General Chat

I just wrote out a long post and deleted the whole thing by mistake - strewth!!

Tec, we do seem to have similar interests. My great love are old photos and I'm lucky to own a few originals and many copies of photos of our ancestors. Yesterday (our time) when we were digging around the antique centre we came across a drawer full of old photos - many mounted on card with the photographers names. These showed that the photos had been taken in Britain and had obviously travelled to Australia with their families. I felt sad to see them lying around in a drawer - they should be in a home cherished by the ancestors of the people in the photos.

I also love old cutlery. I have some lovely old cake servers, bread forks and salt spoons. I also have a set of apostle spoons as well as other beautiful old teaspoons. As I have a nice collection of china cups and saucers I like serving tea and coffee using what I have when I have friends over for morning tea. The family joke is the number of teapots I have:)))

I have a fascination for the ordinary day to day lives of our ancestors but find it difficult to find many books that detail the domestic lives of the ordinary working class people in the Victorian era. The books I've read tend to romanticise the era and tell stories about more upper class people.

Tec, like you I find it difficult to pass a garden centre. We went to a pot factory and warehouse and I came away with a couple of pots that I really don't need. Recently we went to a moving sale in an old house and I was lucky enough to buy 4 old terracotta pots for the equivalent of 5 pounds. The plants were very straggly and uncared for but I kept one old geranium, cut it back and now it's coming along quite nicely.

Linda, I find my grandchildren a great joy. We are older grandparents compared to some of our friends. Our daughter was 30 + when she started her family and our son in his late 20's. Our son and his little boy live in Tasmania so we don't see them as often as we'd like to. Our daughter lives only 15 minutes away so we are able to see her 3 children often.

I have a busy day coming up so I'll wish my fellow Aussies a good day and our Brit friends a good evening.

Sue xx

Sue............

LOL......I was halfway through reading your original post.........when suddenly.......whoosh....gone. Quite disconcerting. I can only imagine your frustration.
I too love old photo's , and have some very interesting ones from both mine and OH families.
My OH brother sadly died recently, he held the Family Bible. OH was asked if she wanted anything of his, and she mentioned the Bible. Niether of his children was interested in it ( very odd ) so Oh was absolutlely delighted to be given it. The Bible is beautiful with many fine colour plates. Leather bound and finely tooled with gold inlay. The corners have pierced brass covers, and it has brass hinges, and it is very heavy, being five inches deep. The first entry is 1882 - and with my research on that family, I can now go 100 years further back - the last entry made was 1933. I can now bring the Bible up to date, and also make entries back from 1882 to 1776. Maybe I can do the back entries on parchment using pen and ink copperplate in keeping with the Bible.
I so wish I had a Family Bible from my own family.

Tec.

Hello all, near and far. Have been absent for a few days, so there has been much to read and catch up on. Just got halfway through my post and thought I would go back to read everyone's recent posts, and lost the lot, so will have to start again. Understand how you feel, Sue.

Janet, hope you are enjoying these warmer days we have been having in Perth lately, though I don't think it is the end of winter yet.

Linda, Yorkshire sounds beautiful. Unfortunately I have not been to the 'middle' part of England yet. Lived in London for about a year in the early '70s and did a trip around england Ireland and Scotland in a van with four other Aussies. That was great fun most of the time, though there were patches where we had some differences of opinion. One day I will get my slides out and have them transferred onto something that csn be played on the TV (my tech. knowledge is appaling!) and bore the family!
The sound of church bells is lovely, but is not something we hear inPerth suburbs. Perth does have a belltower in the city on the edge of the Swan River which houses bells which were given to the city from a London church (I think it was St Martin's??). They have recitals on the weekends I think, not sure if they also have them mid-week The tower is a very modern structure somewhat resembling a sail of a yacht, and is often critisised by some in Perth for its cost - but I like it.

Tec, I love antiques, too, and fossicking around antique and junk shops is great fun. Have bought a couple of things over the yesrs - a chest of drawers and a wash stand - and also bought a bedside cabinet and a chair at an auction and had them restored. But I think I would be better off working in a lovely antique shop and being surrounded by them all day - and not having to buy them!

