In 2003 Counting Crows had a hit with Joni Mitchell’s song Big Yellow Taxi. The chorus goes like this: “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” This thought is captured in a brilliant article by Amy Remeikis called, ‘Facing a father's death with laughter and tears’. Amy Remeikis battles with the emotions of watching her father die, using laughter and conversation to ...
We start the school year knowing that Australia’s educational standards are dropping and yet Australians, on a median basis, are the wealthiest people group in the world. Is more money spent on education the answer, or is something else the missing part of the educational puzzle? Educational experts in Australia have argued in favour of billions of dollars of extra government funding to be spent on education to help Australia return ...
The last day of the Absent Get Fatherhood Back Tour was spent in the “State of Excitement” which of course is Western Australia. This was the tagline found on every WA number plate in years gone by and it still applies today especially in the area of fatherhood. Justin Hunt, the Absent director, and I had two well attended Absent movie screenings, all on the same day, and then caught ...
Dear Diary, IT’S A BOY! My beautiful daughter gave birth the other week to a beautiful boy, 8lb 3oz. I was supposed to speak in Parliament House at the Human Rights Conference about ‘DIDs’ that week. And you know what? Normally my work would take preference over my private life. That's possibly why I am now divorced. But this time I said no. My beautiful daughter and the birth of my ...
I arrived home from school at about 4 pm one afternoon to find that my pigeons had been stolen, and one of the new chicks had been killed and was dead on the floor of the cage. I was 10 at the time. It was 1952 and we were living at 44 Canning Street, North Melbourne. I loved my pigeons. I had five excellent pairs and they all were good breeders. ...
When I was five years old, I lived at 302 Dryburgh Street, North Melbourne, and on Saturday mornings my Grandfather, William (Bill) Coyle would look after me while my mother worked in the city. My grandfather was about 162cm (5’4”) tall, and about as wide. His grandfather, a lawyer, had migrated from Ireland to Australia in the 1800s. They were good Catholics; my grandfather had 14 children, of which my dear ...
Another piece of dad’s ‘irony’ was to allow me to do almost anything I liked (within the law), even take his new 1956, two-tone-green FJ Holden, registration GND 535 (that he would park in Kipling Street before leaving the keys on the ‘fridge’ and retiring to the lounge room to read the paper) for an unapproved drive past the milk bar where my mates were. He came out the next morning ...
My wife and I are experiencing (as grandparents) a unique déjà vu. Twenty-four years ago, we experienced with watching concern and anxiousness our daughter's and now son-in-law's dating and relating. We are again going through similar ‘pain’ as our number two grand-daughter is living with us, as she undertakes tertiary studies. You've guessed it, she and her latest ‘beau’ have announced that they are officially an 'item', i.e. a couple. It's ...
A young boy sat in a science class, his eyes fixed on a beaker sitting on the teacher’s desk. The teacher’s words were muffled to the boy’s hearing as he thought of his dad and how great it would be when he was no longer busy at the firm and they could go fishing one weekend. But deep down, he feels this may never happen. An executive sat in his leather ...
Speaking as a grandfather of twelve grandchildren, I am grateful for having been a father, and now a grandfather. It’s a constant challenge, doing the right thing all the time. I wonder if the grandkids know that saying, ‘Like father, like son’? I’m gradually learning! And how about this one: Q. What’s grander than a dad? A. A grand-dad! ___ William Lackenby, Moss Vale, NSW, aged 76 years. Bill and Joan ...
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