Wherever the Maltese people go, delicious local treats are quick to follow. Malta's favourite snack and soft drink combo, pastizzi and Kinnie, are now more readily available around the world, but the tradition of handmade delicacies remains strong.

In a touching post on public Facebook group Maltese living in Australia, Barry York shares fond memories of his mother's traditional cooking, after the family relocated to Brunswick in Australia in 1954: "My London-born mother, Olive (1916-2003), used to make excellent pastizzi for dad and me. Our small house in West Brunswick would fill with their aroma," he recounts passionately. 

"She would make them the Maltese way but the pastry usually turned out more like a Cornish pasty, reflecting her English background, I guess. They were cross-cultural pastizzi! And delicious!" Barry continued.

The Facebook post, shared a couple of days after Mother's Day, narrates Olive's incredible life journey: "Like the other great working class women of Brunswick, of that generation, my mother always seemed to have a cheeriness about her, an 'always look on the bright side of life' kind of outlook. The women I knew in Brunswick had a lot to feel 'victim' about - but they rarely displayed the victim mentality," Barry wrote.

Surviving the Blitz and two eight-hour long operations to remove cancers, Olive fought back and "held on to life tenaciously - determined to enjoy her grandchildren and how ever many years she had left. Again, a remarkable 'cheeriness'."

Olive succumbed to a third cancer and passed away in 2003 aged 87 years old.