Letter to Dorothy Meagher from Terence Meagher c.1950

Letter to Dorothy Meagher from Terence Meagher c.1950

Letter to Dorothy Meagher from Terence Meagher c.1950

Letter to Lux Meagher from Vincent Meagher 1911 (page 1)

Letter to Lux Meagher from Mary Meagher 1911 (page 1)

Letter to Lux Meagher from Vincent Meagher c.1910 (page 1)
Late last year, the Athenaeum Theatre advertised a stage production of Alice in Wonderland for children in January. When I saw the email in my inbox, I instantly thought with delighted relief, ‘Christmas presents for my nieces, sorted!’
Last month, I found a handwritten story in the archives written by my grandmother about her grandmother’s encounter with a bushranger in the 1870s. I could not resist sharing it for Women’s History Month! Dorothy Hogan Meagher (nee Donovan) was ‘Gran’ to me, ‘Dot’ to some of my cousins and ‘Doll’ to my father. She wrote this story in 1996, when she was eighty years old, about a recollection – a little tale of past history – for my mother who was doing family tree research.
Margaret McCormack, daughter of William Hogan and Julia McGuire was born c.1848 in County Galway, Ireland. At seventeen years old, Margaret, noted as a servant on the marriage certificate, married tollkeeper, Daniel McCormack, on 1st July 1868 at St Patrick’s Church in Kilmore, Australia. They had seven children: James Daniel (1869-1940); Mary Ellen (1871-1939); Julia (1874-1899); Bridget (1876-1877); Bridget (1879-1959); Kathleen (1880-1961) and William Joseph (1883-1952). Margaret’s mother, Julia Hogan (1818-1886) lived with the McCormack family at Northwood, before dying of senility in 1886.
The lure of popcorn and a summer holiday matinee of my all-time favourite film, Rear Window (1954), playing at the Lido Cinema in Hawthorn proved irresistible a few weeks back. My dear friend Rebecca and her ten-year-old daughter, Anna, came along with me. They were seeing the movie for the first time. Read more
Melbourne emerged from a second lockdown in November. Restricted to a five-kilometre radius of one’s home for thirteen weeks, Melburnians had no choice but to get to know the local surrounds intimately. These restrictions kept many from seeing family and friends, and from travelling.
Writing about my great grandfather’s purchase of his property, Ikerrin, had me thinking about the origins of the common phrase, the ‘Great Australian Dream’. I wanted to know if it stemmed from the post war period in the 1950s, or was an earlier concept.