Friday, May 17th .....

My friends, Brian and Frances, in Cambridge put me on to an excellent website called TROVE.  It’s the National Library of Australia’s on-line catalogue of its archives.  For example, it has digitised newspapers from 1803 to 1954.  The amount of ‘stuff’ is unbelievable.

I tried a search for Hilary Lofting, Marilyn’s grandfather, and had, literally, thousands of ‘hits’.  Many were repeats but I found his death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald and other regional newspapers, and a notice that he had been granted a weekly pension of 15/- from the Commonwealth Literary Fund.  Most interesting was a snippet from the Burnie Advocate (!) 0n 23^rd July 1932.

WIFE OF AUTHOR ON

PENSION WINS

                -------

£1,000 in N.S.W Lottery

                --------

   SYDNEY, Friday – When at the drawing of the State Lottery to-day it was announced that No. 28664 had drawn second prize of £1000, a woman sitting in the audience screamed with delight.  She was the owner of the ticket.   She was Mrs Hilary Lofting, wife of a well-known journalist and author, who yesterday was granted a pension of 15/- per week from the Commonwealth Literary Fund.

 

Marilyn’s grandmother was also an author, writing under the name Margaret Fane. She was best known for co-authoring The Happy Vagabond with Hilary Lofting but wrote many short stories, especially in The Australian Journal.  In the Sydney Morning Herald of January 12^th, 1929, I found this little poem:

A Sulky Cat

Once I found a catterpillar (sic)

Sitting on a leaf

I brought it in before the fire

And fed it bits of beef

Gently rubbed behind its ears

And stroked its pretty fur

And still, I’m sure, I don’t know why

The creature wouldn’t purr.

                      Margaret Fane