Tales of Yesteryear

Tales of Yesteryear

An Oral History Project

edited by

Lisa Catherine Ehrich & Merv Fogarty

with

Howard Thomas, Lyn Sheehan, Julie Anne Carroll & Suzanne Mendra

1999

Tales of Yesteryear

An Oral History Project

edited by

Lisa Catherine Ehrich

& Merv Fogarty

with

Howard Thomas, Lyn Sheehan, Julie Anne Carroll ^& Suzanne Mendra

1999

Cover art by Brenda Lewis

First published in 1999 by Post Pressed.

©

Copyright 1999 School of Professional Studies,

Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology.

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Agency Limited.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication

Tales of yesteryear: an oral history project ISBN 1 87 6682 06 X

1. Interviews - Australia. 2. Biography - 20th century.

3. Australia - Biography, 4. Great Britain - Biography.

5. South Africa - Biography. I. Ehrich, Lisa Catherine, 1964-.

920.09943

Post Pressed

31 Allara St, Flaxton, Queensland, 4560 Ph. 07 5445 7616

e-mail <jwk@powerup.com.au>

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FOREWORD

It is with great pleasure that I write this foreword to Tales

of

Yesteryear:

An Oral History Project. Since 1995 there has been a strong community link between Hilltop Gardens, an aged care facility with a 30 bed nursing home, an 88 bed hostel complex and 12 independent living units, and the School of Professional Studies of the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology. The School's vision has been to enhance the lives of our residents through a variety of activities. Many residents do not have family support, for a variety of reasons, or are unable to access community activities because of declining health and wellbeing. The focus of their lives narrows down to Hilltop Gardens and the routines that are integral to institutional life. When this project was first mooted, I was most happy to support it, knowing that so many of our residents have colourful tales to share which might otherwise go untold. This book will not only be a wonderful addition to the personal libraries of each of the participants and their families but also a useful resource for other residents, the Hilltop Gardens staff, and the wider community more generally.

Ruth Forrester Care Manager

Hilltop Gardens Residential Aged Care

FOURTEEN LIVES: A CELEBRATION

In contemporary popular culture, with its focus on youth and immediate gratification, aged persons are typically overlooked, neglected and ignored. In current discourse they might indeed be described as an 'underused resource'. Yet they have much to offer in terms of the richness of their lives and wisdom and insight acquired over many decades.

Tales

of

Yesteryear: An Oral History Project 'gives voice' to a group of fourteen residents from Hilltop Gardens, a residential aged care unit located in close proximity to the Kelvin Grove Campus of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). We sought to learn from and with them about the significant learning experiences in their lives. A major consideration was exploring some of the events and incidents that shaped their world views and fashioned the selves they have become. However, we decided not to focus primarily on formalised schooling because of our strong belief that learning is lifelong and extends from the cradle to the grave, and because we recognised that for many, schooling would have constituted only a small part of the overall picture of their lives. In exchange for these stories, the project team compiled this book to celebrate their lives and times.

Professor Brian Hansford, Head of the School of Professional Studies, QUT, and a staunch advocate of community services and of integrating the university more fully into the local community, played a significant part in the conception of this project. From 1995 the School's Community Service Committee has worked closely with Hilltop Gardens (formerly known as Sunsetholme) to provide a range of social activities (morning teas, luncheons, musical concerts ... ) and learning experiences (visits to the One Teacher School Museum, small group discussions ... ). 1999 is the third year that the School has organised a Christmas party for residents and staff of Hilltop Gardens.

Applying for a QUT Community Service Grant to work on this project with the residents of Hilltop Gardens was a natural consequence of this relationship. In 1998 the School's Community

Service Committee was successful in securing two small grants from QUT. The first was to fund an oral history project, while the second was to organise a series of musical concerts for the residents. The latter project is ongoing, with funding until the end of 2000. The former was led by Dr Merv Fogarty, recently retired Senior Lecturer within the School, and all of the editors (Ehrich, Fogarty, Thomas, Sheehan, Carroll and Mendra) were actively involved in the interview process and compilation of stories.

