From the Edge of Oblivion

Download or read book From the Edge of Oblivion written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Melodramas of love and sadness are woven into a socio-political fabric that runs for 300 Years, from the last throes of Medieval Europe to the settling of Colonial Australia. This is history told from the underside of the tapestry of inheritance and hope. Legend, oral history, personal and public documents have been thoroughly researched to provide a sensitive story that induces the reader's moral imagination to say, "I am one of them".History may be viewed as having four nested eras: our recent events which are embedded in our lived history, which is in turn embedded in the era of remembered history, all three of which are contained within and permeated by our history of identity.The history of identity determines those aspects of life which we refer to as our culture. From this deep layer we derive our assumed identity, our belief system, our legends and our common hope. Ian Stehbens began his investigation of family and Australian history in response to a simple conversation. Having met another Stehbens family that included two brothers, John and another Ian Stehbens, he asked, "Do you know how we are related?" "I wouldn't have a clue," was the reply. In the subsequent 40 years, the author discovered that there was a generation of Stehbens ancestors who had come to Australia on the barque Sophie in 1865 that had simply been forgotten. This discovery brought the descendants of the immigrant sisters into the frame, and so flowed research and friendships that has given many people a different understanding of themselves, their relationships and their heritage.