Actually, I don’t remember much about New Zealand ….so I will attempt a few
little glimpses.
I remember playing “ring-a-ring-a-rosey”…at school and I always got the giggles when we all fell down…I also remember the polio epidemic and to the delight of all of us, we had to stay at home, the worst part was we were not allowed to mix…so we called out to each other over the fence. It was difficult for me because I was an only child and therefore a bit lonely… however we had a Maori housekeeper… whom I loved and she kept me company. (more…)

Like most young people I had great difficulty trying to decide what I wanted to do when I left school…

I dearly wished to study art but because I went to a selective school, North Sydney Girls in Sydney where the only avenue for creativity were the biological drawings which I did for my biology studies. However art or becoming an artist was considered only a hobby and my parents despaired when I demonstrated that I did not want to go to university…after all it was only a place for finding a husband…that’s if you couldn’t make up your mind what you wanted to do…women were still expected to be, if they worked, secretaries, or something subservient in an office….

I wanted to study architecture …but was informed while at school, don’t hold any great expectations you will just end up as a draughtsman in someone’s office… so having taken that on board I decided that school and uni were a non event. (more…)

Where do I start……??
At the beginning I suppose…
My father, Stanley William Hall was a Skipper for Jardine Mathesons in Hong Kong.
My grandfather was chief engineer on his ship
One day my grandfather asked my father to deliver some books and a set of false teeth to my grandmother (the old lady) in Hong Kong.
My father agreed and as he was going down the gangplank the teeth slid off the top of the books and subsequently fell into the sea.
With determination and a lot of guts he delivered the books…thrusting them into the hands of Tommy Fraser’s 16-year-old daughter…Janet…referred to as Jean.
“I lost the teeth but here are the books.”
That was the beginning of a love affair, which lasted until my father died…in 1979 in Mapleton, Queensland Australia. (more…)