Bleggy 52 Ancestors

  I would like to meet   I have always said I would like to meet my great grand father to ask him who his parents were. But now    my thinking has changed and I would like to meet every one of my living relatives to interview them and record their stories before they become those whose stories are lots in time forever.  Some would have done great things and been many places others possibly think their story is not worth telling as no one would be interested in the little things they did. That is wrong because even the mundane is interesting when you look back.  This is part of what I wrote just a few weeks ago and I have thought a lot of this concept lately. For life is a journey into endless time and we will be history some day! So we have recorded, the stories we know, before they are lost on the way.  And we hope now you will do the same as you close at the end of this page, Have you recorded your story? Or will your story be lost in the grave? Yes ...

  The family photo We took a family photo at a reunion years ago I’m so very glad we took it for life changes as you know  For in this family photo we’re all cousins smiling wide Happy to be together in the Blegg family we take pride But if we take another photo quite depleted it will be  For in 2021 5 cousins lost the fight 3 siblings from one family a girl and two boys The boys had served in Vietnam and cancer was their plight Two other cousins went the same it was a year so sad We could not even meet up    for the funerals as we should We stayed at home and watched the few who gathered at the church Said our goodbyes by phone for email seemed quite cold. Next time we get together if a next time is to be  We’ll remember those who have gone on Like Jan, Stan and Lindsay. And we may take another photo maybe one with our kids  And remember oft with fondness the cousins that we miss. Bleggy February 2022

  I have just written this on the Cafe Facebook page so thought I would add a bit and save it here. My mothers step father was a preacher at a Pentecostal church in Richmond a suburb of Melbourne in Australia, and he usually preached only on Sunday nights, but the church was near the town hall that had a large clock that chimed the hour, it was very loud indeed, Mr E would watch the clock as he preached, not because he liked to keep his sermons short! But because a few seconds before 8 pm he would say in his very loud voice, are you ready to die, when the death Angel tolls the bell for you will you be ready? And at that precise moment the town hall clock would strike the hour. Of course this would scare any one who didn’t realise what was happening. The only sermon I ever had to listen to from him was one where his text was the joy of the Lord is your strength. He lived in our house and most unfortunately there was no joy of the lord in him, he was the most grumpy, bad mannered man...

  Week 6 taken from 52 ancestors in 52 weeks 2019  LOVE I am using this as week 6 as it is the most appropriate subject as Wayne and I were married in week 6 of the year 1972 which was 50 years ago.  Be warned this is a long story but I felt that this would be a good place to record it on paper for the first time.  Wayne proposed to me in August 1971 while we were baby sitting my sisters children. We were in a high rise block of flats in Flemington in Victoria on about the 7th floor. Of course I said yes! He then asked for my parents permission which was a nice gesture, both families thought we were a good match.  We became officially engaged in September on my birthday, when we celebrated with friends.  In preparation for our February wedding we had to keep in mind that my younger sister was to marry just 7 weeks before us.  We decided that we would be married in the little church that we attended in Mitcham Victoria, my sister had chosen that as well...

  Un-Closeted Skeletons   In your closet are all sorts of things like coats and scarves, and hats  Some have shoes , and bags, and some store  sheets and Stuff like that   But one thing cannot be denied that many hide with shame Their long lost rellies in there ,the ones who er ..... um......... came,   Their hiding those who passed away in circumstances black Including ones who wore white coats that buttoned at the back   But never be ashamed of those who've gone  on before For when you let just one out, you will find many more ,   So give that closet now a shake and let them out to walk, Then dress them in their Sunday best , then we will sit and talk,   Of all our grand relations, and how big our tree has grown And share with all the stories of our skeletons  from home.   For some people shake their family tree and find branches of rellies with royals and Earls and princes and government exchequers   but folk like me gi...

  JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER   When John Pascoe was a kid he was exiled to this place Because his dad got caught with gold, but the robber walked away  So dad and mum and Liz and John all sailed out to this land And landed down near Portsea but the place they couldn’t stand. When everyone got sick and they had no food to eat  The government, the guy up top realised that things were bleak So he said to them pack up your tents your leaving this here hole  I’m sending you south further down, will be called the apple isle And so they sailed down to the place where Elizabeth met Richard They married and they had 9 kids and became my 3 rd  Great granddad But Johnny was adventurous and set of once again  Across the strait and landed then, right in Hobsons Bay  They settled on the Yarra ‘twas the village for a spot!  He built a pub for drinking in and wrote news and what not, When Melbourne town was   running well just like the Yarra River We...

