, Alicia-may Laaman, Sharyn Lamont, Christine Liava’a, Yola Macken, John Francis MacKenny, Martha Martin, Brad McKenzie, Greig Melrose, Graeme Moad, Fran Morton, Courtney Oates, Ken Oates, Paul Padley, Rae Paine, Richard Parata, Wayne Parker, Jo Parsons, Melanie Pascoe, June Paterson, Florence Petersen, Gretel Pickering, Winston Kitchener Powell, Graham Ralph, Mireya Ranger, Lady Jessie Richmond, Adi Milian Riley, Diane Riley, Everett Riley, Lavenia [Riley], Tulia Riley, Julie Ruzsicska, Nigel and Vinita Sharma, Jenny Shea, Milford Southon, Lisa Steedman, Dulcie (O’Connor) Stewart, Gail Stewart, Ken Sutherland, Margaret Taylor, Mary Taylor, Elizabeth Nicholls Walling, Peter Webster, Michael Whippy, Paul B Whippy, Tui Benau Whippy and Judy Woodley.

If any of you are reading this now, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for your kindness and generosity.

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52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History Week 3 – Cars

18 January 2011 By 3 Comments

Week 3: Cars. What was your first car? Describe the make, model and color, but also any memories you have of the vehicle. You can also expand on this topic and describe the car(s) your parents drove and any childhood memories attached to it.

I’m going to jump straight to family cars. Here is my Mum’s car. She learned to drive after her marriage to my Dad ended and we moved back to Dubbo where her parents were. She bought the car second hand from her father. It was a Valiant, a beige Valiant station wagon. It had a bench seat in the front so we could seat three in the front when necessary. As the eldest of four I sat in the front and the other kids in the back.

Our house

The house I grew up in, with the car next to it.

My first driving lessons were in this car. It was a terrible thing, big and heavy. It had a column shift, coming out of the steering column. I ran it into a tree ( I nearly missed it!) at a very low speed and not a scratch did the car suffer.

This is the only photo I can find that has the car in it that doesn’t show people that may not want to be displayed for all to see in my blog. Some of them are in this picture too, but I’m confident that they’re privacy is secure.

I will save the commentary on the house for a future post which I’m sure will be coming over the next few months.

My grandfather had a small farm in his semi-retirement. He used to take my sister and me out there on Sundays, and we used to ride in the back of the ute. We watched farming stuff going on – sheep being dipped and so on. We got our cat from a litter of kittens on the farm. Here we are disembarking after one of these trips:

Pop's ute

Pop's ute

I don’t know when riding in the back of a ute became illegal. Perhaps it was already illegal by then. We loved it!

Here is my grandfather and his young family in perhaps the mid-1930s. I like to think this was his first car, but I don’t really know.

Grandfather's car

Grandfather's car

Actually I’m only guessing that it’s his car. He’s in the middle and looking proprietorial so I think I’m safe. I can imagine the family piling into the car and chugging off home, with all these other people waving them off.

Any information about what sort of car this is would be very welcome!

Filed Under: Eason, Family History Tagged With: , ,

Merry Christmas

24 December 2010 By Leave a Comment

ReindeersIt’s Christmas Eve, and we’ve had a nice quiet dinner at home with the Christmas ham and a bottle of champagne. The corny Christmas TV programs are over. The tree is all lit up; the presents are wrapped and piled up underneath.

The house is all clean and the floors and ceilings vacuumed (spider webs). The fridge is full of food and the bar fridge full of sparkling wine (and a ham).

Christmas Day will be spent with family, and really, that’s what it’s for.

Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: ,
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