Today will be a 'tradesmen' day here - have a broken pipe in the garden which has been flooding everything, so a plumber is coming. When I went out to turn the water off, I found that the tap was broken and just went round and round.The Water company have just fixed that. Also, the solar hot water system is not making any hot water so it looks like I will be off to my sisters for a shower, as they might not be out to fix it till tomorrow. OH could not have his shower this morning, instead had a 'Japanese' style one standing in the bathtub with hot water supplied from the kitchen kettle!

G,day all Aussies and Brits

Linda.. Thank-you for all your previous posts on Yorkshire Day !!
Having also Yorkshire as my birth place (Huddersfield) it was so nice to read your posts, brought back some nice memories from my past :)))

Tec.. I agree with your comments about our shared interests in antiques, gardening and history in general, I love it all, but you forgot reading. I have a passion with books which started from when I was much younger. Which I have now passed onto my own children.
I also collect antiques and a few years ago was given a tea set by my mother in law which was her mothers and I intend passing it down to my daughter.
I also love old churches and the sounds of the bells, though I don't hear them where I live as we live a few miles out from the town.

I also love the garden.
Sue.... the Daphne has bloomed even more and the smell is awesome!!!
I would love to have a Magnolia tree, but because of our dry climate I just cant seem to keep them alive long enough to get them established and planted in the ground.
A couple of months ago I was given a couple of potostreums? (sorry for my bad spelling) from a friend and they were nearly dead. So I re potted them into new pots and I think come spring I may be able to get them planted into the garden.

I hope you all have a great week :))

Regards

Carole x

Hello everyone on another lovely day here in Sydney. 20 degrees in mid-winter!

I never liked History when I was at school, and although I am still not interested in who fought who in the various wars, I am very interested in how the people lived - and particularly since I came to 'know' my ancestors (I have actually been in the home of my gr/gr/grandparents), I find that part of history fascinating.

Even though I gave up my family home and gardens, and now live in a villa complex with a paved courtyard and two little front gardens, I still can't pass a Garden Centre. I have to go in and look around and NEVER come out empty-handed. I have large pots around the courtyard and small pots on stands. Because my knees object, I don't do any gardening - but my family help and I only have roses in one garden and geraniums in the other. I occasionally can't resist buying some annuals and have to wait for my granddaughter to visit, to put them in for me.

Also, I have been in a book club for years. Recently donated half my supply to charity - or I would have had to buy more furniture to store them in and I couldn't possibly read all of them again. Nobody could live that long! I have also joined with the Greaders thread on these boards and read two books per month from their choice.

So, yes, it does look like we all have a few things in common - not just our interest in family history! (and, of course, our cruise!).

Hello all, I have been catching up on the pages of messges since I last looked. All of interest; I like books too but can leave antiwues and garden centres alone.
Heard on the radio on Saturday about a great gnome rescue. A house in rural NSW had been sold, and thye new owner didn't want the gnomes. A Blue Mountains group heard about it, and sent a couple of cars/trucks on a rescue mission. About 2000 (Thousand!) gnomes and gnome-related objects such as plant pots and plaques now have a new home.
To those who are concerned that Tecwyn's boat might be the Titanic 2, I don't think that is a worry really. I was amused some time ago to see a Thai restaurant with the name Titanic. So many of Thai restaurants seem to be bad puns. Bow Thai, Kha Cha Thai, Thairiffic etc etc.
To Tec, about your relative marrying bigamously. Some of the early colonial governors actually encouraged this. I know Philip and Macquarie did. Even the reverend clergy encouraged it. I think their reasoning was that people were separated from their spouses forever, and a formal marriage was far better than cohabiting. For info, Albany is later than these governors. Allan or Sue (?- the lady east of Perth) will correct me but I think Perth and Western Australia as a separate colony go back to 1835. Albany is a bit older, and has had a long and fascinating history, including whaling. I've not been there, but one day maybe. A long way, from here, though.
In Oz, a creek is a small waterway as in American usage. But not all Aussie place names are historic. One of my favourites is Brigstock's Brook, at Uralla on the New England Highway. Brigstock was actually a Main Roads Engineeer at teh time and it was a joke. A relative of mine asked about something for him. He was told all that was on offer would be Edwards' Effluent (name changed), so he declined. :-)
Been yet another lovely day here, but getting a bit chilly as the sun has set some time ago. How long will this glorious weather last? Our cold westerlies of August can't be far away.
What a long ramble, Colin. Best wishes and good evening to our Aussies and good morning to our Brit friends. Colin.

