'Big Toe Severed' at Koondrook

My Grandfather, Percy Empey, cut his big toe at Koondoork. He was taken by tram from Koondrook to Kerang. The story appeared in The Bendigo Advertiser in 1917.

Notes

'Big Toe Severed', The Bendigo Advertiser, 27 October 1917, p.10, accessed 27 August 2018.

Photography by Jennifer Empey, 2018.

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8 January 1969 Fires in Victoria. (Content Warning: May be Distressing)

On 8 January 1969, the temperature climbed to a century . Sixty miles per hour winds swirled in a west-northwesterly direction. Percy and Ivy, my grandparents, left Bookaar and travelled home to West Footscray. Outside of Geelong, they rattled along the Geelong-Melbourne highway and neared Lara. ‘Look at the dark black smoke, Perc,’ exclaimed Ivy. ‘Something must be wrong,’ said Percy. Sweat ran down his face. ‘Cars are turning back. There must be a fire.’ He made a U-turn and headed back in the direction they had come. They pulled up on the side of the road, got down low in the car, and covered themselves with the blanket. A knock at the driver’s window startled them. Percy peeled back the blanket and wound down the window. ‘Are you alright?’ said the policeman. ‘Yes, thank you. We are fine, said Percy. Ivy peered out from under the blanket. ‘The fire has moved on. You can move out now. Be careful! Electric wires have fallen along the road. Up ahead, a pole...

Panmure Cemetery Victoria

On the way to Warrnambool, I made a detour at Panmure. I was looking for the final resting place of my great-great-grandparents. I didn’t know so many Bants were buried there together. Imagine my surprise when I had driven past a dirt road named Bant St. [1] I turned off the highway in Panmure, the town where my granny, Ivy Bant, was born. [2] I headed down a street, drove over a bridge up a hill, across the railway track and parked near the white wooden fence. I stepped onto the crushed bluestone path into Panmure Cemetery, which was surrounded by trees of different sizes. It was a dull, cloudy, cold day. My feet sloshed in the patchy wet grass, breaking the silence that prevailed. Near the entrance, I stood at a row of graves of my granny’s uncles. William and his wife had a stone slab with an engraved headstone. [3] William’s son, John, had a grave with an inscription etched in stone. [4] An orange-brown coloured headstone with a white painted wrought iron railin...

Vikings

The next season of the TV series Vikings is nearly here. And, it reminds me of my family history research. S omeone traced my family tree back to the brother, Sigurd, that Ivar killed in Vikings. I don't know if it's been verified or not! So, I don't know if it's true or not! I just find it interesting that someone could trace a family line back to Ragnar and his sons, whether it's true or not. So, it makes it a bit eerie to watch, especially Ragnar's sons doing battle. But then, if I weren't interested in my family history, I would never have known and followed the breadcrumbs that someone left in tracing it back to them. Whether it was a true or false claim. It just leaves me to wonder. And, it makes history even more fascinating to me cause of all the ancestors that I stumble across. And, I want to learn about the kind of lives that they might have led.

Jennifer Empey Family History

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