"Mother, we'll never be poor again, look what I've found!" exclaimed seven year old Brian Newport of St Anne's Estate, Somerton in South Australia in 1934 when he gave his mother a tin containing £61 that he had discovered in a paddock close to his home.
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At the time Brian had been playing with two other little boys and minding his father's two cows. One of the cows wandered onto the busy Brighton Road, and chasing it, Brian saw the top of a tin which was half buried at the foot of an almond tree.
Prising off the lid of the tin and discovering that it was filled with folded bank notes, the excited boy raced home to his mother.
Unfortunately, the money appeared to be part of the proceeds of a recent robbery from the strongroom at A G Healing's in Port Pirie, and Brian's father was obliged to place the matter in the hands of a solicitor who held the money pending definite proof of ownership.
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Not everyone has a family member such as an uncle, aunt or parent whose childhood experiences were so dramatic. Perhaps we have one who was eccentric or whose story would make interesting reading.
The topic of the 2020 Yvonne Jenkins Memorial Award Essay is 'An interesting child of my grandparent' and is a challenge to look at the lives of aunts, uncles or a parent and write about one who has an interesting story, either as a child or an adult.
The Lithgow and District Family History Society will announce the winner of the Award during National Family History Month in August 2020.
Entries are limited to 1,000 words and are to be submitted before April, 30. The winner's prize 12 months membership of the Society which includes 3 hours free research by the Society's Research Officer.
Further details and entry forms are available on the Society's website www.ldfhs.org.au, or by emailing secretary.ldfhs@gmail.com or phoning 02 6353 1089 on Tuesdays between 6 and 9pm or Fridays' between 11 and 4pm.
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