That Moment in Time

Sunday, April 27, 2014

OLD MELBOURNE PICTURES!

OLD MELBOURNE PICTURES...

50s signaling device for pedestrians

1923 Ford Ambulance

Altona Explosives Pier

Alexandra Gardens looking up towards Flinders St railway station

1940 Mountford's parking garage and service station in Bourke St Melbourne

Checking the rising level of water across the Snowy River flats at Orbost 1971

An overcrowded East Preston tram in Brunswick Street Fitzroy North back in 1944

Mr Whippy

The Sorrento Pier was constructed in 1870

1970's local green grocer

Golden Fleece Service Station 1969

Lilydale CBA late 60s

Dentist Chair

Berwick Primary School, circa 1880

News

Yellow cabs

Kew Traffic School on Cotham Rd during the 1960s

Melbourne Dust Storm 8th Feb 1983

Old Holden and caravan

Tarax North Rd Huntingdale

WW1 troopship WARILDA underway from Melbourne

1976 International Motor Show

The Concorde visits Tullamarine

Victorian Brewery

Old Toy Car Sept 1939

William Street circa 1960

and just for variety..

Darwin WW2 Bombing Identity Card

Located in Melbourne TAA

Thursday, April 24, 2014

As children we proudly marched on ANZAC DAY, bearing wreaths if we were among the lucky few chosen to do such an important task. It was a very special day for many of us, we knew our family stories about who had fought in the various wars... and we knew that some of the men and women of the small town in which I grew up had died in those wars.

Their names were on the War Memorial for all to see. I was always

saddened to see several of the same names, all from the same families.

photographs by John and Barb Piggott

When I lived in Urunga, NSW, this memorial had no paved surroundings and had a different fence.

It is in the bottom corner of the Urunga Public School grounds, so was very familiar to us schoolchildren. The link below gives details of the memorial as well as the names of those who fought and died.

http://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/urunga-war-memorial

However, many children today know little of the history of ANZAC, understandable, as we are approaching the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915.

Though the stories are still taught in schools, you might find the following small selection of books very helpful to foster the understanding of the day's importance for the younger ones.

● My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day, by Catriona Hoy (picture book)

● Anzac Cottage: The House That Was Built in a Day, by Valerie Everett (picture book)

● In Flanders Fields, by Norman Jorgensen (picture book)

● Memorial, by Gary Crew (picture book)

● Simpson and Duffy (Mary Small's website), by Mary Small (picture book, true story)

● Caesar the Anzac Dog, by Patricia Stroud (true story)

● The Donkey of Gallipoli: A True Story of Courage in World War I, by Mark Greenwood (true story)

● Harry and the Anzac Poppy, by John Lockyer (learning from reading soldier's letters)

● Scarecrow Army: The ANZACS at Gallipoli, by Leon Davidson (history for young adults)

● A Rose for the ANZAC Boys, by Jackie French (novel for young adults)

Courtesy of...

http://www.anzacwebsites.com/publications/books.htm

PREVIOUS ANZAC DAY POSTS

here

and

also here

Monday, March 17, 2014

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2014

In Memory of all our Irish Ancestors

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I have chosen just two amazing women to feature.

Our Irish ancestry begins with Bridget Heslin/Eslin/Haslin, born 1766 in Dublin,

who was awarded a free passage to Australia in 1793 via the OLD BAILEY booking office.

She travelled on the "Sugar Cane"with a 7 years free accommodation voucher.

"Bridget was tried in July 1792 in Dublin Ireland and was then transported to Cork by ship to await transportation aboard the Sugar Cane. The ship sailed on 13th April 1793 so she would have been in custody for about 9 months waiting to sail. Sh e was only 18 years old but at least had a friend or relative, Mary Hughes on board with her, along with Joseph Kearns who would have also been known to the family. Bridget's brother, Patrick, was aboard another ship of that fleet, The Boddingtons, but whether Bridget knew this or not is unknown. Unlike Robert's trip, all aboard the Sugar Cane arrived on the 17th September 1793 in good health with the loss of one life (execution) on the trip.

Never-the-less Bridget was only 18, her father had been executed, her mother and another brother (John) had been transported elsewhere and she and Patrick were now in a new colony just over five years after it had been first settled. Things would have looked so alien, I can only feel that she felt scared and frightened at what lay ahead of her. At this stage we can only guess that she was either sent to the Female Factory at Parramatta or to the farms at Toongabbie, however sometime possibly in in late 1795 she met Robert Hobbs and their first of nine children was born (registered Sydney) on the 19th September 1796. All other children after that were born in the Hawkesbury area, most of them at Pitt Town.