The methodology steering this project was drawn from a kit developed by the Paddington History Group (Anne-Maree Jaggs and Dawn Buckberry). Consent forms, biographical questionnaires, and other procedure lists were adapted from this kit to meet our particular needs in the study. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Queensland University of Technology. All members of the team liaised with Ruth Forrester, Manager of Hilltop Gardens, to identify interested residents and to set up the ensuing interviews.

The project team worked in pairs to share the interviewing and sense-making of the data. On average, residents were interviewed twice for about one hour each time. Transcripts were typed up and stories were woven from the essence of their lives. Individual stories were taken back to each participant for comment, correction, and final approval (in the true spirit of 'democratic research').

All of us on the project team felt that the oral histories were too valuable to leave unpublished, so this book is the culmination of our research and our way of acknowledging the rich contribution that the elderly can give to a learning community such as a university. The project has been rewarding and interesting not only because we moved out of schools (the domain in which so much of our work is done) but also because it has touched on an important part of living history. We feel honoured to have played a small part in making these stories come alive. The stories stand for themselves:

I commend them to you.

Lisa Catherine Ehrich

On behalf of the Oral History Project Team

CONTENTS

Foreword

Fourteen lives: a celebration Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Life Histories:

Florence Austin Mae Cooper Victoria Da'Riff

John William Gledhill Gertrude Greves Winifred Hill May Hort Anne Liebetrau Greg Litfin

Violet O'Loughlan Eunice Philp

Harold Pratt Phil Russell

Godfrey John Wood

Page

111 IV

Vl

vu

8 20 26 32 40 46 56 62 68 78 86 94 104 112

This work has been set in large font for ease of reading.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people have assisted in the creation of this book. We would like to thank, first of all, Professor Brian Hansford, Head of School, for his ongoing support of and commitment to the community service aspect of our work. The project would not have been possible without funding provided by a grant from the Queensland University of Technology. This grant enabled us to purchase cassette tapes, pay for transcription of interviews and to publish this book.

Sincere thanks to Ruth Forrester, Care Manager of Hilltop Gardens, who has worked closely with us since 1995. A special thank you to Kev Boyle (retired Kelvin Grove Campus photographer of QUT) who took the photographs of each of the residents at short notice.

Martlyn Klokman provided efficient transcription notes for the team to use and her assistance was appreciated. Finally, we wish to pay tribute to each and everyone of the fourteen residents of Hilltop Gardens who shared their lived experiences with us.

FCorenceAustin

FLORENCE AUSTIN

'I had a few things happen to me at dijferent times that I don /t think the average person would have because [of] ... the war

years./

On 29 August, 1908, Florence made her entrance into the world.

She was born in Tabinga Village, a small country town not far from Kingaroy.

Florence's mother was born and raised in Mary borough. She was the eldest of five children and worked at home helping to raise her four brothers. It was during a holiday in Kingaroy (which was a common destination for people from Maryborough) when Florence's mother met the person who was to become her husband. Florence's father worked as a builder in Kingaroy. After Florence's parents married, they left Kingaroy because her father got 'rheumatic fever and he became almost crippled and the doctor saicl //Look you've got to get away from this cold climate///. The cure was to 'go to Hervey Bay and go to the beach every day/ cover himself with sand and lie in the sun'.

Florence's father followed this advice given by an old German doctor and did not suffer from the condition again!

When Florence was around three and a half years old, the family settled in a little place outside of Gladstone and her father got work as a 'cooper', who is a person who makes and repairs containers, casks and barrels. She described their new home as

a fanny little area .. .it was a rather strange place. There were very few permanent houses/ only the main people belonging to the meat works had their own home ... A lot

of

us were under canvas so we dzdn /t stay there. We had an offer

of

a house on an island and we moved over there to South Trees Island.

At that time, only four families lived on the Island. It was in the Gladstone Harbour but off shore. 'They used to row a boat across to work untzl eventually my father buzlt his own boat and we used to go across there to school and home again in the afternoon/. The island was 'not very big. YOu could have walked around zr From the age of seven to nine years, Florence lived on the island. She said,

We had a good life you know. We could go swimming. It was beautiful calm waters in the Harbour and a lovely beach and my people liked it very much because they were fond

of

fishing and we could have fish whenever we felt lzke it. We could go and catch a crab if we felt

lzke it or take a prawning net and go out and catch prawns.

