Denece Clarke, my beloved wife

Apart from the relief from the terrible pain that she suffered toward the end perhaps the best things about her death is that now we can start replacing the memories of Denece’s last declining months with the much happier memories of the many good years. My early years with Denece Perhaps the first holiday Denece and I had together was a camping trip across to the Grampians in Victoria in 1975. I think we went to the Grampians in summer. While the climate of the Grampians is cooler than that of Adelaide (where Denece had a house) and Aldinga Beach (where I had a house) I recall it was hot enough - I remember sitting in the shade of tree ferns in the middle of one particularly warm day. This is my first car, a Toyota Corona that I bought second hand - it's showing its age here. Denece had a Volkswagen Beetle at the time. Sailing on the Murray River Denece and I were together only some four or five months before we took our homemade boat to the Murray River for some days of sailing. Denece at the tiller of our boat named Nameless. In the Christmas holiday period of 1974 (between Christmas Day and New Year's Day) we sailed Nameless from Walkers Flat to Morgan on the Murray River. At the time the lower Murray was in flood. The water level was high enough for us to motor right over the top of the Blanchetown weir. The winds at the time were mostly southerlies, so we were able to sail upstream and then come back downstream mainly by drifting with the quite strong current. I was halfway through building Nameless, a Hartley 18(ft) trailer sailer made of marine ply, when I met Denece. Home Top Index I had temporarily run out of enthusiasm for the project and hadn't done any work on her for several weeks at the time; meeting Denece gave me the incentive I needed to finish the job. Our second sailboat This and the next photo came after Denece and I had our sailing trip up the Murray River on Nameless. We must have bought this boat, Gilgamesh, a Binks 25(ft) trailer-sailer, around late 1976 or early 1977, probably just before, or about the time Denece became pregnant with Ken. Looking back on it I wonder why we sold Nameless and then bought Gilgamesh only a year or two later. It seems foolish in hindsight. I suspect it was connected to my transfer from the Adelaide office of the Mines and Energy Department to the newly opened Crystal Brook office - and Denece and me moving to Crystal Brook. Of course a commercially built 25 footer was considerably more comfortable than a home-made 18 footer. Home Top Index Here's Denece preparing a meal in Gilgamesh. We had a galley with a spirit stove (better than kerosine because a fire could be extinguished with a bucket of water) and there was a flush toilet that emptied out into whatever water body we were sailing in. We soon learned that with me in full time employment and having a young baby did not give us the free time to do enough sailing to justify keeping Gilgamesh. We must have sold it when Ken was only a few months old, probably before we went to the USA. A visit to the USA to see the family These images are taken from old 35mm colour slides. The quality was not sufficient for high definition versions, unlike many of the other photos on this page. It must have been 1978 when Denece, Ken and I went to the USA to visit Denece's family. (I know because I remember that Ken was six months old at the time and he was born in December of 1977). Home Top Index It is of course stating the obvious, but perhaps worth doing anyway, to say that Denece and I haven't always been old. She was once young and beautiful, I was once young. Denece's mother, Ophelia Bernice McCance, holding one of her more recent (at the time) grandchildren, Ken. (She didn't like the name 'Ophelia', so she used Bernice.) Denece and Ken Home Top Index Camping in the bush somewhere not a long way from North Powder, where Denece spent her childhood. It was during that visit to the USA that Julia was conceived. I sometimes joke that she was an accident (she wasn't an error, but unlike ken who we tried for for several months, Julia came along without any effort). She was 'made in America'. We found these cauliflower mushrooms. I forget whether Denece knew that they were edible, or we asked someone and found that out. Home Top Index But they didn't taste very good. Denece at the Imnaha Canyon, a gorge on the course of the Imaha River in Oregon. The Imnaha is a tributary of the Snake River, which also has a very deep and impressive gorge. McCance family reunion, 1978 Denece's mother, Bernice McCance, with some of her great-grandchildren at the time of our visit to the USA, 1978. I wonder how many great-grandchildren there would be by now? Home Top Index And Grandma McCance with some of her grandchildren at the family reunion. If you click on the image you will hopefully be better able to see their faces. Our homes in South Australia Crystal Brook   Denece pregnant with Ken in August 1977 and the back of our house soon after we bought it. (Ken was born on 1977/12/12.) 