Hannah Jane
What a Gift!
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| My Grandmother | My Mother | |
Hannah Jane What a Gift! |
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| Myself | My Joy |
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I know so little about my grandmother except that she was a Ramsey, a Scot and that she married an Englishman called Forster. However I do know that my mother loved her dearly and that she died about the time I was born. It always seemed I had plenty of time to check out this information. Time passes and opportunities are missed however I shall continue to research. In 1939, my parents married and in 1944, I was born. Other siblings both brothers were born in 1942 and 1946. In 1953 we immigrated by boat, through the Suez Canal, on the "S.S.New Australia", to Australia. We moved many times during the early years of our time here. As children we went to schools in N.S.W. and Queensland; Jean taught in those states and Dad farmed. In those years there was no Income support and so people travelled to find work. Robert, my older brother, left school at 14 to help support the family. He worked as a farm labourer and his wage helped to keep both John and I at school. Robert had been attending a Public school in England and it is only now that I appreciate how different it would have been for him. Australia has been a wonderful land to us and certainly changed us dramatically. In 1960 I finished high school and started my nursing training in North Queensland in a small town called Atherton. The training was a four year course and we all lived in the nurses home. Wanting to do my midwifery and see more of Australia, I moved to Hobart to complete this training. In 1966 I married. My three children were born between 1968 and 1972. I have two boys, now men, and one girl. Like most, I am very proud of my children and value all that they have given me over the years, including the headaches!! Kathryn born 1969 is the fourth female in this line. In 1991, both Kathryn and I graduated from University, she as a nurse and I as a social worker. A very proud day for me. In 1985 my mother died and I lost my dearest friend. Yet she is with me every day and as much a part of my life today as ever. Kate, my delight, now works in England as a nurse. She married Phillip in 2000. While I miss her so far away I take pleasure in seeing her grow and develop. Today, with great pride, I add to family line of women, my granddaughter, Hannah Jane. Hannah was born on the 21st May this year in the U.K. I was fortunate to be there for her birth and then for the first few weeks. Now I watch her development via a webcam and wait impatiently for both parents, Kate and Phillip, and Hannah to come to Australia to live in 2003. How wonderful. During the time I spent at University completing my Social Work degree I became totally hooked on computers. While I was a very reluctant user at the start believing that I would not be able to work with the new technology and probably make an idiot of myself, I was mesmerised by the sheer brilliance of the computer. Eleven years later, I am still addicted and enjoy emailing, online games such as crib and euchre, fiddling with my system, and now playing around with Linux. I am gaining skills with hardware but gender typical, have found this the most challenging area. I call my computer, 'my retirement recreation package' but it is more than just a recreational toy. As a Christian I also link with Christian sites for both personal spiritual growth and my church newsletter. While I do not perceive of myself as a Feminist yet I see the need for each person, male and female, to be a free being. I call myself a 'personist-non gender specific'. Society has imposed as many constraints on male behaviour as on female behaviour. The strongest bonds and constraints are not those of a physical nature but the powerful mental messages we receive. As a person with a deep commitment to Assertiveness, I am ever aware that the hardest battles I fight are those I fight with myself. Then there is the Existential belief that the more freedom I enjoy, the less free I am. Freedoms bring responsibility and thus the freer I am the more responsible I need to be with that freedom. Life is full of quandaries and contradictions. I am the person I am because of all my experiences. Some experiences I would sooner forget yet they have helped to make me the person I am. I have my strengths and my weakness as do all yet I am happy with who I am - most of the time - and for all that I am I thank my mother first, my father, and all those others who have been a part of my journey including my second husband and friend - Charles. Kate will carry on the line. I would like to think that she has a feeling for the people her grandmother and greatmother were. She is my 'happy child' but shows the same courage to work her way through adversity that I knew in my mother. Sometimes as parents we would like to stop the pain our children have to live through but to do that would be to deprive them of the growth stimulus they need to reach their potential. While she now lives half way round the world, yet our paths are not separated by distance. As time passes, I hope we will become friends, two adults joined not by blood, but by love. |
My beliefs:Mature love exists in a relationship of minimal dependency. True power is the power to mold my environment to meet my needs and to allow me to reach my potential. We learn most through pain. Each person is responsible for their own behaviours and no one else's. Life is full of choices. If we chose not to choose that is a choice. |
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Australia - Golden Land! | ||
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S.S. New Australia! | ||
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Opening Page! | ||
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Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as fisherman,
and yet pointed to a harvest that was yet to come
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These pages are best viewed in 1024 x 768. If you have any suggestions to offer or wish to discuss further some of the issues raised on this page, please contact me through the email link above! | |
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