please brace for impact - i am your ancestor

Every Aussie has a story to tell about how life was
in the good (or bad) old days of their youth but
the chances are their children will be bored.
But descendants 200 or 300 years hence
may be enthralled or appalled by:

Foreword

The inspiration for this book came to me at 37,000 feet over sweltering India in 2001. I was returning to Australia with my teenage son Stephen after a holiday in Ireland – the home of our ancestors.

Far from being grateful for being able to afford an overseas holiday, I was wallowing in self-pity. Ireland had ‘spoken’ to me, but my ancestors had not. They had left behind no writings or diaries for me to decipher - just their names in musty church registers.

Except for an imagination fueled by wild speculation, I was returning home as ignorant about the daily lives of my ancestors as when I had left Australia three weeks previously.

Then guilt took hold. If only I had prepared for the trip more thoroughly, I might have discovered an ancestor who was with ‘Young Ned of the Hill’ when he avenged Oliver Cromwell’s misdeeds.

As a teenager, I had rejected the religion of my forefathers, but at 37,000 feet (which is as close to Heaven as I’m ever likely to get) the sovereign cure for self-pity burst upon me:

‘Do unto others as you would they should do unto you’.

I couldn't cure the communication sins of my ancestors, but I could cure mine by writing this book. To all those who carry my DNA (for untold centuries hence) please fasten your seat-belts and brace for impact.

For better or for worse… I am your ancestor!

(Under Construction. Three chapters done. More to come)