There are several outings that would be common to many children who grew up in Brisbane or South East Queensland: these are trips to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the Dolphin pool at Coolangatta and Currumbin Sanctuary. Today I’d like to share with you some of the snaps from our family outings to these places. Currumbin … More Fab Feb Photo Festival: Day 6 Day Tripping
This photo symbolises the role of church or religion in my early life and that of my family. Religion’s impact on family relationships will inevitably be introduced in other stories. The collage photo is of all the girls in my First Communion group, taken when I was seven. Instead of using that photo here I’m … More Fab Feb Photo Festival: Day 5 Church going
Birthdays and parties seem synonymous these days but were they when you were growing up? Certainly mine were pretty much always low-key affairs as I explained a while ago in another post. While I had a few friends and family over for each birthday, with party hats and presents, there was none of the hoopla … More Fab Feb Photo Festival -Day 4 – Baby books and birthdays
The highlight of this week’s Sepia Saturday image are the telegram boys on bicycles. This is a very apt theme for my family: my father rode his push bike to work every day, in hail rain or shine because we didn’t own a car. Mum and I also had bikes and we would sometimes go … More Sepia Saturday 162: “Marlon” on a bike
When you were a child did you go to community Fancy Dress parties or concerts or had they gone out of vogue? My “Local” The local community hall was not too far from our house and had been built in 1929 when the estate was newly developed. By then my grandparents had been living there … More Fancy Dress for the Fab Feb Photo Festival – Day 3
Another of my photo favourites! I’m a huge devotee of cats and kittens and have been since I was a little girl, thanks to my father’s equal addiction. All my life we’ve shared our homes with one or more cats. Each one has a special place in my memory. When I was a child, one … More Fab Feb Photo Collage: 2 Feb – Cats, Kittens, Maggie & Cyclones
This little photo is my favourite from all my baby photos though I’m not entirely sure why. I guess I just like the fact that I looked cuddled up tight in my rug, nursed by my Dad, and wearing either his hat or my Grandad’s. Like many newly-weds my parents initially lived with parents until … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: 1 Feb – Cuddles and Maccas
Some weeks ago Julie from Angler’s Rest challenged us all to join her in the February Photo Collage Festival. It seemed logical to combine this with the Family History Writing Challenge hosted by The Armchair Genealogist, Lynn Palermo which inspires us all to write at least 250 words a day throughout February. As I’d already … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival – the intro
Daniel (38) and Winifred O’Brien arrived in Queensland on board the Florentia on 29 April 1853. Accompanying them on the voyage were their children Mary 18, Ellen 16, Denis 13, Sarah 12, Hanora 9 and Daniel 2. The family came from Tipperary and on the immigration lists Daniel stated his parents were Denis and Mary … More Sepia Saturday: shops and genealogy mazes
The 2013 Australia Day challenge was initiated by Helen of the blog From Helen V Smith’s Keyboard. The challenge is to talk about our first ancestors to arrive in Australia, male or female, or perhaps both. My initial reaction hovered around my “swimmers” George Kunkel and his wife Mary O’Brien. While George may have been … More Australia Day 2013: The Kents from Sandon, Herts
Family history across the seas 