The 2024 Project
The Historical Society formed a committee in 2007 to produce a book entitled Our Apron Strings. The book recalled the lives of 170 women, born before 1920, who had lived in the Hawarden-Waikari district. The publication proved to be popular and, after four reprints, 740 copies have been sold.
Our Guardians of Freedom was published in 2010. This book documented service in the six wars between 1899 and 1975. 335 copies were sold.
The next book (Book 3, Our Path Finders) in this series included men born up to 1920. Again, this was very successful and, when it was released in December 2015, 350 copies were sold.
Book 4 followed (Our Apron Strings II). This was published in December 2022. Some women who were missed from the first book were included but the main dates were 1920 – 1940. The initial print run of 350 copies was quickly sold and a reprint was ordered to meet ongoing demand. It was reprinted again in February.
Book 5 (Our Path Finders II) Published in December 2023 contains biographies for 180 men born in the 1920 – 1940 date range. It includes a group missed from the earlier Path Finders book. The initial print run was sold out before Christmas and it was reprinted in February 2024. A further reprint in planned for December 2024.
The committee met in March to consider the future of the project. We looked at a range of options including a 1941 – 60 women’s book, a 10-year book for women and a 10-year combined women’s and men’s book. We were concerned that women born in the late fifties through 1960 might not want to participate and, if they did, would have a serious part of their life stories obviously yet to be written… We concluded that another twenty-year book project should be undertaken now, using the resources that had been assembled. We believed it would be unlikely to eventuate later with a new group.
Book VI (Our Apron Strings III) is the result. The sub-title suggests a change from the austerity of earlier times; more opportunities and a relaxation of some traditional values in society.
Book VI contains 174 biographies. Twenty-six in Part One were missed in the earlier books and it would have been most unfortunate not to have recorded their stories. Dedicated, creative and persistent tracking yielded significant success.
As before, we were unable to contact a significant number on the list who came and went from the district leaving memories but “no forwarding address”. A few declined to participate.
Taken together, the biographies in these six books represent a treasure-trove of histories, achievements, wider family links, stories and rather too many tragedies.
Their biographies tell us something of how they came to be in Hawarden-Waikari what they did and what happened to them in later life.
It has been a real pleasure to assist again in this ongoing project and to have the opportunity to contact so many of the families and friends to get the biographies ready for publication.
Murray Downes
Leithfield
November 2024
