Happy birthday Lidija

 

 This is my brother's daughter Lidija who is two days younger than Tim, I last saw her when she was about six weeks old. Andrew and his partner separated when she was about twelve months old and Andrew died about eighteen months later.

My brother had a very hard life as a child and he became a very troubled adult , we had a Father who basically ignored his family and then our parents divorced with Mum and we three children living with our Grandmother for twelve months and then Mum remarried to a man who did not even try and be nice to us.

Our life in Bathurst was very unhappy and then Andrew was sent to Stannies (St Stanislaus College) as a boarder and everyone now knows what occurred there.After running away numerous times and being sent back he was expelled when he was 16 and my Step Father kicked him out of home.

After a few months living with Uncle George and his family in Sydney Andrew eventually moved to Canberra where he worked as a Gardener and then just drifted.

My Father also remarried ( to his mistress!) and the only contact we had with him was via letters , we weren't welcome at his home until after she died and by then Andrew had gone too.