'Four Centuries of a British-Australian Family
'A great-aunt's bequest - a 200-year-old grandfather clock - sends historian Graeme Davison on a journey deep into his father's family's past. From their tribal homeland in the Scottish Borders he follows them to the garrison town of Carlisle, from industrial Birmingham to Edwardian Australia, and from the Great War to his own suburban childhood. This is the story of an ordinary family's journey from frontier warfare and dispossession through economic turmoil and emigration to modest prosperity. At each step, we are led to reflect on the puzzles of personal identity and the mystery of time. Based on a lifetime of creative scholarship, My Grandfather's Clock is a moving testament to the power of family history to illuminate the present.' (Publication summary)
'This book is the second volume of Graeme Davison’s family history that began with his Lost Relations: Fortunes of my Family in Australia’s Golden Age (2015), following his mother’s line. This book traces Davison’s paternal line. The title comes from a bequest left to Davison by his great aunt Cissie Davison who bequeathed the clock to his father and then to Davison on his death. I will always remember this clock because in late 2017, I had the pleasure of listening to Davison deliver a keynote lecture on his family history research at the National Library of Australia during a conference on family history. He ended his talk in song, encouraging the audience to join him in a rendition of My Grandfather’s Clock, which they did, enthusiastically. As one of my students said, it was a ‘moving moment for all involved’.' (Introduction)
The Ancestors
2023
27232669
2023
single work
podcast
'In this week’s ABR Podcast, Marilyn Lake reviews My Grandfather’s Clock: Four centuries of a British-Australian family by historian Graeme Davison. Lake argues that Davison has produced an ‘uncommonly good family history’, in part because of the broader history he tells. Marilyn Lake is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in History at the University of Melbourne. Listen to Marilyn Lake’s ‘The ancestors: An uncommonly good family history’, published in the November issue of ABR.' (Production summary)
'Historian Graeme Davison explores powerful forces below history’s horizon'
'This book is the second volume of Graeme Davison’s family history that began with his Lost Relations: Fortunes of my Family in Australia’s Golden Age (2015), following his mother’s line. This book traces Davison’s paternal line. The title comes from a bequest left to Davison by his great aunt Cissie Davison who bequeathed the clock to his father and then to Davison on his death. I will always remember this clock because in late 2017, I had the pleasure of listening to Davison deliver a keynote lecture on his family history research at the National Library of Australia during a conference on family history. He ended his talk in song, encouraging the audience to join him in a rendition of My Grandfather’s Clock, which they did, enthusiastically. As one of my students said, it was a ‘moving moment for all involved’.' (Introduction)
The Ancestors
2023
27232669
2023
single work
podcast
'In this week’s ABR Podcast, Marilyn Lake reviews My Grandfather’s Clock: Four centuries of a British-Australian family by historian Graeme Davison. Lake argues that Davison has produced an ‘uncommonly good family history’, in part because of the broader history he tells. Marilyn Lake is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in History at the University of Melbourne. Listen to Marilyn Lake’s ‘The ancestors: An uncommonly good family history’, published in the November issue of ABR.' (Production summary)
