Sad

HEARD
Beth Lella

September 29, 2007

Peacefully at Kareena Private Hospital Caringbah, late of Sans Souci. Beloved wife of Robert (deceased). Much loved mother and mother-in-law of Robert, James and Jane. Adored “Dibby” of Max. Dear sister of Eric, Keith and Jean (all deceased), Neil and Fay, Roy and Kay. Loved and sadly missed by their families.

A dedicated Teacher and Headmistress of Milton, Mortdale, Sans Souci and Kogarah Infant Schools.

Aged 92 years

May she be remembered
for her dignity, grace,
laughter and love.

Beth’s family and friends are invited to attend her Funeral Service in the South Chapel, Woronora Crematorium, Linden Street, Sutherland on Monday (October 8, 2007) at 11am.

Salmagundi

Now there’s a word to look up! It describes this entry perfectly.

Shire nostalgia

On Occasional rambles of a retired teacher, that excellent new blog of mine on Blogspot on the old Floating Life address which more of you should visit, I am about to write* the next in the inspiring teachers series based on Teachers Who Change Lives by Andrew Metcalfe and Ann Game. That took me back to Sutherland fifty-three years ago, and I am sorry to report that memory does tend to fade after all. Odd things stay sharp though.

Forty years ago my mother wrote down some memories of her own — yes, they are on this site now — and I am truly amazed by their detail and by her style. She used under stress to dream about her New England, Braefield, and sometimes about life on the Hawkesbury before that. To her that was back in time about the same as Sutherland is to me. Incredible — to me, that is. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled… Denys will get that one.

May have been, very possibly…

Substantial additions have been made to this post, thanks to Adrian.

 The Secret River by Kate Grenville (2005).  Grenville has also written one of the best books on writing that I know. (Australian historical fiction)

As I said last week:

I mentioned in my comment on Jim’s post that I am at last reading The Secret River by Kate Grenville, and I am enjoying it thoroughly. I think this reading is partly responsible for my looking into Macquarie connections to Cleveland House here in Surry Hills, a building I see every day! The site linked to the novel there is Kate Grenville’s own site, thoroughly worth exploring, especially the section on fiction and history. The Secret River (that is, the Hawkesbury) attracted some little controversy on that score, much of it misplaced. But I will take that up when I review the novel. You will see I have already given The Secret River a best read of 2007 tag though.

That still stands, now that I have finished.

The “Secret River” is today a major tourist attraction, and more, just north of Sydney, parts of it indeed inside Greater Sydney.

Sunday in Illpah

That is, as you may recall, the Aboriginal name for Waterloo*. Church was good today; unusually I propose a whole entry for that. Afterwards Sirdan and I had lunch at Chinese Whisper in Surry Hills, and then I went to PK’s for the afternoon. A good day. 🙂

James O’Brien on Surry Hills

James has a good post on my neighbourhood — you can follow some of his walk on the masthead image above!

He refers to Cleveland House, which is, some say, the oldest house still standing in Sydney, perhaps even older than Cadman’s Cottage in The Rocks. It is amazing to think it was there and around twenty years old when my Great-grandfather William Joseph John (below) was born a stone’s throw from it in 1836, especially as I now live so close myself.

Another Surry Hills blog!

I have found someone else on WordPress who uses the Surry Hills tag: jamesobrien.id.au, and what a good blog it is too! Do visit it. For a start we have in common not only Surry Hills but an interest in colonial and family history. And we both have convict ancestry.