"There isn't a lot of conflict, because we're very similar": Meg and Tom Keneally. "There isn't a lot of conflict, because we're very similar": Meg and Tom Keneally. Photo: Edwina Pickles

MEG: Dad has a genuine interest in other people's lives. You get into a taxi and by the end of the ride he knows the first name of the taxi driver's mother, where his children go to school and what his story is. I think that comes from a humane place inside him. He's a genuinely good guy.
An early memory is of Dad coming out of his study in the afternoons and making up stories for my sister and me. We used to treat him like a story vending machine. He would be expected to deliver a well-characterised and perfectly plotted story on the hop. That's just what Dad did. I also recall on Dad's desk this stack of paper, which looked perfect for testing my new crayons. It turned out I was scribbling on the manuscript of The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith [Tom's 1972 novel]. It wasn't until he won a Logie and we watched his acceptance speech on TV that I had an inkling he might be a big deal.