Curiosity has always been a very strong personal trait, it has been expressed through both breadth and depth curiosity. From a young age I was an avid reader, and I was captivated by photography, and by all kinds of collections. These things provided me with the ‘building blocks’ for my pursuit of information about my family.

 I loved the wonder that was a photo. Long before I was given a hand-me-down camera to use myself, I collected old photos from anybody who would give them to me. By the end of primary school I had a worn white vinyl makeup case packed full of black and white ‘treasures’. Scrawled on the back of many of these photos was whatever subject details I’d been able to extract from the donor. In time I was given whole albums by elderly relatives who couldn’t fathom my interest in them, but were glad to have somebody to pass them on to.

By late primary school I had also acquired a number of small interesting ‘objects’ that were to remain for many years safely nestled among my other collections. They were in fact heirlooms! Decades later they assumed a whole new importance to me, and some were able able to confirm significant dates.