08/09/2026
Back home from Europe with rather a thud.
Miles’ parents’ home in Murrayville, a tiny Mallee town near the South Australian border, sold soon after we returned. With a short settlement, we’ve spent the past three weekends making the 6–7 hour drive from Melbourne to clear a house filled with decades of family life.
Unusually for such a remote location, Miles’ parents commissioned renowned Melbourne architect, Herbert Tisher, to design their mid-century modernist home in the Mallee. It’s the most wonderful large family house surrounded by a large expanse of lawn and trees...we loved this house.
Murrayville, the township holds so much history for us. We spent the first 17 years of our marriage on a wheat and sheep property nearby, both our children were born there, and many dear friends remain.
And suddenly, I’ve found myself doing exactly what I so often help my clients navigate.
Wardrobes of clothes. Shelves of books. Documents, photographs and letters. Sporting gear, kitchenware, furniture and all those things we keep because, at some point, they meant something.
What comes with us? What goes to family? What can be sold, donated or simply let go?
It is exhausting, surprisingly emotional and often very slow.
Every photograph, letter and familiar object has the potential to stop you in your tracks.
But it has also reinforced something I believe very strongly: we shouldn’t leave all of this for our children to sort through one day.
My promise to myself? Edit regularly. Keep what has genuine meaning, beauty or usefulness, and become much better at letting go of everything else.
Because a lifetime of possessions really does add up.
