Isla Montgomery was born in 1879 in London, England.
She emigrated to Florence, Italy,
where she lived with the ex-pat community there.
Isla was a gifted poet.

In 1906, she met Helen Fitzgerald,
who had travelled from Tahiti to study art in Florence.
They instantly developed a deep and loving relationship.
The couple moved to Corfu, a Greek Island in the Ionian Sea.

Helen Fitzgerald was born in 1886 in Tahiti
to Clementine and Josiah Fitzgerald.
Helen adored her aunt Prudence who had come to live with them
after her marriage ended.
Prudence talked of Gaugin and art and self-expression.
Helen's dream was to live near Gaugin as Prudence had.
But by the time she was old enough,
Gaugin had moved to the Marquesas Islands and was seriously ill.

So Helen pleaded with her father to allow her to travel to Florence, Italy,
to study there.
He agreed and Helen flourished in the artistic community.
She particularly loved the work of John Singer Sargent.

Helen met English poet, Isla Montgomery, in Florence.
She fell in love and the two were inseparable.

Maureen Fitzgerald was the 3rd child of Josiah and Clementine Fitzgerald.
She was born in 1884.
Maureen was a loving daughter
but was always a sickly child.
She died at age 11 from pneumonia.

Manua Hauata was born on Hikuera Island about 1880.
He worked as a pearl diver,
following in the traditions of his large family.

On a journey to Papeete, Tahiti, for supplies and to trade the pearls,
he met Alana Fitzgerald.
They were married in 1900
and had 3 children:
Eeva b. 1903
Mako b. 1905
Rahiti b. 1907.

Alana Fitzgerald is the second child
of Clementine and Josiah Fitzgerald.
She was born in 1883, in Tahiti.

Alana embraced the Tahitian way of life.
She was especially passionate about tifaifai,
a form of artistic quilting or applique.
These quilts were created either by individuals,
or more usually by groups of women called vainetini.

She married pearl diver, Manua Hauata, in 1900.
They moved to Hikueru Island,
where Manua's family lived and worked.

They had 3 children:
Eeva b. 1903
Mako b. 1905
Rahiti b. 1907.

Madalena Simmonds was born in 1884.
She was the eldest child of a Portuguese mother
and an English father.
She met Hamish Fitzgerald in Douro, Portugal,
when he came to work in her father's vineyard.

They married in 1902.
The couple had 3 children:
Adelaide b. 1904
Alex b. 1906
Graca b. 1910.

I am about one third of my way through my creative challenge -
"Diaspora: the 101 Doll Project".
Time to reflect.

I am the child of an English immigrant to New Zealand,
and the grandchild of an Irish immigrant.

As I create a persona for each fictional character,
I am realising how quickly events out of our control
can disperse a group of people
and spread them across continents and oceans.
I think of those who emigrated because of the Irish Famine in the 19th century.
I pause and remember Polish orphans shipped to safety to New Zealand,
and British child evacuees transported to Canada during World War 2.
Today I am reminded daily of refugees fleeing war in Syria
and settling throughout Europe and even further afield,
and Asian boat people risking their lives to reach safety and freedom.

Do we welcome new settlers -
acknowledging our common humanity,
embracing their cultural diversity?

Do we listen to their stories -
and share ours with them?

As I create dolls using the teardrop template,
I have found a metaphor for life.
It is important to know, acknowledge and understand my roots -
because who I am (and who I am not) arises from this foundation.
It is OK to find a new and original path which reflects me.
While I am the genetic and cultural product of millennia,
I am also a unique and precious individual.
There are moments when I treasure the similarities with my ancestors,
and there are times when I seek out and welcome points of difference.

I am finding it difficult to persist with this challenge.
Questions arise and niggle at me ...
What is the point?
How will this activity help me become a better person?
Does this commitment to a daily creative endeavour
improve my emotional and financial well-being?
What next?
(Sigh. The same questions that niggle at me in my everyday life!!)

Hamish Fitzgerald was born in 1882 in Tahiti.
He was the first born son of Josiah and Clementine Fitzgerald.

Hamish grew up listening to the stories told by sailors,
especially those from Portugal.
In 1900,
he worked his passage to Oporto, Portugal, on a trading vessel.
There he found work in one of the port houses.
It was here he heard of the port and wine making vineyards in Douro.
He quit his job, and travelled to the vineyards.

Hamish quickly found work among the vines,
and knew he had found his passion.
He married the daughter of the vineyard owners,
Madelena Simmonds, in 1902.
They had 3 children:
Adelaide b. 1904
Alex b. 1906
Graca b. 1910.

Conal Brennan is the youngest child of ex-convict Florence Brennan
and his wife Jean.
He was born in 1882, with a deformed leg.
Conal drifted through life for a while,
picking up casual work throughout Western and South Australia.
He ended up in Victoria,
where he became a stagecoach driver for Cobb & Co.

Cobb & Co was established in 1853 by Freeman Cobb, James Swanton,
John Murray Peck and John B. Lamber.
It took passengers and mail to the goldfields
and remote areas of outback Australia.
Horses were changed every 10-15 miles.
This encouraged the growth of inns and hotels
that catered for the needs of drivers and passengers.
Cobb & Co did not compete with the railways
but served feeder routes, linking with trains.

It is not known if Conal married or had children.

Alinga was born about 1882.
She belonged to the Yolnga people of Arnhem Land.

Alinga loved to tell the story of Barnumbirr,
the creator-being associated with the planet Venus.
This being came from the island of Baralku in the East,
guiding the first humans to Australia.
Barnumbirr then flew across the land from East to West,
creating and naming the animals, plants,
and natural features of the land.

Alinga married Wilberforce Brennan about 1900.
They had 4 children:
Bindi b. 1901
Jedda b. 1902
Mia b. 1904
Dural b. 1906