20 Musgrave Street, Crystal Brook Denece and I bought a very run-down house for $7,250 in about 1976 (that equates to $56,000 in 2025 values). We spent years renovating it. The roof on the main part of the house had been replaced not long before this photo was taken. Home Top Index When we had not been there long a man called in and mentioned that his mother, who, I think he said was about 100 years old, was born in our house. If so the original part must have been built before 1876. The house had been extended at least twice before we bought it and we extended again to increase the number of bedrooms to three when Ken and Julia were old enough to need seperate bedrooms. Denece with Jack the lamb. We came across Jack and another lamb that had apparently lost their mothers on a hike. Julia brought Jack home and her friend Courtney brought the other lamb back to her place. Jack thrived, we finished up giving him to a farmer who said he'd keep Jack for his wool and not have him slaughtered. Denece at the front of our house at Crystal Brook about 1986. One of the better photos I've found of her taken around that time; click on the image for a higher resolution version. Clair, the best dog ever! Julia begged for a dog for years but we didn't get one because it would be a problem whenever we went away on holiday. Finally, in 1992, when Julia was about 13, we gave in and got Clair from a local farmer. It was just after we had a few days in Clare caravan park, that seems to have been where the name came from. At the time of the photo Clair was just eight weeks old. We must have just got her. Clair decided, early on, that her roll in life was to do everything she could to please us. She was totally devoted to us, very unlike several dogs we've had since.   Solar at Crystal Brook The old solar PV panels, installed in 2006, are in the foreground, the new panels, installed in March 2021 are on the left, the solar water heater is on the right. (This solar water heater was installed about 2010, replacing one installed about 1976.) Home Top Index Denece and I have always been very environmentally minded and have tried to keep our greenhouse emissions to a minimum; we had a solar water heater installed soon after we bought the house (as I recall the existing water heater only supplied how water to the bathroom). I believe we were either the second or third people in Crystal Brook to put solar power on our roof. That was the panels at the bottom of the photo on the right. Our first six solar panels were rated at a total of one kilowatt. We later had solar installed on Ken and Julia's homes, two lots at different times at Elysium and more at Crystal Brook not long before we moved to WA. The total was about 22kW by the time we left SA. We had ducted evaporative air conditioning installed rather than refrigerated to minimise power consumption. Of course we generated far more electricity than we consumed, but the excess went into the grid and was used by other people meaning that less fossil fuel needed to be burned to generate Australia's power. (There are good ethical and environmental reasons for staying connected to the power grid and generating more power than you need for your own consumption.)

Crystal Brook Central Park

Home Top Index Denece fully supported me in my efforts to revegetate a block of neglected land in the centre of Crystal Brook. Several friends and I planted most of the small shrubs and trees that can be seen in this Google Earth image, against the opposition of the government department responsible for the land.

Clare and Elysium Skillogalee Restaurant is just off Hughs Park Road. In good weather you can eat out under the big olive tree, and you can even tie your dog up near your table. Home Top Index Denece and Socrates are enjoying a pleasant sit in the shade while waiting for our lunch to be served. Photo 2018/02/11 Skillogalee was one of our favourite eating-out places in Clare, top of the list was Indii, an Indian restaurant. There were several others that were also very good. Our Elysium homestead photographed by my Mavik Mini drone on a misty morning, 2021/07/10. Click on the image for higher definition. The homestead was developed progressively from about 1995 to the time we sold the property in late 2021. The bird-proof fruit tree enclosure is bottom left, the door to the cellar is below the small roof left of centre, the roof over the old caravan that served as a spare bedroom is behind that. The solar water heater is just to the left of the shack. The first lot of solar panels (1.5kW) are in the front of the shack (above my head), the second lot are on the shed roof (5.2kW). The white tank at the upper right was used to store dry firewood and at lower right is a wood-fired barbecue.

A part of 'our' patch, Elysium

The homestead is in the lower centre. I planted nearly all the trees other than those along the road on the left. Our drinking, washing and cooking water came mainly from the rain. Water for the garden was from a dam that is almost hidden by the mist among the mist at the centre left. One of the tanks on the right stored rain water, the other stored dam water. Water gravitated to the shack from the tanks.

