Sunday 16 April 2017

Sheds from my past

I've been busy looking into my distant past.  Very distant.  My great grandparents and their siblings.  I certainly wouldn't have had the patience to do it before the internet and the instant availability of old records.  It's a great way to chew up a lot of time even now.

I wondered if I had any photos of sheds or barns from the area where my ancestors lived in Australia.  Most that I found were taken in 2014, during a drought when the countryside was dry and brown.

I have so many memories of this shed at potato picking time.  The bags of spuds were stored here in my Uncle George's shed and it was here that we gathered for our smoko breaks.  We children ate a lot more than we earned picking up potatoes, we got very hot, dirty and tired and loved every minute of it.  Mind you, most (if not all) of my siblings were happy when we were at my maternal grandparents place at Townson. 


You can see how dry the land is.  I think the colour of that long, dry grass is simply beautiful but it breaks my heart to see it.
 

 This relic sits of my father's old family farm.


It took me a while to find the photo I was looking for, sometimes my filing system is a bit dodgy.  I think I took this one in 2007.  This one sits beside what was my maternal great-grandmothers home with the roof of my great-uncle Dave's former home in the background.  (At the time it was the prickly pear I wanted to photograph.)



Linking to Tom the Backroads Traveller.

21 comments:

  1. I can see why you wanted to photograph the prickly pear cactus, it is taller than the fence!
    So, how long ago are we talking about, when your ancestors lived there?

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    1. Hi Kay, I think one of my second-cousin's offspring may still live on the property where the prickly pear is. My father's family left the area when I was a little girl, in 1951. But many relatives of my mother are still there.

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  2. Somehow your family tree was embedded in my mind a long time ago. Noah Jesse Osborne is there but not your grandmother's name,though I do remember what she looked like. All those bags of vegetables they sent down by train to Nudgee. It took until about 1995 when our daughter went to Gatton for me to see Laidley, Thornton and perhaps Townsend. We were in the main street of Laidley on a Public holiday and I asked Genny if it was anything like Julia Creek. She said it was - on a busy day. Lovely memories of those Nudgee days.

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    1. Ahh, Mary, you have a remarkable memory. Only you would remember my grandfather's name. Actually I just discovered from his birth registration that his name was Jesse Noah but he was always known as Noah, every on his gravestone. His father was Noah Jesse also so it can get a bit confusing. Laidley has changed a lot but there is still enough that is the same to make is seem very familiar. Thankfully not much has changed "up the creek" where my grandparents live.

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    2. There's music in the name - Noah Jesse. Jesse Noah doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but, never fear, I'll adjust my memory accordingly.

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  3. I'm glad the memories are good yet poignant for you. As for looking back I'm currently awaiting my dna test from ancestry.com and I've been spending about 4 years looking into my genealogy, so far it's been pretty interesting.

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    1. It is a rewarding past-time, isn't it. Will you blog about your DNA? I find that stuff fascinating.

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  4. Beautiful places, i can imagine them green and thriving and all the children running through the fields.

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    1. There were 12 of us children, Messymimi, and we were blessed with a wonderful childhood and grandparents that were incomparable.

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  5. On the last photo you got more than prickly pear. There are two great fences

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    1. You're right, Red. The stockyard fences are in better shape than those of the paddocks.

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  6. There is nothing like the memories of family. Some good and some maybe not, but they all make us who we are.

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    1. Yes, Michelle. I cherish my memories. I've been blessed with many good ones.

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  7. Nice! I've done some genealogy on the internet. It was so great finding that someone else had done most of the work already!

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    1. I agree, Linda. It's a buzz when you are losing your way and getting confused to discover someone else with a more direct link has already done the work.

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  8. And, look at all the prickly pear...that's something you don't see much of these days.

    Great photos. :)

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    1. It's pretty impressive, isn't it, Lee. In a lot of ways visiting that area is like stepping back in time. Maybe not to others but it is for me. I get the warm fuzzies when I see my great-grand-mothers old home still standing, lived in and looked after.

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  9. ...Pauline, what pretty little gems in a beautiful landscape. Thanks so much for sharing this week, please stop back when you can.

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  10. Oh, Pauline...I have so loved hearing the bits about your life and so love these photos. Just loved it all.

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  11. This post was such a great read... as are all your posts, but this one is special as it is about your childhood and memories of your family.

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  12. It's always good to be able to join bits of knowledge together.

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