Recently I made a Weet-bix cake based on my Mum’s recipe.
Well, this clearly has to be topped by something even better and more wonderful – enter Angela.
For the first time in her life she attempts to make a Pavlova. We check Mum’s recipe and note that there are just no details on what to actually do, just a list of ingredients, so out comes Cookery the Australian way, the bible of cooking during the 80’s and the text-book for many Home Economics classes.
Pavlovas or pavs as we like to call them had been a staple of our family celebrations.
There’s 4 pavs in this spread – that must’ve been something special! There’s no way Mum was using her own recipe. Perhaps she’d committed it to memory and was filling in the blanks.
Here’s the video of us making our own pav – it’s not even close to the magnificence of Eve’s pavs.
Every year we have a lunch at work, we have a rich and diverse community. We all bring along something to share from our country of origin.
This year, I share my mother’s recipe for Weet-Bix cake, a childhood favourite.
Did a video too:
Here’s the details!
Ingredients:
4 weet-bix
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup coconut (desiccated is probably best)
1½ cups self-raising flour
¼ cup margarine (melted)
and 1 cup of milk.
Crush weet-bix finely, add sugar, cocoa, flour (and coconut), melted margarine and milk
Mix well and press into shallow tin.
Bake 10-12 minutes. Ice when cold. 180º
“Through the years, we all will be together, if the fate allows”
Christmas wrapped up for another year, and this Christmas again marks a change in the ever evolving tradition for me.
Christmas night as Michael (Did I say how much I love him?) and I walked along Beacon Cove after our Christmas Day he asked the question, “What is your earliest memory”. A question provoked as he recalled his return to Australia to the nearby Station Pier, he told me of his memory of standing on the deck of the Galileo. He was young.
The question is a good one that spun around in my head. Michael always manages to find questions to ask that generate a cascading effect. Earlier in the day he asked me if this Christmas was different, noting the change from this year to last year. He asked me how I felt about that.
Here’s my answers.
My childhood Christmas memories are of my family coming together on that one day to celebrate. I remember the excitement of Christmas morning. I would wake, often before sunrise, and find my Santa sack, a pillowcase put at the end of my bed the night before. I always tried to be as quiet as I possible could be, not wanting to wake anyone else! I would have been sharing my room with my younger brother and a couple of older brothers.
The pillowcase would be jammed pack full of goodies. It always had a Santa stocking in it. The stocking, very similar to the one pictured, would have some lollies along with cheap plastic toys, such as a whistle or a water pistol. This is a tradition that I continued on with my own children until recently. I do have a memory of feeling the sack in the dark and it being big and bulky, I’d give it a tug and pull out whatever I could without making too much noise. I can’t recall a single gift from it, apart from the stocking.
The next part of the day is the distribution of presents from under the tree. There was much anticipation for me. Our Christmas tree was always a real pine tree and often placed between a couple of the lounge room couches. I would be sure to have the best seat in the house. I would actually pick the seat the night before and when the announcement for presents was made I would be the first in the room and sitting as close to the action as possible.
I would have to wait for my older brothers to come home with their new families, my nephews and nieces. Dad would come into the lounge room and there would be a lot of chatter. He would start to distribute the gifts by calling the name of who it was for followed by who was giving it. “Gregory from Mum and Dad”. There were always a great big stack of gifts to give.
There are two presents that stand out in my memory. One was a cassette recorder. The other a Dolphin Torch.
The cassette recorder was probably one of the best gifts I ever received. It would have been in the late 1970’s and fed directly into my desire to be on the radio. I was able to pretend I was a real radio DJ with it! One of the first songs I ever recorded off the radio was Flash N the Pan’s Hey St. Peter. I remember that it broke, possibly a day after I got it, and I had to wait until the shops opened again so we could replace it.
The dolphin torch was something that I asked for. I needed it for camping, big, bulky and waterproof. The real reason I remember it however, was that it marked a change in my thinking on Christmas. I guess I was may 15 or 16, and that year the only gift I got from Mum and Dad was the torch. I felt a great deal of unhappiness about that! The Christmases of Plenty had passed.
