James and I grieve the death of David Gowty on Wednesday 6th March, the day before his 67th birthday. David died in hospital in Brisbane from organ failure caused by aggressive non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He and his wife Beryl were long-standing members of St Philip's church here in Canberra and moved to Brisbane only recently following David's retirement. David and Beryl visited Canberra most recently on 3rd of February.

Beryl and David's son Tim and Tim's fiancée Melinda are members of our church family. So too is Tim's sister Sarah, though she is currently working in Afghanistan … following in her father's footsteps. All are special friends.

David's life-work was in international development, which took him and his family on assignment to Africa and Asia and the Pacific. Most recently, David was a Planning Adviser in the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in Nouméa.

This death has shaken me more that most I have known. I'm as much angry as sad. This is not God's doing.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
— Dylan Thomas

(The picture was taken by Sarah in Afghanistan.)

I've joined a U3A class that takes as stroll through the Australian National Botanic Gardens once a week to learn more about the gardens and the plants. I was delighted and surprised to discover Sturt's Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, growing; it's difficult to cultivate outside natural central Australian desert environment as it's prone to disease.

Although Swainsona formosa is a perennial, the ANBG has to regrow them each year from seed, as they do not survive the frosty Canberra winters.

Swainsona formosa is a symbol of Charles Sturt University, where I studied theology.

Today's maximum temperature in Canberra of 41.5˚C (106.5˚F) is probably the highest I've ever experienced. It is the highest January temperature ever recorded in Canberra, and the second highest ever. With a strong breeze blowing, it was like a blast furnace walking outside in the middle of the day.

Sydney is even hotter, with 45.8˚C (114.4˚F) recorded at Observatory Hill at 2.55pm—an all-time record. Many suburbs have experienced temperatures over 45˚C, including 46.5˚C (115.7˚F) Penrith and 46.4˚C (115.5˚F) at Sydney airport—also all-time records.

Astonishing.

This elegant lady is my father's maternal grandmother, Emma Glover, wearing her wedding dress for her marriage to John Slater Anderson. My father, also John, unearthed it recently.

Emma's parents were Abraham Glover (1823-1898) and Ann Lee (1833-1922). Emma was a pupil at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne, where her studies included music and singing. Family stories tell that Emma was full of energy, optimism, and practicality.

Her fiancée, John, held a senior position in the firm of Anderson, Campbell and Sloss, but by about 10 months before the the wedding, the partnership was dissolved and John Anderson was out of the firm.

The wedding took place at the residence of Mr Patulloin, a well established farmer of Lang-Lang East. Emma’s uncle, the Reverend Charles Anjwin, a Methodist minister, officiated.

The couple took up residence in a fashionable home in St Kilda Road. Their first child Victor was born in 1888. But continuing family business problems saw the couple fall on hard times and required to move to more humble accommodation.

Lack of employment and money eventually found the couple in a small house in a back street near Greville Street, Prahran. Perhaps it was Emma's brother, Dan Glover, who came to see how sister Emma and the children were getting on – he knew that times were hard as John was out of work. He found Emma at her treadle sewing machine, making shirt collar bands for two shillings a gross at home and offered a move to a rural property at Nyora in Gippsland as an alternative.

The Andersons had six children: Victor ('Vic', b. 1888), Maude (b. 1890), Christina - my grandmother (b. 1892), William ('Wil', b.1897), James (b.1899) ... and John, who seems to have been born prematurely.

Emma died in their cottage at Nyora in 1906. She was alone with Christina. Will and little Jim were probably at school. Vic and Maude were working at farms in the district. Chrissie ran two miles to the nearest woman for help – Vic and Maude had to ride home from the farms where they worked. We assume somebody sent a telegram to her husband in Melbourne. Maude was too late to speak with her mother, and little newborn John had died. Emma, with baby John, was buried in a pauper's grave at Nyora Cemetery.

It was delightful to be in Hobart with James last week for a family celebration of the 90th birthday of my father, John, as well as James's birthday on the same day — 2nd January.