We generally tend to take our family history for granted, particularly when we are young or living elsewhere. We don’t pause to acknowledge that is how we came to be. We are here and what we are is because of our forebears. There is a part of them in us all. We are what they were. That we can’t deny but are inclined to.
This realisation was brought home to Betty Roberts from the central west town of Dubbo when visiting the home of her great grandparents. The house was Roughley House ‘The Pines’ at Dural and the occasion was a family reunion of the descendants of James William Roughley III. He was the eldest son of James and Lydia Roughley who built Roughley House in 1856.
For the first time, Betty was to understand and appreciate her past family as she spent time in the old house of her forebears. This experience inspired Betty to write the following poem. Perhaps her words will strike a chord in all of us.