As the family started to expand we all bought gifts for the new additions. We also bought gifts for each other. So, that’s 11 children, two parents and an ever-expanding growth of grand children and partners. There would be laughter, squeals of delight, the rustling of paper and a big mess everywhere. This tradition went on for many many years, all the way into the ’90s. That’s at least 20 years.
I’ll come back to this point in time, the mid 70s. Let me just explain this video of the presents under the tree. I took this in 1990. I’m 27 years old, my first wife (ok, my only wife) is the first adult through the door, she’s preceded by some of my nieces, a steady stream of children and adults come into the room. Finally in what seems like a TARDIS space we’re all in their and my Dad begins the handing out of the presents. You can see my Mum and Dad under the tree, bums up in the air, handing out the gifts.
This isn’t all of us either! By 1990, some of my older nephews and nieces, along with my brothers, didn’t come to this part of the day. We’d already started changing the long-held tradition and celebrating Christmas in our own way with our new families. This is one of the final times that we gathered in the family home at 9 McIntyre Street, Hamilton. My parents moved to Queensland and that changed Christmas forever.
Back to the 1970’s. Once the presents were over and done with we would then be getting ready for lunch. The size of our family meant we didn’t go anywhere. People came to us. As the years rolled on and we had my brothers wives and there children, we also had additional grandparents, uncles and aunts. We often had two sittings, and somehow my mother prepared both meals. At a guess we’d have about 30 for each meal, lunch and dinner.
Specific memories are a little faded, and all sorts of celebrations roll into one, I imagine that it was all very traditional. Two things about the food stand out, White Christmas Slice and Christmas Pudding.
The Christmas pudding was made by my mother’s mum, Grandma. I have a fleeting recollection of it hanging in a calico bag from the kitchen ceiling, months before Christmas. It was boiled in a special aluminium steamer pot and served with lashings of cream. I recall my Dad’s mother, Nana, being responsible for putting the sixpence in the slices. Yes, sixpence, even years after the move to decimal currency, she managed to use sixpence.
That was my Christmas day, full of family, laughter and good times.
Christmas is now much different. When Mum and Dad moved to Queensland that was the end of our family get togethers. By then I had children and we spent Christmas visiting my in-laws. That was nothing like my childhood Christmas. They were full of stress and anxiety. I got out of them as soon as I could when I separated, then I would spend Christmas day with my sister, Angela, much more relaxed.
This year, Christmas was lunch in the city with some good friends, followed by Christmas dinner with my children, Caitlin and Tomas, future son-in-law, their mother and my husband. For the first time Caitlin wasn’t here on Christmas morning, Angela and her family were in Queensland and I took a train ride to the city to have lunch in a restaurant.
Things change, my memories fade. All I’m left with are a few snippets and glimpses of how things once were. Christmas will continue to change.
In November Michael and I celebrated 7 years together.
What can I say. It didn’t take me very long to discover that Michael is a wonderful man, and after this short space of time, I understood that I wanted him in my life. I love him.
Like all relationships I need to give care and attention to it. I don’t always get it right, but I’m willing to change, adapt and learn from the experience of sharing our lives.
We are a married couple. He is my husband. For me it was important that I find a way to say to my family, my friends, and the rest of the world how important this relationship is to me. What better way to share the way I feel about Michael than a public declaration of my love for him. What better way than marriage to say to this key person what he means to me.
We traveled to New Zealand to get married. It was a quick trip, part of a TV documentary called Living With the Enemy.
That meant we had to share our special event with a fundamentalist priest from the Anglican sect of christianity. I remember him, Father David, many times asking us to explain why it was that we wanted to get married. Michael and I had to let him into our little secret. That we wanted to change the world! We wanted everyone to get gay married. As that seems unlikely it would seem that the reason for our marriage is based upon a mutual love for each other, the desire to share that with our family and community at large, and to say to each other just how important we are in each others lives.
Just last week in Jerusalem, at their annual pride march, a man described as an ultra-orthodox Jew stabbed 6 people. He was heard to say that he was doing the work of god.
We balance this with the news this week from the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) who admitted Keshet, a group for gay Jews into their association. Showing us that despite religion, you can actually accept people for who they are.
The JCCV decision comes at the end of a very long road of agitation and negotiation by my husband, Michael Barnett. He has no direct involvement with Keshet, but he has been tirelessly working away in the background.
