June 2026
Excursion to Templestowe
Sue and I both remember our grandparents’ Templestowe house. Sue even remembers walking from the house with our grandfather: down to the…
Home and housing
Homes, building and domestic spaces.
November 2019
The Built Environment – Box Hill
We grew up in Box Hill South in close proximity to Surrey Hills where our family has had an association for five…
July 2019
The Built Environment – Hawthorn
Our forebears have been part Melbourne since the 1850s. They came from Europe, Ireland and Great Britain, arriving at the Port of…
June 2018
The Croydon Years
Our mother’s and aunt’s formative years were spent in Croydon. Alice was six and Marge nine when they moved. They remember the…
December 2017
I can hear sleigh bells
Christmas has always been special time in our lives. It is not surprising, I suppose, as the whole of society gears up…
November 2017
The Farm
About 1950, our mother’s aunt, Beat, and her husband Bill sold up their grocery store and their Balwyn house, took their youngest…
September 2017
Meat and Three Vegs
Like many families, we were fairly poor as we were growing up. There were four children, only our father worked and "stuff"…
July 2017
The Pakenham Bourkes 1939 – 2017 Part Two
The property along Toomuc Creek was sold in 1854, and Michael and Catherine spent the remainder of their lives at Bourke’s hotel.…
April 2017
The Pakenham Bourkes 1839 – 2017 Part One.
Michael and Catherine Bourke of County Limerick, Ireland, our great great grandparents were part of the very early settlement of Victoria. They…
September 2016
Family camping
Our grandparents and parents had camped as young adults, so living in third world conditions in order to be able to enjoy…