My Dad is a strong individual with a spectacular work ethic. He is well informed and has an intelligence that excels beyond most. Dad is the oldest son of Faith and Don Turtle. By profession, Dad is both a music teacher and a genealogist.  By recreation, Dad is in the centre of every conversation and enjoys spending time with the family.

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As a musician, Dad has an amazing ability to sight read and play a variety of styles from Classical to Pop to Jazz at all levels. Dad learnt from his beloved music teacher Marjorie Hesse at the Conservatorium of Sydney, even becoming second in the state in his HSC for music. Dad played the piano for his church where he met Mum, who thought he was the most clever person in the world. Upon doing a thesis as part of researching aspects of his own family history, Dad found himself working for the Birth Death and Marriage in the city.

To this day he is both a music teacher, researches other people's family history and lectures around the state. Dad has always made sure that the family has seen a lot of the country, however in recent years he has found great pleasure in travelling abroad to multiple countries. Dad enjoys getting outside to relax in the garden and has created a beautiful garden spanning the whole acre. Despite being saddened by his much loved mother suffering from Dementia, Dad finds time to see her whenever he can to ensure that her quality of life is as high as possible. As many of his friends are winding down their working commitments, Dad continues to work long hours and has many early starts. Dad's passion is contagious, his work ethic inspiring and his depth of character makes him a fascinating person to be around.

My mum is the most caring, fun-loving person in the world. She is a social person who goes out of the way to make sure everyone's needs are being met and they are being cared for. While Mum travelled from place to place, school to school as a child, like Dad, was largely brought up in Fairfield where she went to Westfields High. Mum is the youngest child of four to Victor Storey and Norma Storey. By profession, mum has been a post office clerk, home economics teacher, careers advisor, vocational education consultant and a teacher in other subjects such as welfare. While she has been retired for a few years now, Mum dedicates great amounts of time to a local NGO, Hawkesbury Skills Inc. Mum helps Dad run their genealogy business, which has seen them travel throughout New South Wales (NSW) as well as abroad to places like Poland to learn more about the roots of our family.

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Mum is very close with all her boys. In time of need she is always there for us, possibly to the point where she worries a lot about us and invests all her energy. Mum has learnt to love cricket, and was well loved by all the team members, as she scored at every game. Mum has a deep passion to continue exploring the dynamics of our family history and wants nothing more than to be a loving mother. She is hanging out for us boys to produce children as she awaits to spoil her grandchildren as only Mum knows how.

I am the middle child of 3 children. Older brother Phillip (aka Phil, Eggman or Philby) and younger brother David (aka Davy or Dave) who married Jodie Adams in Canada in October 2015. As brothers we have always been extremely close enjoying amazing holidays together, sharing interests in cricket and the Swans as well as fiery bouts of table tennis. As a family, we are sport-a-holics and enjoy exploring different places, particularly foods from all cultures.

Philby is an extremely kind, loving, courteous, and organised person with a heart of gold. He has a knack for learning languages and communicating with people. During school, Philby spent a year in Japan where he mastered the Japanese langauge. He then completed a combined degree in teaching and International Relations at the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney. This saw him spend a year in Kunming, China where he learned Mandarin and met wonderful friends. On coming home he headed out to Uluru and Tasmania  to spend over a year being a tour guide through some of the most beautiful wilderness Australia has to offer. On coming home, Phil worked for a bit in Australia in a number of jobs before heading over to Vietnam to embark in a journey to.

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This turned out to be a life changing decision for Phil. He loved the lifestyle in Vietnam, his job, the food and made good friends. When I visited in 2012, it was obvious that he was at home there. By my visit, Phil had a 4 storey flat, sharing it with two others. He had a pool room down stairs, a huge kitchen, a comfortable living room, a laundry on top and a classroom. Phil enjoyed teaching in Vietnam, which was evident by the fun the children shared in the classroom as well as the beer and good food he shared with friends after work. They would sit at the pub, well the plastic tables and chairs where you could have a few beers after work, competing to see how many kids would scream out their names as they caught their buses home. It is great to have him home as he is the best flat mate I have ever had.

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Davy is a wonderful human being. He is kind, genuine and knows how to have a good time. At birth, Davy had genetic complications with Elephantitis and stomach problems. For the first few years of his life, he was not able to digest food and had to have an operation that went the length of his tummy. At puberty he had to have another operation to remove his growth plates so that his body would cease to grow in-proportionate to the rest of his body. Despite Davy's rocky start, having a knee that is much larger on the left side and a large toe affectionally known as Alfred, Davy has achieved great things in life and gains respect from anyone who comes in contact with him. 

