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It has been a full on semester! I’ve had the joy of working with students from Bond University, Swinburne University and Griffith University this year!

We have been working on a series of stories to celebrate war veterans across the world.

Some of these diverse stories include a Canadian perspective of Remembrance Day in Australia to a video series highlighting the Latvian and Russian Community of Brisbane. It has been a true pleasure to have the ability to share these wonderful stories within the community.

This year I met my idol Andrew Denton.

4 Follow our Mascot Ava to Page

Connecting young people and seniors to document stories for future generations

Volunteers Melissa Haber and Jeana Wong Semester 2: 2015

Words from Bev the founder of Celebrate Living History

Words from Bev Wilkinson

The Man that Never Quit

Snap Chat Your Future Soar Con Love at First Sight

Celebrate Living History www.celebratelivinghistory.com Semester 2: 2015

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There is a man that was destined to make great changes in people’s lives. This man is someone who has seen it all. He has seen the world evolve from the simplest of times, into the big busy impatient world that we all live in today. His heart has been forged to withstand some of the most painful challenges that any human can endure, and his character so strong that he would still walk out of the rubble ready to take on the next petty attempt of what life called “a challenge”. This man’s name is Terry Nathan. Born in a humble town from the north of New Zealand, Terry came from a family of 15 children, all raised on a farm. Terry had a wonderful childhood. Growing up on the farm and living in a full home, his mother would bake her own bread every day, and most importantly, no one was ever hungry. His family would raise their own chooks and

The Man that never quit By Michael Walecki

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barter them for other food that they needed: they had it all. As a teenager, he was a free-spirited boy who loved adventure. After working on the farm, all he got to do was run around and enjoy the simplicity of life. One particular day, Terry had an unbearable pain in his tooth. Terry did whatever he could in order to get the pain to stop. He took some Aspros and pinched some of his father’s tobacco and stuck it in between his gum and his tooth. Nothing. After three days straight of agonizing pain, Terry had enough. After going to both the doctor, dentist, and coming up with a few little white lies, Terry fixed his problem. The funny thing is he didn’t just take out the one tooth that hurt. He took out all his teeth! A 14- year-old toothless kid, imagine that! Terry said “I never wanted a pain like that in my life, so I figured I would take them all out. Have not had a toothache since.” Terry ended up moving to New Plymouth and working with his brother in agriculture

Michael with Terry Bev with Michael on the Gold Coast

Celebrate Living History Issue [#] :: [Date]

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making land suitable for farmers. Terry had many interesting moments in that job, but there was one particular day that stuck out to him the most. Terry was clearing some bush, and one day he was working with four other men cutting down the trees and he would bulldoze them down. There were two trees that were standing over when he told them to cut them down but they were still standing up. So he decided to stop bulldozing and see why they haven’t been cut. He asked what the matter was, why couldn’t they cut the trees? They told him that they couldn’t do anything because the trees toppled onto each other and are leaning on one another. So Terry took the chainsaws and began cutting them down. Made a few cuts. Nothing. Made some more cuts. Still standing. Then as Terry continued cutting he heard a loud CRACK. All of a sudden he looked up and saw the trees were coming down. But Terry wasn’t relieved that the trees finally were falling down, because they were falling down on him! Terry dropped the saw and ran backwards, but as he did, he fell into a ditch. At that point it was too late to get up and make a run. Terry thought,”this is it…” closed his eyes, and was waiting for the gigantic tree to come crashing down and break his bones. As he was ready to take the impact, he felt a gust of wind and the shock of the tree followed by a loud crash. Other than the rustling of leaves, and the dust settling, there was complete silence. Terry opened his eyes. The only thing that he could see was the gigantic tree on top of him. The ditch that he had fallen into had saved his life. The silence was broken with the revving of chainsaws; it was the men trying to cut the tree in order to get Terry out. He left work early that day, and he concluded that it must have been “the luck of the devil.” He moved to Australia to the town of Umina. The first house that he rented was definitely a special one. Unbeknownst to Terry, there was a little girl born in the very house that Terry lived in a long time ago. And as Terry married his wife Victoria several years later, he found out that she was the little girl! Terry’s first house that he moved in to in Australia was the house that his wife was born in! To read the rest of Terry’s story visit www.celebratelivinghistory.com

Our founder Bev was invited to the Griffith University Nathan Campus in September for the Snap Chat Your Future Humanities event.

This involved students ‘dating’ various professionals from different industries in 10-15 minute rotations.

While at Griffith University, Bev was filmed for the Alumni video with intern Andrejs Boboks.

Snap Chat Your Future Griffith

University Nathan Campus

Celebrate Living History www.celebratelivinghistory.com Semester 2: 2015

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I tried to act cool, but it was like meeting a member of a boy band that I have admired for so long.

