I have been slowly working my way through this Diploma and now I am over half way through the last unit. I am not greatly interested in writing a fictional story based on my ancestors. A few of them have interesting stories and I think I would like to publish a book with maybe 6 or so chapters based on their lives. Jimmy Sinclair may make the cut, depending on what I can find out from his secret American family.
Writing the Family Saga – Module 4
Orkney
and Geraldton- a blown away Viking
My
Great Grandfather James ‘Jimmy’ Taylor Sinclair (1868-1953) was born in the
small fishing village of Stromness on the main island of Orkney. It is a group
of low, largely treeless islands sitting off the north coast of Scotland. Most
of the inhabitants would probably descend from the Vikings who came in c900AD.
Shetland, the murder capital of the world, and Orkney share this Viking
ancestry. Shetlanders are described as sailors who farm, Orcadians as farmers
who sail.
Jimmy apparently left Orkney for
the sea at 13, like most of his family. His descendants heard tales of Japan
and tea clippers. He met my grandmother on board a ship working the coast of
Western Australia and they settled in Geraldton[1].
It is famous, amongst other things, for the twisted bent trees that line the
coast. Their development is tormented by the constant strong sea breezes that
blow most of the year.
I visited Orkney for the first
time in 1996. I remember eagerly calling my grandfather from Stromness to say I
had made it to the ancestral family home. The nearby small island of Hoy is
where the Sinclair’s had lived for generations. I managed to visit, to walk the
little roads and to see the houses mentioned in the census records. In the
cemetery I saw the graves of James’ parents and siblings, people he apparently
never saw again after he left as a teenager[2].
The locals were pretty friendly
and generally understandable after half a dozen pints or so. One of them one
night told me that Orcadians are nothing but blown away Norwegians. Jimmy let
the winds blow him to another windswept part of the world.
Image A- of the headstone of
Jimmy’s parents and siblings.
Reflection on writing
I often
wonder how and why immigrants choose the place they want to settle in. I have
never had a great ambition to leave Perth permanently, but I spent many
European summers living on a Greek island. The weather reminded me so much of
home. Maybe this is why Jimmy chose Geraldton.
[1] I
don’t say married because no marriage certificate has ever been found. We
recently found, through DNA, that Jimmy had a wife and child no-one knew about
before he came to Australia. These cousins said that they were always told he
was a ship’s captain who died at sea.
[2]
See Image A
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