Close to home! when I read the subject I for some reason thought of my dad, Noel Stanley Blegg. When Noel was 19 he was called to be a minister, so left his parents and the rest of the family in Tasmania and went to Melbourne to study for what he believed would be his life’s work and calling. He travelled from Hobart to Launceston to board the boat to take him across Bass Strait , on board with him were  his 2 mates Milford and Robert also travelling for the same reason. After his study was concluded and he was ordained, he thought he may be sent back to Tasmania, but to his surprise he was told he was going to Yarloop in Western Australia. He knew nothing about the place he had never heard of it, he found it wasn’t a suburb of Perth and he would have another train journey to Yarloop a timber cutting town in the south of WA .  Traveling on the same train was another minister also going to the same part of the country also going to Yarloop. Noel had been given the address of th...

  This one is not very well written but it tells a true story of my very short sports history in high school . Sports attire When I started out in high school at year 7 I found I had to sew a thing dark blue Bombay bloomers worn for sport  an awful concept pulled up over our uniform, it’s true Well I hated just the thought of Bombay bloomers Made of navy drill and big and huge If worn as they were cut I was certain I would trip up on the legs!  I hated sport! When I questioned the sewing teacher could I cut them she said no just sew then up and they will fit Thread the elastic through the waist band it’s all in there and elastic through the legs it’s all pre cut Had I sewn these bombay bloomers just as given and not cut them down to make a better fit I would have been the laughing stock at high school They would have covered both my ankles and my head   when I cut them down I had a lot left over there was enough left over for a spare I really hated wearing Bomba...

  Who could i possibly tell you about other than my Aunty Silvia who is now 103 years young some of this story is going to take quite a bit of searching for as it goes back before the internet, for now this is a photo taken on her 103rd birthday 

  I am sure there is room here for a love story written some years ago to my husband The Colour of our Love   The colour of our love is the pink glow on your cheeks when we were young and we ran hand in hand on the white hot sand..   The colour of our love is the shine in your eyes when our lips met for the first time,   The colour of our love is the blood red that came from you when you picked that First Love rose for me when we had no money to buy one.   the colour of our love is the green of the grass so fresh and new every day.   The colour of our love is sitting beside you in the sunsets reflection then realising that without you my life would not have been all the rainbow colours of love .   I thank you for making my life shine with the rainbow colours of your love for me.   Heather

  This really has nothing to do with ancestors it is a song I wrote for the inaugural  day for the Wanneroo Joondalup womens choir . MAKE IT CHANGE  When I find a friend, who is in trouble  words then like wisdom come to me Echo through my mind, to leave it be  And so, I close my eyes and move on  Till new words they come again  Come on be a friend, make it change    Make a change Give a smile  Be a friend Lend a hand  make it change make it change 2 And when I see the lonely people  Living down the street from me  It Echoes through my mind, leave it be  And so, I close my mind and move on  Till new words they come again  Reach out to your neighbour, make it change    Make a change Give a smile  Be a friend Lend a hand  make it change, Make a change  3 When I am feeling lonely and I think nobody cares for me  I hear my friends all singing make it change Change poverty of friends...

  THE NEW CHURCH STEEPLE  There's a story I'll tell you of 2 young boys who grew up in the south of Tasmania, they were 2 red head angels, never did any wrong ! that's their story and I will stick to it. one day while the 2 wandered home from school a new steeple caught their bright eyes, with a twinkle in each and a look full of cheek, The two red heads decided they'd try, yes they would be the first to climb up to the top of the steeple and check out the bell! but they would be so careful so no one would know if the bell rang, then some one would tell! so their school bags they hid in the bushes out side and in they snuck, how would they climb it? but a workman had left a ladder behind it went half way up ok lets do it! up the ladder they went, and then grabbed the bricks, and shinnied their way to the top, the view it was great as they saw with relief as they stuck their heads out through the top! the bell rope hung free but as careful can be they jumped to the top o...

Sojourn in The Holy Land    I spent two weeks in Israel some many years ago The way I felt has never left me, and I would not want it to, The sights, the sounds, the smell, the life, the atmosphere electric I had never seen before, buildings so ancient, so unexpected! To stand upon the mountain tops where prophets fought with evil                                                                    To Gaze from Mount Masada and hear the story that seemed so final, To smell and feel the Dead Sea, hard, and have it stick upon my skin, Watch others bobbing up and down knowing they won’t sink. To see the Jordan river and know it wasn't always peaceful, And Lake Galilee reflecting the mountains up behind it, The Eagles soaring overhead and nesting in th...

  In 1992 we traveled to Israel via Rome. I wrote this some time later and edited it in 2005 Standing in Skull quarry    There's a bus depot Lord, where your cross once stood, The whole area is commercialized, but I guess you knew it would, For we walked the via Dolorossa and saw the souvenirs, The Baby in the cradle, and the soldiers with their spears, The man they sell upon the cross we know Lord it's not you, The sellers didn't realise that we daily talk with you. All the merchants said that they were best and cheapest we could buy, All carved from wood made from your cross, oh why Lord do they lie? When challenged then they answer,"Well a tree just like the cross," "I've got to make lots of money, and I have to please my boss." So we walked the via Dolorossa with the other tourist groups, While the young men with their trolleys raced down the narrow streets, Then we left the city proper, through a crowded door, where near Some soldiers stood with...

