By Pauleen Cass. How do you decide? Over the past few years, I’ve been confronted by the same choices many of us are having to make, or have made, in relation to our family’s belongings and indeed our own, if we’re downsizing. Being family history researchers is a wonderful calling, but at times like this it can also be a curse of sorts. How do we decide what we should keep as part of the family archive, what needs to … Continue reading
Not all our heirlooms are photos, china, jewellery etc. This is the story of one of my precious items, a piece of furniture lovingly crafted by my father for his future family home, just prior to my parents’ marriage in 1939. Some of the items Dad made included a sideboard, a china cabinet, a dining room suite, telephone table with attached seat (almost retro style), a lovely double bed suite with matching duchess[1] and stool. In many of the items … Continue reading
By Bev Murray. It was a few years ago that I started to wonder about my many possessions, which are heirlooms. What would become of them, after I have ‘Gone to God’? The result was that I created an “Heirloom Register” in Word document format. This register is a source of essential information about every precious item in my possession, therefore, hopefully preventing massive dumping at the local charity shop, or perhaps even worse! It is divided into several categories … Continue reading
‘Delightful float bowl In black and biscuit, bearing a native design’[1] For some reason I often noticed a particular black and biscuit coloured jug on display at my grandmother’s place. Perhaps it was because I was studying ancient Greek pottery at university at the time and it reminded me of the black figure pots which were made around the 6th century BC. But the figures on this jug were not Greek gods but Australian animals such as the pelican, swan … Continue reading
I have heard of family historians being gifted or inheriting documents, memorabilia or an entire family archive, precious as a result of age and sympathetic attachment. I remember being pleased and disappointed at the same time. Pleased for them, for the tangible connection they now had with those who had gone before. Disappointed that, while I have appreciated very much the moments of genealogical serendipity that have come my way, pieces of information that have demonstrated the types of people … Continue reading
