| No. | Question | Asked by | Recor-ded by | Recorded as | Where recording is stored |
| Family | |||||
| 1 | What is your full name? | ||||
| 2 | What was your day and date of birth? | ||||
| 3 | Where were you born? Be specific. | ||||
| 4 | Do you know any other circumstances of your birth (who was present, who delivered etc.)? | ||||
| 5 | Name your brothers and sisters & their years of birth. | ||||
| 6 | What was your mother’s full name? | ||||
| 7 | What was your father’s full name? | ||||
| 8 | What was your mother’s date and place of birth? | ||||
| 9 | What was your father’s date and place of birth? | ||||
| 10 | Tell a family nickname that you had. How did you get it? | ||||
| 11 | Tell of any other nicknames in your family. | ||||
| 12 | What did your father do for a living? | ||||
| 13 | Did your mother work outside the home? | ||||
| 14 | Did anyone else help with the childrearing, housework, gardening etc in your house? | ||||
| 15 | Did any relatives ever live with you? | ||||
| 16 | Tell a favourite memory of your father. | ||||
| 17 | Tell about some good advice your father gave you. | ||||
| 18 | Did your father ever make you a special gift? | ||||
| 19 | Tell a favourite memory of your mother. | ||||
| 20 | Did your mother ever make a special gift for you? | ||||
| 21 | Tell about some good advice your mother gave you. | ||||
| 22 | Relate your family Mother’s day tradition. | ||||
| 23 | Tell about Fathers’ Day in your house | ||||
| 24 | When you needed punishment as a child, which parent corrected you, and how? | ||||
| 25 | Tell about the naughtiest thing you ever did. If you got caught, describe the consequences. | ||||
| 26 | Did you stay with grandparents? Tell me about them. Where did they live, and what did you do there? | ||||
| 27 | Tell a fond memory of your Grandfather. | ||||
| 28 | Tell a fond memory of your Grandmother | ||||
| 29 | Relate an experience or memory of a cousin. | ||||
| 30 | Tell about a favourite Aunt. | ||||
| 31 | Tell about a favourite Uncle. | ||||
| 32 | Tell about family get-togethers in your childhood. | ||||
| 33 | Was religion important in your family? Did everyone share the same beliefs? | ||||
| 34 | Were politics or sports discussed in your family? Did all follow the same parties or teams? | ||||
| 35 | Do you have any knowledge of the origins of your family name? | ||||
| 36 | Has anyone in your family ever researched family history or made a family tree? | ||||
| 37 | Who in the family may have old family documents and photos from the past? | ||||
| Childhood- Home life | |||||
| 38 | Name the towns/suburbs you lived in before you were 20. | ||||
| 39 | Can you remember your childhood addresses? | ||||
| 40 | What were the roads like around your house? | ||||
| 41 | What was the neighbourhood like? | ||||
| 42 | What was your garden like? | ||||
| 43 | How many rooms did you have in your house, and what were they? | ||||
| 44 | What was the entrance to your house like? | ||||
| 45 | Describe a favourite room in your house when you were young- furnishings, floor and window coverings, sounds, smells... | ||||
| 46 | Describe the kitchen in your childhood home | ||||
| 47 | Describe your bedroom or another room. | ||||
| 48 | What was your favourite meal as a child? | ||||
| 49 | Do you remember any childhood songs or rhymes? | ||||
| 50 | Did you ever have an imaginary friend? | ||||
| 51 | What did you and your brothers and sisters fight about the most? | ||||
| 52 | What was the dumbest stunt ever pulled by you and a brother or sister? | ||||
| 53 | Describe some household chores you had as a child. | ||||
| 54 | Describe some outside chores. Which ones did you dislike the most? | ||||
| 55 | Describe your “best clothes” when you were young. Where did you get them from? | ||||
| 56 | What were your shoes like? | ||||
| 57 | Did you have a TV when you were a child? Tell about your first favourite T.V. or radio show. | ||||
| 58 | Tell about board games or card games you played as a youth. | ||||
| 59 | Share a memory of staying overnight with a friend. | ||||
| 60 | Tell about the best pet you ever had. | ||||
| 61 | Tell about other pets you had. | ||||
| 62 | Tell about a favourite doll/teddy bear/other stuffed toy. | ||||
| 63 | Tell about another favourite toy. | ||||
