I think my History Obsession began in Mum's Kitchen

When I was a child, I was fascinated by my mother's childhood memories, growing up in North Manly during the war, shared with me in mum's kitchen.

Mum was born in Narrabeen in March 1939, as the world was facing the second world war.  With that came stories of mum's childhood during and after the war, when butter was scarce, and rations allowed them to survive, and spreading dripping, instead of butter, on their bread was common. Mum's cooking was basic, as she worked full time as a Legal Secretary so by the time she got home, she usually made just meat and three veg and saved the fancy cooking for the weekends, which I loved, helping her and bonding over food. Mum´s Shepherd pie conjures up vivid childhood memories, baked in our old post-WW2 avocado, and beige enamel gas oven with the old pilot light that was lit with a match and was scary smelling the gas seep out before the flame caught it in a little explosion of fire.  

Mum's parents and grandparents lived close by, and we walked past my great grandparents house in Soldiers Avenue Harbord (Freshwater) on the way to Freshwater beach. Old man Claus, a Norwegian sailor from Bergen, built the original wooden house with his own two hands in the early 1900s and they lived their the mid 1960s when they both passed away, six months apart; a love like no other.

Mum´s grandparents lived 1.2km eastward, towards Freshwater Beach and we walked past their house on the way to our local beach, Freshwater

While Mum's parents, her childhood home was 1.2 km in the opposite direction, up the hill in Allambie. From our front yard, we could see the tops of the four tall Oak trees that stood outside mum's parent's home.  That too fascinated me and sparked my childhood imagination and passion for history.