A woman who migrated from Scotland to join her husband on a Yarroweyah, Vic, soldier settler dairy farm was able to record her life story and provide a lasting legacy for her family.
Mary Edwards, who died in 2022, was given the chance to tell her story as a present from her family for her 90th birthday in 2018.
She was interviewed by Dimity Brassil, from A Lasting Tale, for a private podcast-like series detailing her life.
Ms Brassil created A Lasting Tale so families could collect the stories and wisdom of their elders to live on for generations.
Mrs Edwards's daughter Judy Rourke and granddaughter Jane Harris, Finley, NSW, presented her with the chance to tell her life story over two hours in her own voice.
Her story included how she came to Australia, just after World War II.
She had been a pen-pal for three years with her first husband George Tomlin, when he proposed via letter.
She accepted and left Dundee, Scotland, for Australia, aged 21.
The couple lived on the soldiers' settlement dairy farm, which Mr Tomlin was given as he had served as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force and was taken as a prisoner of war at Changhi.
Mrs Edwards lost two husbands, siblings and had several miscarriages, but soldiered on and lived a full innings.
Everyone knew her in community and she was famous for her Scottish shortbread.
"If you were at the post office, dentist or doctor's surgery at Christmas, you'd be eating Nan's shortbread," granddaughter Jane Harris said.
"She made hundreds of rounds every year, but never ate a slice.
"Nan epitomised strength and was practical and kind.
"Because of her, we always believed in ourselves and our ability to navigate anything, but she also suffered a lot of trauma in her life.
"She always said 'I just got on with it and didn't wallow in self-pity' but we learned so much about her life and I'm pleased we got the information from her in her own voice.
"The whole family, including my children - her great-grandchildren - cherished the process."
In the recording, Mrs Edwards also talked about her life with second husband and Mrs Rourke's stepfather, Leo Edwards, a beekeeper.
"Mum never revealed her innermost feelings," Mrs Rourke said.
Grief prompted formation of business
Grief prompted Ms Brassil, a 2023 AgriFutures Rural Women's Award NSW/ACT state finalist, to help Australian families create lasting memories for their families.
Spurred into action following the death of both her father, Pat, and sister Belinda in a relatively short period, and pre-empting the inevitable passing of her mother Anne, Ms Brassil asked if she could record her life story.
"When my father and sister died, I realised we really didn't have a lot of history recorded about them - particularly of my sister, who was only 52 and left behind a 12-year-old daughter, and that we hadn't captured many of her stories in her voice for her daughter to hear," Ms Brassil said.
"I wanted to do the same for mum, as she's a really interesting person and has led a colourful life.
"She moved away at the age of 16 in 1950, as one of only two girls in Wagga who got the Commonwealth Scholarship to go to Sydney University.
"She led the creation of a very early Women's Refuge - one of the first of 11 refuges in the state and was a foster carer for children in crisis.
"She also remembers the polio epidemic and seeing children in iron lungs in hospital.
"Mum later became a teacher and skipped out of school with the teachers and the students when Queen Elizabeth visited the area as part of her great Australian tour in 1954.
"Most people - even her children and most definitely her grandchildren - didn't know the true extent of her achievements, her community work, or her astute, witty and often acerbic observations on the play of life."
Ms Brassil and her team have recorded more than 1500 life stories, turning the professional interviews into a personalised audio series for their families to keep forever.
As well as the professional podcast-like personal audio series, the platform also has a DIY interview guide for families wanting to interview their loved ones themselves.
"I learned more about my mum and her life than ever before by asking questions I would ask every day to other people as a freelance journalist, but had never asked my mum," Ms Brassil said.
"We quickly discovered other people also feel that need, so I took my creative juices and decided to not let that happen to our or anyone else's family again."
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