A mob of kangaroos on Elysium. (Click on the image for more detail.) We had up to 22 kangaroos at a time on our property, Elysium. More often we saw around six or eight. Photo 2020/06/14, Mavic Mini drone. I couldn't get close enough to get a photo like this without using the drone. Denece and Ken having a tea break during olive picking. A fair part of Elysium is visible in the background. About 2010. The tractor was older than me. It served us well for the time we had Elysium.   Denece and I bought Elysium in 1993. I had spent my first 23 or so years in Charleston in the Adelaide Hills, which was much cooler than Crystal Brook. Crystal Brook has a very hot summer. The cooler climate of Clare suited me better. As always, Denece very kindly supported me in practically everything I wanted to do. Home Top Index In the first few years that we had Elysium our son Ken helped me plant several hundred olive trees and in 1999 we planted a small vineyard of shiraz vines, with another small patch planted in 2001. The total was about 2ha. So for about 28 years we periodically travelled the 75km between the two homes. I shudder to think how much greenhouse CO2 all that driving put into the atmosphere. (I would have used public transport if it was available but there was nothing between Crystal Brook and Clare.) The trouble was that while we both enjoyed both places, Denece loved our house at Crystal Brook and I loved our property at Clare, we couldn't part with either one or the other. We were able to buy Elysium because I had received an inheritance from my father, Ken. He died at the age of 84. Before that, while we were not poor - we had some savings, but we struggled to live just on my income. Mother Denece Ken and Julia couldn't have had a better mother than Denece. She was devoted to them (and to me). A perfect wife and mother. I often had to go away on field trips, frequently just a couple of days and one night, but often enough several weeks, at least once I was away for five weeks straight. Denece was left 'holding the baby' on her own at these times. Learning Assistance Program Denece helped with the Learning Assistance Program at Crystal Brook Primary School for some years. It was a program to provide one-on-one assistance to kids who had learning difficulties. Denece out and about India Denece, Julia, Ken and I went to India with Thai Airways just before Ken was 12 years old. It was the kids' first overseas holiday. A part of the reason for going then was that kids under the age of 12 travelled at that time for 2/3 adult fair. It would have been in 1988. Home Top Index I had been in India in 1972 on my way coming back overland from four months in Europe, so I had passed through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan on my way; I had got into India gradually. This time, as soon as we got to India, with the crowds, the smells, the dirty toilets, the packed-solid busses, I thought "what have I done bringing my wife and two little kids into this place?!" But it turned out alright. It certainly wasn't easy going, and we all got gastro at one time or another, Julia even got the flu in the first few days. But there is an enormous amount to see in India. Here Denece at the Jaipur observatory that was built before telescopes, it's an observatory for recording the positions and movements of stars and planets with just the naked eye and (by modern standards) primitive sextant-like instruments. When I looked through my old transparencies I was disappointed to see that they included very few photos with Denece in them. I seemed to have concentrated on recording India more than my family in India. We first flew into New Delhi. It was hot, dirty, very crowded and more expensive than I remembered from 16 years earlier. We quickly decided to get out of there and get up into the Himalayas where the weather would be cooler and, hopefully, the prices would be lower. So we travelled by train to Simla, what was once the summer station for the rulers of the British Raj. It was much more enjoyable, although that's where Julia caught the flu - being young and healthy she got over it quickly. There's an interesting little story there; Julia stayed in our room recovering from the flue in Simla one day while Denece, Ken and I went out for a walk. The walk turned out to be longer than intended, I thought that Simla was on the top of a hill so we could walk around the hill and get back to our accommodation from the other direction; we walked and walked and eventually gave up and got a bus back. The window was left open in our room so that Julia would have fresh air and a cheeky monkey, which were numerous in Simla, came into the room. Julia yelled and someone came in and chased the monkey away for her. Home Top Index After a few days in Simla we flew to the Kulu Valley and then got a taxi further up the valley to Manali. The elevation of both Simla and Manali was about 2000m, the difference was that Simla was