She was always a perfect mother

I have called this blog Lorelei, because I remember Mum playing it on the piano when I was young. She used to play the violin, too.


Mum had two children, me in 1952 and my brother in 1960. She was always very kind and rarely angry. She spent a lot of time with us and put a lot of work into bringing us up. Our father wasn't a bad person, he was a good provider, but he didn't have much time to spend with us. His whole life was his work and politics.

We had some lovely camping holidays and also holidays in our beach house at Huskisson. We had a large extended family of uncles, aunts and cousins, but it fell apart when my great grandmother died. She had kept everyone together.

Probably the most shocking event for my mother was when her father died in 1962. It was the end of her family's wealth. He was a businessman who owned properties. Due to death taxes, a lot of these had to be sold.

He had a huge funeral. I remember it well. Hundreds of people turned out. Hundreds more stood by the side of the road and watched the cortege pass.

After that, there was no extra money for my mother to spend on herself. There was only my father's income. We all felt a bit poorer. Mum's mother was sacked from her shop assistant job because the shop had to be sold. A few years later the family mansion was sold as well and my grandmother moved to a small house.

The death of my grandfather had a huge, terrible impact on all of our lives, and my mother still cries about it today.