Several years ago he broke off communication with the JCCV, well, the other way around, they stopped communicating with him, he has been working hard to change opinions, to challenge the status quo and to break through.
The journey for Michael goes back to 1999 when the JCCV decided not to admit Aleph, another support group for gay Jews, into their ranks. In fact, not only were they against it there were a number of ultra-orthodox organisations that said some particularly nasty things.
I haven’t known Michael for that long. In our time together I have watched him take on the JCCV leadership and tell them things that they just didn’t want to hear. And this journey has not been easy.
I recall sitting at a meeting with Aleph and the JCCV and the response from the JCCV leadership was less than desirable and amounted to Michael being abused and yelled at.
The JCCV then established their own GLBTI Reference Group and froze Michael out. Despite this he continued to do his work of trying to break down the barriers for young gay Jews, always with the aim of removing those barriers to help reduce the suicide rate for those growing up in the Melbourne Jewish community.
Michael may never be recognised for the job he has done. You can’t take your finger and trace a map of the 1999 Aleph knock back to the Keshet acceptance.
Keshet becoming an associate of the JCCV is a lot of work by many people, the current JCCV leadership has steered the way and the Keshet team have been fully engaged.
Michael has also been putting in and talking with people along the way, doing what he does so well. Making connections.
The road to today has been carved by Michael Barnett, others have come along behind him and been able to take advantage of his work. That’s the way it works.
I and indeed our family have supported Michael in this journey, we’ve been the sounding board, his personal advice centre. We’ve had the tough conversations, we’ve acknowledged when the good things happen. We heard his pain, we saw it on a regular basis. Above all we took this man and loved him. Because he was right.
The important part here is that finally we have the orthodox part of the JCCV supporting the gay people, accepting them, becoming a better and more whole community. The same people who opposed this move all those years ago. This will have an effect on those young questioning people. Maybe this acceptance will save lives.
My admiration for Michael is boundless. In the face of adversity he has stayed the path.
I’ve told Michael that he should take pride in this result. It is his work that delivered this result.
My eyes have been focussed on Ireland as they voted in a referendum to change their constitution to broaden the definition of marriage in that country.
“marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex”
Just so we’re clear, it’s not gay marriage nor is it the right to marry a dog, several hundred other people or a bridge. It’s the right to contract in accordance with the law the right to marry another person. You could be gay, straight, bisexual, transgendered or just plain and simply you. All you need is another single person and you can get married.
The people said yes.
There has been much celebrating in Ireland and around the world. It’s historic as it’s the first country to vote on marriage equality. Of course, there are those that are upset about the result, such as Lyle Shelton – head straight man at the Australian Christian Lobby – scared of anything that isn’t just like him. He very quickly published a media release to tell everyone else just what we should be thinking! He sums up his whole approach right there in the headline:
Irish marriage referendum a blow to the rights of children
He seems to ignore the 18 countries where it’s ok to get married and guess what, the kids are ok! He’s not focussed on the Royal Commission on Institutional sex abuse where the rights of kids have been ignored and destroyed. Nor has he focussed on the rape and abuse of asylum seekers. No, no, he in his writings suggest that gay people are somehow causing harm to the rights of children.
The redefinition of marriage and family in Ireland this weekend is a wake-up call to Australians who value the rights of children and freedom of belief.
Yes, it’s a wake up call – the decision has been made by the people. Not by a few lobbyists who head an outdated religious lobby group. Of course, family has not been redefined in Ireland. Just who is allowed to get married, and even then, it’s not so much as a redefinition, but simply a small adjustment. Opposite-sex couples are still able to marry. As to the rights of children, last time I check my two were still ok, as are my nephews and nieces. No impact at all. Also, it’s Sunday today, no churches have been harmed so freedom of belief endures.
The Australian Christian Lobby is disappointed that the Irish movement to redefine marriage, funded by $16 million US dollars, has succeeded at a national referendum today.
ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said, “Over $16 million US dollars has been provided to organisations to deliver same-sex marriage over a period of 12 years in Ireland.”
Actually Lyle, that would be illegal. Foreign entities may not fund or donate to Irish referendum campaigns. It is rather naughty of you to suggest it, especially since you seem to ignore the counter claims that the No vote has been funded by extreme right-wing American fundamentalist organisations.