built on a mountain-top, while Manali was in the bottom of a deep valley. In the photo Denece and Julia on the Bias River near Manali. More photos of our holiday in India are on another page on this site, but not, unfortunately, any good photos of Denece. In Manali we hired a guide to show us around. I had tried to find maps but without success. The guide took us on a walk up the valley sides to this lookout point that was, I suppose, about 400 metres above Manali. The mountains roundabout were up to 6,000 metres high. It is a spectacular place. In the photo we are all resting after the climb. Denece (in the foreground) and I certainly needed it, the kids and the guide were still fresh. After the hard work that India turned out to be we changed our travel plans a little. We had planned, I think, for a week in Thailand on the way home, we reduced out time in India by one week and had an extra week in Thailand. Thailand was a real holiday. Home Top Index Indonesia   From the left, Julia, Ken, Denece, our guide (whose name I don't recall), James Orvad (Ken's friend, who came with us), and me. A few years after our visit to India and Thailand we had a holiday in Indonesia. It must have been about 1994 and Ken would have been about 17, Julia 16 or so. We started in Bali, as so many Australians do, then had a few days in both Java (next island to the west of Bali) and Lombok (next island to the east of Bali) - much less common. While in Bali we visited Mount Batur, one of the two active volcanoes on the island. While looking around we happened across the bloke third from the right in the photo. He offered to guide us to the top of the mountain on the following day to see the sunrise. We took him up on his offer. We started the climb at 3am in the dark. We did get to the top in time for the sunrise, but there was too much cloud for a good sunrise. At the top we had a breakfast of steamed bananas (which went into sandwiches) and steamed eggs, using the steam from a natural volcanic vent. Home Top Index The most active crater of the Mount Batur volcano, at the time, was a little away from the highest peak. I recall that when we went over to have a look at that the guide became a bit nervous, perhaps concerned of a pick up in activity and the danger of being hit by volcanic bombs. The amount of rumbling and roaring was quite impressive. He was a very good guide and well worth the small fee he asked for. Vietnam In the photo Denece and two others on our tour group crossing a 'Monkey bridge' across one of the minor waterways of the Mekong delta. Denece and I visited Vietnam in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011. This photo was taken on our first visit, in the Mekong delta region in the far south of the country. Denece and I were so impressed with Vietnam on our first visit in 2004 that we talked the rest of the family into coming back with us in 2006 (it wasn't difficult). This was pre-grandkids, the first of those, Anna came along in 2010. On this trip we visited Halong Bay and Sapa, which is in the mountains in the NW of Vietnam near the Chinese border. Home Top Index Here Denece is standing on the back porch of our cabin at the Tapas Echo Retreat which is some kilometres out of the town of Sapa; Ken is on the next cabin along. If not for the dense smog the view would have no doubt been magnificent. I remember that smoggy air was common in Vietnam, it was sometimes 10am before the sun got high enough to be seen through the mucky air. Our daughter-in-law Claire kindly organised our visit to Sapa and Halong Bay. On our last visit to Vietnam we had five days or so based at Ninh Binh at the Xuan Hoa Hotel. After a few days exploring Ninh Binh the proprietor of the hotel, Xuan (pronounced something like schwan) organised for us to have a night and a couple of days at a beautiful place in the mountains called Phu Luong. Xuan and his driver personally accompanied us. The photo shows Denece, rice paddies, and the beautiful mountains of Phu Luong. The air was much clearer in Phu Luong than it had been in Ninh Binh. Unfortunately Xuan's mother-in-law died soon after we arrived in Phu Luong. He had to return and leave us sharing the home of a couple who spoke no English. It was a very pleasant few days for us, sad for Xuan. Cambodia On our last trip to South East Asia Denece and I visited Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Of course you can't go to Cambodia without visiting the Angkor complex of temples; Angkor Wat is only one of them, although certainly the most beautiful.

Angkor Wat not long after sunrise

On our first day we stayed with the crowd and waited near the main entrance on the western side for the sunrise (see elsewhere). On our second day we walked straight around to the eastern side, the side that would be illuminated by the newly risen sun. The photo above was taken from the northeast. Denece has turned her back, she didn't like being photograph all that much.

