“The essence of the Mallee’s Living Histories project reminds me of my favourite quote … ‘the task of each family is also the task of humanity. This is to cherish the living, remember those who have gone before, and prepare for those who are not yet born’.
“This project has embraced all three of these tasks … the storytellers remember and treasure those who have gone before, the writers cherish the storytellers and honour their stories, and both leave a legacy for us and for those not yet born, sharing important lessons about lives well lived. These lessons are mostly gems hidden between the lines of stories in which readers will delight.
“Readers will readily recognise how much has changed in the century spanned by the stories to the present, but the most important insights they give us are enduring human truths. These include the love of family, the gift of friendship, the dignity of work, the value of being a volunteer serving the community, the capacity to come through tough times strengthened and last but never least, the blessing bestowed on our lives by humour.
“These enduring human truths are embedded in the contours of the many conversations which the storytellers and the writers shared, conversations which have been transformed into stories for us to read. The tales they tell are about place as well as people. Our memories are mostly embedded in place, and certain places become milestones in our lives and in the history of a community. These stories are told with a strong sense of the Mallee but also many other places where the storytellers grew up and lived. Wonderful and evocative photographs of people and places bring the stories alive, enhancing the eloquence with which they are written”.
Emertius Professor Dorothy Scott AM
