This inspired Cindy to immortalise her grandmother in print.
“Dot O’Neill was an amazing woman, who loved to perform,” Cindy said.
“She used to yodel at every family function and the family would always say: ‘It isn’t an O’Neill family get-together until Nana yodels.’”
In the late 1980s, a Red Faces event was held at Moama Bowling Club, where Dot dressed up, got on stage, cracked her whip and yodelled her way to a standing ovation.
“She was an absolute character,” Cindy said.
One of her last performances was yodelling at Cindy’s 40th birthday party in 2013 to more than 100 people at the age of 87.
“She loved it, she loved the attention, and she was great at it, despite not having any formal training — she was an entirely self-taught yodeller,” Cindy said.
The story of Dot O’Neill has been immortalised by Cindy in the children’s picture book Dotty Dusty the Yodelling Grandmother.
The book took Cindy a couple of months to write, 12 months to edit, and then another 12 months to have the book fully illustrated and published.
The picture book is about Dotty yodelling to her garden and making the flowers bloom and dance in time with her yodelling.
Cindy said it was just a sweet story that she could one day read to her grandchildren, and tell them about their amazing great-great-grandmother.
Dotty Dusty the Yodelling Grandmother is available at Collins Booksellers Echuca for $24.99.
