THESE remarkable pictures of bygone York have been around the world and back. Taken from postcards produced in the early years of the last century they belong to York grandmother Barbara Pettitt. For years, they were in the care of members of her family in Australia. The story begins with her father Robert Rawson's uncles Frank and George Harrison.

They were both in the Army and served in the Medical Corps in the First World War. At some point, either shortly before or after the war, they were offered the chance to start a new life in Australia.

Life was hard back at home, and the brothers both chose to begin again on the far side of the globe. Frank was given a parcel of land at Yeppoon, on the Queensland coast north of Brisbane. George settled further inland at Clermont.

Barbara was aware that she had family in Australia because her sister Sheila, 12 years her senior, used to correspond with their cousin Dawn Harrison from Down Under. But Barbara did not know much more.

Until, that is, her daughter Joanne emigrated to Australia in the 1980s. Barbara has since visited several times, and met the antipodean branch of the family.

One of the most emotional moments came when she met her father's uncle George, who had left York never to return so many years before. He was 93 at the time, and almost blind. He has since died.

His house had never been updated since it was first built. The toilet was still outside. But he knew his way around his home by touch.

George was almost overwhelmed by Barbara's visit. She recalled: "He said, 'it's lovely to hear that accent. You sound like my mother', and he started crying. He said, 'you're the first one to come and see me in five generations'.

"He hung on to me and said, 'I can't see you but I know you're good'."

She also met Frank's son, Frank junior. He showed her his father's collection of postcards sent from York. He asked her: "Can you relate to what these are? Nobody here knows what they are."

Two of them showed pictures of her father that she had never seen before.

"I said, you look after them. Put them in a museum or something," Barbara said.

Frank and Barbara regularly wrote to one another and swapped gifts. He would send her teacloths and calendars depicting Australian landscapes and wildlife.

Then, at Christmas 1999, she received two parcels. The second contained the postcard collection. Her husband John came in to find her crying her eyes out. She told him: "You'll never guess what he's sent me."

A note from Frank junior came with the postcards. "You may be able to find out who some of the photos are of. You will notice there are no names on the back of some of the photos of York. You do what you like with them."

Barbara showed them to Amanda Howard, local history librarian at York Reference Library. With Barbara's permission, Amanda copied those postcards she had never seen before for the library's collection.

Barbara also enlarged the postcard of the tram for the Tramways Club, of which both she and John are members. The picture shows the tram decorated to celebrate the coronation of King George V in June, 1911.

On the back, family friend Harry had written: "Here you will find a postcard of our cars. They were decorated beautifully and lit up with different coloured globes and different ribbons. This was a grand sight at the coronation."

Many of the postcards were selected because of family connections. George and Frank still had family in York: one of their brothers, Charlie, ran barges on the Ouse. Several of the cards show river scenes featuring his vessels.

The famous Layerthorpe chimney can be seen in another landscape: Barbara's father's family came from Layerthorpe.

George and Frank used to go to the INL Club off Walmgate, and played rugby for the club team. Harry sent them a picture of Walmgate Bar, with the message: "This card will remind you of your old place at Walmgate. Here you used to spend a lot of your time when you were at home."

One of the Harrisons worked at a fruit farm in Bootham Park. That explains why a picture showing a balloon at the 1911 York Gala was despatched to the southern hemisphere.

Other pictures in the collection were from the Lake District, location of childhood holidays. Joan Pearson, a former neighbour of the Harrisons, sent some of the postcards. Her message never varied: "From good old York."

In the days before air-mail, all the cards would be transported by ship, taking weeks to arrive in Australia.

Barbara and sister Sheila have been through the cards, catalogued them and made notes of all they know about each.

The postcard collection means a great deal to Barbara on both a personal and an historical level. She has always been a history buff and is a steward at Treasurer's House and a Fairfax House guide.

She would love to put copies of the postcards on display or in a book. If anyone can help they can get in touch with Barbara by writing to her care of Chris Titley at the usual Evening Press address.

"Part of this is York's history, part of it's my family history," Barbara said. "I feel it's a shame to shove it away in the cupboard. It's so precious."