New Zealand Home Top Index One of the few selfies that I have taken, need I say that Denece and I were at Hobbiton in New Zealand's North Island. The north island is very volcanic, with a number of active volcanos, the South Island is mountainous with few, if any, active volcanoes (I could easily be wrong). Late September or early October, 2019. This was during a holiday that we had with our daughter Julia, her husband Shayne, and her daughters, Anna and Elisabeth from 2019/09/25 to 2019/10/13. Julia arranged all the bookings and car hire etcetera for us. She and Shayne did the driving. Our group ready to board the cruise boat that will take us on a tour of spectacular Milford Sound fiord on the South Island. Beth had Pink Panther. She carried that thing around for years; I think she still takes it with her at times. Anna had her new Kia. Julia on the left, Shayne behind Denece. Japan The adults, from the left: my daughter Julia, my wife Denece, son-in-law Shayne, son Ken, daughter-in-law Claire; the children: Julia and Shayne's daughters Anna (aged 7) and Beth (5), Ken and Claire's daughter Adelaide, aged 20 months. Home Top Index We loved Japan, especially the gardens. Japanese gardens are the best in the world. One of the best was Isui-en in Nara. (As I recall, the suffix 'en' means garden, just as the suffix 'ji' means temple and 'jo' means castle.) Japanese castles too are magnificent. In Japan most restaurants are tiny by Australian standards. It can be challenging to find a suitable place for lunch (with space to accommodate our group of nine and a menu that appealed to us). We found this place in the main Nara railway station. Had I recorded the name of the restaurant I would have given it here; I recall that it was a very good lunch for a very reasonable price. Around the table from the left, Denece, Ken, little Adelaide, Claire, Shayne, Anna, Beth and Julia. Grandma Denece clowning around in Japan. Julia is a villain for jumping in front of you when you try to take a photo. Here Denece got one up on Julia. Home Top Index Denece probably would not have approved of me using this photo! Victoria Ken and Julia playing on Big Lizzie in Redcliffs, on the Murray River not far from the border of South Australia, 1983. Redcliffs is one of many towns that were established along the Murray for irrigated agriculture. We are told that "Big Lizzie played an important role clearing the land to establish Red Cliffs." It was a steam powered traction engine. This was always a favourite of the kids if we were going to the eastern states along the Murray. We visited the Beechworth area of Victoria in 1980. Soon after we moved to Crystal Brook I met Cam Gilbert, who was very interested in gems and minerals, as I was at that time. (I've always been interested in anything geological, but at that time I was faceting gemstones.) Home Top Index Beechworth was an important town in the gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s and it was also a popular place for fossicking. In the photo it looks like Denece in seriously into picking pebbles out of a creek bed.

Denece at Power's Lookout over the King Valley. There are still big areas of forrest in the Great Dividing Range of Victoria and New South Wales, but how much of it is regrowth rather that untouched old growth is questionable. There are two view-points at Power's Lookout; the first is right at the car park, the second is a few hundred metres away and requires climbing quite a few steps. This photo was taken in the Autumn of 2019, when she was much better at walking. Admiring one of the more lifelike sculptures at Bruno's Sculpture Park. Home Top Index Socrates (our dog) was not impressed. It looks like Denece was immobilising him by holding him between her legs. (Denece loved Socrates. I was happy to tolerate him, but he couldn't be trusted to go anywhere near children without snapping at them.) Also in the Autumn of 2019. Bruno's Sculpture Park is in Marysville, and is very well worth a visit. Denece on the peak of Mount William, the highest peak in the Grampians Ranges of Victoria. It is possible to drive most of the way up Mt William, but it's still quite a long walk from the car park to the top. This visit was in 2018 (December 8th), while she was still very good on her legs. We both loved the Grampians almost as much as we loved the Flinders Ranges. Our first visit was soon after we met; it must have been in summer, I remember resting in the cool shade of tree ferns in one of the deeper gullies. Denece and the kids on Tower Hill, one of many extinct volcanoes in south-western Victoria. This photo was taken about 1986. Home Top Index The lakes in the photo are in the craters of the volcano. The volcanic geological province also goes into the SE corner of South Australia. There are a number of other photos of more of these on my page recording the holiday Denece and I had in the region in 2018. Julia and Denece at Sovereign Hill. Sovereign Hill is a recreation of Ballarat in the gold rush period of the 1850s and 1860s. This photo was taken on a visit in 1996. Victoria was the richest of the Australian states at the time and Ballarat was one of the main gold mining towns. The wealth created at the time is still conspicuous in the majestic buildings. There are some more photos of Sovereign Hill in my page on Denece and my visit in 2018. Home Top Index New South