In 2009 Willow from Willow Manor first asked the questions.
1. Are you a native Australian? How many generations of your family were born there? I was born and raised here - primary school, high school and university. Then I lived for six years overseas, one year by myself and later five years with my brand new husband, largely in Israel and the UK. We travelled all across the Continent, but as poor students, we slept in our car boot.
MY family comes from Southern Russia/now Ukraine. Joe was born in Czechoslovakia, emigrating with family to Australia when he was 4. With a tiny population, Australia decided after WW2 that it was time to Populate or Perish.
2. If you could have dinner with one historical figure, who would it be and why? Emma Goldman (1869-1940) grew up in Jewish Kovno and St Petersburg where she associated with radical students. At 20 she immigrated to the U.S, settling in Rochester NY. She worked in clothing factories, mixing with socialist and anarchist co-workers.
![]()
There was a peaceful rally against a Chicago company in May 1886 until the police demanded the crowd disperse. When a bomb exploded among the police, the police responded with gunfire; 6 workers were killed and many more injured. The massacre created general hysteria against immigrants and labour leaders, leading to 8 anarchist leaders being arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy. Most of the Chicago Eight members were hanged in Nov 1887.
In 1893 Emma was gaoled in NY for inciting a riot when some unemployed workers reacted to her fiery speech. Released 2 years later, Goldman lectured across Europe and U.S.
In 1906 she founded and edited the periodical Mother Earth, until its suppression in WW1. Her campaigns were often pro-woman eg contraception. Of course her American naturalisation was legally revoked in 1908. Nonetheless she published Anarchism and Other Essays.
Goldman also lectured on Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg and George Bernard Shaw's dramas, introducing European playwrights to American audiences. Her lectures were published in 1914 in Social Significance of the Modern Drama.
When WW1 broke out in Europe, she saw it as an imperialist war that was sacrificing workers as cannon-fodder. In July 1917 she was sentenced to 2 years prison for her anti-war activities. By her release in Sept 1919, the U.S was hysterical over the rumoured network of communist operatives, and her ideas earned Goldman the enmity of powerful political authorities. Red Emma’s deportation to the Soviet Union seemed like a personal crusade!
In 1920 immigrant Italian unionists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were convicted of killing 2 men in Mass. Despite worldwide protests denying the defendants’ guilt, the 2 were executed in 1927. Emma remained active, living across Europe, lecturing and writing her autobiography, Living My Life 1931. In 1940 she worked for the anti-Fascists in the Spanish Civil War, then died from a stroke in 1940. What a brave, politically committed and literate woman!
3. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? I am still married after 52 years, with 2 mature sons and 5 gorgeous grandchildren. That is not just an accomplishment - it is an awesome miracle. Plus the grandchildren understand computers :)
![]()
4. Other than your loved ones, what is your most treasured possession? Australian colonial art was very derivative in the C19th, looking like British art with perhaps a kangaroo added in for local colour. As Australia was moving slowly towards Federation, it became clear that artists, writers, musicians and architects would need to develop Australian tastes. From 1888 on, the first young artists moved into the bush north of Melbourne to paint from life. I have 8 of these beautiful Heidelberg School paintings.
5. Before blogging, what, if any, was your main mode of personal expression? I co-started an IRC channel (#30plus) for mature people in Oct 1993. Sydneysider Daniel Ben-Sefer and I had met in another channel (#Israel) earlier that year but we were disappointed with the juvenile, male-focused discussions. So we created a new channel for people 30+ and invited every academic we knew. For the first 15 years of #30plus and channel mailing lists, I was very grateful for the excitement and the intellectual stimulation. Although the channel still functions well, hackers, right wingers and anti-Semites changed the atmosphere from warm to occasionally dodgy.
Now I’ll post these 5 questions to Joanne's Ramblings, for her to answer and then she will post them on to another blogger. Thanks Joanne.
1. Are you a native Australian? How many generations of your family were born there? I was born and raised here - primary school, high school and university. Then I lived for six years overseas, one year by myself and later five years with my brand new husband, largely in Israel and the UK. We travelled all across the Continent, but as poor students, we slept in our car boot.
MY family comes from Southern Russia/now Ukraine. Joe was born in Czechoslovakia, emigrating with family to Australia when he was 4. With a tiny population, Australia decided after WW2 that it was time to Populate or Perish.
2. If you could have dinner with one historical figure, who would it be and why? Emma Goldman (1869-1940) grew up in Jewish Kovno and St Petersburg where she associated with radical students. At 20 she immigrated to the U.S, settling in Rochester NY. She worked in clothing factories, mixing with socialist and anarchist co-workers.
Emma Goldman: Revolution as a Way of Life,
by Vivian Gornick, 2013
In 1893 Emma was gaoled in NY for inciting a riot when some unemployed workers reacted to her fiery speech. Released 2 years later, Goldman lectured across Europe and U.S.
In 1906 she founded and edited the periodical Mother Earth, until its suppression in WW1. Her campaigns were often pro-woman eg contraception. Of course her American naturalisation was legally revoked in 1908. Nonetheless she published Anarchism and Other Essays.
Goldman also lectured on Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg and George Bernard Shaw's dramas, introducing European playwrights to American audiences. Her lectures were published in 1914 in Social Significance of the Modern Drama.
When WW1 broke out in Europe, she saw it as an imperialist war that was sacrificing workers as cannon-fodder. In July 1917 she was sentenced to 2 years prison for her anti-war activities. By her release in Sept 1919, the U.S was hysterical over the rumoured network of communist operatives, and her ideas earned Goldman the enmity of powerful political authorities. Red Emma’s deportation to the Soviet Union seemed like a personal crusade!
In 1920 immigrant Italian unionists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were convicted of killing 2 men in Mass. Despite worldwide protests denying the defendants’ guilt, the 2 were executed in 1927. Emma remained active, living across Europe, lecturing and writing her autobiography, Living My Life 1931. In 1940 she worked for the anti-Fascists in the Spanish Civil War, then died from a stroke in 1940. What a brave, politically committed and literate woman!
3. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? I am still married after 52 years, with 2 mature sons and 5 gorgeous grandchildren. That is not just an accomplishment - it is an awesome miracle. Plus the grandchildren understand computers :)
One of my sons and all 5 of the grandchildren
2016
4. Other than your loved ones, what is your most treasured possession? Australian colonial art was very derivative in the C19th, looking like British art with perhaps a kangaroo added in for local colour. As Australia was moving slowly towards Federation, it became clear that artists, writers, musicians and architects would need to develop Australian tastes. From 1888 on, the first young artists moved into the bush north of Melbourne to paint from life. I have 8 of these beautiful Heidelberg School paintings.
5. Before blogging, what, if any, was your main mode of personal expression? I co-started an IRC channel (#30plus) for mature people in Oct 1993. Sydneysider Daniel Ben-Sefer and I had met in another channel (#Israel) earlier that year but we were disappointed with the juvenile, male-focused discussions. So we created a new channel for people 30+ and invited every academic we knew. For the first 15 years of #30plus and channel mailing lists, I was very grateful for the excitement and the intellectual stimulation. Although the channel still functions well, hackers, right wingers and anti-Semites changed the atmosphere from warm to occasionally dodgy.
Now I’ll post these 5 questions to Joanne's Ramblings, for her to answer and then she will post them on to another blogger. Thanks Joanne.