BOYUM, Eva

ISBN 978-1-923156-69-2
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ISBN: 978-1-923386-42-6
EBOOK

In The Nick Of Time

 

an autobiography

A GUIDE TO SURVIVAL

Beginning with a picture of life in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century and the effect of WWI on the family fortunes, this story details the life of a young Hungarian girl from her origin in a small town, through the disruption of WWII and the Holocaust.

During these turbulent years, a large number of highly improbable events – often with split-second timing – and some very
honourable people, contributed to the whole family’s survival and its emigration to Australia where the author pursued a long and worthwhile career and an interesting retirement.

WELFORD, John

ISBN 978-1-923214-93-4
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The Road To Nakuru

 

An East African Memoir

The Road to Nakuru is a memoir of Africa and England as told by John Welford about his childhood and young adulthood and that of his brother Geoff , in Kenya and England. It includes a trip to Canada in the late 1960s, that they both made.

The book is also a biography of both their remarkable parents, Spencer (“Spen”) and Peggy Welford, who met in interesting circumstances in Nairobi in 1943. It tells of their romance and marriage and their story after that. Accounts of their ancestors is
also contained in the unfolding history.

The story revolves around a town in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province, called Nakuru. The book opens with a recollection of a perilous
childhood journey to Nakuru and the memoir finishes in that place in 1971, where Spen died. There is a postscript that details what
happened to the rest of his family after that.

About the Author

 

JOHN WELFORD WAS born in Nairobi in 1946. His mother was a Scots South African from Cape Town. His father was English, from Lymm in Cheshire, but he had been working in Kenya since he was 18. They met in Nairobi during World War 2 and married in January 1944.

John and his brother were brought up on farms in Kenya until the 1952 Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. Because of their farm’s proximity to terrorist hideouts, John’s parents made the difficult decision to send their boys to England. It was a 2 day flight on a Handley Page Hermes. They were met by their Aunt Alice, their father’s sister.

For the next four years they lived with their Auntie and Granny and went to school in South Devon, going back to Kenya for a Summer holiday only once in that time. When they finally returned to Kenya, John and his brother had to go to boarding school in Nairobi from when he was ten until he left school, eight years later.

Then followed another sojourn in England, studying for a B.Sc. During that time he learnt to sail and then became a sailing instructor in his vacations. A trip to Canada – picking tobacco in Ontario – earned him enough money to go back to Kenya for Christmas 1968.

He found a job teaching Maths and Science at a Prep School in Kenya and did that for 8 years at two different boarding schools. He met a young lady from Geelong, Australia, who came to teach at his school and they got married at Morrisons, near Meredith, in 1976. He has lived in Victoria ever since.

Because he had no teaching qualification, John spent the next five years tuning cars, having bought the franchise for Geelong from Home Tune.

In 1981, He went back to teaching (with Permission to Teach) at Geelong Grammar School. This meant having to teach full time, as well as gain a Diploma of Education at Melbourne University. He spent the next 20 years teaching at GGS, including 15 years at Timbertop, Geelong Grammar’s Year 9 campus near Mount Buller, in Victoria. It was an outdoor, physical life which he very much enjoyed.

John contracted pneumonia at the end of 1999 which later turned into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and he spent 8 years recovering slowly from that. Since leaving Geelong Grammar he has worked part time at local Ballarat schools and became a mentor for troubled kids including two with Asperger’s syndrome.

He has also became a leader and facilitator for the Pathways Foundation which runs contemporary Rites of Passage camps for teenage boys, and their fathers or significant male mentors. The Victorian camps for boys are run on his property, in the bush south of Ballarat where he lives with his wife, Gaye. In his spare time, he still teaches sailing with Sailability in Ballarat, and he drives a ‘hot’ 50-year-old Peugeot 504 in rallies and autocrosses for fun.

