My Life in Five Photos

Can you show your life in five photos? I’m not sure if I can, but I’m going to try.

I have taken this idea from a Facebook friend who participated in a “five photos of me, over five days” challenge. But true to my usual self, I decided to give it a little twist.

The original rule of this Challenge was to post “5 five photos, 1 per day, on Facebook that were photos of yourself that are more than 15 years old.” I have ignored the 15 years old bit, and have decided for “My Life in Five Photos”, that they can be “of me, or showing something about me” and I’ve decided to do them all as a single post.

And obviously it’s not going to show you “ALL” of my life, but rather just a few different aspects of it. I haven’t called this a geneameme, but I would love for others to take up the idea, and share a few photos of their life.

1. Apple Orchard – 1975
My grandpa had an apple orchard in the Adelaide Hills, and as my mum worked there, the orchard was my playground prior to starting primary school at age 5. So getting completely dirty was just part of my daily routine. And yes, that is dirt all over me and my clothes!

Alona in the apple orchard - March 1975 edited

 

2. Broken Arm and Cemetery – 1976
I love this photo for various reasons. Firstly because I was getting my photo taken (hence the big grin), secondly it’s the only photo I have of me when I had a broken arm, and thirdly (and favourite reason) is that this photo was taken on the front lawn of my family’s house at Cudlee Creek, showing the Cudlee Creek cemetery in the background. I was a an unofficial groundskeeper for this cemetery, so my love affair with cemeteries started young. I used to pick flowers from mum’s garden and put on those graves, and pick up the flower jars that had fallen over and so on. It was only later that I found out half of those buried there are actually my relis!

Alona Phillips, 1976 with broken arm edited

 

3. Ash Wednesday – 1983
I think anyone that has been though any major disaster has it etched in their mind, and it will something that they NEVER ever forget. That is what Ash Wednesday is like for me. This is a photo of my family’s house on Ash Wednesday. While it doesn’t actually have me in it, it does have my mum and brother there, but I was there (even though I didn’t want to be). And yes, the sky really was that colour, the air was full of smoke, and the sun was blood red.

Ash Wednesday 1

 

4. Genealogy Expo – 2010
As part of my job at Gould Genealogy & History, we have organised a number of genealogy events including History & Genealogy Expo’s. Apart from organising them, we also exhibit there … and usually have stand for both our Gould Genealogy & History and Unlock the Past companies. The photo below was taken at the History & Genealogy Expo that we organised in Sydney 2010, with my mum and I manning the stand.

UTP Expo October 2010 - Alona & Anthea

 

5. Lamorran Cemetery – 2014
Cemetery walking, that’s what I call it, though some call it cemetery traipsing, either way, visiting the cemeteries of your ancestors is something that I was able to do on a trip to England in July 2014. The rain wasn’t going to stop me checking out the cemetery at Lamorran, in Devon looking for my ancestors. Afterall cemeteries are the places that genealogist would prefer to go, rather that the standard tourist attractions, right?

Lamorran Cemetery, Devon - July 2014

 

Now I know I missed a heap of things, including my school years and my wedding, and a hundred others things. But limiting this post to just five photos was hard. REALLY REALLY HARD! And I will admit that I was very tempted to make it “My Life in Ten Photos”, but I resisted, and have left it at the five.

So there you go. There’s my life in five photos, or more specifically five moments of my life in five photos! So now who else is interested in sharing theirs?

The Women Who Made Me, Me! International Womens Day

Today, March the 8th, is International Women’s Day. It is a day to celebrate and honour women both past and present. For my contribution to International Women’s Day, I want to share with you some photos the women who have helped make me, me!

Obviously throughout everyone’s life there are many, many people who influence us. For this post I’m am sticking to the ancestral lines. Concentrating on those whose genes I have inherited at least some of. The ones who taught me things when you were young, and who embedded their values and ideals into me, and no doubt some of whose trait I have picked up.

HERE’S ME …

this is me at age 4

this is me at age 4

 

MY MUM …

Anthea Hannaford age about 3

Anthea Hannaford (age about 3). Married Alan Phillips.

 

MY 2 GRANDMA’S …

Valda Winter (age c.19)

Valda Winter age c.19 (1916-living).
Married Horace ‘Ron’ Phillips.

Evelyn Randell (1916-2006) age 5, with 'Pete', one of her bothers.She married Cecil Hannaford.

Evelyn Randell (1916-2006) age 5, with ‘Pete’, one of her bothers.
She married Cecil Hannaford.

