John Wallace and Julia Barber – A family history perspective
John Wallace b 1841Comedian, Actor, Stage Manager There has been much written about Johnny Wallace from a historical theatrical perspective, most notably by Kurt Gänzl, who is a well-respected theatrical historian among other things, and to whom I owe a great deal for filling in the gaps in my family history and getting the research ball rolling again. He has a love of Johnny Wallace which spans several decades and Johnny’s whole career, and he has chronicled Johnny’s theatrical achievements in his grand tomes of “Emily Soldene: Search for a singer”, and in other places too. Julia Grace Barber – Chorus Dancer & actress My story is of the Wallace family as a whole. Johnny, Julia and their 4 children plus their other spouses and children. To start...
Jean Kinchin (nee Wallace) aka Gran
My Gran was born in Western Australia on the 7th January of 1912, a couple of years before the first world war. She was born at Sandstone, Black Range Hospital about 81km North East of where the family lived at Youanmi, where my great-grandfather was a baker. She spent the first 7 or so years there, first in the heat around Youami in the goldfields and then in Perth and the southern forest areas near Wuraming; she developed a love of the wildflowers that grew in abundance there. Jean (left) and Grace Wallace She started school in WA and walked to school through the bush, her older sister Grace making her go ahead to knock down the cobwebs strung across the path. Gran had a difficult time at school, as she had changed between different states and different...
Wilfred Edward (“Ken”) Kinchin aka Pop
My grandfather, Pop, was a quiet church going man, who was always very gentle and caring. He was a true gentleman. Pop as a young man Pop was born in London, and his father died in a boiler accident when Pop was just a toddler. He got farmed out to the relatives and neighbours to look after him as his mother had to work a great deal to try and support them. He got a scholorship to Whitgift school (https://www.whitgift.co.uk/) where he went for a short time before his mother suggested that they move to Australia for a fresh start, and better prospects. They sailed on the SS Benalla in 1922, making friends with others on the same journey. Once arriving in Australia everything wasn’t all roses. His Mum got quite sick with pneumonia and pleurisy, it took her a...
Noeline Joan Kinchin (née Wicks)
Loving, caring, generous and brave are all apt words to describe my Mum. These are my memories of her and her life. Noeline grew up in Ryde the second youngest of 4 girls. All of the girls seemed to me to be very close, though there was a six-year gap in the middle. Shirley and Lorraine went off to work around the same time and went out socially together, while the younger two siblings being that much younger were still at school. Their parents ran the local grocery shop, where I am sure they helped out. My distant cousins remember the lollies from the shop when they would visit. I know from anecdotal evidence that Mum was a sickly child, and I guess she missed a fair bit of school. This was to be a theme in her life I suppose; illness I mean. I don’t think...
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