Stories

This page includes Flash Fiction and slightly longer stories about my family, most of which were done as part of the subjects Writing Family History and Writing the Family Saga run by the University of Tasmania as part of the Diploma in Family History course. The aim of the flash fiction exercise where to choose one of the provided themes and write a fiction/non-fiction piece of no more than 250 words. I have also included pieces of work from other subjects of the Diploma which focus on members of my family.

HAA004 Writing Family History

Week 1 flash fiction. This flash fiction piece is a fictionalised interpretation of my grandmother’s first marriage, told in her voice. It is true that her husband became an alcoholic and was violent towards her and their young son but I have tried to imagine what she would have been feeling.

Flash Fiction – How Did I Get Here?-1hnkpd0

Week 2 flash fiction. This is a bit more of a factual piece with the themes of Conversations with the Past, where i reflect on my journey to find information about my grandfather whom I never knew and my mother didn’t;t really know either.

Conversations with the Past – my grandfather-1noxc6z

Week 3 flash fiction was on the theme of What Matters Most? and I chose to explore my grandmother’s life again, this time chronicling her experience with divorcing her husband in the mid 1950s.

Jean’s divorce-2fkkyyt

Week 4 flash fiction, this time the them was Googling Places Past and I explored how St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in High Street, Penrith NSW had changed over the years.

Googling places past-1oxgd65

Week 5 flash fiction was on the theme of The Man with the Child in His Eyes, and I focused on my great grandmother who took on the duties of a mother at the tender age of 12 after the death of her mother even though she was still just a child at the time.

A mother at 12-udexa3

Week 6 and the final flash fiction for Writing Family History I chose the theme of You Are Where You Live. I focused on the many places that my great, great grandfather lived in his life.

you are where you live-1cq3d0g

The final assignment for this subject was to write a longer piece of work, and I chose to tweak ‘A mother at 12’ and extend it into a fuller story. The title was changed to ‘The worst year of my life’ and more fully explored the lead up to my great grandmother taking on the duties of a mother at age 12, just after she lost her own mother.

The worst year of my life (Final Assignment)-1bt0i7m

HAA104 Writing the Family Saga

The first flash fiction for this course was on the theme Family Feud and my piece focused on my ancestor Elizabeth Grono who despite being form a reasonably well to do family married a convict who was still serving his sentence.

Elizabeth and David-ri76ul

Week two I chose the theme ‘Elementary, My Dear Watson’ which had the focus of a family mystery. In this piece I explore the mysterious life of my 3x great grandfather.

The mystery of Henry Flear Trueman-1j0oz2v

Week three my piece was entitled “Roy, Age 4” and had the them Diving into Description. I worked really hard to be very descriptive in the story.

Roy, Age 4-1v09vvy

Week 4 the theme chosen was The Grand /tour which explored my great grandfathers experiences in Egypt during WWI.

WWI Tour of Egypt-pvt1l3

Week 5 theme was A New Day Dawns and my story is entitled “When will this be over?”

When will this be over?-vncm9y

Week 6 and final flash fiction was entitled “Harvest Festival” and had the theme of Small Pleasures.

harvest festival wk 6-1gfmpo5

The two assignments for this subject, one expanded flash fiction piece and an original piece not based on any of the flash fiction pieces.

assesssment 2 family saga-17eg5e7

Ass 3-21ogkqa

Other written work:

HAA006 – Place, Image Object

Annotated Map and Reflective Statement-22s0trk

Object Biography 2-175qk7p

HAA007 – Convict Ancestors

convict case study-13v3lkc

HAA105 – Convicts in Context

Ass 3 convict’s life-1sm0ydw

HAA107 – Families at War

families at war essay-2cyrwi7

HAA106 – Oral History

oral history ass 3-1982o4y