Wales While the closest part of New South Wales is a similar distance from Crystal Brook and Clare as is Victoria, the more scenic and populated areas are further away, closer to the east coast. So we tended to visit Victoria more in our later years. However, there is a lot to see and do in NSW. We visited the Snowy Mountains with our caravan in the winter of 1983, partly so that Ken and Julia could see snow. There are few places in Australia that reliably get snow (and there tends to be less and less snow each winter). We camped in a parking area or small reserve for a single night at a place called Kings Cross. As I recall it snowed overnight. Looking back on it we might have been lucky to get out of there as easily as we did, we didn't have chains on our tires. The kids had fun playing in the snow on the following morning. One of the most beautiful parts of NSW is the Blue Mountains, a part of the Great Dividing Range. Most people who visit the Blue Mountains also visit Echo Point where they can view the famous Three Sisters. It seemed that almost everyone at Echo Point was taking selfies with the Three Sisters in the background. I joined in, jokingly, just to be in the 'in group'.   Home Top Index Perhaps the most interesting thing about this was that two other people kindly offered to take photos of Denece, Socrates and me with the Three Sisters in the background. Both of them got quite acceptable photos of the three of us, but with the Three Sisters almost entirely concealed behind us. This was 2017/03/27. We were staying at a farm-stay just out of Bathurst in our little tent-trailer. I think it was the next day that we left Socrates with the very kind people of the farm-stay for the day and took the early morning train into Sydney for the day, coming back in the evening. South Australia

Home Top Index Denece and Socrates on the wall of the main Mount Schank crater, November 2018. Socrates has been clipped for summer. Mount Schank is a few kilometres to the south of the far better known Mount Gambier. There are many extinct volcanoes in the far south of South Australia and south-western Victoria. Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges was probably the part of Australia that Denece loved the most. We would have visited at least once a year in most of the years we lived at Crystal Brook. The ranges are spread over some 30,000 square kilometres in the central-eastern part of South Australia; that is about the size of the Solomon Islands, Lesotho and South Carolina in the USA and a larger area than about ten European nations. This photo was taken on top of the highest peak in the Flinders Ranges, St. Mary Peak, which is also the highest in the southern 90% of South Australia. Denece on the right; the girl seated is Courtney Stevens, Julia's best childhood friend. I can't place the lad. Note the intensely blue sky, probably more intense at the 1,171 metre altitude of St. Mary Peak than it would have been at lower altitudes. About 1986. This photo was taken on a two-day-one-night backpacking hike that Denece, the kids and I did in or about 1992 on the Dutchman's Stern Range, which is a part of the main range of the Flinders Ranges. We did lots of one day, and several backpacking hikes spread over several days and nights around this time, most of them involved carrying tents and sleeping bags on our backs. I believe it is name the Dutchman's Stern because the person who named it though that, from a particular angle, it looked like the stern of a Dutch warship. We had a few days with our friends from Wales, Jude and Dunc Hudson, at Rawnsley Park in 2019 (the photo was taken on 12th of June). Home Top Index This was one of those rare days when there was a heavy rain in that normally pretty dry area. The creek that goes beside the camp ground is normally dry, in this photo you can see the water in the creek on the far right. I think it was still raining when I took the photo. We visited Rawnsley many times, for several reasons: it was in the most picturesque and rugged part of the Flinders Ranges, it was a very good camping ground, with cabins, and pet dogs were allowed. Kangaroo Island Denece and I have visited Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia several times, once with Julia and Shayne, and this time with Ken, Claire and Adelaide. Home Top Index Here Ken is teasing Adelaide on the left, Claire is in the centre and Denece on the right. All at Remarkable Rocks. Denece out and about - generally As I mentioned in the bit I wrote on this page about our time in India, on our way home we had a couple of very pleasant weeks in Thailand in 1988. Unfortunately I didn't seem to get any good photos of Denece in Thailand. Here is Denece (and me) on the flight from Thailand to Australia. Here is Denece (and me) on top of Mount Kosciusko, the highest mountain in Australia. Kosciusko is far from impressive by world standards at only 2,228 metres. All of Australia's highest mountains are, like Kosciusko, in the Great Dividing Range that runs along the east coast and, effectively, into Tasmania. Home Top Index We took the ski lift from Thredbo to the top of the ski slopes and then followed the walking trail from there to the peak. Something like a three or four kilometre walk from memory. We were there with Ken and Julia about 1992. Denece and I have been fortunate in always being close to our 