It was an idyllic time and Florence played with her sister and two brothers, as well as the other children who lived on the island. Some years later, after the family had moved to a new residence, another sister came along (this was when Florence was 16).

Florence started school at Parsons Point. She said,' I was only jouJ;

and I used to take myse!f ojJ to school every day. I wouldn 'l stay away.

They couldn /t keep me away so the teacher said //Oh well/ let her come/ she can start//~ It was a one teacher school, consisting of one large room.

Florence recalled that around 20 children used to attend the school.

Like so many one teacher schools at that time, it had long desks, forms to sit on, slates to write on, and ink wells. Florence's memories of school were very fond. As she said, 'I loved school. It was always exciting to me/.

Florence described how the teacher approached the class,

He would set some class doing something and whzle they were doing that then he would probably go and take another class doing something else and then he'd work it around like that right through the whole school because you see, you know we might have had only three or four in the one class when you come to think

of

^it.

After the family left the Island, the family moved into the Mt Larcom district between Gladstone and Rockhampton. Because they could not afford to buy a farm, they rented one. Florence recommenced school and walked some two miles there and back to the Ambrose State School. She and her siblings had to pass through two other farms to get to school. Once they learned to ride horses, they gave up on the walking. Ambrose was a place where many German families had settled. The children of these German farmers became good friends of Florence and her sister and taught them how to ride horses. At this time, Florence's father was still building houses for other people as well as trying to farm.

Florence learned to milk cows and took them up to the top paddock.

The milk was separated and the cream went to the Gladstone Butter Factory by train. Her mother used to do the separating but as the children got older they became more involved in the chores. When Florence was about 12 years old, they moved to another place called Bracewell which was still within the Mt Larcom District. On the new property, her family had the only milking machine in the district.

There was much work to be done on the farm and a routine was established so that the chores could be approached in a systematic manner. Florence recalled,

My mother used to get up in the morning and light the fire and cook breakfast. J; being the eldest, got out

of

bed before daylight and got on a horse and rd go to the paddocks and bring all the cows in to be milked ... Then we'd have breakfast and I was responsible then to get the horse and buggy ready and get my sister and brother ready for

school and we went

off

to school and my mother and father ... had to go and use the machines to milk the cows ... Then we had to go four miles to school ... We went to a school called Machine Creek and that was four miles away so we had a buggy and we used to drive this horse and buggy. .. to school every da!fa my sister and l We were only young but we could drive ... We must have taken it [the driving]

in turns otherwise there would have been too much fighting.

The cream carters, as they were called would visit regularly, daily if necessary, and collect the cream.

YOu just had to be ready.for them when they came and then, also, they would bring goods to us that came by train... We had to order our goods that we used, our food and everything, that was ordered from either Gladstone or Rockhampton. It was delivered then by

this cream carter.

The family lived in a three bedroom house which had a big lounge dining room and a room which they used as their bathroom. This was rare as 'nobody bothered about bathrooms in those days. We used to have a bath in a tub with handles'. Because the family used tank water, it was treated preciously. This meant that they shared the same tub of water.

All of the members of the family worked hard on the farm. The family grew their own vegetables and later on cotton. 'There were acres

of

^{it [cotton]} and they grew lucerne but you see the man who owned the place, he used to look after most

of

that but when they started growing cotton there, he told my father that he could have a couple

of

acres to grow cotton, which we dicr. Cotton was a new crop for that area. After it grew, the cotton 'had to be picked. .. then it was bagged and sent

off

to a mz71'.

Florence stayed in Bracewell until she was 14. She completed scholarship there. At that time, only two people in the whole school completed scholarship. Both of Florence's parents had done

scholarship and they wanted their children to do the same. Because of the state of the family's finances, Florence was not able to attend Rockhampton Grammar School. Her parents had just purchased 750 acres of land which had never been worked and which required a great deal of attention. About one year after Florence finished scholarship, the family moved to this place. Meanwhile they were renting a farm. Florence's education was continued via tutoring from an English gentleman who gave of his tutoring services in exchange for bed and board in the family house. He helped Florence to study for the Junior examination. As it turned out, she didn't take the examination because her tutor moved away mysteriously beforehand. She said,

He must have talked it over with my parents because he left some

of

his belongings with us and one

of

them I remember was a box brownie and a few other small things and he sazd he/d send for them when he was settled again but he never did. We never heard from him ever agam.