Davy is extremely athletic and has inherited Dad's work ethic. As a child he made wonderful friends in soccer and became a skillful wicketkeeper. This saw him win the coverted state school championship, the Davidson Shield, as well as multiple awards as a first grade wicketkeeper. As a AFL fullback, Davy could shut out any full forward. This saw him tour to Melbourne, play regional football with a Swan's legend Kieren Jack as well as coach the Rebels to a premiership in Canada. As a rugby league player, Davy was selected in the squad to trial for Manly in the Jersey Fleg, however he was unable to fulfill this commitment due to travel difficulties. What makes Davy a wonderful athlete is his strength, toughness and leadership abilities. As a leader, Davy could get his team mates to do whatever he wanted, and while not a highlight, was centre of an all-in-brawl that saw his team demoted from a whole competition. Not only did I used to love Davy play soccer growing up, but I always enjoyed his enthusiasm in the field when he would fill in for us. What I learnt most was his presence on a sports team, a presence all those around him are drawn to.

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Davy is just as magnetic off the sports field, sharing many wonderful friendships.  There is a large bunch that he has remained friends with throughout school and beyond. These guys just know how to have a good time! While they consume too much alcohol, the group have stayed loyal to each other, supporting each other in as many ways as possible. Even though many are married now or in serious relationships, and in many cases live throughout the world, they remain close, loyal and continue to be with each other as much as possible. Davy is their leader, but nothing can shake their zest for life, the way they have each others back, and are willing to travel around the world to be with each other. While Davy continues to make new mates in Canada, it was amazing to see over 20 of his mates turn up to his wedding. I have my own close mates but I have always admired the way that these guys exist with barely a fight amongst each other and do whatever in their power they can do to stay together.

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Davy embarked on a journey to Whistler in 2011 with a large chunk of his mates. They then piled into a van to work their way down the west coast of the US until they reached their destination in Los Angeles. The group thinned out to travel through central America, before Davy decided to get a work visa in Canada. While things were tough at the beginning, he soon grabbed a good job in the craft beer scene with Hogtown Brewery, joined the local AFL team the Rebels and met his soul mate Jodie Adams. Before we knew it Davy brought Jodie out to Australia, where she quickly became one of the family. Davy continues to live in Toronto, keeping up with the Swans and the Broncos but has grown an obsession with the Blue Jays and the Raptors. Davy has fallen in love, embraced the Canadian way of life and continues to strive, hopefully being able to practice nursing over there in the near future and start a wonderful family like our own.   

My parents taught us strong values of the importance of friends. Growing up, they always had people over. I looked forward to Friday nights when the 'games night crew' would come to piano lessons, in amongst all the children hanging out after school.

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One of these families were the Chans. The Chans are like a second family to the Turtles. Growing up, we did everything together. We went on holidays, shared Christmas feasts and always many other times when we were just all together. Uncle Michael and Aunty Janet are two of my parents favorite allies and are two of the most spectacular people I know. Growing up in Fairfield together, they played squash and ensured that they would remain close to the Turtles by moving out to the Hawkesbury together. This would ensure that the Chans and the Turtle would remain close forever. Rachael, Nessie and Jordie have always  be considered my brothers and sisters. It is nice seeing their contentment with Nessie and Rach'es partners Will and Sam. Rach's son Jessie is a fresh addition to the family, which provides another generation for the Chan Clan to provide us all with a great deal of joy.

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Once a month, the Chan's, Turtle's and numerous other families, the Hughes's, The Humphrey's, The Gag's, The Poole's, The King's and more, converged for a games night. Games night was always a highlight of my youth. Although this happened once a month, it felt like our families were always together. As time passes, the second generation have moved in all different directions, however the values of friendship is important to us all. Every person of the second generation have become extremely successful and will continue to thrive. I hope that in some form or another a third generation will join together, but only time will see. 

Nath and Az are my two best mates. We grew up together through cricket and became close friends during school. We were never a roudy bunch but the highlight of my week was always Friday night where we would get together at my house, go for long walks and traumatise Nath on 'My Space.' We would love our weekend at cricket and talk about it till the next Friday at school. All my best memories are with these two wonderful people, whether this be our Friday nights, our nights at RG's, the parties we went to or just the fun we have had through the years. I am so happy to see Nath so happy with Claire and proud that Aaron seems so content working hard in his new job on the mushroom farm. Although we may have drifted apart a little, I am grateful to have two allies stick by me through the years and I look forward to our friendships continuing on for many years down the road