Thursday, March 29

Family Photos

I just love this old photo. It would have been taken around 1931/2. It is of my Mother with a friend. My Mother is the girl on the right in the photo, & that is as tall as she ever grew. She looks so tall in this pic, but in reality she was a short adult. I love the clothes, so typical of that period, and the straight way they are standing tall.

In the background you can see the poor steep denuded hills that the Pakeha (white man) came & stripped & burnt off all vegetation. The idea was to farm the land, but as you can see, it was a poor land for farms, & many failed.

My Grandparents went to live in the isolated area when their children were very young. My Grandfather became the Roadman, who maintained the roads to keep them open for traffic. My Grandmother was the Postmistress, & loved doing her job wearing that hat! We always had wonderful old stamps -leftovers from her days as Postmistress.

When my mother & her brothers went to school, it was in a local school house which was built for the children of that lonely area. Locals built it & were very proud of it. There were initially only about 4 families who attended, but a few more children came later. I dont seem to have any photos of the school, but think my brother might have some still.


My other Grandparents lived in the district & were farmers, & part of the original families who settled the area, & built the school house.




******
This is a new generation of family. My dear Daughter J, with my now, almost Adult Granddaughter S. She was about 2 when this pic was taken. She has her Dolly with her, which was her constant companion, until she lost her, then she had another doll called Kelly.
And this pic is of Meggie, Mary, my mother, with S on her knee, and DJ sitting next to Mum. That was four generations of us. S was 8 months old. We went to NZ to visit Mum, & it was the first time she met S.

And this pic was taken during that visit with my Mum, & is of S, with my youngest nephew, Little D, who is now almost 19. I am sure I have another pic with a better pic of D, but I cant find it. It is time to tidy my photo collection!
The years seem to flash past, & S will be 18 in May. It hardly seems possible.
It was just yesterday that she was born!



10 comments:

SnowWhite said...

what a cute trip down memory lane. Good looking buch of women you all are too
xx
shona

Anonymous said...

Meggie ,
1931 - 2 it is for Marys snap .I do indeed have one or two photos of that old school ( built with timber from our grandparents farm ). -- well more photos of the pupils of the school really -- the two sides of our family made up almost the entire school Roll at one time too ! -- Five from one side and four from the other .
Good to see the old photos -- Your nephew ' little' D has only just cut his hair -- it had grown way down past his shoulders as you you saw when here -- Gosh don't the years fly !

Michelle said...

thanks for sharing your photos Meggie. I love old photos and the 1930's one is great - what lovely clothes they wore then.

Molly said...

What fun looking at your pictures. I enjoy looking at old pictures. Pictures can bring back so many fond memories.

Sheila said...

Lovely old photos. Your mother's sweater is fabulous. Their expressions are quite serious, taking a photo in those days was more of an event than it is today.
We have a photo of four generations of our family, they are so nice to have aren't they...!

Stomper Girl said...

I too love the clothes in your mother's photo. And the bobbed hair. Fantastic.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful family, in all generations! That first sweater is so very female, isn't it? The design jumps out as ovaries and uterus... Very bold, I must say! It IS a lovely outfit. :)

Shelina said...

These are cute family pictures. Thanks for sharing them. Time does fly. My daughter just turned 18, and I was just thinking about when she was too little to see what was in the sink!

LBA said...

Such a good looking family you have, Meggie !

molly said...

My interest in faraway places started when I was very young and started a stamp collection....Love those old photos....