| 64 | What allowances/pocket money did you get? How much did you get? | ||||
| 65 | Did you have to earn it? | ||||
| 66 | What did you do with it? | ||||
| 67 | How much do you remember paying for an ice-cream? | ||||
| 68 | Tell about how you spent your Saturdays during the school year. | ||||
| 69 | Tell about how you spent your Sundays. | ||||
| 70 | What did you do after school each day? | ||||
| 71 | Did anyone in your family play a musical instrument? | ||||
| 72 | Did you use public transport? What was it like, and where did you go? | ||||
| Special Occasions | |||||
| 73 | Birthdays: How did your family celebrate birthdays? | ||||
| 74 | Tell about the presents you received for your birthday | ||||
| 75 | Share a birthday party memory. | ||||
| 76 | Tell about the best birthday present you ever received | ||||
| 77 | Christmas: Did you have a Christmas tree? What kind? | ||||
| 78 | When did you put up your Christmas tree? | ||||
| 79 | How did you decorate your tree? | ||||
| 80 | Tell about the best Christmas present you ever received. | ||||
| 81 | Do you remember a “best” Christmas of childhood? | ||||
| 82 | Did your family go to a special church service at Christmas? | ||||
| 83 | When did you find out about the real Santa? | ||||
| 84 | Other Special Occasions: What did your family do on New Year’s Eve? | ||||
| 85 | Do you have any special memories of New Year’s Eve or New Year’s day? | ||||
| 86 | Tell about any Easter traditions | ||||
| 87 | Tell about a special Easter. | ||||
| 88 | Did you celebrate other festivals? How? | ||||
| 89 | Do you have a memory involving a festival? | ||||
| 90 | What is your favourite holiday and why? | ||||
| 91 | What kind of fireworks did people have when you were a youth? | ||||
| 92 | Did your town have a fair or celebration? Tell about it. | ||||
| 93 | Did you go to a carnival? What do you remember? | ||||
| 94 | Did you go to the Show? What do you remember? | ||||
| 95 | What kind of rides and games were there? How much did they cost? | ||||
| 96 | What was your favourite holiday of the year? | ||||
| 97 | Were there any other special occasions that were celebrated by your family? | ||||
| 98 | How do you celebrate your birthday when you were young? | ||||
| Vacations, Seasons | |||||
| 99 | When on car trips, did you play games? What kind of car did you have? | ||||
| 100 | Did you go away for holidays? Where, how, and what did you do? | ||||
| 101 | Did you ever go camping? Tell about it. | ||||
| 102 | What do you remember as your favourite time of year. Why? | ||||
| 103 | How did you learn to swim? | ||||
| 104 | Where did you go swimming? | ||||
| 105 | Did you ever make mud pies? | ||||
| 106 | Did you go to the beach? What was it like? | ||||
| 107 | Did you sunbathe? Were you ever sunburnt? What happened? | ||||
| 108 | Did you go barefoot in summer? If so, relate an experience about stepping on something | ||||
| 109 | Share a memory involving a heatwave or a drought. | ||||
| 110 | What did you do to stay cool? | ||||
| 111 | Did you ever play under the sprinkler or the hose? | ||||
| 112 | Tell about the worst winter storm that you can remember. | ||||
| 113 | What memories do you have of thunder and lightning as a child? | ||||
| 114 | How did you stay warm in winter? | ||||
| 115 | What did you do for fun in winter? | ||||
| 116 | Did you ever have snow at your house? | ||||
| 117 | Did you ever make a snowman? | ||||
| 118 | Did you ever ski or toboggan? | ||||
| 119 | Was school ever cancelled because of extreme weather? | ||||
| 120 | Tell about a family holiday. | ||||
| 121 | Share the best holiday experience you can remember. | ||||
| 122 | Share the most unpleasant holiday experience you can remember. | ||||
| Outings, Hobbies, Childhood Fun | |||||
| 123 | Were you a member of Boy Scouts, Girl Guides or other societies? | ||||
| 124 | Did you play a musical instrument? | ||||
| 125 | Did you like to make things? | ||||
| 126 | If you were ever in a parade, tell about it. | ||||
| 127 | Tell another memory about a parade. | ||||
| 128 | Tell about a practical joke /prank you played on someone | ||||
| 129 | Do you have a good April Fool’s Day story? | ||||
| 130 | Did you go to sporting events with your family? | ||||
| 131 | Did you go to the movies as a child? Who with? What was your favourite? | ||||