Andrew is the man that inspired me to really delve into an interview. I remember I did an interview with Brian Milton who was the first man to fly microlight around the world. Brian was a major journalist who was best mates with Dick Smith. Needless to say I was nervous, so I studied Andrew Denton.

I tell all my interns that if they are nervous about doing an interview to study Andrew Denton.

He has a style that is conversational but gets to the heart of the issue. Plus he has a sense of humor that puts anyone at ease.

I have been meeting with mentors from Small Business Victoria and the Australian Businesswomen’s Network over the past few months.

While I love Celebrate Living History, the one main issue is the ability to be sustainable long term. Over the past four years I have been picking away at many puzzle pieces and trying to make everything fit. An organization cannot depend on just one person and I am afraid once I pass away that all this good work will slowly filter away.

So we have been working on a structure that will build the foundation for Celebrate Living History to live long term. And I am looking forward to making this new business plan a reality over the next few months.

With new insight, I hope I can continue to make this program bigger and better! There are so many stories to be shared with the world!

Till Later gang!

Bev Wilkinson Founder of Celebrate Living History

Kate Hart and Bev

Soar Con Celebrate Living History was nominated in the Community Volunteer or employed by not-for-profit category for the Soar Con awards held at Peppers Resort on the Mornington Peninsula in November.

Bev with Tania Treasure from Mornington Peninsula Shire

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It was fate that bought Nathaniel and Antonia together in 1943. “I was walking past the bus stop when I first saw Antonia. She was with her brother but I did not know that it was her brother. She was staring at me and I was thinking how cheeky she must be to be with another man but still be smiling at me,” Nathaniel laughs. Every Sunday the families of Trieste would go to the local hall where they would eat, dance and socialise. “I was having a great time talking to friends and laughing” Nathaniel remembers. As he moved around the room he saw a familiar face… the girl from the bus stop. “She looked like an angel” Nathaniel describes, “I still remember the dress that she was wearing and the pretty necklace around her neck.” Antonia also remembered who Nathaniel was and smiled at him from across the room. “She was with her brother again who I thought was her boyfriend so I did not want to cause any trouble. I smiled politely at her and kept on moving around the tables to socialise” But Nathaniel couldn’t get her out of his head. He spoke to his brother who knew of Antonia’s family and told him she did not have a boyfriend, that the man she was with was actually her brother. “My heart skipped a beat I was so excited! I wasted no time in going over to her table and introducing myself to her and her family.” Nathaniel asked Antonia to dance and they had a wonderful time together laughing and dancing. After coincidently seeing each other twice in one week, Nathaniel knew that it must have meant to be and so he asked if Antonia would like to go on a date. For the next couple of years the two enjoyed each other’s company, going to the movies, going out dancing or for walks. “One time, when we were first going out, I took her to

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the movies and her mum made her bring her cousin. I got stuck paying for three tickets instead of two!” Nathaniel joked cheekily. As time passed the two fell more in love and Nathaniel asked Antonia if she would be his wife. The war had left both of the families with very little money and so Nathaniel and Antonia had to work very hard to be able to get married and move away from home. In 1947 they were married and a year later their first daughter Anna was born. Not long after some of Antonia’s family moved to Australia and as the years past more and more of them moved to Australia to live. “We spoke about it and Antonia wanted to go. She was close with her family and she really missed them.” In 1955 they arrived in Australia and lived with Antonia’s cousins in Richmond before moving into their own home in Deer Park. They both found great jobs, Antonia working for Rosella soup factory and Nathaniel working for Melbourne transport as a mechanic in a bus depot. “It was an exciting time,” Nathaniel reminisces “And then another little surprise, our second daughter Suzanne.” After the children had grown up and got married, Nathaniel and Antonia enjoyed their little love nest. They used to entertain and have friends over, they played cards, spent time in the garden, did dancing together and Antonia used to enjoy baking cakes. “She made the most delicious cakes. She used to fatten me up and say that it would keep me cuddly” Nathaniel laughs.

‘Love at First Sight ‘ Nathaniel & Antonia’s story By Jeanette Bonnici

After about four years Antonia had lost both of her legs to diabetes and sadly had to move out into a nursing home. “The separation was so hard and the house felt empty and Antonia spent three years in the nursing home where she passed away peacefully in 1999. “It’s been sixteen years since she left. I think of her everyday and miss her so much” Nathaniel says with sadness in his voice. “I like to have some cake every year for her on her birthday and put fresh flowers near her photo all the time.” Nathaniel still lives at home where his daughter takes care of him. This year would be their sixty-eighth year of marriage.

Antonia and Nathaniel

Funnies

Contact: Celebrate Living History PO BOX 11253 Frankston 3199 www.celebratelivinghistory.com celebratelivinghistory@gmail.com

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