Good morning all.

Carole my mother came from Huddersfield, well lower Cumberworth to be exact. We had relations in all the villages on that side of town. Plus two old aunts of hers lived for zillions of years in Mold Green in the town. As part of my research,i have visited the area lots of times and I go to the records office in Huddersfield centre from time to time. I must go again soon as I have a long list of look ups to do

It always strikes me as odd that the villages which were once the preserve of the poor mill workers are now desirable out of town commuter villages

Oh good - Colin, Carole and Susan are back posting. Good to see you.

Carole I also forgot about reading:)) A great love of mine inherited from my Dad and Grandad. I remember coming home from school to a pile of second-hand books that my father would buy me after scouring the charity shops. I was saddened by the fact that my father lost the ability to concentrate on reading when he became ill and would sit and read to him long after he stopped understanding what I was saying. My children are all big readers and are already passing that on to their children.

Susan I hope your plumbing problems are sorted soon. Calling out tradesmen can be a costly business.

The weather here has been glorious although a little windy. You're right Colin - as soon as the sun goes down it's quite chilly but we can have our morning coffee on the front verandah and that's amazing for a winter. It's supposed to last until at least Thursday.

I have planted some seeds today in trays. Some for the flower garden and some for vegies. I feel like spring is on the way when they start sprouting. Carole your daphne sounds beautiful - I wish we could grow them here but the climate isn't right. We can grow magnolias here although we don't have one.

Hope you Brits have a wonderful day and good evening to my fellow Aussies.

Sue xx

Hello again,
Thank you for the kind words, SueMaid. I often go away for the weekend and don't take a computer.
Linda, about the old mill workers cottages, I think we see something similar in the inner suburbs of Sydney. Areas close to the city that were once poor working class have become gentrified. Perhaps the people who buy them see the advantages of living close to the central business district. Sadly, Ithink some have been uglified or else the site has been grossly overdeveloped. Pyrmont anyone?
But there are still lovely old workers' cottages around. I came across some in North Sydney not all that long ago. Modernised, in some cases, but with real sensitivity. Within the city, too (Millers Point for those who know it).
There was another story I wanted to tell but it has gone out of my brain. Can't have been important.

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend..the weekend is never long enough tho is it?
I too love browsing the antique shops, my family cringe when they see one because they know that I am going to head that way. I have this saying that i was born old...lol. I just tend to like the older style of doing things and the why things were...
I must belong to every book club available and frequent the library every week.. I bought a book the other day called Australia's Yesterday , lovely book shows and writes about Australia and the way it was. Hope to pass the book down to my boys and so forth.

Does anyone have anything that they are passing down ( apart from the family tree)?

enjoy your evening Aussie, have a great day Brits !!

xx














I

Hi Everyone,

To those that reminded me - yes, I did indeed forget to mention my love of books, reading. How did I do that? Both my OH and I have read and collected books for over 40 years.
I think I did mention somewhere that we have very differents tastes in reading. OH belongs to two book clubs - she reads thrillers, detectives, murder mysteries, spy and espionage stories. I on the other hand rarely read fiction, and prefer biographies, travel, history, art and design. I like Bill Bryson, and factual books with a twist of humour. Just finished an excellent book " Nab End and Beyond" by William Woodruff.
We have over a 1,000 books on the shelves in a spare room - these are books that we can't bear to part with. Ordinary books are regularly despatched to charity shops when read.
I recently found an interesting book on a market stall. The man wanted £7 for it - I offered him £5, which he reluctantly accepted. Later while looking on Amazon for a book I wanted, I found a copy of the same book being offered for £75 - exactly the same book - I felt a twinge of shame and guilt, but only a twinge.