I often sit and think what they may have felt, initially elated that the trip was over, scared about the prospects for spending the rest of your life in a strange alien place. Sailing into Sydney Harbour they would have seen nothing but bushland , with strange trees and huge rocky outcrops, strange birds with strange sounds, strange beasts (kangaroos), aborigines quietly observing this strange sailing vessel and the white people on board, and on arrival on shore, looking aghast at the pri mitive conditions that they would have had to accept in their daily life. They were plunged into a society primarily made up of the military and convicts - and they would have been plunged into the middle of the worst of society, all battling to cope with their own nightmares. Hopefully for Bridget some kindly person gave her a roof over her head and helped her through these first couple of years until she married Robert.

What is known after that is that she lived the rest of her life with Robert, raised nine children, lived and laboured at Pitt Town on their own land and died in on the 25th October, 1843, four and a half years after Robert who died on the 23rd February 1839. They are both buried together in Pitt Town Cemetery although there is no mention of Bridget on Robert's well preserved head stone. We should all feel very proud of what this couple endured and that they fought hard to survive and raise a family in the harshest of conditions."

Courtesy of Bev Woodman

Old Dublin Town

Our Irish Grandmother was Bridget Theresa/Teresa Dillon,

born in Clonboula, Kilmaley Parish, Co Clare on Feb 10th 1901.

She married Roy Leonard Swadling on Aug 21, 1924, had four children,

but sadly passed away on Jan 11th, 1942, a month short of her 41st birthday.

She rests in Dorrigo cemetery, New South Wales.

I have written about her a number of times, including this recent post.

http://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/happy-international-womens-day-2014.html

Around County Clare, Ireland

Saturday, March 8, 2014

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2014!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY...

not filtered by license

THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE

Funnily enough, the first woman in my life was my Mother

at the very early stages of my life, I knew no other

She was my everything, and as I grew that didn't alter

in my eyes, she could not falter.

We laughed, we cried, we yelled out loud

my much loved mother stood out in a crowd..

she was always ready to lend a helping hand..

to explain all things I didn't understand.

She picked me up when I fell down

she could tease a smile from the saddest frown..

a hug, a kiss and the world was fine

I am so blessed that she was mine…

Simplistic verse, for a very complicated woman.. Mum didn't have an easy life. She was just eleven when her much loved mother Bridget Theresa (Dillon) succumbed to the scourge of that time, tuberculosis… a disease rarely seen these days in most countries, but in 1942, there was little that could be done to ease the dreadful pain and save the sweet Irish lass, aged just 41, who was to leave her husband, son and three daughters far too early. Mum and her sisters were left in the convent to make their own way in the world, and that they did. My Mum also left us far too early, at just 51.. I will love and miss her always.

So many wonderful women have been part of my life, my much loved daughter, my wonderful granddaughter, my aunts, my numerous female cousins, friends all over the world, teachers.. particularly Patty (Bruce) Keating, and Miss English.. I won't even try to name them all for fear of missing someone… but I am ever grateful for the inspirational women in my life, those who have passed included…

So, whatever you do this International Women's Day, spare a thought for all those who have entered and influenced your life, for all who have paved the way to make the world a better place for women and all who continue to do so...

Helen Reddy "I am Woman"

Friday, February 21, 2014

FAMILY TREE RHAPSODY

Family Tree Rhapsody

shared by Les Tobin Google+

Thanks, Les.

Monday, February 17, 2014

HAPPY 150TH BIRTHDAY, BANJO PATERSON!

One of Australia's most famous poets, known mostly as a bush poet, was born 150 years ago today.

I imagine that he would have been totally amazed to know that we still celebrate his works all these years later.

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson was born in Orange, NSW on 17th February, 1864.

To quote Wikipedia...

"...the eldest son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from Lanarkshire, and Australian-born Rose Isabella Barton,^[3]related to the future first Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton.^[4] Paterson's family lived on the isolated Buckinbah Station near Yeoval NSW ^[5]until he was five when his father lost his wool clip in a flood and was forced to sell up.^[6] When Paterson's uncle died, his family took over the uncle's farm in Illalong, near Yass, close to the main route between Melbourne and Sydney. Bullock teams, Cobb and Co coaches and drovers were familiar sights to him. He also saw horsemen from the Murrumbidgee River area and Snowy Mountainscountry take part in picnic races and polo matches, which led to his fondness of horses and inspired his writings.^[3]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_Paterson

The link above gives a summary of his life and works, one of his most famous has to be the words of Waltzing Matilda...

However, one of my favourites is

"The Man From Snowy River"

I just love the rhythm of it.

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,
And the stockhorse snuffs the battle with delight.

Banjo rests at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney.

May he Rest in Peace.