Flora, Robert & Kerry Wright - 1950

L-R: Robert Wright & Flora Wright

with baby Kerry Wright

1950

Not the best quality photo, somewhat out of focus, but the subject matter is pure gold. It shows my darling Mummy (Flora Wright) perching me (Kerry Wright) atop the seat of my brother Robert's bicycle. I recognize the background as our front yard at 10 Mactier Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. I appear to be fixated on the photographer, probably Dad, whereas Mum and Robert seem to have eyes only for me. Mum and Robert are wearing light woollens, so I'm guessing this photo was probably taken some time around Autumn 1950. I experience a combination of joy and pathos when I view this image. Joy, for the love of my mother and brother, so tangibly displayed here. And pathos for the loss of them both, now passed away. An entire era ended, yet it was only such a short time ago. 

Robert & Kerry Wright - 1950

L-R: Robert Wright & Kerry Wright

1950

This humble, poorly focused family photo carries an enormous emotional impact for me. It shows my brother, Robert, cradling me in his arms. His radiant smile beams from the image, traversing the years and warming the heart. I have three older brothers, yet have little recollection of any of them showing me much in the way of affection during my childhood. It means a great deal to me, therefore, to see this beautiful photo of Robert and I together. It's heartening to have verification that I was loved and cherished by my brother. My brothers were in their teens when I was little, and I appreciate that teenage boys have much more important things on their minds than snot-nosed baby brothers. Robert was 12 when this photo was taken in the front yard of our home at 10 Mactier Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. He left home not all that many years later, and we saw little of him following that. He moved away and distanced himself from the family. I don't know why. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1982 at the early age of 45.

Ray, Robert, Alan & Kerry Wright - 1950

L-R: Alan Wright, Kerry Wright (front), Ray Wright, Robert Wright

1950

My father, Ray Wright, with his sons Robert (R), Alan (L) and me, Kerry, in the middle. My eldest brother, John, who would have then been 18, is absent. The photo was probably taken by my mother, Flora Wright, and it's likely location is the garden of our family home at 10 Mactier Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Even though I had three older brothers, I virtually grew-up as an only child, having no recollection of John living at home, and only fleeting memories of Robert's presence. Alan, the brother nearest in age to me, married when I was 12 but was little seen in the years leading up to his departure, being of an age when the nearby surf club and its inherent sporting and social distractions occupied much of his attention.

Gladys Murrell & Kerry Wright - 1950

L-R: Gladys Murrell & Kerry Wright

1950

My most dear and much loved Aunty Glad (my mother's older sister, Gladys Ann Murrell nee Glover) with me, Kerry Wright, in the garden of my home at 10 Mactier Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Aunty Glad lived not far away from us, towards the lake end of Mactier Street. Her house was more posh than ours and I loved the canopied mosquito nets Aunty Glad had draped above the beds at her place. As a child, I remember thinking how exotic and elegant they looked. In retrospect, I now realize they were an absolute necessity for lakeside living, to escape the nocturnal swarms of ravenous mosquitos terrorizing the residents. Exotic and elegant or just plain practical, I still would have loved to have had one of those nets draped above my own little bed. Even though we lived at the ocean end of Mactier Street, my bedroom was on a partially open verandah, and I copped my fair share of mozzie bites in my time. Aunty Glad lived with Uncle Eric (Eric Murrell) and their only daughter, my cousin, Dorothy (Dorothy Cynthia Shiels nee Murrell), who is my Godmother.

Louisa Mary Glover & Kerry Wright - 1950

L-R: Louisa Mary Glover & Kerry Wright

1950

My maternal grandmother, Louisa Mary (May) Glover nee Turner (1870-1960), bouncing me (Kerry Wright) on her knee. We are on my grandparents' front verandah at 8 Mactier Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Nanny read the Sydney Morning Herald on her verandah every morning. She passed away in 1960, aged 89. I loved her dearly and enjoyed nothing more, as a child, than joining her on her verandah and listening, enthralled, as she told me stories. She was a great story teller.

Ray & Kerry Wright - 1950

L-R: Ray Wright & Kerry Wright

1950

My father, Ray Wright, cradling me in his arms. I'm looking somewhat sooky, probably because I wasn't getting my own way at that exact moment. Being the youngest, I was spoilt and could be a little terror. My brother, Alan, gave me the nickname, "Wild Bill", which he continued to use way into our adult years, abbreviated to "Wild", even though I had, by then, ceased throwing the tantrums of my infancy. From a very early age, in fact, I soon moved away from the attention-seeking, spoilt brat stage, and came to display the delicate, sensitive, effete characteristics that would come to dominate my reticent, introspective childhood personality and ultimately progress to my gay adult self of today. This photo was taken at 10 Mactier Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches, where we lived.