By Bev Murray. The other day I decided to rearrange a couple of items of furniture in my living room (as I so often do.). This involved removing all the items in my precious China cabinet to lighten the load, enabling me to shift it along the wall by about a metre. This process escalated into a much more detailed task of cleaning, polishing, and then rearranging each treasured item. As I admired the final product, I started to reflect … Continue reading
My great grandfather, Alexander Fairweather, was a well-regarded builder and contractor in the Grafton district of Northern New South Wales. Born at Kinnaird farm, Lintrathen, Forfarshire, Scotland on the 22nd August 1840 to Alexander Fairweather and his wife Jean Anderson, he was the youngest of six children. Kinnaird and the surrounding farms occupied land owned by the Earl of Airlie and by all accounts his father had worked there from prior to 1835.[i] Following the death of Alexander Snr in … Continue reading
By Lyndall Maag. The cardboard box smelled musty, the colours had faded on the cylinders it contained and the packaging tape holding the contents in place was brittle and brown. As I unrolled each scroll, the old paper yellowing and crisp to touch, I began to take in the exquisite detail on each family chart. The writing, typeset, or by hand with extravagant loops and flourishes, added to the sense of ‘old worldliness’ I was experiencing. Crests and Coats of … Continue reading
