November 9th, 2013
Juanita, beautiful Juanita, known to her family as just ‘Nita’, was born in 1888, officially Katie Juanita Eastwood, my grandfather's younger sister. Talented at painting and other feminine accomplishments, around the turn of the 19th century she featured in the Kalgoorlie newspapers, attending garden parties, charity balls and school plays in fine dresses of ‘pale blue lace bertha and pin…
October 17th, 2013
I will never experience the sensation of freefalling, described as the ‘long, lonely leap’ by Joseph Kittinger, US Air Force captain, as he stepped into space from a balloon 31 333 metres above earth in August 1960. I cannot even step aboard a plane without a sense of dread or look down from great heights without vertigo. It is incredible to me, therefore, that Albert Eastwood, my mate…
October 17th, 2013
‘But was she murdered?’, I asked. The sergeant sounded puzzled at my question. I explained that my family had never been certain about how she had died; the coroner’s inquest had returned an open finding. A split-second’s silence at the other end of the phone, before he responded. Murdered. Yes, there seemed little doubt. He was patient but direct, as if explaining the situation to a child…