003. Florence's family secret

"I've never told you about the family secret," my mother announced as she greeted me at the door on my next visit wearing the familiar sheepish look on her face.

"No, you haven't," I replied. "What do you mean, 'family secret'?"

"Do you remember Charlotte?" she continued as we sat in front of the fire in her living room.

"Yes, of course I remember Charlotte. She was your mother's sister, right?"

"Yes. Well, back in 1919, when I was only 10 years old, Charlotte was staying with us. As you know, I am the second youngest in a family of seven. Yet it was me she took aside one day, no-one else, and told the secret in private in a very hush-hush manner.

"The experience made a deep and lasting impression on the young 10 year-old. Over the years I've asked my brothers and sister, all of them, if they'd ever heard of this but they knew nothing of it. Eventually Charlotte's secret had become meaningless and I had forgotten all about it."

"What did Charlotte tell you then," I enquired.

"She said to me: 'Did you know that one of your grandfathers was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and had come to Australia about the time of the First Fleet?' Of course I said, no, at the age of 10 I didn't even know what the First Fleet was."

[The First Fleets were convoys of sailing ships which left England between 1787 and 1791 carrying cargoes of convicts together with an Army Corps and a few free settlers to establish a penal colony in Australia, then known as New South Wales or New Holland as named earlier by the Dutch.]

"Charlotte never told me the grandfather's name and I was too young to understand. I came to wonder why it was me, and no-one else, who she chose to give this information to."

"I don't see anything strange about that," I replied.

"Well there is because of this marriage certificate I showed you last time which shows that my great grandparents were married here in Melbourne almost 70 years after the First Fleets sailed."

"What about your other ancestors then?"

"No, I've checked and found they all came out long after the First Fleets, in fact, after William and Agnes were married here. And none of them was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy."

Once again my mother was spooked.

Who was this Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, if he even existed?

And why, like the ghost of Granny Fitz, was Florence singled out?

002. Florence's psychic experience

Another 70 years would pass before Florence encountered the ghost of Granny Fitz again. Interestingly, it happened when she began researching the family tree. She wrote of the episode later in her journal so I can do no better than to use her exact words to describe her unexpected psychic experience.

"I was standing near the Melbourne Town Hall and as I looked up Collins Street [one of the city's main streets] I noticed a sign outside Georges store and recalled that my great grandmother, Granny Fitz, had lived there at that location before her marriage to William Simmons, and wistfully thought, oh I wish I could see Collins Street as it looked in your day Granny.

"Then I saw a chestnut horse and rider racing up Collins Street passing an open landau. [Today it's trams, traffic and tall buildings.] There were three men standing just three metres to my right by a hitching rail where one horse was tethered. The three men were dressed in beautifully tailored riding clothes: the one nearest to me wore a tan sports coat, riding breeches, high brown boots and carried a whip.

"There were ladies and young girls grouped in twos and threes along the footpath, all wearing long pretty skirted frocks.

"I must have stood there for about 60 seconds and then said, oh my God, and ran. I don't think I stopped running until I reached my bus."

Who, then, was Granny Fitz?

And why was her spirit (?) drawn to Florence?

001. A ghost in the Family Tree

As Florence greeted me at the door, eyes watering and cheeks flushed, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. In fact, she had.

I'd called to visit my mother on my way home from the city late one afternoon back in the days when I lived in Melbourne, was married and ran my own one-man business from home as a freelance copywriter.

"You're not going to believe this," she declared sheepishly the moment I walked through the door.

As she sat down in her favourite chair by the fireplace she produced from a pile of papers on the floor beside her a copy of a marriage certificate dated 1856. The newlyweds were William and Agnes Simmons, Florence's great grandparents.

The marriage was conducted in Melbourne, Australia and, according to the document, William was born in Oxford, England, and Agnes in Dundee, Scotland. They probably met on the ship coming out.

My father had died a few years earlier.

It wasn't long after before Florence set about redecorating her small government pensioner flat in her own style. Then, at the age of 72, she decided to research the family tree.

"You won't believe what I've discovered," she repeated, taking great pleasure in drawing out the moment of her big revelation.

"No. What?" I asked, expecting to hear nothing more startling than the latest family gossip.

"Well, it's about our family tree. I'd phoned my brother to ask whether he knew anything about our ancestors. I thought it was a good place to start. He told me about this marriage certificate he'd sent for some time ago and promised to send me a copy. This is it, a certificate of the marriage of my great grandparents on my mother's side."

Florence pointed to the photocopy I was holding in my hand.

"I'm so pleased you're researching our family tree," I replied with surprise because Florence had never attempted anything this complex in her life. "I know your father passed over when you were quite young," I said, "and I remember visiting your mother when I was a boy. But what about your grandparents? Do you remember them?"

"I only remember Grandma Allen, my mother's mother, who died when I was 11. But there was also Granny Fitz. She would sit at the table with us when we were eating our evening meal and she would always be there when I was playing on my own at home.

"Granny was really my great granny, Agnes Reid, the one on this marriage certificate. I recognised the name Agnes Reid but I called her Granny Fitz. I remember her quite clearly. She had curls falling around her shoulders and always sat on a stool at the table. Even though I was very young I still remember Granny so well."

"I can recall you speaking of her in the past with great affection," I remarked. "So what's this all about then?"

"The last time I saw Granny was when I was five years old. She was always there at home with me when the others were away at school, before my younger brother was born. Then once I started school she just disappeared from my life and I had always assumed she must have died. But it seems I was very mistaken."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I applied for her death certificate and put the year at 1913 or 1914 when I was 4 and 5 years old. But to my surprise no records could be found.

"So I contacted the cemetery where her husband William was buried and learned that she had died in 1892. It seems that Granny Fitz, alias Agnes Reid, had died 17 years before I was born.

"I always thought it strange that she never ate at the meal table. That's why. You see, she was dead."

My mother was truly spooked.

And so was I.