Meetings of GSQs Writing Group in 2026 have focussed on a theme of integrating a wide range of material in our stories to add context to a family narrative. My previous blog post discussed the integration of maps. We followed this up at our April meeting when we considered how best to add context by including historical events. In a discussion paper entitled Integrating context into family history stories Janice Cooper, who is a professional historian, commented that integrating context for the lives of our ancestors is what creates a family history. Historical context can be wide-ranging and may be geographical, social, economic or political in nature. Including relevant events provide interest and meaning for readers of our stories. It is possible that the nature of the events may provide a reason for the gaps in the information available to us about the family. To be relevant, however, historical context preferably should relate directly to the family member rather than just filling a gap in the story. For the Group’s writing exercise, members were invited to write a story that included, or made reference to, a historical event that related to their own family.
Several stories were received. The historical events that impacted on families included the two World Wars, a shipwreck, a riot, floods, the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. There were positive and negative outcomes of these events. Members commented that they preferred to know what was happening at times in the lives of their family members. It was also helpful to have things explained if they enhanced the story: this was especially useful for younger readers who may have limited knowledge of events that impacted on the family’s decisions in the past. How an individual or family reacted to these broader events can reveal character details that would not be evident through written records.
Members considered it important, however, not to be waylaid by the context and lose sight of the family story. One member used a strategy of placing a commentary on the historical event in a separate text box, so as not to distract from the narrative.
I have recently read two books by Graeme Davison, Emeritus Sir John Monash Professor of History at Monash University. He has investigated the links between family and academic history. His first book, Lost Relations, told the story of his maternal ancestry and the influence that migration and adherence to Methodism had on his family’s story. This book was published in 2015 by Allen & Unwin. The second book, My grandfather’s clock, published by Melbourne University Press in 2023, told the story of his paternal ancestry. The main theme throughout this book was how the concept and passage of time impacted on the family and the importance of a family heirloom, his grandfather’s clock, is explored. In both cases, his ancestors had migrated from the UK to Australia and lived through major historical events including the Gold Rush, the 1930s depression, two world Wars – the list goes on. These books are available within Brisbane City Council libraries and provide interesting examples of integrating historical events into family histories. An interesting Q&A between Lyndon Megarrity and Graeme Davison, author of My Grandfather’s Clock: Four Centuries of a British–Australian Family, published March 13, 2024, https://aph.org.au/2024/03/qa-with-graeme-davison-author-of-my-grandfathers-clock-four-centuries-of-a-british-australian-family/ explores the link between family and academic history.
We who are the family record keepers often get caught up in the research process and can then find it difficult to know how to start crafting this research into an interesting and engrossing family story. One way of doing this is to find a hook, or theme, that runs through the lived experience of our ancestors, rather than writing a chronological recording of facts about a family. I wrote in 2025 about how I could develop a family history for my paternal ancestry around the theme of coalmining. My maternal ancestry is quite diverse and does not easily lend itself to a single theme linking various generations, so more careful thought is required to work out how best to tell the various stories. Reading biographies, autobiographies and memoirs enables us to see how others have approached this task. Wide reading enables us not only to decide what we like, but also what we do not like. Members of the Writing Group freely share their approaches to writing and I hope these short summaries of our meetings inspire you to start writing your own family’s story.
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