One of Mr Cassmob’s employment conditions in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s was first-class (!) return airfares for his family every two years (initially) then every year, from place of employment in PNG to Melbourne, Australia. So if you’ve sometimes wondered which gold mine we’d discovered, you now know why we’ve travelled so much … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 24 Across the Ditch
This week’s Sepia Saturday topic is a “Group Portrait of an Unknown Family”. Among Mr Cassmob’s inheritance from his father is a batch of photographs with no known connection to his family. Many of them were taken in Denmark in the 19th century, a country where his family has no known links. On the other hand, one … More Sepia Saturday 165: Mystery pics from Aarhus and Copenhagen
Can you believe that when we first went to Europe in the early 70s, the compulsory travel reading was Frommer’s Europe on $10 a Day (that’s per person). What we’d give to be able to do that now…I doubt even the most frugal backpacker could manage it! We’d decided to exchange our employment-funded return-to-Australia fares for … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 23 Europe on $10 a day
Much as we love the little snippets of information about our ancestors, we still tend to keep focusing on the “big ticket” items in our own lives. My photo today is about the ordinary moments, the ones we often forget to capture. Over the years picnics have been big in our family: at the beach, … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 22 Let’s go picnicing
It will come as no surprise after my Day 5 Collage post, that our children were all christened. Eldest daughter was baptised in my home parish in Brisbane shortly before we returned to Alotau a few weeks after her birth. My paternal grandmother was still alive, and I feel there should be a photo of … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 21 Family Christenings
Imagine if you will a country with spectacular, awe-inspiring scenery from fierce mountain ranges clothed in almost impenetrable jungle to deep aquamarine seas with an abundance of tropical fish. Imagine a country with hundreds of tribal groups, languages and specific cultures. Imagine the potential for clashes between those tribal groups, the payback[i] and potential for … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 20 Papua New Guinea
Today I want to introduce you to one of my oldest friends, one whose permission I don’t need before we “go public”. Ms Bernina first came into my life when I was seven months pregnant with my first child. We’ve been mates ever since, but like all friends there are days when we have a … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 19 Ode to a Friend
One of the big differences between when I was a young adult and today, seems to be that many of us married young. I don’t mean this is a commendable thing, nor am I being judgemental of today’s delayed marriages or civil partnerships….simply making a social observation. We were among the early batch of our … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 18 Wedding Bells
This week’s Sepia Saturday photo offers a variety of possibilities: pipes, pets, tortoises and hats (especially military). As luck would have it, I’d just come across this photo which I acquired as part of my aunt’s estate. I have no idea why she would have it, because the reverse shows it’s a photo from 1913, … More Sepia Saturday 164: Red Bicycles Touring Club, Brisbane 1913
Now I’ll bet you were thinking this was going to be about Mr Cassmob. But you’d be wrong, because he wasn’t my first love….sorry, dear. In fact my first love wasn’t even a person, but a place. It was on a holiday-activity, bus trip around Brisbane that Mum & I first visited The University of … More Fab Feb Photo Collage Festival: Day 17 A place in my heart
Family history across the seas 