Jeremy Ward is a retired lawyer and disability advocate living in Brisbane, Australia. He is the author of two books, The Shouted Goodbye (2015) and Dressmakers, Preachers and Cockies (2018), both published by Boolarong Press in Brisbane. The Shouted Goodbye tells the story of his oldest daughter,
Mena, who was born with multiple disabilities. Despite requiring support in most aspects of her life, Mena attended neighbourhood schools, worked part-time in a number of jobs, and lived in her own home until she died shortly before her thirtieth birthday. Mena was named after her paternal grandmother, Mena
(McCulloch) Ward.
Jeremy’s second book, Dressmakers, Preachers and Cockies, is a family history memoir which arose from his interest in family history and his drive to seek meaning in his own life decisions. It delves into his mother’s family of McCullochs, from County Westmeath in Ireland, his father’s family of Wards and Robjohns
from south-west England, and the life of his Italian great-grandmother, Dolores Baglietto, from Gibraltar. Jeremy writes of dissenting Congregationalists, farming in the NSW Riverina, a family firm of dressmakers in Sydney, his mother as the young wife of an Anglican priest in North Queensland, his father as World War
II RAAF Chaplain, and a family connection with Joseph Conrad. While researching his family history, Jeremy came across a diary kept by his mother when she married his father and moved from Sydney to North Queensland in 1937. The diary covers her experience as the wife of a parish Rector during the first four years
of their marriage leading up to World War II. In Mena’s Diary: An Anglican Rector’s Wife in Ingham North Queensland 1937 –1940, Jeremy has transcribed this diary, added images from the Ingham and Townsville districts, and provided annotations to explain and reflect on his mother’s experience. He has also included an extensive index of people and places mentioned in the diary.
Books by Jeremy Ward
