Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Regional Professional Studies

First Supervisor

Dr Julie Goyder

Abstract

"My Dearest Mum" is a biographical journey inspired by my mother's letters home, from Australia to England, to her mother from the beginning of 1966 to the end of 1967. It interweaves extracts, background and reflections on the content and context of her life at the time with glimpses from my own life filtered through her story. The intent is to create from my mother's letters to her mother a biographical account of her life, as she shares it with her mother, that gives some of the flavour of her nature, the social context of the day and my place within that context. In order to do this I have distilled from her letters the events and attitudes that influenced her life and explored her current reflections on the times and her perspectives at the time whilst including my own recollections and observations. My original interest was in the writing of a document that would preserve a piece of family history and therefore for a readership within the family. However as my reading has included the letters and stories of people both ordinary and extraordinary I have become aware of the interest of the broader community in social history and local events. Therefore I have considered this thesis as a beginning in a larger journey of auto/biography with relevance to West Australian social history.

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