I was 11 years old when our family was posted to a little village in England named Larkhill. My father was in the Australian Army and Larkhill, an army village located approximately 2 kilometres from Stonehenge was to be home for the next 18 months. I remember being able to see the megalithic stone circle of Stonehenge from my bedroom window – somehow I knew that at dawn on the summer solstice that the Druids would be there and I could observe their movements unnoticed.

I also remember that during our many visits to interesting places I came across similar circular structures – wondering to myself, ‘why were they there?’ … ‘who built them?’. This is my first real memory of my enquiring mind and my passion for ‘all things old’.

Many years passed before I was to revisit Stonehenge, this time from a distance, in the form of an assignment for an essay on archaeology. My love of military history also drew me back to Salisbury Plain and the soldiers who had trained in the vicinity of Larkhill during World War One – a subject which I would study extensively for both personal and professional reasons.

I also became intimately connected with the life of the remarkable Ethel Turner, author of Seven Little Australians. It was a privilege to research a favourite author from my childhood. Undoubtedly Ethel Turner was one of our most significant writers of Australian children’s literature. In attaining a listing for Woodlands (the home in which she wrote Seven Little Australians) on the NSW State Heritage Register, I was to write of the ‘story’ behind ‘the story’.

My passion for history has been ignited by trips to Cambodia, the Western battlefields of France and Belgium, Turkey, Greece and Southern Italy. In 2014 I travelled to Bologna in northern Italy to learn Ancient Greek and Latin at the oldest University in Europe. Later in that same year I visited Jordan and fell in love with this beautiful country, returning six weeks later to revisit my favourite historical sites and some that I had missed on my initial visit. I continue to find perspective in the now by understanding the past. My travel experiences and research projects have shaped and nurtured my desire to make history not only informative but also to communicate history to others in an engaging manner

There are a multitude of stories about our past, and the people who played a role in it, just waiting to be told – everyone has a tale to tell. It simply needs someone to take the time to uncover and share them!

This is why I founded Historical Connections. To share these stories. Stories about people. Stories about families. Stories about the past that should be told – for in this way we can all become ‘historically connected’!

Tracey’s qualifications include an Advanced Diploma in Australian History, Bachelor of Arts (Australian History/ Human Bioscience), and Master of Arts (specialisation History).

As owner of Historical Connections, Tracey’s business philosophy underscores the notion that the past is immutable but history is constructed by the people that write it. Family history and past events come alive when placed in context with the period in which they were created.

Social history and culture are not mutually exclusive rather they enhance history by transforming it into an engaging and colourful story interwoven with sound academic scholarship. Tracey’s qualifications and her passion for ‘tangible history’ sets her apart from others in the field of public history.