The Tree of Me

This morning I was listening to the radio and a woman was being interviewed about and was playing a button accordion. It made me think of the accordion in my cupboard. Accordion belonging to either Knox or John Moore, Wallangarra Internet research leads me to believe that it is a Vienna model Hohner diatonic accordion made in Germany. The melody is played on the row of buttons on the right. There are two buttons on the left for bass and chord accompaniment. Only one of the three draw stops at the top remains. One day when I was probably about 10, my uncle Matthew Moore (1907-1981) gave me the accordion which had belonged to someone in the family. Now of course I can't remember who owned it. It was either his father Knox Moore or his grandfather John. Did it come with the family when they emigrated from Ireland or did they have it when they lived and worked in the sugar mills in Greenock, Scotland? Perhaps it was purchased after they came to live in Australia. I may hav...

Apparently today, the 23rd January 2014 is National Handwriting Day. I didn't know such a day existed until it came up in a Facebook post. This got me thinking about a possible blog post. I have original examples of handwriting dating from the early 1800s amongst my personal possessions. I have photocopies of other early writing as well. However, I thought about a dictation. I had hoped to find three examples but could only come up with two. I must have tossed my Spelling book! The first is a copy of a dictation test given to my great, great uncle James Moore when he applied to join the Queensland Police Force in 1909. The results of this test indicated that his writing was "Fair". Queensland State Archives A/40562  AF 3092 The second example comes from his nephew, my grandfather's brother Matthew Moore. It is taken from his Qualifying Examination Tablet dated 10th November 1922. I was very fortunate to find this sample. In 1990 I was at Jenning...

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...