Stories
Showcasing the colourful history of Tale Tellers:
From the Queen of the Blues to the WWII pilot, the stories bring poignant, rich, tragic and often hilarious memories of older Australians to life.
John Atkins
John wanted to join the Air Force so he could go to Cranwell, the Royal Air Force College but his father refused.
Phillip Wright
Philip learnt to sail as a young boy growing up in Lakes Entrance and got into blue water sailing in Sydney in the 1970s. He eventually decided to sail solo from Hobart to Vancouver.
Adele Meredith
Adele, born in Germany in 1946, was part of the Lebensborn program. When she arrived in Australia her mother put her straight into an orphanage in Melbourne.
“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling”
— Jimmy Neil Smith, founder of the International Storytelling Center, USA -
The photos below are from participants in previous Telling Tales projects. The images represent a small fraction of the stories that are shared in performances.
TT 2019 - Neville Lee at his investiture as Mayor of Camberwell, 1961
TT 2016 - Dora Scales (nee Goudie) with her pupils, Ardonichie SS, 1942
TT 2019 - Pham Ho as a baby with her mother in Vietnam
TT 2016 - Dora Scales (nee Goudie) and her teddy, c.1929
TT 2016 - Dora Scales (nee Goudie) with brothers and school teacher, Frank Tilley
TT 2017 - Tony Purcell, Newport High School Victory Parade, 1945
TT 2019 - Peter Harms, 3 years old in 1942
TT 2019 - Gaie Maddocks, 30 years a Kindergarten teacher
TT 2016 - Dora Scales celebrating her 96th birthday in 2016
TT 2019 - Ann Rennie and new husband, Robert
TT 2017 - Tony Purcell and the Ladies in Hats
TT 2015 – Jenny Slocombe at Morning Melodies with Col Perkins
TT 2017 - Pam Hourigan with her family in Trafalgar Square, 1946
TT 2017 - Bet May, 17 years old in 1956
TT 2013 - Bob Sharp dancing with sister Betty, 1941
TT 2016 - Yen Bui (R), her 5 children and their teacher (L) in Galang Refugee Camp, Indonesia, 1980
TT 2016 - Yen Bui with her 100 year old father in 2016
TT 2016 - Yen Bui with her mother in 1951
TT 2016 - Dora Scales with her husband, at her PhD Graduation, 1993
TT 2015 - Marion Beattie, 2nd prize, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Red Faces 1999
TT 2015 - Bill Andrews, bugler at the Royal Hospital School, 1940s
TT 2017 - Deo Narayan and his wife Kusum, Australian Citizens
TT 2019 - Gaie Maddocks, music time at Kinder
TT 2015 - Heather Castley with husband Ken and great-grandson, Coby
TT 2013 - Bob Sharp at Scout camp, 1929