On 1 January 1934, aged sixteen and a half, Truscott née Hurley began her first diary; a Christmas gift from her maternal uncle, Christopher Dunne, Station Master at
Toowoomba railway station. During September that year, her saddest entry recorded the sudden death of her father aged 63 in the
Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Brisbane. On completing her first year, she was "hooked" and wrote a daily diary until her death. Notable entries include her witness account of a suicide. On Monday afternoon, 20 April 1936, while visiting
The Gap, Sydney with her uncle, Christopher Dunne, they by chance shared a bench with a well-dressed, middle-aged man. He was later identified as William Albert Swivell. The three watched a ship sail through the
Sydney Heads. Dunne asked Swivell if he knew the name of the ship. He answered, "The Nieuw Holland." Soon after, Swivell walked away; he climbed to the top of the cliff and jumped to his death. Other significant entries describe the beginning and the end of
World War II. The diaries record the stillness, the state of shock when war was declared and how
Brisbane city went wild with joy the day the war ended. Her busiest year was 1988. Alongside writing her regular diary, she wrote two extra diaries: one for the
Australian Bicentenary now lodged in the Ashgrove library and another for her two older grandchildren. She wrote two further diaries, one for her two younger grandchildren (1998) and one for her daughter (2003). == Published works ==