Chairman Sheridan Brown introduced guest speaker Ian Minchin.
Born in Perth and growing up in rural WA but living now in Melbourne, Ian is the son of a Gallipoli and Western Front veteran and has had a career steeped in the finance industry.
He is a husband, father and grandfather with a passion for both Australian and family history and is currently teaching English to asylum seekers and refugees whilst writing his second novel. He joked that being an author, could often lead to divorce but in his case his long suffering wife had been supportive as he immersed himself in research in tracking down and communicating with remote relatives. With a great-great something having 19 children there was an extensive and far flung list of people which he could contact.
With diminishing responsibilities his underlying desire to write (memoirs at first) emerged following a visit to Gallipoli in 2008, further stimulating his interest in both Australian and family history.
The origins for his first book “Brothers in Arms” evolved from his desire to record Australian life in the 20th century, the change from an agricultural driven society to the urban one of the mid century, to today, all as reflected in stories of his relatives and especially his brothers who served in WW2. His father and uncle had served in WW1 at Gallipoli and the Western Front. Thus his book contains “war” stories of both.
A fascinating aspect often observed by children of military veterans is how little their immediate parent tells of their war experiences. Ian noted that he learnt more of his own father’s horrific war injuries and exploits from his uncle many years after.
One of Ians’ first realizations as he set about to research his family as the basis of some book was that since the mid 1850’s when the first of his ancestors arrived in Australia has been involved in many wars. So the stories of his ancestors is heavily linked to their experiences in them.
Our interest was held, as Ian told stories of his research, the fruits of that research (the content of his book) and then later the events which flowed from exposure of his book to a broader audience as traced by the Veteran Affairs department.
For instance, those involved in the program to recover and identify Allied soldiers buried by the Germans after the horrible Fromelles campaign approached him with the probable fact that one 15 year old soldier was related to him. DNA analysis is in progress. This was news to Ian, and promoted another line of family research and confirmation of the possibility. A perceived lone ancestor was not indeed the sole member of a family branch.
We thanked Ian for a great tale and collection of stories. If his style and ease of address is replicated in the book it should be an entertaining and interesting read.
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