Memories wrapped up in trove of Mercury clippings

Stacks of newspaper clippings are testament to Kay Fatnowna’s 50-plus years of buying the Daily Mercury

Donnielle Fatnowna, left, and Stephanie Fatnowna with their mum Kay Fatnowna who has been collecting clippings from the Daily Mercury for more than 50 years. Picture: Heidi Petith

STACKS of scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings are a testament to Mirani woman Kay Fatnowna’s 50-plus years of buying the Daily Mercury each day.

Daughter Donnielle Fatnowna said her mum, now in her eighties, had filled page after page with stories about their family including “the good, the bad and the ugly”.

There are clippings about the South Sea islander community, birthdays, sporting achievements, weddings, funeral notices and even the odd court ­proceeding.

Her sister Stephanie Fatnowna said their mum would always read over the front page of the paper before scanning the inside for familiar names.

“Then you’d hear the scissors come out, ‘snip snip’,” Stephanie said.

And that was before they or their brother even got to read the paper, she said.

Mrs Fatnowna has boxes of scrapbooks, so many her daughters have lost count.

Now that she was growing older and her memory was fading, they said, clippings were proving the ideal way for the family to reminisce with her and were also a wonderful archive of ­family history.

Their mother also wrote and submitted articles to the paper, with guidance from former editor Rod Manning, Donnielle said.

Mrs Fatnowna still buys the Daily Mercury every day and Donnielle said the family was saddened by the news the printed form of the paper would no longer be published after June 27.

“It is going to be one of those daily routines that mum is going to miss,” she said.

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