Colin...........I found the facts about Albany in WA fascinating - and also former Governers encouraging bigamy interesting, but can understand the logic behind it.

Janet.......There are many things in this house that should be passed down - things that we have aquired and treasure. However, on a recent visit, my daughter,after wandering around the house, joined me in the kitchen for a cup of tea. She sat there looking pensive, and suddenly said " I shall be so sad when you and mum have gone - I'll cry for weeks"
Wondering what had brought this on - for it is unlike her - I was struggling for a response, when she added...........
" I won't know what the hell to do with all the junk" Sweet child.

Regards
Tec.

Hello, everyone:))

Tec, you're post made me and OH laugh. My daughter feels much the same way. I've told her that I don't mind if she gets rid of my collections of china, old cutlery and books but she must keep my scrapbook albums, all my family research and old photos or I'll come back and make her life very difficult:)

Colin I forgot to say something about your "gnome" story. I read that story the other day too and found it amusing. Now that collection would drive a family to despair:) On our drive up the mountain on Sunday we stopped and had a look at a small cottage in Moss Vale with a lovely cottage garden in keeping with the style of house. The garden had a number of gnomes and other garden ornaments plus windchimes on the verandah. A lovely effect but not to my taste. An elderly lady came outside and smiled at me and OH as if she was quite used to people admiring her garden.

It's quite dull here today although I think the sun will burn off most of the cloud. OH would prefer the cloud cover as he is spending some time preparing his vegetable garden today. I, on the other hand, need to spend some time catching up on paper work and phone calls:(

Hope all my Aussie friends have a wonderful day and enjoy the rest of your evening, Brits:))

Sue xx

Grr, I wrote a long reply this morning and just as I clicked to post it, my internet cut out and it disappeared into cyber space.

I see after a peaceful week, the boards are back to their usual nastiness again, some things never change.

Summer continues here, well what passes for it. The rain held off until I had to go out delivering library books, which was par for the course. I deliver Meals on Wheels, once a month, but also Library Books on Wheels. The volunteers take a car full of books out each fortnight and deliver them to the elderly who either can’t get out, or can’t carry a heavy pile of books. We only do that once a month as well, so it isn’t a chore. Both services are run by the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service, you have to sign up and be vetted before you can do it. Since OH retired, he has started to do the books with me. He had to join the WRVS as well! To be fair, they do now have lots of male members.

I enjoy reading as well, but don’t keep books, I only have one small book case with ones I want to keep, the rest just go as soon as I am finished with them.

I was thinking what I have to pass down, not much really as I am not a hoarder. Just the family bible with all the incorrect dates of birth in it! Plus OH’s mothers jewellery and a few bits and pieces from the family tree. My grandmothers glasses, my fathers POW dog tag etc. My children don’t show much interest in the tree, but I am hoping that will change as they get older

Good morning/evening to you all

Colin, regarding Albany, the area was first 'settled in 1826 when the Brig Amity arrived from NSW.

It had a complement of about 26 convicts, all tradesmen, and a party of soldiers. They arrived on Christmas day but did not disembark until the following day.

The purpose of the journey was to forestall the claiming of what is noe WA by the French. The original name of the town was Fredrickstown.

Perth was settled in 1829 and was originally known as the Swan River Colony. Also WA did not become self-governing until about 1890.

My OH and I could cheerfully settle in Albany ourselves. There is a magnificent memorial to the ANZAC's on Mt Clarance, which overlooks King George Sound, a truly beautiful setting.

Also home to a very large windfarm which is suppling green power to the energy system.

Albany is also home to a magnificent whaling museum and has the last Australian whaling ship, the"Cheynes" which you can tour.

Hope that every body has a great day/evening, although it has been raining here.

Allan

Hello, Linda and Allan - and hello to all our other friends:)

Linda I also do some volunteer work within the organisation I work for. A bit complicated. I work as a trainer for new volunteers and Iiaise with staff and the bosses to ensure they are looked after and that the hospital is happy and that our training is always up to date with legislation. And then I volunteer with fundraising and am a committee member - well actually the president. My OH is also a member although only recently active as he only just retired.

