ISBN 9780646507866         

My Mother and Myself  written by  Judith leoni

 REVIEW BELOW   from   Lloyd Nelson

This substantial book runs to 407 pages and within it’s covers contains an eclectic sprinkling of maps, photos, poetry, recipes as well as the fascinating story which broadly sets out to traverse the unlikely union of her farm girl pioneer family mother Beatrice Taylor of Kechualing Farm, set in rich country at Wedgecarrup, with her father, one of the very few professional men in Wagin and the family that sprang from that union.

 It surely succeeds in doing that and the whole lot is bound together by it’s tomboy writer into a must read account of life in Wagin from the confused days of World War II right through to the days of the region’s miraculous wool boom times.  It is a must read for people that were connected with Wagin in that period, especially of course the Catholic community.  Although the numbers of such people are in marked decline, Wagin these days is full of tree changers who take a keen interest in the towns past history.

 It’s entertaining, it’s a jolly good read and much more.  It is a well constructed journey of the social mores of it’s time.  A time when people’s needs were simpler and their choices the same. 

 This reviewer had this to say about Judith Leoni’s dad, dental surgeon Ernest Sylvester Luscombe in a retrospective in the Wagin Argus published May 2^nd 2002:

“Mr. Luscombe is a totally urbane man who wouldn’t have batted an eyelid in any company.  He is quite a tall chap, upstanding.  Years later he brings the house down at a Wagin Bowling Club annual meeting.  The secretary, Harold Dare, is getting technical over an obscure issue.  The meeting falls in a hole.  Ernie suggests an idea that is widely supported, i.e. ”to have a shotgun start to the season and shoot the secretary!”

 If you want to bone up on Wagin’s war to post war history, bake a cake from the recipes, or read some interesting poetry, this book is for you.

 Do enjoy.