He was a 'mystery person/ in more ways than one, as local gossip had it that he was a 'remittance man'. Remittance men 'were pazd by their families to stay away from England' for various reasons. Florence did not know why he was sent out to Australia. He had been educated at Eton and was a very knowledgeable and 'nice person'.

He used to tutor her at night time because during the day he worked for the owner of the homestead.

The following year the family moved to their 750 acres and took with them a herd of cattle. When her father needed money, he would build a house for somebody. Her father built the house they lived in. It was a two-storied home with four bedrooms upstairs and a lounge, dining room and kitchen downstairs. Now that Florence's formal schooling days had ended, she moved to Kingaroy and commenced work in a shop for a cousin of her father. By that time Kingaroy had grown substantially and was no longer a sleepy little town. Florence boarded with her grandmother. Her working days were cut short when she was called home to help her mother who

had just given birth to Florence's youngest sister. She lived with her parents until she turned 21. At that time, she started her training as a nurse in The General Hospital in Maryborough. Florence stated, 'I always wanted to be a nurse although I suppose

!f

I had the necessary education when I was younger I might have finished up as a teacher~

Florence regretted that she didn't have access to further education.

While she' loved every minute

of

^it [nursing]' she admitted that it was hard work. She said,

We had a very strict matron ... We had to live in. There was no option ...

We always had our own room and we had to be in bed by ha!f past ten with our lights out and matron used to come and do rounds and

!f

you weren 'l in ... bed by then, you got a call next day, matron wants to see you in the effice. As we used to say, you were on the door mat.

Only on a couple occasions, did Florence get called into her office.

She reflected that she had a good social life when she was nursing.

She said,

We used to nde. We'd go swimming... We'd go to the dances. They would have a Saturday night dance somewhere ... I used to play tennis, because we played a lot

of

tennis when we were young and we had a court at the hospital, a tennis court and we had one doctor there who was fond

of

it, a lady doctor, a Doctor Hzll and she liked tennis and strangely enough among all the nurses, there was only one other nurse and myse!f that was interested in playing tennis.

So she used to us ask to play and she'd invite people up to play with us from, you know, outside.

It took four years for Florence to complete the nursing qualification.

After that, Florence did further training and chose the specialist area of midwifery. She spent 12 months in Bundaberg training for that certificate. After that, she applied to the Cairns Hospital for a position. She was successful and she stayed there for three and a half years until the time she married. She married when she was 30 years old. Although Florence was older than a lot of her

contemporaries, she said,' it dzdn/t worry me ... A lot

of

the girls that I went to school with were married before I started nursing ... because there was nothing else far them to do. They weren 'l trained to do anything else~

Florence loved living and working in Cairns. It was only about half the size it is today and not at all a major tourist attraction. After she had been there a year, she worked as a theatre sister which she enjoyed immensely.

Florence lived at the hospital because it was compulsory for nurses to do so. It was a

small hospital and the theatre that we worked in far instance was just one room and then we had two little ante rooms. Thats all the space we had and it was very busy because there were six doctors/

six private doctors in the town and they all dzd their operations in our theatre ... They were allowed to have so many patients in hospital at one time and then we had ... on the medical stqff. .. a superintendent and. .. three other doctors as well and they all used the theatre

of

course whenever they wanted to .

While Florence was nursing, she and a friend considered enlisting in the army but after some initial inquiries, decided against it.

We found out that far us to enlist we had to pay our own way down to Brisbane/ pay to stay there in Brisbane whz7e we were having the medical examination/ and pay far our own outfitting/ clothing and everything. We had to do all

of

that ourselves. We wouldn /t have been recompensed in any way. .. we dzdn 'learn much. .. it still wasn 'l any great big salary ... so we decided then that we wouldn /t do anything about it. Then later on ... it became very easy

o/

course to get into the army or the air farce or wherever you wanted to go/

[once there was the realisation that the war was not going to end by Christmas].