We have Meals on Wheels here but I don't know about books - it's a good idea. We do have a mobile library but that doesn't solve the problem of elderly or infirm people carrying books or in fact being able to get to the bus.

My OH drives a community bus taking people to doctor's and hospital appointments which he really enjoys. He also takes people on pleasure bus trips on occasion.

Aren't we getting to know each other well?

Allan we would love to see many parts of WA. We've never been before so its a "wanna do" trip. You certainly know a lot about your adopted home.

Today my twin grandchildren turn 3 - the time sure does fly. It just seems like yesterday when I sat with my daughter as she had a scan and noticed two little "peanuts" instead of the expected one. I was overjoyed but their mum and dad were in shock for awhile.

It's shaping up to be a lovely sunny day after a rather miserable day yesterday. Hope you have a good one wherever you are:)

Sue xx

G'day SueMaid

I enjoy history, always have. At first the usual dawn of civilisation stuff, but then in High School turned to social and economic history. I suppose having just started doing genealogy has reinforced that and has put some flesh on the bones of my ancestors (those that I can find...lol)

The history of WA has fascinated me since I arrived here, and in line with my somewat impatient nature, there is not so much to learn, at least of European settlement, as there is with the rest of the world.

Regards

Allan

Hi, Allan:) I tend to read up on the history of the times the ancestors I've found lived. I find it fascinating that certain members of OH's family lived in London at the time of Jack the Ripper - in fact I always say that OH's great grandfather must have been reading the newspaper reports as OH's grandfather was entering the world:)) One of OH's great grandmothers was actually born in Whitechapel. I love watching shows set in the 1800's especially showing the ordinary working-class people as all of ours were. The program called London Hospital is especially interesting. It makes our research all the more interesting that just facts and figures.

Sue xx

Hi SueMaid,

I know what you mean.

I should be right at home if I was ever sent to the Salt Mines in Siberia.

Most of my fathers rellies, on his Mother's side, worked in the sslt industry in Northwich in Cheshire

Good Morning Aussies
Good evening Brits,

Hi Allan.........Hope you had a worthwhile trip, and not too frazzled after all that driving. I am learning such a lot about Albany, and it is really interesting. Especially interesting that the arrival of the Brig Amity stopped the French getting a foothold in WA.
Was any part of Australia claimed by any other nation beside the British?

I won't be able to visit the thread for the next few days. We are doing our annual house swap with my daughter. She and her OH and our GD, come every year to go pony trekking in the hills. They bring another couple and their daughter and take over our house. So we run away to their house.
It works out very well - we get spared all the cooking, and coping with muddy boots, and wet capes. Also gives my OH a chance to catch up on some retail therapy back in civilisation. Although, in my opinion, this area is much more civilised. My daughter and her family are frequently here for weekends and short breaks, so we see quite a lot of them.

Linda........We have a mobile library here. Rather like a walk in bus type vehicle, it tours the villages for the benefit of those that can't get to a library because of distances. The vehicle is very well stocked, and if the book you want isn't there, they will get it for you next time round. Excellent service.

Regards
Tec.

Hi~~
I Have a competed dinner service that my granny left me in her will along with table clothes and various item the she had embroidered her self, although she suffered with arthritis .The most beautiful one has a peacock on either end many ornaments as she left everything else to my dad, which my sister an I inherited.
I have an ebony african elephant. I'm a bit of an animal freak!
Dad was and avid collector of coins, plates, anything to do with the RAF, have more spitfires than I can house. He was an RAF engineer in WW2.
I have loads of thing on my mum's side,but Grampa never left a will and there was so much to share around as she had 4 bros and sisters.
But I still have loads I cherish.
I have the large china dog, but no one will admit to having the other one !
I also have a smaller china dog, which I always played as a child, and it was always promised to me, It was Nan and Grampas wedding present in 1908.
I Can't have it al on show but my cherished bits are:)
The rest is in the attic,and I'm afraid the ceiling will down.lol
Can ramble for Wales :)
Goodnight UK friends
and G'day folks down under
luv
Sandie.x