I was born Dianne Fay Alley to Sydney Alley and Jean Wiltshire in 1948 in Brisbane but when I went home with my Mum, I was Dianne Fay Richardson and my parents were Bert and Fay Richardson. Yes, I was adopted, however I wasn’t told that until Bert (Dad) and Fay (Mum) had both died in 2001. I presume that for the first ten days of my life, until the adoption was finalised, I lay alone in a hospital cot. … Continue reading
How difficult it is sometimes to write in great detail about my ancestors! I wrote my paternal family history with relative ease, so why am I struggling with my maternal family history? I have researched them reasonably thoroughly and there’s plenty of data to work with. There may be many explanations for this apparent literary lassitude. My ancestors were average people and very few of them had extraordinary lives. I am older, elderly in fact and the creative juices appear … Continue reading
The ABC has recently been promoting a new series featuring Shaun Micallef called Eve of Destruction. The premise of the series is to discover from a number of celebrities what is really important to them. I have seen a similar scenario on Antiques Roadshow where the experts are asked to select the three most important things they would take if they had to leave their home suddenly. It seems to me that the ‘things’ themselves are not necessarily what is … Continue reading
My mother kept a small picture frame on her dressing table, containing a picture of a lovely lady with two children. Our family were not Roman Catholic, so I had no way of knowing this was the Virgin and child with John the Baptist. When I asked what it was, she said it came from Auntie Rosina. This was curious as I thought I knew all my aunts – who was this? My father would grimace and mutter about “uncomfortable … Continue reading
It all seems so long ago now. I refer to the days of my childhood and my memories of my grandmother, Eva Dalby. Memories that have faded with time. I can still visualise my Nana’s house in Broadmeadow, Newcastle; it was her domain. I spent a reasonable length of time in that home, sometimes visiting with my mother and at other times I would stay overnight at the request of my parents. Constructed in the early 1900’s, the cement-rendered home … Continue reading