BELL, Alan

ISBN 978-1-923214-91-0
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The Bells of Gulf Station

 

Pioneer farmers in the Yarra Valley 1850 – 1950

 

This book tells the story of the author’s Scottish ancestors who, in 1839, arrived at Port Phillip on the David Clark as part of the first shipload of free settlers to migrate directly from Britain to the new settlement. It follows their early pioneering of the Scottish farming community at Kangaroo Ground, and later expansion to become the owners of Gulf Station, a large pastoral run in the Yarra Valley, in the 1850s.

 

There, most of the third generation of Bell descendants would live out their lives without having children of their own, until, after a century, the property passed into other hands. In the 1970s, it was bought by the State of Victoria, to be managed by the National Trust. The unusual diversity and state of preservation of the original
buildings and infrastructure at Gulf Station make it perhaps the best example of a mid-19th century farmstead in Australia.

About the Author

 

ALAN BELL is a retired agricultural scientist who grew up at Pine Grove, Kongwak, the farm to which his grandfather, Frank Bell, relocated from Gulf Station in 1911. He, his sister and several older cousins are now the only direct descendants of the Gulf Station Bells who remember visiting the old property and its residents in the 1940s and early 1950s.

MIAN, Azmiri

ISBN 978-1-923214-19-4
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Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap explores our cultural differences and their profound impact on generational relationships. While older generations cling to traditional customs, younger Muslims navigate the complexities of Western influence, resulting in a divergence of values and beliefs.

Through anecdotes and scholarly insights, the book delves into the pivotal role of grandparents in migrant families, illuminating how they serve as custodians of cultural heritage and sources of wisdom.

By fostering understanding and dialogue, it charts a path towards reconciliation, where tradition and modernity coexist harmoniously in the ever-evolving tapestry of Islamic identity.

RYAN, Michael

ISBN 978-1-923214-09-5
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Minutes to Memories

In 1963, two Australian families of Irish heritage, Ryan and McNamara, were united through a wedding held in Ivanhoe, Victoria.

Minutes to Memories traces the ancestry of both families, dating back to the 1850s when they emigrated from Ireland.

The author provides a conversational account of his grandparents, parents, and siblings, and also shares his major passions with tales of the characters who have made these passions so special. The book is filled with engaging stories that offer amusing reflections for its numerous characters, in addition to recording important family history.

Minutes to Memories is the author’s gift to his family, providing anecdotes to help future generations understand the personalities that preceded them. It’s a record of who they are, so that in future years they will remain more than just a statistic in ancestry records.

CARVOSSO, John

ISBN 978-1-923156-36-4
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Samuel Carvosso 1814-1874

Coachbuilder & Much More

People fade from the pages of history, often leaving little or no historical memory in their community. Yet, for a time, they have occupied centre stage, some longer, some shorter, but all heroic. Samuel Carvosso arrived in Adelaide with his young family in February 1849, an ‘Old Colonist’. He lived life to the full, was memorable, likeable, complex, honest, generous, yet flawed (as we all are). He lived a Wesleyan life integrating a personal faith in his Lord with the church, his work and the broader community.

Extensive appendixes include family trees and details of Samuel’s contemporaries, friends and extended family who intersected his life. Also includes insightful fragments about the women—Samuel’s wife Louisa, their daughters, and other women.

“Samuel Carvosso’s story takes the reader on a journey through the challenges and achievements of another time. It brings to light a slice of history, showing us the differences and similarities with our own lives.”

Lisa Lark
Editor

About the Author

John Allan Carvosso was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1952 and is a direct descendant of Samuel Carvosso.

John is a retired engineer. He specialised in piping, associated equipment, and engineering management. He is a current member of Engineers Australia, holding chartered status. He rose through the engineering ranks to the role of Technical Director with AECOM.

John’s educational qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering and a Diploma in Technology Management.

John has been a committed Christian all his life.

This book is the fruit of his retirement dream. The project picked up where is father, Rex Samuel Carvosso, left off in 1994.

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https://johnacarvosso.com