Our ANZAC Day

You really can't ignore ANZAC Day living just a few hundred metres down the road from the National War Memorial. We've even been woken early the last few mornings with rehearsals for the dawn ceremony (bagpipes and trumpets carry a long way in the early morning calm).

So this morning we joined around 32,000 other Canberrans for the real ANZAC Day dawn service just up the road at the War Memorial. We found a viewing spot by around 5.00am and enjoyed listening to a half hour of readings (from servicemen and women's letters and diaries) to get us all into a reflective mood before the start of the service at 5.30. It is amazing how quiet a crowd of 30,000 people can be.

 As we'd expected the service was very sombre and solemn, and very predictable (in a good way) - apart from the fact that this year a servicewoman delivered the key address - the first time ever! She delivered a wonderful speech; very warm and heartfelt. The dawn service is conducted in complete darkness apart from spotlights on the key players - very moody!

Afterwards we walked a small distance up Mt Ainslie to the site of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (A & TSI) bush memorial for a commemorative service for A & TSI servicemen. It was so different in character from the formal service at the War Memorial: warm and personal, lots of stories and smiles, smoke and didgeridoos, and this beautiful bush setting!

By the time we were walking back home the morning sun was making everything glow.

We stopped for coffee and a toastie afterward at our new C5 café (although just a pop up at this stage). We were amused by the magpies who did everything they could to convince us to give them a feed. They would be so easy to tame! Despite how it looks in this pic there were lots of people around walking back from the dawn service - there was a lovely friendly vibe to the morning.

 Time for a shower and change and then it was back out on Anzac Parade to observe preparations for the march past and commemorative service. We were surprised by how warm it was today - the hottest ANZAC Day on record.

 All the important action was up at the War Memorial - our Anzac Parade was really just a marshalling area for the groups of veterans and service men and women getting ready for the official march past (the Governor-General took the salute).  

 ANZAC Day ceremonies have always been tightly controlled by the Returned Services League (RSL), and in latter years increasingly more by whichever political party is in power. In the process some veterans have been marginalised and militarism rather than sombre reflection has become more of a focus.

So it was interesting to see this year a group commemorating the Frontier Wars in Australia lining up at the rear of the other marchers ...... recognising so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives lost in massacres and acts of genocide over the colonial period. This group was not allowed to participate in the official march past however.  It is the war we dare not name!

 We know of at least two family members (ANZACS) whose names are on the Honour Roll of the Australian War Memorial. William Dutton was our Mum's Uncle. He was killed "died of wounds" on the 21st August 1917 at Hell Fire Corner (the most dangerous crossing on the Ypres - Menin Road). William Dutton is buried nearby in a small cemetery just outside Ypres on the Menin Road (Brandhoek New Military Cemetery No 3 Ieper, West-Vlaanderen Belgium). He was only 25 when he died - in the prime of his life - such a waste.....

 

 All the talk this Anzac Day has been about the 100th anniversary of the battle at Villers-Brettoneaux (near Amiens in France) and the opening of the $100,000,000 Sir John Monash Centre there. William Dutton was killed about 120klms north of there in Belgium - and about 9 months ahead of that momentous battle. Another casualty in a war that took over 60,000 young Australian lives for a cause that is hard to justify in the cold hard light of day. It gives us all such a lot to think about!!!

RIP Betty K

Our Mum, Granny Kenyon, Great Grandma, died peacefully in the early hours of last Friday 28th October after 102 glorious years of life's adventures and creating our family.  Her three"girls" were together in Sydney when the news came through. It's been a momentous week..........

This is the earliest photo we have of Mum who was born on the 31st July 1914 - just as the guns were being fired in the early days of World War 1....

It mustn't have been an easy childhood - losing her father before the age of two and having to live with her Grandmother while her mother went back to work.  It sounds like her mother's second marriage a few years later did not result in happier times for Betty either.

And then the Great Depression hit.....which meant Betty had to leave school earlier than planned and find work to help support the family. This she did and did well by all accounts...by the latter half of the 1930s Betty was having a great life - this skiing holiday near Smiggin Holes in the Snowy Mountains with her girlfriends, being an absolute highlight.

And then the Second World War started.......but it didn't stop Betty marrying Stan in 1941. However, in the spirit of wartime austerity their wedding was a low key affair.