Mr Shelton said despite the result in Ireland, Australia was different and he called on parliamentarians to carefully consider the consequences for children and to freedom of conscience.
“Australia should not pass a law which forces millions of Australians to pretend that a same-sex couple with children is the same thing as a mother and father with children.
Lyle is right – we are different. Our marriage act can be changed by parliament. No referendum is needed. In fact, it was former Prime Minister Howard, ably assisted by the current PM Abbott that changed the marriage act to make it clear that in Australia marriage is between one man and one woman for life. It’s ok, you can ignore the ‘for life’ bit if you like and get a divorce, but you can’t ignore the man and woman bit.
As to this rather silly notion that the law will force millions – millions I say – to ‘pretend’ that there’s something wrong with the kids of gay couples. I mean really Lyle. What are you going on about? You do know that already there are plenty of couples who aren’t married raising children? Some of those couples are married overseas but their relationship is not recognised here. And some of them are same-sex parents. And guess what – their kids are ok! Perhaps you should go and meet with some of them to find out how well they’re doing.
“The redefining marriage movement in Ireland made a big effort to downplay the rights and interests of children, which ought to be at centre stage of all public policy.
The No vote played this game very well and made it front and centre of their campaign. And guess what? The rest of Ireland saw through it and told them how silly they are.
“Because marriage confers the right to form a family, it will be very difficult to resist further law changes allowing the exploitation of women through commercial surrogacy.
No, marriage does not confer that right. We have a right to form a family and plenty of people do that without marriage. Even those who get married may choose not to have children. Surrogacy is an issue that is quite separate from marriage equality. In fact, the attempt to wave a red flag about the exploitation of women while talking about marriage equality is a nice attempt at distraction. The two aren’t connected.
“The only way the benefits of marriage equality can be provided to two men is to reform surrogacy laws so they have open access to donated women’s eggs and through the provision of ‘carrier’ wombs.
Uh huh. Benefits of marriage equality? What has this to do with two people getting married? It would seem Lyle that you are suggesting that the reason people get married is to have children. I don’t understand what makes you think this is a benefit of marriage as it can and does happen outside marriage. Surrogacy again is a separate issue not connected with marriage equality.
“While some same-sex couples are already acquiring children through various means of assisted reproductive technology, this does not make severing the primal bond between a child and their mother or father right.
Acquiring? Are you talking about a couple of women – you know, lesbians? Nobody acquires children. We have them. You also turn a blind eye to those thousands of children already adopted by same-sex and opposite-sex parents. This is the reality now and has been for a very long time. Quite frankly Lyle, this is a furphy.
“Marriage equality abolishes in law and culture the idea that, wherever possible, children have a right to both their mother and father.
Perhaps you can point to which law and which culture that says a child has this right. When you’ve found it then please embark upon a campaign to remove children from single parents, divorced parents and same-sex couples. Of course, marriage equality does not abolish anything of the sort.
“If gender matters for company boards and jury selection, then how can we deny that it matters for parenting?”
Huh?
Mr Shelton said the freedom of Christian and Islamic schools teaching the truth about gender complementarity in marriage would likely come into question if marriage was redefined.
You forget about the Jewish faith. And so it should come into question. You seem to be of the misunderstanding that christian and islamic schools have some sort of truth that places them outside reality. They don’t. What you’re saying is that homosexuality is morally wrong according to your ‘truth’. Time to get out and face the reality that there is nothing wrong with being gay, there is nothing wrong with being straight. How long must the rest of us sit back and allow you to use your religion to deny reality? The world isn’t flat anymore Lyle.
People providing services to the wedding industry, who because of conscience declined to participate in a same-sex wedding, would risk being punished under Australia’s anti-discrimination laws.
OK. So we don’t yet have marriage equality in Australia – so this isn’t really an issue. However, I would hope that if you are a baker, for example, and your website says that you make wedding cakes, then that’s what you do. If a couple arrives and you refuse to make a cake because of your conscience, then I’d suggest you are probably in the wrong business and if you are breaking the law then you should be prepared for the consequences. Are you really saying that religious people are outside the law? We get to work with lots of people every day and we don’t get to discriminate based on our conscience. It’s how we get along in life Lyle. And my suggestion to you is that you take a good hard look at your opposition to gay people getting married. The thing that is driving your protests is your christian belief. Let me quote it for you straight from your bible:
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
So, if you want to talk about the right to exercise your religious conscience – is this what you mean?