| 132 | Do you remember the first movie you ever saw? Who starred in it? | ||||
| 133 | Did you go to church / mosque / temple or Sunday School regularly? | ||||
| 134 | Tell about going to a circus. | ||||
| 135 | Tell about going to a zoo or sanctuary when you were young. | ||||
| 136 | Share a memory about going on a picnic. | ||||
| 137 | Tell about seeing something you thought was very beautiful. | ||||
| 138 | Did you ever go fishing as a child? | ||||
| 139 | Did you have a treehouse or a cubby house? | ||||
| 140 | Do you remember having a favourite lolly? How much did it cost? | ||||
| 141 | Do you remember having a favourite snack as a child? | ||||
| 142 | Share a memory about riding on a ferry, bus, train, plane. | ||||
| Incidents | |||||
| 143 | Did you ever have a fire in your home or accidentally catch something on fire? | ||||
| 144 | Was your home ever threatened by a flood, cyclone or bushfire? What happened? | ||||
| 145 | Share a memory about a power blackout. | ||||
| 146 | Share a memory involving an “outhouse” | ||||
| 147 | Did you ever lose something really important to you? | ||||
| 148 | What bones have you broken and how? | ||||
| 149 | Did you ever need stitches? | ||||
| 150 | Were you ever bitten by an animal? | ||||
| 151 | Do you have any other stories about being injured? | ||||
| 152 | Tell of a childhood illness. | ||||
| 153 | Tell about an experience at the doctor’s or dentist. | ||||
| 154 | Tell about pulling or losing a baby tooth. | ||||
| 155 | Did you ever lose something really important to you? | ||||
| 156 | Tell about a practical joke or prank you played on a person | ||||
| 157 | Do you have a good April Fool’s Day story? | ||||
| 158 | Relate a story about a mouse or possum in the house. | ||||
| 159 | What is the strangest animal you ever saw? | ||||
| 160 | What is the strangest thing you ever saw in the sky? | ||||
| 161 | Tell about seeing something you thought was very beautiful. | ||||
| 162 | Tell about seeing something very scary. | ||||
| People, Memories, Dreams | |||||
| 163 | Who was the leader of the country when you were born? | ||||
| 164 | Who was the most famous person you ever met? | ||||
| 165 | Tell about someone who had a big influence over your life. | ||||
| 166 | As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? | ||||
| 167 | Tell of the closest friend you had during your childhood. | ||||
| 168 | Do you still have any friends from childhood days? | ||||
| 169 | Is there anything you have now that you have kept from your childhood? | ||||
| 170 | Tell about a strange person that lived in your town. | ||||
| 171 | Share a childhood memory about a death that affected you. | ||||
| 172 | What childhood fear do you remember? | ||||
| 173 | Tell of someone you envied and why. | ||||
| 174 | Describe a very proud moment in your childhood. | ||||
| 175 | Relate your happiest memory as a youth | ||||
| 176 | If you ever had a hero, tell who. Tell why. | ||||
| 177 | Share a memory involving a war during your childhood or youth. | ||||
| 178 | Describe the military experience of someone in your family. | ||||
| 179 | Describe any experience that you are forced to flee from a place. | ||||
| 180 | Share any experience of moving or migrating from one place to another when you were young. | ||||
| Primary School Days | |||||
| 181 | Which primary school /s did you go to? | ||||
| 182 | How did you get to school? | ||||
| 183 | How many students were there at your school? | ||||
| 184 | What do you remember about your first day at school? | ||||
| 185 | Who was your favourite teacher, and why? | ||||
| 186 | Who were your first school friends? | ||||
| 187 | Do you still know any of your primary school friends? | ||||
| 188 | Did you get into trouble at school? What happened? | ||||
| 189 | What was the biggest problem you remember having in primary school? | ||||
| 190 | Did you ever pretend to be sick as an excuse to stay home from school? | ||||
| 191 | What subjects were you good at? | ||||
| 192 | What did you have trouble with? | ||||
| 193 | How did you learn to read? Did you have many books, and what were they like? | ||||
| 194 | What was the best book you ever read as a child? | ||||
| 195 | What did you use to write with? | ||||
| 196 | What were the desks like? Describe a classroom. | ||||
