Keepsake mini podcasts

Scrabble boards, cookbooks, medals, fishing lures, trinkets and tools. Why are these items so important to the people that hold onto them?

As part of the State Library’s exhibition Keepsake: Cherished Family Mementos from the Collection, we asked The Chin Wagon to create a podcast series collecting stories from members of the public about their family treasures and heirlooms. Each fascinating story is only 3 to 4 minutes long. 

The Chin Wagon is a mobile recording studio designed to capture WA’s stories. Run by much-loved storytelling collective Barefaced Stories, The Chin Wagon provides a fun, cosy hearth for people to share their most treasured memories, tall tales or embarrassing spills. Andrea Gibbs interviewed seven members of the public in this mini podcast series.

Listen to the playlist or click on the individual stories below to learn more. 

Keepsake exhibition runs at the State Library of Western Australia until 4 February 2025. 

Amber Blake holding her familys Scrabble Board
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
Podcasts
WA history
Amber's keepsake is a much loved and very used Scrabble game board from the 1970s on which her family marked their annual Rottnest holidays.
Cheryl Burton holding tiny gold kangaroo
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
Podcasts
WA history
Cheryl's keepsake is a gold kangaroo brooch, her first gift to her mother, whom she found when she was 28.
Anne Chapple
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
ANZAC stories
Podcasts
WA history
Anne's grandfather was one of the first returned wounded soldiers to Mt Hawthorn. The community rallied to build him a home, doubling as a memorial.
Gerry Coleman
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
Podcasts
Gerry's keepsake is his great-granddad's utility knife, which was gifted to him for saving the life of a world-renowned Australian test pilot, Harry Hawker, in 1913.
Petronila Lemisio-Poasa
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
Podcasts
WA history
Petronila's keepsake is a traditional Tokelauan hand-carved mother of pearl fishing lure (Pa Hi Atu) made by Papa Fofo Poasa, her father-in-law.
Sophie Vowles
Keepsake mini podcasts
Stories
Podcasts
WA history
Sophie's keepsake is her husband's grandma's handwritten cookbook. Joan Patricia Vowles lovingly added to this cookbook over forty years.
Suzanne Franklin
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
Podcasts
WA history
Suzanne's keepsake is a picture of her great-great-grandmother, Alice Franklin, the Lady Mayoress of Perth and an unusedrailway ticket to the opening of Parliament House in 1927.

Keepsake Exhibition

Cherished Family Mementos from the Collection

Free exhibition running until 4 February 2025