Maxine was born in Roma Queensland in 1946, Judith was born in 1951; by this time the family was living in Brisbane.

Roslyn was born in 1958, making the family complete.

20 years passed..the girls all grew to adulthood and married wonderful men. Grandchildren came on the scene between 1975 and 1982 (5 grandchildren all up).

This is a happy pic of Betty taken in July 1978 (aged 64 years), knitting boottees.

Stan died after a short but intense battle with cancer on the 20th March 1981. Ros and Pete’s baby son Joel was born a few weeks later in April 1981.

17 years on, Betty's eldest grand-daughter Claire and her Jeremy were married on the 19th December 1998. Betty K was aged 84 years by now. She moved to Canberra (under her own steam) in April of this year.

This happy pic of Betty was taken at Erin and John's wedding, 11 years later, in April 2009 (Betty is in her 95th year by now).

Betty K and her three "girls" at Coogee Beach in 2011- very excited about Davey's and Cath's visit with baby Eddie.

Betty K adored all her great grandchildren (all 8 of them (so far)). This pic is of Betty K and Ollie in December 2011.

Betty K moved to Mirinjani Hostel in July 2012 just before her 98th birthday. This pic with "lovely Joel" was taken in January 2014 (the flowers are from Kay - now Joel's wife).

Betty K's 100th birthday was celebrated in style in early August 2014 - there were 24 family members at the party!

Rod took this lovely picture of Betty K (Mum), about 10 days ago in her room at Mirinjani. She's wearing her favourite colour and has her Canberra Times open at the crosswords - a lovely way to remember her. 

Despite all her difficulties in the last year or so Betty K always remained positive, cheerful and interested in everything the family was doing - and much loved and appreciated by the staff at Mirinjani. 

Rest in Peace, unforgettable and inspirational Betty K!!

thirty two years ago

Our house goes up for auction next weekend (yikes). It's made us think about all our happy times here over the past thirty two years.

We moved in during February 1983.....and this is what the front of our house looked like then... (that's Claire, Davey & Josh with some of the neighbourhood boys lined up on the front driveway).  Our big claret ash in the front garden looks to be about 6 metres tall in those days.

Twelve months later Rob had built a pergola over the narrow front verandah and the front courtyard wall had been built.  Joshy's ready for school (he was in Kindergarten then at Torrens PS)!

.....and this is what the front of the house looks like now......what a difference a mature garden makes!

One of the first jobs Rob tackled back in 1983 (with help from Josh and Davey and a few other boys in the hood) was the demolition of this derelict pool and decking in the back garden.

We made it all look quite pretty in the back garden for a while.....

 ..until we learnt that gardens like this took way more time and water than we were able to give it!

 ..so now it looks like this (although much more green, shady and inviting when it is not Winter!)..

Our metal garage and driveway looked quite shabby in 1983 even when it must have been relatively new. This picture was taken before the side courtyard wall was built in 1986 and the family room extension was added in 1987.

 It looks much more presentable now but the metal garage is still there behind that rendered brick facade and automatic door.

This picture of Josh was taken in 1984 in our front garden. We're creating some new curvy garden beds and he's having fun creating race tracks for his car collection.

and this is how the same front garden looks today - with a few more gum trees in the bush over the road - and a resident mob of kangaroos!

The house interior was in pretty bad shape when we first moved in. This was our first Christmas lunch in 1983, complete with tacky wallpaper and cheap bamboo blinds (to temporarily replace the tacky curtains).

This is what that dining room looks like today - extended a metre, opening out through glass doors to a lovely verandah - and no wallpaper (I use it as my study and the girls' playroom these days).

This is our favourite Christmas lunch spot now (built by Pete in 2006)!

This picture of a rather serious looking  birthday celebration was taken in our first kitchen in January 1985 (Joshy's 6th birthday)...love the 70s era burnt orange tiles!

Our first kitchen reno was done in 1987 when the family room extension was done and then our current kitchen was finished in early 2007 - I still love this kitchen....and will miss it when we leave!!  It's been the site of many craft projects, cooking experiments and cake icing adventures with the girls over the last 8 years.

These pictures tell something about the happy times we've had at this house over the past 32 years......but it is time to move on..and for us to find the next big adventure.