During the war, the army asked the nursing staff whether they would be prepared to give a series of lectures on a range of topics which they identified for ordinary civilians. Florence took three different

classes and 'was the only sister in the hospital who took any. Nobody else bothered but I did. I took three classes and rm very proud to say that everybody ... had passed their exams ... at the end

of

the time/.

Florence met her husband in Cairns. 'He was a bank officer and so we went around quite a !or He worked as a teller at the old CBA Bank (now known as Westpac). They married in Home Hill in the Church of England. Unfortunately he was not granted any leave so they did not have a honeymoon. After she married, she was approached by the hospital to give further classes, so she took two and reported happily that all of the participants passed their exams.

Her husband joined the army after they were married and remained in it for four years. After they had been married two years, their first child, Judith, arrived. Unlike other soldiers who were stationed overseas, Florence's husband remained in Australia.

He was put into the armoured division and the armoured division was never allowed to leave Australia because they were supposed to be the backstop for anybody that came/ you knom any invasion into Australia.

Over the next four years, Florence and her husband moved around a fair bit. For example, they lived in Sandgate, Tamworth and then Maitland. Then

he was sent ... outszde Gumdale and I stayed up at Gumdale in the Country Womens Association Hostel.. By then they moved the armoured division across to Perth ... Western Australia. Outside Perth was the camp and we women were not allowed to go there.

We had to make a final decision where we were going to stay for the rest

of

the wa0 so I went back to Maryborough. I stayed in Maryborough. He was in Western Australia.

Her nursing days were well and truly over. Another child came into the family and looking after the children was a full time job.

Many of Florence's friends and family members had some connection with the war effort. She said,

My husbands brother was in the army and that was the brother next to him and then he had one younger brother and he was in the navy. My own brother was in the air force. We had them all.

Fortunately, all of Florence's close relatives made it back to Australia.

One vivid experience from the war years was recounted by Florence as though it had occurred yesterday:

They had training planes in Maryborough. .. and a training plane crashed right along side

of

our house ... about 100 yards or so from our house and it was on a farming field. .. The sugar cane was taken

oft

it was empt!fa nothing on the property and the training plane came down ... I was living at home with my parents .. I dzdn 'l see it myse(f. .. [My mother] came running into the kitchen and she said to me, Run over quickl!fa you might be able to help somebody~ So I did. I ran across the field and there were just the farmer and his wife and a couple

of

others standing there wringing their hands ... I could see the two in the plane, the man and his trainee, pilot and trainee, and I could also see the trainee had blood coming down from his head

where I could see that he'd had a cut there, and without even thinking that the plane might catch fire and flames might come, I climbed up and had a look at them. The pilot was already dead. He must have died instantly but the other one was conscious and all strapped in

of

course. They were open cockpit planes ... just then everybody started to gather around and two big strong looking men were there ... I called out to them. I said, /Wzll you climb up here with me and we'll see

if

we can get him out?' Then I started to think that we better get him out because the plane might catch on fire and so we got him out, very gently. He was conscious and showed us how to undo all his harnesses and everything, otherwise I don't know what we would have done. So we got him out and very carefully ... lazd him on the grass and then I said, /Well we shouldn /t leave him here. We'll take

him to the house

if

the lady doesn [mind~ So I asked her

if

we could take him over to her house and she sazd /lt's~ So four

of

us got our hands underneath him like this and just carried him across ... He had a broken leg/ a compound fracture

of

the left leg and then he had all the blood coming from his head. I knew when I got that cleaned up that that wasn't very serious because head wounds always bleed a lot. So we got him all cleaned up.

After the war, Florence stated that she and her husband' never settled down until he retired'. After he had been discharged from the army he was given the option of a couple of places. They chose Home Hill and lived there for four years. They were then transferred to Wynn um where they lived for two years. From Wynn um, they went to Dalby for two years, and had a two and a half year stint in Innisfail.

