My interest in family history most likely began as a result of the numerous family stories told by both my parents. Stories about this great-grandfather, or that strange and funny great-aunt, some they knew personally and some that had been handed down to them by equally proud family story keepers. As you may imagine my family history has been well documented on both my maternal and paternal sides. As a child I loved to read through the ‘stud books’, our family’s term of endearment for the books on our family’s genealogical lines and family history.
From that foundation I developed a love of history in
general, particularly social history and domestic history. I want to discover how the average person
lived in the various ages of man, what did they wear, what did they eat, how
did they take their recreation? The
quest for information led me to the University of New England where I studied
History and English. It was here I had
the privilege of discovering more about Australia’s past and the histories of
the average people who lived here from ancient to more contemporary times. It was here that I fell in love with the
English language and the art of the story to help people today engage more
deeply with the characters of the past.
It is an absolute pleasure to work with Anna as a project writer and having the opportunity to discover more about the social and domestic histories of her client families. Even the family with a seemingly average ancestry has an interesting story just waiting to be uncovered.
I am also a dressmaker/tailor so it seemed only natural that my enthusiasm for social history should weave their way into my work in Blue Bird Studios. One element of my business is researching and recreating items of historical dress using the methods, tools and materials of the period.
It is an exciting field of social history as historians and researchers discover something new every day, not surprisingly I still have a lot to learn. Every project I receive is thoroughly researched to ensure that the piece of recreated clothing is as historically accurate as possible, and the research is made available to the client if they wish. If you are interested in finding out more about an item of clothing an ancestor is wearing in a photograph, or an item you have that was worn by your ancestor, or if you wish to have an item recreated, please send me an email any time.
