My father was ninety-one years old when he died recently, far outliving his father and grandfather who died well before they reached their sixties. Dad was a doctor, a kind, caring man who was available for every patient day and night. He sat with them in their sorrows and rejoiced with them at weddings and […]
My mother died last year. We had a ‘Covid’ funeral with only ten family members in the room. Everyone else Zoomed in. While tackling the cremation arrangements, we had to write something about her to read out at the funeral service. My sister and brother stepped up and wrote two brilliant speeches which included stories […]
How many times have you attended a funeral and thought “I didn’t know that about them!” When we look at life stories, we often only know facets of a person from everyday interactions and conversations, or through sharing a special event. But there is always a lot more to each and every person we meet, […]
Australia’s Father’s Day celebrations this year will be a little different because of COVID-19 lockdowns around the nation. Instead of picnics, barbeques, and trips to the beach, many dads will celebrate on their own or use Zoom, Facetime, or a myriad of other devices to connect with their loved ones. There are 4.6 million dads […]
One of the hardest jobs you’ll face as you survey your family history research is selecting what material to use.
From childhood story teller to documenting the horrors of occupation, Sally-Anne Watson Kane covers a breadth of topics in her writing.
During the middle of winter, 1786, a 26-year-old Londoner named William Eggleton used the cover of thick fog to break into a man’s house in Southwark and stole three woollen coats and a black silk cloak. His crime earned him a berth on what became known as The First Fleet, and a free eight-month trip […]
I discovered that I came from a long line of feisty Scottish women. That gave me an identity that stood me in good stead through my teenage years.
It seems to me that life story writing is something you fall into after years of life experience and other forms of writing. At least, that’s how it happened for me. I’ve been a freelance writer, a copywriter, short story writer and fiction novelist. Four years ago I needed another source of income and while […]
I’ve lived and breathed storytelling all my life, both as a career and a hobby. Stories poured from my pencil as soon as I mastered the alphabet and continued throughout my childhood. In high school, I founded and ran the school magazine, and at uni, I wrote articles for the student newspapers. From an early […]
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