User:Geoffrey cuz.
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Hi,my name is Geoffrey Cousens,I live in Melbourne Australia. My Great Grand Mother was Ida May Whitney,daughter of Clark J.Whitney. You will find Clark on P.399 of Whitney geneology,of which I have a copy given to my grandmother in 1946 by Ida May.Holmes Helena Holmes married General Walter Cass,Australian Army in 1917. Angela Levantie Hutchinson Cass[only child]married Timothy Herbet Eric Cousens in 1953. Geoffrey Richard Alan Timothy Cousens,born 1959 and Diana Evelyn Anne Cousens born 1961. My grand mother died in 1968.She had two strokes in rapid sucsession.She was 78. I have two children to two different mothers,John W.R. Cousens who is 14 and Morgan Elizabeth Jenkins,a girl,who is 11.Morgan's mother[Michelle Anne Jenkins] and I are still together. My mother died of complications arising from breast cancer in January 2002. Melbourne is a great city,I grew up in South Yarra,one of the top two suburbs in Melbourne,in a large,stately home bought by my grandparents in 1921.Dad migrated out here after meeting mum at the end of W.W.2. My maternal grandmother was widowed in 1931,Walter died of apendisisis,complications during surgery.He had survived the Boer war and numerous battles of W.W.1 He was shot twice during the Gallipoli campain,so during the apendectemy they tried to fix up old injuries and failed.He is the subject of a book about specific battles of W.W.1. Mother was Australia's first female barrister,dad was 'the voice of Australia' on the A.B.C. radio. I read Whitney Geneology and am transported back in time,it's an amazing body of work.I'm so glad to have a copy,it is a great legacy for my two teenage children and forthcomming generations. My mother and father[dad still with us] enjoyed a an active social life,they were always entertaining very entertaining people.Mum was a bit of a 'fag hag',because she found queers so amusing.She was extremly quick witted and highly intelegent.Melbourne 'high society'will never be the same without her.Mum [Angela Cousens]was also strikingly beautiful,as was Hellena Cass.[G.Mum.] To survive after her husband died in 1931 Hellena divided the house into three apartments and rented them out.She with mum, then 'hit the road',going to America and Canada,doing the 'lecture circut',talking about Australia and history.I'd love to get my hands on some transcripts!She wrote for various newspapers as well.Mum was a child star in Hollywood as a radio actress,she was known as the girl with the 'Freddy Bartholomue' voice.This was in the 1930's.Mum did some modeling work in Melbourne,famous for her hats.She was a notorious snob,so was grandmother.In 1966 we went to Europe for 12 months,we stayed with Cousens family members and drove around Europe in a moter caravan.Quite an adventure!
On the Cousens side,dad entered the war at 17,thankfully just in time for Japanese surrender.Youngest of 6 children,he is the last one left.He has just turned 80.He was one of the very first handfull of troops to land on and liberate Hong Kong.It was all terribly hungry women and children,the enemy soldiers all wanted to commit'seppuku',having disgrased themselves by being captured.His brother,uncle Charles was a major in the Australian army and was in Singapore entertaining the troops with an 'entertainment troop' from Hollywood when the Japanese invaded in overwhelming force.He and his 100 men where all captured in Burmer and when they realized who he was[a famous radio producer-presenter]they demanded he cooperate to make a propagander radio show.He refused,even threatening to commit suicide but the Japanese prepared to kill his men.He stopped them before they had killed anyone and pretended to cooperate,making a flat out comedy program,using American girls [of Japanese decent]stuck in Japan 'visiting their ansestors'at the unexpected outbreak of W.W.2.He chose 'the least sexy' sounding girls he could find,the Japanese,having terrible translators,didn't realise he was making fools of them for 6 months,but when they found out they put uncle Charles Cousens into solitery for 6 months.A new book will be out very soon about this,the Tokyo Rose story,it has been widely missunderstood.Uncle Charles taught my dad radio . My cousin Richard Cousens was British military My cousin Micheal Cousens is a British barrister Cousin Robert Cousens has retired from a distinguished carrer in Quantas. Melbourne has a better climate than virtualy anywhere else in the country,as cities go there really is a lot going for Melbourne. My son loves basket ball and is in his local team .My daughter wants to be a vet. My father,Timothy Cousens has been retired from the A.B.C. for sometime now,his knowledge of music is encyclopedic and he is very creative.He has produced his own album called 'Journeys and MemoriesThe Music Of Tim Cousens;. The Whitney's have had a hand in Australian history,too.One Joshua Whitney,during the mid 1800's. sent a couple of trusted and capable lads out to Melbourne to create a carrige service called Cobb and Co.which serviced the 60 to 100 mile run from the goldfields to Melbourne.Cobb and Co. is an Australian icon,still in business and much loved. The goldfields still produce the occasional 'monster' nugget.Just 3 years ago someone was digging a hole for a sewage system and found a 550 ounce nugget followed by a 175 ounce nugget!This was at 'Maryborough' on the outskirts of Ballerat,about 60 miles from were I live.The golden triangle,as it is known,is a 60 by 60 mile triangular 2000 ft. high plataue,if it was anywere else in the world I'm sure it would be a 5 mile deep hole in the ground!Australian's are slack! Cobb and Co. went on to South Africa to service the Kimberly diamond mines,where the still quite young chaps running it surcummed to the harsh enviroment and perished in their 40's. I was a passenger in a bad car crash 6 years ago,I have a crippled left arm as a lasting result,plus a bit of post traumatic stress.I had been very fit,riding a push bike around 20k per day. I am usually a furtniture salesman,I'm good with store layout,window displays and have a good knowledge of fabrics.Whilst very young I started my own furniture shop,including a gift product called a 'record clock' which I manufactured and sold nationwide.With a left wing[loony left] government in power at the time[1982],I was doomed and had to close after 2 years.The tax system at the time made a growing business impossible to keep.Various big business's either moved to New Zealand or went under.Heins food manufactoring was one of them.Enough tales of woe,I'd be fasinated to hear from some kinfolk.I am 46 and look exactly like John Hay Whitney![did]. My closest living relatives on the Whitney line live in Canada.Sue Jeorjensen ,[a system anylist] is my second cousin,she is about the same age as me and has children of a similar age.Thanks to the previous web site we have established contact.