Every now and then I think of my mate – Geoff. I think of his wife, Marie. My heart breaks.
Tonight I’ve spent the evening out with Michael. We’ve had a good time.
Before we left my 21 year old son, Tomas, wasn’t home. That’s a bit odd. Caitlin my 23 year old daughter didn’t know where he was. I don’t worry. At least, I think I’m not worrying.
That’s until I get home some 5 hours later to see his bedroom door is closed. Caitlin’s bedroom door is also closed. That means that no matter what has transpired today – both of them are home and in bed. It’s only then that I realise that the closed doors offer me comfort and remind me that my children are safe. It’s then that I realise that I worry.
To lose a child would be devastating. Every time that thought cross my mind, I think of my mates, Geoff and Marie. Because they lost their two children in a road accident 10 years ago.
Their pain is my nightmare – but I’ve not spent 10 years living it. I’ve not spent 10 years seeing the open bedroom doors.
A flash of memories of Kate and Daryl is all I have. Quiet words said at the funeral.
My words will never describe the deep sense of loss.
I see it in myself, I can feel the despair. It will pass for me because the bedroom doors are closed.
My family has 11 children. My mother gave birth to 5 sons and then a daughter. I understand that there was much rejoicing when the first girl arrived. It was said that she would be able to help my mum with all those boys and then look after my parents in their old age.
My sister was Helen, the 6th child. She died before Mum and Dad and I don’t know how well she looked after my older brothers, and I’m not at all sure she looked after her younger siblings – as I remember rightly she introduced me to smoking and was once told by Sister Jean that girls that wear jeans have abortions. (It was the 70’s!) When we were young we fought with each other on a regular basis!
When going through some of Mum and Dad’s things, I came across a folder of letters to Mum when Helen was born. This first letter is from my grand parents, Dad’s parents. This is written in 1960.
Handwritten by Nell Storer – June 1960
Dear Ev,
Well what a lovely surprise for us all with your dear little daughter we hoped and prayed you would be blest with a little girl so now we are happy.
I’m sure you can hardly believe its true, you would be surprised how many people enjoy our happiness too, and a lot are outsiders.
Dad & I are going to try and see you Wednesday night, if they will allow us in, & isn’t Pat thrilled to think baby arrived on her birthday & wasn’t she pleased when Brian asked her to be God mother.
How do you feel Ev, well I hope, Brian says you are back to your old form, he is a happy man indeed they all say you both deserved your daughter.
Jeanette rang last night & she was so pleased when we told her, she says there is still hope for her. I must close Ev & hope to see you soon. Lots of love,
Mum & Dad & Pat xxx
for baby
XXX
Let me just help decipher the family tree here for you!
Dear Ev,
Mum’s name was Evelyn, she was called Eve, Ev and sometimes Evie.
I’m sure you can hardly believe its true, you would be surprised how many people enjoy our happiness too, and a lot are outsiders.
We have a very large family – I think outsiders refers to non-family members.
Dad & I are going to try and see you Wednesday night, if they will allow us in,
Uncle Graeme, Aunty Pat and Helen
It was 1960 and not everyone got into the hospital to see patients! I also like this quaint idea that she refers to my grandfather, Pop, as Dad. I think that my Mum did call them Mum and Dad, but I don’t really recall.
& isn’t Pat thrilled to think baby arrived on her birthday & wasn’t she pleased when Brian asked her to be God mother.
Pat is my Aunty, Dad’s younger sister – I’m guessing she was still living at home with Nan and Pop. Brian is my dad. Helen was born on the June 18th, same date as Pat, something I’d forgotten about. It must have been a thrill to be asked to be God Mother!
Jeanette rang last night & she was so pleased when we told her she says there is still hope for her.
Jeanette is my Aunty, Dad’s sister-in-law she also had a number of sons and no girls. She did have one girl, maybe just after Helen was born.
