When Georgiana Molloy died in April 1843 her last surviving daughter, named after her, was just six months old. The other Molloy sisters could be cared for by their father at Fairlawn but she was not old enough to be weaned. Mary Ann Heppingstone née Bayliss, widow of George Layman of nearby Wonnerup, had married […]
“Easy over the cobbles!” I hear that phrase in my memory, in mother’s voice, always said in jest to my father as we set off home in the car from whatever family outing we’d been on. “Home, James, and don’t spare the horses!” That was another. Even as a child, I understood the shared social […]
Leaving home (south of Margaret River WA) before dawn during the biggest storm of the year so far was ‘interesting’ and it was a six-hour drive to the small country town of York but I’m so glad I was able to make that journey to join the River Conservation Society on a wild and wintery […]
‘The language of flowers has recently attracted so much attention, that an acquaintance with it seems to be deemed, if not an essential part of a polite education, at least a graceful and elegant accomplishment.’ Flora’s Lexicon: an Interpretation of the Language and Sentiment of Flowers 1839 That was written in 1839, but interest […]
‘Astronomy, universally acknowledged the most sublime and interesting of those sciences which admit of popular illustration, is doubly valuable for its powerful influence and effect in the general improvement of the human mind.’ Horace Wellbeloved on Mr Walker’s Astronomical lecture 1826 Since my biography of Georgiana Molloy’s life was published, I’ve been working nearly […]