Case study: Surprise find inspires biography of a late mother

Elaine Crabtree accidentally fell into her family writing project.

She recently published When We Were Very Rich after finding a collection of notebooks following her mother Isabel Donnollan’s death.

“I was searching through her papers for something and I came across a number of handwritten notebooks,” Elaine said.

“They were all in great detail of her early life growing up around Rockhampton (Central Queensland, Australia) during the Great Depression.

“I had known of the existence of one notebook but was delighted when I saw how much she had written.

“Having found all the notebooks, I found reading them fascinating and I decided that I would try to put them all together.”

Elaine has lived in the United Kingdom for over 50 years and said the biography of a late mother had helped connect her with her family back in Australia.

“My mother was one of 14 and I have 50 first cousins! There is a lot of family to share this story with,” she said.

“As I told my cousins: ‘My mum’s story is the family story for all your parents.’

“When my grandmother had her 100 birthday there were over 200 descendants at her party at Yeppoon (near Rockhampton).

“This was a life story that needed to be shared.”

Elaine said while her mother and maternal grandmother grew up poor they were rich in other ways.

“(Mum) named her story When We Were Very Rich,” she said.

“She felt they were rich in freedom, fresh air, nature and most of all family love and togetherness.”

Keep reading to find out how Elaine saw the book through to completion and what her top tips are for compiling a biography of a late mother or other family member.

My husband, son and daughter gave me great encouragement to get the story typed up.

There were only a few cousins that I initially shared the fact with that the notebooks had been found and they were very keen to see (the manuscript).

I didn’t want to say too much about them to others at first, in case I didn’t get to finish it.

I especially wanted to finish it for my Auntie Bub.

Mum was firstborn in the family and Auntie Bub is No. 4 – born three-and-a-half years later.

There is so much shared life I wanted Auntie Bub to be able to read it.

Auntie Bub is now 94 and the book has certainly taken her back to her childhood memories.

With so many notebooks to go through, I had to read them a number of times and catalogue stories together.

What I found interesting was, if Mum had written about an event more than once, the story was almost identical, which showed me that her memory played her true.

I did not have to do a lot of research, the brief outline of the family history in Chapter 1 of the book sets up the family story.

The rest is mostly my mother’s words.

The compilation was the most difficult – to get it into a chronological order, put events together and life in their different ‘homes’.

I typed it all up, proofread, sorted out timescales and typed it all up again.

I think in all I probably typed it out at least four times getting it into order.

Fortunately I trained as a shorthand typist and I have never lost my typing speed, so that was a great help.

It probably took 18 months to two years (on and off) before I was happy with it.

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The hardest part was getting the chronological order and deciding what would go in each chapter.

I enlisted my sister Felicity Prazak’s help with this.

She came up to stay with me and we spent days deciding what would go where.

Felicity also came up with the idea of putting some of the stories into paintings.

Felicity is a trained artist and I really feel her watercolour paintings bring the stories to life.

I love her watercolour The Mango Tree on the cover of the book (pictured below).

Many of my cousins who now have the book remark: “That is grandma’s mango tree on the cover!”

Although Felicity now lives in London, like me she was born in Rockhampton and lived her early life in Australia.

So she has a real feel for the authentic Australian scenery.

Once I had finished the manuscript I was so thrilled with it I decided that I would try to see if I could have it published.

I tried several publishers in Australia.

One literary agent was ever so keen and kept the manuscript for months.

I was sad not to find an Australian publisher, as the story is Australian social history.

However, Austin Macauley agreed to publish and were happy to include all my sister Felicity’s paintings in the order that I wanted.

I cannot describe the pride I felt for my mother when the first copy (of the book) arrived in the post and I actually held it in my hand.

My mother was an incredible woman, full of determination to succeed despite all the hardships life had for the family.

The story is a great accolade to my grandmother Sarah Hall.

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Elaine said her whole family loved the fact that she had brought favourite stories to life with her mum’s writings.

“I love the stories of the family outings to the beach – the sing-song evenings, the playing cards,” she said.

“I’m the second eldest grandchild, so I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with my grandparents when I was growing up.

“I could relate to many family gatherings that I was part of with all the aunts, uncles and cousins.”

Elaine had much encouragement for others starting a biography of a late mother or similar biography project.

“Gather as much information as you can, be it spoken or written, type it all up so you can keep a record,” she said.

“Even if you start slowly the final result is so rewarding.

“Too many stories and events are forgotten.”

Elaine said the Australian Historical Society had taken a copy of When We Were Very Rich as a record of Australian social history.

“If at first you don’t succeed, keep on trying,” she said.

“I just kept researching publishers and literary agencies until I eventually found one to publish the book.

“The pleasure to hold the book in your hand is overwhelming.”

Happy writing!

When We Were Very Rich by Isabel Donnollan – compiled and edited by Elaine Crabtree and art illustrations by Felicity Prazak is published by Austin Macauley (Australian distributors Ingrams). The book is available to purchase digitally and in print through Book Depositary, Booktopia, Amazon and at Angus & Robertson. Find and follow Elaine at her Facebook page, which features her recent trip to Rockhampton to promote the book.

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