I’m making my way through a small box of memories, there is a lot in there the provokes the thoughts of childhood and fond memories, and letters like this written before I was born, things that I knew nothing about. I don’t know if Nan and Pop lived in Hamilton at the time, if they did, why did they write a letter? Was it delivered to the hospital inside a card perhaps? Did my dad take it to her? Things we can only guess now.
Family stories. Do your bit to ask those questions now.
For seven days, our niece Abbey sent letters to the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, requesting that he change the law on marriage to allow Michael and me to get married to each other.
Today she received a response! She called me straight away to tell me that she had some good news and some sad news.
The good news was the PM had written back to her, the sad news was that he wasn’t going to change anything.
We talked about the sad news and I said that I didn’t think it was all that sad. We already knew that he probably wouldn’t change his mind, but I encouraged Abbey to think about the impact she’s had. Her friends are talking about it, she managed to reach hundreds of people by writing her letters and then some other people also wrote letters. It was good for her to hear about the influence that her efforts had, and we talked about how important it is that people just like her let people just like Abbott know what she’s thinking. It’s how we bring about change.
Here’s what Tony Abbott wrote:
Dear Abbey,
Thank you for letting me know your views on same sex marriage.
I appreciate you letting me know about your own family. In my family, I have a sister with a female partner. My sister’s partner is a loved member of our family.
While I respect your views on same sex marriage, I hold a different view.
My personal position is to support the existing definition of marriage.
The Government supports the current definition of marriage contained in the Marriage Act. Any change to this policy would be a matter for the Coalition Party Room.
Thank you again for writing to me. I wish you well in the future.
January 30, 2014
Stoneridge Estate
Queenstown, New Zealand
I ask everyone here today to witness that I Gregory Paul Storer choose you Michael Nathan Barnett to be my legal husband.
Michael, when we started our relationship, my online profile said that I understood my place in the Universe and that I was looking for the right person to share it with. I said that mental voids need not apply.
You have been able to challenge me, reason with me and help me grow into a different man. I have changed. I am now a wonderfully happy person, in love with a wonderfully happy person. You are no mental void but a man brimming with integrity, honesty, openness and love.
Michael today we face each other, I get to look into your beautiful eyes, watch your wonderful face and tell you why I’m here.
You know that I love you. You know that despite all the wrongs in our world, all the things outside our control and all the things that we control that I willingly look at you and say you are the one that I want to be with. You are the one that I choose to spend my time with.
I smile when I see you. I look for you when you’re not here. I revel in sharing the outdoors with you. I delight in our conversations about the world.
We walk through the bush and climb to the top of mountains and look in awe. These are times together that make my heart go zing. You make my heart go zing. It’s doing it right now.
So, today, with my heart going zing, I have surrounded myself with love. I have taken the most important people in my life and brought them here. I want the love that surrounds me, the love of my closest brother and sister, the love of my wonderful children, the love of my best friends, I want this love to surround me and I want it to surround you.
You too have brought to this place those you love, you have surrounded yourself with love.
There is here today over 200 years of marriage between our friends. We are engulfed by love.
I stand before everyone here to say to you that I love you.
The pillowcase would be jammed pack full of goodies. It always had a Santa stocking in it. The stocking, very similar to the one pictured, would have some lollies along with cheap plastic toys, such as a whistle or a water pistol. This is a tradition that I continued on with my own children until recently. I do have a memory of feeling the sack in the dark and it being big and bulky, I’d give it a tug and pull out whatever I could without making too much noise. I can’t recall a single gift from it, apart from the stocking.
There are two presents that stand out in my memory. One was a cassette recorder. The other a 
The Christmas pudding was made by my mother’s mum, Grandma. I have a fleeting recollection of it hanging in a calico bag from the kitchen ceiling, months before Christmas. It was boiled in a special aluminium steamer pot and served with lashings of cream. I recall my Dad’s mother, Nana, being responsible for putting the sixpence in the slices. Yes, sixpence, even years after the move to decimal currency, she managed to use sixpence.
We are a married couple. He is my husband. For me it was important that I find a way to say to my family, my friends, and the rest of the world how important this relationship is to me. What better way to share the way I feel about Michael than a public declaration of my love for him. What better way than marriage to say to this key person what he means to me.
