Friday, July 08, 2011

Funeral Friday

Today I drove to the rural Village of Kyneton about 90 km from Melbourne. My Auntie Millie in her mid-80s had decided to call it a day. Well she really wasn't a real Auntie but a close family friend. That's what you did back then - you called your parent's friends Auntie or Uncle.
Millicent or Millie was a generous and strong lady with a smiling face. We caught up at my Dad's recent 90th birthday celebration. I hadn't seen her for some years but when I did, there was with her smiling face.
She commented on how nice our two boys were - it was the first time she'd met them.
There are some funerals you go to because its expected - and there's some you want to be at.
Millie's was the latter.
I'm not quite sure why the service was in Kyneton, maybe family, not sure but the town of Kyneton is delightful. It's one of those towns that grew out of the gold boom. Towns dotted the way to the gold fields of the 1850s.
The motorway or freeway as we call it by-passes the town these days but I think that this enhances the town as I remember it from the days when the main road ran through.
The locals have found an income through tourism. Cafes, bakeries, hotels, museums and art and craft shops make Kyneton a place to stop and absorb the ambiance of this town.
After the service I took a wander around the town, stopped at the bakery for a mushroom pie and a latte before heading back to the office for the afternoon - yes I need to catch up on the weekend for work but it was worth the hour of relaxation.

The Kyneton Museum is made from bluestone as many of our gold rush buildings were.

Doorways throughout the world have a special interest.

One wonders what modern building will replace this piece of heritage.

I'm not sure of the origins of this architecture. I do like it though.

A little French Patisserie in Kyneton.

The local Town Hall.
The Bank of New South Wales is now Morrison's Antique and Craft store.


Just a little bit of Art Nouveau in rural Victoria.

With a touch of Art Deco of the 20s.

I needed a coffee and a mushroom pie after all of this at the local bakery.
Thanks to Auntie Millie, I had the opportunity to enjoy Kyneton again. She was a lovely person.

8 comments:

  1. We most certainly did I had lots of 'Friend Aunties' A nice tribute to Millie and an opportunity to share Kyneton with us.

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  2. Sorry for your loss guys. (But the mushroom pie and latte sound good).
    Some nice architecture going on there too.

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  3. Malmsbury is another really cool place albeit smaller, that is great to potter around in. We have lots of gold rush era towns that contain great history and architecture.
    You'll have to do some digging now to find out why Aunt Millie took you to Kynton. There surely is a story in that?

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  4. Millie sounds like she was a real gem - I'm sure she will be missed. I read a book written by Susan Irvine entitled "Garden of a thousand rose" She bought an old tumbled down blue stone cottage in the Kyneton/Malmsbury area - in view of the freeway - renovated it and build a magnificent rose garden. I visited there a few years back and loved the area.

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  5. Diane - thanks, it was a good funeral with good memories.

    LLM - Yes, it was two nice experiences in one day.

    Craig - the architecture shows the progress of the town from the 1850s to today. The building materials changed as did the design. I drove the back streets as well which had some hidden treasures as well.

    Darren - Millie had no children and lived alone for 50 years but she had many friends and her family members lived in Kyneton.

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  6. It's indeed sad to say goodbye to the departed people who we love so much. We can't do anything to bring 'em back but we can do something that will honour them and will make them happy.
    funeral Adelaide

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  7. Malmsbury is another really cool place albeit smaller, that is great to potter around in. We have lots of gold rush era towns that contain great history and architecture.
    You'll have to do some digging now to find out why Aunt Millie took you to Kynton. There surely is a story in that?

    ReplyDelete

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