 

MY 4 GREAT GRANDMA’S …

Winifred Lena Cosgrove (1892-1976)

Winifred Lena Cosgrove (1892-1976).
Married Horace Norman Phillips.

Irene Daley (1894-1954).Married Otto Rafael Winter.

Irene Daley (1894-1954).
Married Otto Rafael Winter.

Dorothy McCullough (1889-1987). Married Ralph Hannaford.

Dorothy McCullough (1889-1987).
Married Ralph Hannaford.

Ella Sinkinson (1876-1943).Married John Beavis "J.B." Randell.

Ella Sinkinson (1876-1943). The lady in the bottom corner is her oldest daughter, Anne.
Married John Beavis “J.B.” Randell.

MY 8 GREAT GREAT GRANDMA’S … 
Although I do have photos for 6 of my 8 great great grandma’s I have opted to simply list them, to save this becoming so ridiculously long.

Kezia Howard (Cecelia) ‘Sis’ BEECKEN (1867-1939)
m. Samuel Thomas PHILLIPS

Mary Ellen LUCAS (c.1856-1944)
m. Denis John COSGROVE

Hedvik (Karolina) VINBLAD (1856-1934)
m. Otto Edvard WINTER

Margaret Florence HAYHURST (1855-1935)
m. John DALEY

Martha Rosa KELLY (1864-1901)
m. William John HANNAFORD

Eva RICHARDSON (1860-1925)
m. Robert McCULLOUGH

Phebe ROBBINS (1838-1932)
m. William Beavis RANDELL

Lydia Amelia BAYS
m. Ebenezer SINKINSON

In case you were wondering who was who in the top picture …
Top row L-R: Phebe Robbins, Alona Phillips, Dorothy McCullough, Evelyn Randell, Martha Rosa Kelly, Evelyn Randell & Cec Hannaford’s wedding.
Bottom row L-R: Valda Winter, Winifred Lena Cosgrove, Anthea Phillips (nee Hannaford), Valda Winter’s wedding, Irene Daley.

Every one of these women (and their husbands too), played a part in making me who I am. Some were emigrants, some were pioneering women, many were hardworking country folk. And I’m sure some of their traits have come through the generations.

www.internationalwomensday.com

#MakeItHappen

#IWD2015

Honouring My Ancestors with a Touch of Bling

Let’s start off by saying I LOOOOOOOVE jewellery.

Apart from genealogy and chocolate, jewellery is a passion of mine. It all started when I was about 10 or so when an auntie gave me a beautiful silver necklace, which I wore day in and day out. This one necklace has since been replaced by a whole stash of necklaces, rings, and bracelets. And when I travel rather than buy souvenirs from the places I visit, I tend to buy jewellery. At least its small enough to bring home easily enough.

Anyway I found a site that combines my love of genealogy and jewellery. So naturally I helped the economy by doing some online shopping. And now I want to share with  you what I bought ….

The www.mynamenecklace.com.au website  is one of those places that you can order jewellery from and get it customised to have your kids names on it. Well I ordered a bracelet, but rather than get my furkids names put on it, I chose to put my ancestors surnames instead. Well, my four grandparents lines anyway – Hannaford, Randell, Winter, Phillips, and to top it off it has the Tree of Life in the centre.

my MyNameNecklace bracelet has just arrived

my MyNameNecklace bracelet has just arrived

ooh it's so pretty!

ooh it’s so pretty!

new bling added to my wrist!

new bling added to my wrist!

I’m so thrilled with my new bracelet that I have already ordered another one as well as a necklace. On those I’m getting the words Genealogy. Past. Present. Future. put on them, which should be cool. Anyway when they arrive, I’ll have pics on my Facebook page. They’re my Christmas presents from me to me (we all have those don’t we)?

I don’t normally write about companies, but I chose to do so in case any of you also have a love of jewellery and wanted to do something customised with current (or past) family names on it, I thought I’d share details of this MyNameNecklace site with you. Afterall they do have a whole range of “Family Tree” related jewellery, so how can that not be interesting?

And in the interest of disclosure, I am in no way affiliated with the MyNameNecklace company, other than being a happy customer.

My First Job

Today I was catching up on some blog reading, and found one by Jane Taubman (aka Family Historian extraordinaire) in which details her “First Job”. She came to write this after seeing a tweet from Geneabloggers  saying:

“November 14: Do you remember your first job? Where was it and what type of work did you do?”

And I thought I should do the same. Afterall as historians and genealogists sometimes we get so caught up in researching and recording the past, that we forget to write about the current. Not to mention our OWN history.