| 197 | What did you wear to primary school? | ||||
| 198 | What games did you play in the playground? | ||||
| High School and Further Education | |||||
| 199 | Which secondary school /s did you go to? | ||||
| 200 | How did you get to school? | ||||
| 201 | How many students were there at your school? | ||||
| 202 | What do you remember about your first day at high school? | ||||
| 203 | What was the biggest problem you remember having in secondary school? | ||||
| 204 | Describe a place you liked to go alone. | ||||
| 205 | Tell of a place that you discovered or built as a “haven” for your gang. | ||||
| 206 | Tell of a favourite “hang out” for you and your friends at high school. | ||||
| 207 | Tell of a nickname given to you by friends and classmates. How did you get it? | ||||
| 208 | Did kids ever tease you? What about? | ||||
| 209 | Name your best school friends. Do you still know them? | ||||
| 210 | Was your group of friends sporty, nerdy, rowdy, “cool”...? | ||||
| 211 | Did you ever skip school? Where did you go? | ||||
| 212 | What was the worst or meanest thing you remember doing in school? Were there consequences? | ||||
| 213 | How many students were there at your school? How many in your class? | ||||
| 214 | What do you remember as your favourite subject at school? | ||||
| 215 | What do you remember as your least favourite subject at school? | ||||
| 216 | What sports did you play? | ||||
| 217 | What were your main hobbies? | ||||
| 218 | Tell about being in a school play. | ||||
| 219 | Tell about a difficult school essay or assignment. | ||||
| 220 | Tell about a school principal you remember. | ||||
| 221 | Did you get any awards at school? | ||||
| 222 | Did you have to abide by a curfew as a youth? | ||||
| 223 | At what age did you leave school, and why? | ||||
| 224 | If you went to college or university, tell which one you chose and why. | ||||
| 225 | Tell about college or university, if you went. | ||||
| 226 | Tell us about your experience studying overseas, if you went. | ||||
| 227 | Tell us about your favourite teacher / lecturer. | ||||
| Young adulthood | |||||
| Work and Play | |||||
| 228 | Who was your first girlfriend/boyfriend? | ||||
| 229 | Tell about your first date. | ||||
| 230 | Describe a few of the favourite hair styles of your youth. | ||||
| 231 | How were the clothes you wore as a young adult different from or similar to today’s fashions? | ||||
| 232 | Name some popular hit songs from your youth | ||||
| 233 | What was your favourite singing group or band? | ||||
| 234 | Tell a favourite singer and a song that he/she sang. | ||||
| 235 | What kind of dances did you do as a youth? | ||||
| 236 | Tell about the first dance you ever went to. What did you wear? Who did you go with? What was it like? | ||||
| 237 | If you ever hitch-hiked, explain. | ||||
| 238 | Tell about the first time you were ever behind the wheel of a car. | ||||
| 239 | When did you get your licence? | ||||
| 240 | Tell about your first very own car. | ||||
| Marriage & Children | |||||
| 241 | When and how did you first meet your husband/wife? | ||||
| 242 | Tell about your first date. | ||||
| 243 | What qualities first attracted you to him/her? | ||||
| 244 | Tell about how you proposed or were proposed to. | ||||
| 245 | When and where were you married? | ||||
| 246 | What did you wear? | ||||
| 247 | Who performed the ceremony? Who stood up with you? | ||||
| 248 | Tell about any other circumstances of your wedding day. | ||||
| 249 | Did you go on a honeymoon? | ||||
| 250 | Tell about where you lived when you were first married. | ||||
| 251 | What was your job at the time? | ||||
| 252 | Tell the full names, birthdays, and birthplaces of your children | ||||
| 253 | Do you have a story about the birth of any of your children? | ||||
| 254 | Do you have a story about parenthood? | ||||
| Adulthood | |||||
| 255 | What have been the highlights of your adult life? | ||||
| 256 | What are the main changes you have noticed in the world since your youth? | ||||
| 257 | If you could have changed something in your past, what would it be? | ||||
| 258 | What achievements are you most proud of, and why? | ||||
| 259 | What are your hopes for your future? | ||||
| 260 | What advice would you give to future generations? | ||||
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