Alton Downs and Environs Cultural Heritage Project
Oral History Questions
When and where were you born?
What is your full name?
Were you named after somebody else?
Did you have a nickname growing up? If you did what was it and why did they call you that.
Have you had other nicknames as an adult? What do family members call you now?
How long has your family live in the Alton Downs region?
How long have you lived in Alton Downs?
If you left the region for a significant period why did you return?
Who is the oldest person in your family that you can remember? What do remember?
Do you remember your great grand parents? What do you remember of them in Alton Downs?
Can you remember your grandparents describe the "old days"? What did they say?
Can you remember your parents discussing politics and world events? What did they say?
As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
What was your first job?
What kinds of jobs have you had?
What made you choose these jobs?
Did you make enough money to live comfortably?
How long did you have to work each day at your job?
Was there a chore that you did as a child?
What would you consider to be the most important invention in your lifetime?
How different is the world now from your childhood?
What kind of books did you read?
Did your family grow their own food? What did you grow?
What were your favourite toys?
What were your favourite games?
Were these group games? How did you play these games?
Where did you go to school?
How did you go to school?
Did you like school?
What was your favourite subject in school and why?
What was your least favourite thing about school?
What school activities and organised sport did you participate in?
How many years of education did you complete?
Were you given special awards at school?
What did you wear to school? Describe it.
Were there significant fashions that you remember?
When and where did you get married?
Describe your wedding ceremony?
Did you have a honeymoon?
Did you have children? Were they born at Alton Downs?
Do they still live here?
What do they do now?
What did you find most difficult about raising children?
Why are you living in Alton Downs?
What kinds of musical instruments do you play and how did you learn to play them?
What activities have you enjoyed as an adult? What are your hobbies? What is the most amazing thing that has happened to you in this region?
Have you ever met any famous people in this region?
What community groups have you belonged to in this region?
What is the longest trip you have ever been on and where did you go?
What pets have you had?
Is there anything that you have always wanted to do in the Alton Downs region and haven't?
Have you ever experienced any significant flooding in this region?
Tell the story.
Have you been through any significant drought periods? How did it affect your family?
Was your family house in a black soil area? Why?
What problems did the black soil create for your family?
These questions have been compiled by Gloria Kelley for the Alton Downs and Environs Cultural Heritage Project February 2000