No one ever suggested that I was born to write. One needs a photographic memory, something I sadly lack. There's one advantage though in forgetting things quickly. You can read a book today, note within that the story was a good read, then pick it up same time next year and enjoy it once again!
The basic facts of my family though come easily to mind. My Dad was born in Sutton Coldfield outside of Birmingham, England in 1916, and came to Australia in the late 1920s by himself, at the age of 12 or so. My grandad had come out earlier, his wife having disappeared off the scene sometime during or after WW1 while he was serving in the British Navy. I was an only child and I assumed Dad was the same. However, in the 1990s a birth certificate came from a PI friend in London, which revealed that my Dad's mother had given birth to a daughter some years later. That remains a mystery. Mum's ancestry is better known as I quickly discovered online. She was born in the middle of seven siblings and spent her early life in Narrabri before returning to the Bankstown area.
At the time of their marriage in 1944, my Dad was serving in the CMF, an earlier knee injury preventing his employment in the army proper. Mum was serving behind the counter in a Bankstown milkbar on South Terrace, alternating that day job with war work at Chullora. This possibly related to aircraft construction. I came along in 1948.
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