Mum had ferrets called Jinnie and Jimmie. She’d bath them and give them a blue rinse. When holidaying with us in Broken Hill, she’d go rabbiting. If Jinnie stayed in the burrow, Mum would also stay till she came out. Dad would drive to the house for a thermos and eats.

In the Tallarook Ranges in Central Victoria, my son Ian and his mate Michael would go walking with his Nana. She had a heart condition, so her tablets were tied in the corner of a hankie. If she got a pain in her chest, she’d pop a pill and continue walking up the mountain.

Grandma Studd (Mary Innes) came from Buninyong, south of Ballarat. Mum, Dad and I would visit and the children would call out ‘The Studd’s are here!’. Fourteen children would scramble out and boiled lollies, wrapped by Dad, in a cone of newspaper would be given out. I must have been 12 years old at the time.

We always had holidays at Daylesford (north of Ballarat). Mum loved the ‘minnie’ (mineral) water and she’d make raspberry vinegar so I could drink it. We’d take a dozen bottles home, but some would pop their corks before we arrived. Plus, Dad drove with his brake’s on, so ‘minnie’ water had to be used to cool the brake shoes.

Our Billy (William Charles) - the spoiled only boy. We had no hot water laid on in East Brunswick, so the kettle boiled and Dad would stand at the kitchen door to hand Billy the kettle for a wash and shave. Then Dad would take Billy’s push bike to the front gate and at 8.12am, Billy would ride to Spencer St Station, to catch the 8.20am Geelong Flyer to work. These were fun days in our house, 1930 - 1945.