At the Station At the Kellerberin station dad  and mum  met Love at first sight!  I can’t imagine in that crowd for the station was alive with kids 250 All tired, some running wild, some screaming loud. Everything they owned was on the troop train That was taking them from Perth for safety sake, For the japs had sent 2 mini subs to Rottnest They had been spotted from the turret at their place. Perhaps they thought that Rottnest was a good place To launch a Perth offensive from that isle Or maybe they knew that Rottnest had a lunch bar And were looking for a sandwich and an ale! The yanks they came and said Please move the kids out We are taking over here this very day It’s not safe to stay your turret is a lookout You all are going inland safe to stay. So that’s how mum met dad ‘twas so romantic He was there to meet the train with kids on board, He took them to the drapers store and hostel Where they’d stay for the duration of the war. On holidays my parents drove he...

  Sometimes the youngest is very young A tribute to miscarried, early born, and still born young ones and those who left earth way too early. With Love to The Little Ones With love remembering those little ones that never made a breath. Or left this Earth after such a short visit, we have no photo to fill the frame no place to visit, place flowers or mourn, Never knowing what you would become. We cry in sorrow for you are gone, that little spot that you would fill will forever be empty, no other can fill the space that was yours, and yours alone my little one you are safe in God's arms. But I wish it was my arms, for the place you should be is here by my side to grow old with me, but that was not so, and all I can do is share my love though a little poem             for those un-named those tiny souls.                  but were loved by a mother                   ...

  FOR THE 4th OF JULY  I would like to get in early before this day gets underway, And wish you all the very best, 4th of July, Independence Day, If your ancestors hadn't had a fight with England bold, I would not be Australian, for this is what I'm told.   When war broke out between your country and red coats,  Then England had to stop shoving convicts down your throats! They languished on old England's shores, in hulks, a rotting mess! Till Cook he claimed this country, and told parliament this is the best Idea I've had in ages! we'll send our convicts there, We'll call the land down under, New South Wales, cause that is where it is, Down south and it is new as far as I can tell! And if we throw the Wales in the convicts can go to...  there as well! 'Cause i won't say a naughty word about the English parliament, They might think I am a convict and chain me to cement, Just like they did to the convicts they sent many years ago, Because you refused to ta...

  Where there’s a Will I have heard it said, “where there’s a will you will find a greedy person and an argument.” Some people think that thinking about a will is or writing one is just way too morbid, and besides it sounds like you are intending to die tomorrow, they never seem to remember it’s best to be prepared, and even though there will be the inevitable problems, it’s much better for those left behind. At least when Uncle Alvin dashes in and grabs all the family silver before the will is read, he can be told with authority to go and buy it back from the pawn shop and hand it over to the rightful heir. I have really only ever read one really interesting will. This will was written in Scotland, for Robert Balfour, and contained the words pre-deceases me, or pre-deceases and mentions another family member, over and over, great great great grandfather was taking no chances with anyone misinterpreting his intentions. The best thing about the will was we found out in it who his da...

  Heirloom 2: A hand made string bag. One of the most precious items in my cabinet is a string bag made from thin plastic tubing, it is green and pink made for me by my grandfather. This is the story. Just before my 7th birthday my grandparents came over to Victoria from Hobart Tasmania, on Thursday the 15th of September 1953 granddad was sitting on a chair in the lounge room with a kitchen chair in front of him making something with thin plastic tubing, as I went past to go up the passage,I asked him what he was making, his reply was something for someone very special. I accepted that answer, later the family had tea together and dad took grandma and granddad back to my uncles house where they were staying. My birthday on the Friday passed quietly, because I was actually going to have a party on the Saturday, I knew mum had made a lovely cake, I saw part of it come out of the oven ,it was a sponge cake and it had been baked in the big baking dish lined with brown paper. This was a...

  To find my great grandfather was a real problem but one day a person who went by the name in the first line of this poem contacted me and asked could this possibly be him? I can't find a copy of this with the date but it was many years ago when I first met Sue Wyatt on line. THANK YOU To TasTeach ,I thank you, for helping us find an elusive great granddad a convict I’m told, though no one would speak of him when I was young sh! we don’t talk of those things near anyone   He came to a strange land, in chains in the hull Of the ship Somersetshire arriving in May, In the drizzling rain with snow on the peak Above Hobart town, oh! place cold and bleak   They were told it was sunny in a place close to hand So convicts disillusioned were herded to land Then sent all to places in deep and dense bush cold One wrong turn could loose them their life they were told.   So they slaved and they waited their time to be done in the hope that to England they would one day return to...