'kids' and grandkids; we've shared lots of holidays over the years. Denece with a koala at Cleland wildlife park in the Adelaide Hills in about 1992. Cleland, and Adelaide were about 140 kilometres south of Clare. Home Top Index Koalas look cute and cuddly, but they have very sharp claws and taming them to the point that they can be held like this takes a lot of time and effort I believe. In about 1992 Denece, Ken, Julia and Julia's friend Evelyn Dumoi hiked a section of the Heysen Trail from Crystal Brook to the Bundaleer Forest Reserve. I think the hike was spread over four days and three nights. The first night we spent in the Georgetown Hotel, the second and third nights in old huts that had been renovated for the use of the walkers. A friend picked us up and drove us home at the end of the hike. The strange looking plants in the photo are Xanthorrhoeas, a very quintessentially Australian 'tree' that both Denece and I particularly loved. More photos of Xandthorrhoeas (aka yaccas or yackas or yakkas, or grass-trees or black-boys [no longer considered quite 'proper']) are here, here, here, here, here, here and especially here on these pages. All dressed up for the Sesquicentenary celebrations (150th anniversary) of the declaration of the colony of South Australia. Ken and Julia below, and (obviously) me and Denece above. I'm sure my beard was never that bushy, that must be a false one. The Sesquicentenary was in 1986. Wedding day We were married on 1975/11/21. It was just a civil ceremony at the registry office in Adelaide. My father and 'Aunt' Mona were witnesses, as were two of Denece's friends (whose names elude me at present). Home Top Index Neither of us wanted a formal wedding. At that point we had been living together some 15 months, as I recall. Friends (and dogs) Helen Richards (on the left of the photo) was Denece's best friend. Others on the photo, from the left, Robert Richards, me, Julia Clarke, Denece, Claire Davill, Ken Clarke. Home Top Index Below are the dogs Georgia and Clair. We got Clair following years of begging from Julia, when Julia was about 14 years old (about 1993), if I remember rightly. Julia got Georgia soon after getting her first job as a veterinarian at Kadina, SA. That would have been about 2001. An old and faded photo. Helen Richards on the left and Denece (obviously) on the right. The kids, from the left are Ken, Nathan (Helen's oldest) and Julia. If I remember rightly Denece and Helen first met at the Crystal Brook hospital in the antenatal period before Nathan and Ken's birth. In this photo, taken on the Mandurah foreshore, from the left to right: Julia, me (in the back), Denece, Anna Uren (Julia's daughter) and Helen. Rob Richards, Helen's husband, must have taken the photo. Home Top Index The photo must have been taken about 2012. Other close friends when the kids were kids were Paul and Barb Zed and David and Lyn Brown. Denece was involved in a group who got together for birthdays. They would usually all go to some group member's house, this photo was taken on one of those get-togethers. From the left, Helen Richards, Georgina Batten, Caroline Lloyd, Heather Jones, Barbara Zed, Jo Piggott, Lorraine Saunders, Denece. It happed that our long-time friends Paul and Barbara Zed were in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the same time as us. I think this must have been on our 2008 visit. I didn't remember whether it was purely a chance meeting (I had a chance meeting in Hanoi with a lady I had worked with for a while in Crystal Brook), but Barb thinks that we had arranged it through email. In the photo we were having lunch at a restaurant on Hoan Kiem Lake, which is a popular place near the centre of Hanoi. I remember it was hot, it's usually hot any place in Vietnam other than high in the mountains. Paul and Barb Zed kindly invited us, the Browns and the Richards for a farewell dinner just before we left for Western Australia. Denece and I are in the foreground. Behind us, from the left, is Barb Zed, Paul Zed, Lyn Brown, David Brown, Rob Richards and Helen Richards. This would probably have been early 2022. Plants and flowers In addition to the Xandthorrhoeas mentioned elsewhere on this page, Denece particularly loved the Western Australia Banksias. The one in the photo is probably among the showier, but there are many species, in WA more than in any other part of the world. Home Top Index The bird is a New Holland honey eater, they love Banksias too. Dence loved Xanthorroeas (commonly known as yaccas in South Australia). In Western Australia they are now commonly called grass trees. The grass trees in the photo are in Lavender Park, Erskine, only a fairly short walk from our home. I gather the WA grass trees are mostly either Xanthorroea preissii or X gracilis. I'd guess that these are the former. They develop a trunk after perhaps 10-20 years, and it grows by about 1cm per year. On the other hand, the flower spike is a long, usually vertical, pole that can grow 6cm a day. Remarkably, they thrive on bushfires. It is very unusual for one to be killed by being burned, although all their leaves may be burned off. And their seeds can lie dormant in the soil, but will germinate after a fire. The remarkable Kingia australis looks superficially similar, yet is unrelated. Declining years, months, weeks, days Denece and I moved to Western Australia where we share a house