At age 24, in 1931, in the rural Murray Mallee region of South Australia, my grandmother Elsie was married.
With the flick of a pen, Miss Elsie Vandepeer became Mrs. Don Tate. Betrothal meant Elsie lost her name, her right to self-determination, her singing voice, and perhaps her dream to sing professionally.
Over the last 18 months, through painstaking research with my cousin Susan and through the treasure to be found in Trove, we’ve pieced together much of Elsie’s life.
Through society columns in the papers of the day, we discovered the Vandeeper’s were superb singers. Elsie’s father Harry was a great tenor, her Aunts Angelina and Rosetta were fine sopranos and her older cousin (also Elsie) was an opera singer who later made a name for herself in vaudeville.
Trove has also turned up stories of my grandmother performing on stage at several events right up until 1930, the year before she was married. She clearly loved singing and performing just like her family members.
After 1931, we can find no public accounts of Elsie singing.
If Elsie loved singing so much, I wonder how it must have been for her to lose her voice?
Singing has never been my thing. Someone must have told me as a kid I couldn’t sing, so to this day I mouth the words to hymns at funerals and avoid all gatherings that threaten a potential singalong.
Yet, through our research, I now know that singing is in my blood.
To write a novel about a woman who loved to sing and then lost her voice, I need to know what that feels like. So, I’m exploring ways to find my singing voice, perhaps a choir, singing lessons and even public singalongs.
It’s essential experiential research for my novel and the pathway to greater connection and empathy with my grandmother, so I might write her story with more depth and emotion.
It’s been said that we are each the sum part of all our ancestors. When we unearth their stories and open ourselves up to experiencing a little of what they might have experienced, we may be amazed at the connections created and the impact it has on our writing.
We just might become better, bolder, braver writers, creating ripples of change with our words. And we might even get brave enough to sing!
With love
Find your Voice. Free the Writer Within.
Write in a Safe & Brave Space with Other Women.
G’day! I’m Carolyn Tate and I’m on a mission to write the stories that move us to remake our world — for women and Mother Earth. Alongside writing, I teach and mentor women to unleash their voice and write stories
of purpose, justice, and equality.
Are you a woman who yearns to share your story with the world but don’t quite know where to start? Do you often suppress your inner voice waiting for that perfect day to write? Or perhaps you’ve begun writing and are feeling stuck?
Here’s how I help…
Brave Women Write Book: Order Here
Brave Women Write Monthly Dinners | Clifton Hill, Melbourne: Book Here
Brave Women Writers’ Circle | 8-week Zoom Program: Book Here
Private Mentoring Over 90 Days for Emerging Authors: Read More
Brave Women Write Together & Sacred Fire Circle | Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria: Book Here
