#NaGenWriMo 2022

Birth of Hannah Davey

Miss W. #NaGenWriMo 2022, Davey , , , ,

Hannah Davey was my maternal grandmother. She was born on 10 November 1899 and was the 6th child out of 12 born to George Davey and Martha Colgrave living in the area of Evandale.

I have written many posts about Hannah, her parents as well as her married life.

I am lucky enough to have actually known Hannah who didn’t die until March 1967 when I  was nearly 11 years old. We would visit my grandparents house in Grosvenor Street, Sandy Bay. We would often visit the Chandler nursery over the back fence as they were also relations through Hannah’s mother-in-law.

I looked through my family photo box to find the oldest photo of Hannah. I found one where she had sent a picture of herself to her future husband with a lovely message on the back in her own handwriting.

Hannah 1921
Back of Hannah 1921

Always friends. Hanna Davey, N’ber 16th 1921

Mr Harry England, 14 Grovensor(sic) St, Sandy Bay

Aged 22 years

Notice she uses a different version of Hannah compared to her birth certificate.

Readers: Did any of your ancestors have a photo of themselves and send it to their fiancé or future partner?

Holidays with friends

Miss W. #NaGenWriMo 2022 , , , , , , , ,

As mentioned in yesterdays post about camping holidays, my brother or I would often take a school friend with us on our longer holidays here in Tasmania.

We would go to unusual places, sometimes do things our friends might not have done before and when tired from a long day of physical activities, we would play board games on the picnic table.

Go fishing at Devonport with Robin

 

Robin is wondering where we are

 

Steven beating us at Stockmarket while camping at Coles Bay

But the biggest holiday we went on was our family, Margaret (mum’s sister) and her family when we took off around Australia for three months in 1965.

Margaret and Norm PHILLIPS with their children Bronwyn and Leigh getting ready to travel around Australia

Our family used a converted Kombi van, side awning and tent, while Margaret’s husband Norman pulled a caravan behind their car. We went over on the boat to Melbourne, up the east coast to Cairns, then across outback Queensland to the junction of the Barkly and Stuart Highways in Northern Territory, north to Darwin, then back south to Alice Springs.

The Mob at the entrance to Lone Pine Sanctuary Brisbane

It was here where the families parted as Marg’s family put their car and caravan on the Ghan to head back to Marree and onward to Melbourne. Our family went to Uluru then back to Alice and the Ghan to Marree where we then spent more time around South Australia before heading back to Melbourne and the boat trip home to Tasmania.

Map of the complete trip Around Australia 1965 11000 miles

Readers: Did you ever go on holidays with other family members or school friends? What was your most memorable holiday?

Camping holidays

Miss W. #NaGenWriMo 2022 , , , , , , ,

As a family, we would rarely stay at home over the weekends. The weekend was a time to get out in nature and away from the house.

We would go on picnics with other close relatives or go bushwalking with other friends.

But school holidays meant spending a week or so camping with family or friends. There were two favourite places we’d go:

  1. The caravan park at Mersey Bluff at Devonport where we would stay in a caravan and tent and take day trips around the North West coast of Tasmania visiting waterfalls, beaches and National Parks.
  2. Camping on a property near the mouth of the Douglas River on the east coast of Tasmania.

Nowadays, at the Douglas River, there is an actual camping area which can be fairly full during school holidays. No fires allowed and a chemical toilet needed if camping. There are also cabins to stay in.

But when we were there back in the 1960s, we would often be the only people camping in the area. That’s because it was private property but dad knew the owner and got permission to camp on the banks of the river. We would have to dig our toilet, set up the fire for cooking as well as the tents for sleeping.

There was always lots of things to do at the Douglas.

  • Paddling a large canoe dad had built based on canoes Olegas Truchanas made for using on his travels
  • Swinging off the ropes over the swimming holes in the river
  • Fishing for flounder on the beach at night
  • Long walks on the beach
  • Searching the coal mines at Seymour north of the river
  • Walking in the Douglas Apsley national park
  • Playing cricket on the beach

 

Sue practising her canoeing skills

Cousin Leigh in the canoe while dad swings with the ropes at the waterhole

Readers: Did you go camping as a family? Where was your favourite spot?