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Me and sedan chairs in Malta

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- John Muscat During my trip to Malta in August 2026, I developed an unusual interest. A sedan chair that I came across at a museum left me wanting to see more. By around the early-1600s sedan chairs had spread across Europe as a popular mode of transportation for high-ranking noble personages. They can be described as portable enclosed chairs for single passengers lifted by two men, one in front and one behind, by means of two long wooden poles or shafts inserted into brackets on the sides of the chair. Some say they were first used in the French city of Sedan. Many were ornately carved and decorated, reflecting the high status of their owners. The decorations often included the family crest, coat-of-arms or insignia of the owner. On the inside they tended to be comfortably lined and upholstered in silk, calling to mind the interiors of modern motor vehicles (this is where ‘sedan car’ comes from). In Malta sedan chairs were called portinatina or more commonly is-suggetta and the car...
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Funeral eulogy

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This is the eulogy delivered by Charlie Muscat at his mother Vicky's funeral at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Rozelle, Sydney, on Tuesday, 20 February 2024. Someone once said ‘there is no relationship quite like that of a mother and son’. This was true for myself, John and Rob. She was the circle of light that our whole family rotated around and she deserved the pedestal we put her on. Some mother-son relationships are complicated, not ours. Mum made it very simple, she would say “do what I told” and we did. Experience taught us that it was no use fighting her, she was a force of nature and relentless, anyway we knew in our hearts that everything concerning us was motivated by love and we trusted and believed in her completely. Mum ran our household in the same determined way she had done everything since she was a young girl. She operated from total confidence in her decisions, she was brave and when she made up her mind to do something, it was done. We never wanted for anythin...
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The Life of Vicky Muscat

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Vicky at the age of 37 Born: Mosta, Malta, 20 December 1932 Died: Westmead, Sydney, Australia, 10 February 2024 Vittoria Carmela Ann Tonna (later Muscat) was born at 8:45pm on 20 December 1932 in the country village of Mosta, Malta, at that time a British Crown Colony. Her birth certificate records the father as Joseph Tonna, age 33, whose occupation was “cartman”, and the mother as Carmela Tonna (nee Chetcuti), age 33, a “housewife”. The birth certificates says Carmela “declares she cannot write” and the same probably applied to Joseph. According to their marriage certificate, Joseph and Carmela were married in Mosta on 10 November 1918 and Joseph’s occupation is recorded as “agriculturer”. Joseph and Carmela on their wedding day Mosta was a country village near the centre of Malta famous for its massive rotunda church with a design based on the Pantheon in Rome. According to an article: “By 1815 the original parish church building had become too small for the village community … the ...
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