with our daughter Julia and her family in February 6th 2022. We moved because we felt we couldn't safely drive the sort of distances we were driving in country SA, having a property in Clare and a house in Crystal Brook in addition to the occasional trips to Adelaide. In Erskine, near Mandurah in WA, we have good public transport available and I can ride my bike to the shops. We are driving about a quarter or a third the distance that we used to, and most of it is short trips. Like all of us Denece slowed down in her last few years, but as I recall it was only in the last two or three years that she had more difficulty walking and started showing early signs of dementia. Until about a year ago her daily walking target was 8,000 steps, then she reduced it to 6,000. The image on the right was taken from her iPhone. It shows how she had quite a few days in which she didn't get her target over the last few weeks, and how she hardly walked at all from about 2025/02/06. She always loved cooking, but she didn't cook in her last six months or so; she said she just became too confused. (I'm more easily confused in recent years too.) One indication of her declining mental state was in switching on the TV; with our set there is a sequence of four button-presses that need to be done on the remote control, Denece could not remember them in her last months. Her short-term memory was also deteriorating, it was not very unusual for her to ask me the same question that I had answered for her an hour or so previously In her last weeks Denece's appetite decreased quite a bit and she sometimes had trouble swallowing. In her last couple of days she ate very little, but still enjoyed her coffee. I think in the last few months she was at times a little irrational. Over the last six or so months, while she was getting more and more pain from her legs she refused to see a doctor, saying that as she wasn't going to be about much longer there was no point. Home Top Index It was only about 5th of February that she agreed to make an appointment to see her regular doctor, Dr Michael Mah (Murray Medical Centre), but the earliest available appointment was several weeks away. By the 10th she became desperate enough to see whatever doctor was available (Dr Redy, also MMC). He prescribed some medication that didn't help a lot. On the 15th Denece was in so much pain that she agreed to my taking her to hospital. After about 30 hours in the Peel Hospital the pain was greatly reduced, but the relief was short-lived. But right to the end she was still basically the same person she always had been, her personality and character didn't change. She never became unrecognisable, as some old people do (as my father did after a series of strokes in his last years). Last days Denece and I had three nights in Perth from 6th January. We were fortunate with the weather, it was mild. We visited Fremantle and the Perth zoo, and had meals at some of the very good restaurants that there are around Perth. In the weeks after that, when she was having more pain from her legs she mentioned many times how much she enjoyed those few days. The day before Denece died, 2024/02/20; in the photo, from the left, Anna (aged 14), Denece (aged 83), Julia (I won't give her age, she might not want me to), and Beth (aged 12). Haggis the three-legged dog in front. We were very lucky that Ken was able to come the 2,000+km from South Australia to say goodbye and spend two or three days with Denece and us. But I don't know that anyone got a photo of him and his mother together? A bad oversight. Again, the day before Denece died. Home Top Index I could only guess how many times, over the last few weeks, Denece had said that "we had many good years together" and that she was very lucky in her life, or words to that effect. She also often said, not just in her last few weeks: "It was the best day in my life when you knocked on my door for the first time" I think I had the better part of that, I couldn't have hoped for a better, more loving wife. A memorial   One of many picnic tables along the Riesling Trail at Clare, SA. I made this one out of red gum and installed it and two similar ones ten years before this photo was taken on 2021/03/11. I decided to apply to the Mandurah Council to have a bench seat and perhaps table set up in the reserve near our home in Erskine and have a plaque as a memorial of Denece on that seat or table. Of course I would offer to pay for it. I've worked at eradicating weeds in that reserve and elsewhere nearby and planted and tended a number of trees there. Several times I've placed chairs in the reserve, and people have used them, until they have been destroyed by vandals. What is needed is a vandal-proof bench. Council says no I went into the council office today (2025/02/24) and asked if it would be possible to have a seat, and perhaps a table, installed if I paid the costs. The lady said, "council is not doing that at the present". She wasn't able to give me any more information. Friends in Clare to the rescue Two of my good friends, Peter Wood and Allen Mayfield, who have had a lot to do with the Riesling Trail and Gleeson Wetlands in Clare have said that if I would like to get a small plaque in Denece's memory made up they will see that it is placed somewhere either along the Trail or in Gleeson Wetlands.

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