The Tree of Me

During a recent tidy up of my filing cabinets I discovered 2 school books that had been placed in there for safe keeping many years ago. The first book was My Busy Book from 1965 when I was in Kindergarten at Jennings Public School. Perhaps some of you may remember the salmon coloured books from the 1960s. Fortunately it was a small school. The teacher traced many shapes each afternoon for us to fill in with various patterns the next day. She also wrote dotted words for us to trace the next day. It seems that jelly pads had yet to reach Jennings. Unfortunately the salmon colour didn't scan. The second of these exercise books belonged to my grandfather's brother, Matthew John Moore who attended Jennings Public School. I haven't always been in possession of this book. I attended the Jenning's centenary celebrations in 1990 and was excited to see that this book was part of the display. I asked the organisers who had donated the book for the display but was infor...

Years ago I asked my father how his grandfather Knox Moore had lost a finger. Of course, he was astounded that I knew his grandfather was missing a digit and asked how I knew. The photos below show exactly how I made the discovery. It's there in his wedding photo in 1907 but by 1913 he was missing part of the first finger on his left hand. Knox Moore and his wife Mary (Polly) McColm - 1907 Knox and Mary Moore with their children Matthew, Rosetta, Knox (baby) and James (in front) - 1913 My father then said that Knox had lost his finger on a circular saw. Many years later someone asked him how he had done it and as he told them how it happened he did it again. Part of another finger was gone. For years I thought no more of the story. A couple of months ago I was randomly searching the digitised newspapers on Trove . Here was the story verifying that Knox Moore had had 2 accidents involving a circular saw. The Brisbane Courier (Qld.: 1864 - 1993), Friday 18 November 1...