By this time, Florence's husband was a manager. After Innisfail, her husband was transferred to Beenleigh. Woolloongabba was the place where he finished his banking career. It was a busy place in those days, especially, 'when the steam trains used to go across the road into the shunting yards~

Florence remarked that her children found the moving around from one place to the next, quite difficult, but in time they settled down.

Florence's two boys boarded at Brisbane Grammar and Judith attended Girls Grammar for two years. Judith followed in her father's footsteps and joined the bank after she completed Junior.

When Florence was asked about the highlights of her life, she remarked,

YOu've got to think about the fact that you dzd meet somebody and fell in love and got married. .. and that you had children who never gave you too much trouble and you know we got on well together.

We stzll do. Apart from that I had a few things happen to me at different times that I don't think the average person would have because [of] ... the war years.

19

Mae Cooper

MAE COOPER

'l

don /t like Mavis/ please call me Mae. /

Mae was born in May 1915, one of eleven children in the Euston family. The first six were referred to as the 'older family' as distinct from their five younger siblings. In 1930, the family ranged from five years to 31 years. In late 1905, the Eustons obtained a miners' homestead lease on 23 acres of land adjoining the Lagoon Pocket School and their father built the home in which Mae grew up.

Mae lived next door to the two-teacher state primary school which she attended. The school was located in the Mary Valley, ten miles outside of Gympie. Mae described the school as having lovely grounds with large Jacaranda trees, Acacias and a tennis court. The Headmaster, who was also a Methodist preacher and taught Sun- day School, lived on the grounds. Mae attended the Methodist Church at Red Hill as a child and remembers how occasionally she would use her plate money to buy 'Texas Chews/.

The Great Depression came and times were hard for the Euston fam- ily. Mae was sent to St Patrick's school in Gympie where she was a boarder from the age of ten to sixteen, only to return home during School holidays and at Christmas. Mae stated that, 'you didn't have to be a Catholic to go to the convent. As a matter of fact/ we had more non- Catholics [attending the school].' There was no money to pay the good Sisters at the convent, so an arrangement was made that her father would regularly take the nuns fruit and vegetables in pay- ment.

Mae has fond memories of her days at the convent and the Irish nuns who taught her and the other students. In particular, Sister Mary Beniti who taught her Junior when she obtained an 'A: grade in Latin and French, was a favourite teacher of hers. Mae stated that she 'was not good at physiolog;; but Sister Beniti helped her to re- member/. In fact, all of the girls loved Sister Beniti and would buy her gifts on her feast day. As Mae stated,

she was amazing/ she gave it [the gifts we'd buy her] awa!f she dzdn 'l keep anything. We/d save our pennies up to give her some- thing ... She/d sa!f /That would do Sister so and so. She hasn/t got an umbrella or she hasn/t got this~ .. That was the kind

of

training

we had/

Many years later after Mae had married and was living in Brisbane, she caught a tram in Redhill and saw Sister Beniti. She said,

I got a tram/ she got the same tram. I could see that she was horn._

fled She was doing her best to stop me from saying Hello/ or recog- nising me in any way because you/ re not supposed to or you weren /t [supposed to] in those days. So I dzdn/t. She dzdn'l speak. .. [If I had spoken to her] I would have been dishonouring her vows.

As history would tell us, it was not until Vatican II in the 1960s that some of the practices, which kept nuns silent and hidden away from their communities, were changed.

Mae's recollections of life at St Patrick's were very happy and she saw her education as 'character forming/ and 'fun'. She described a typical day after school:

we/d play games/ then stud!f tea/ then study again untzl 8 pm. It wasn 'l long. After that it was dancing for ha!f an hour or singing or whatever you wanted to do .. .play the piano/ others sung/ dancecl square dancing. It was a lot

of

fun ... that is how I remember school.

It was at school that Mae grew to love poetry and art. She saw that artists and poets were special people. She didn't know then that she would marry an artist and her whole life would be filled with art.

Mae finished her secondary schooling at the convent at the end of 1932. She undertook Junior twice, the second time doing commer- cial subjects. She was appointed to teach at the Convent where she had been a student, although she was not trained for this. She de- scribed herself as a' rebel as she' didn/t see any sense in preparation!' She was appointed as a governess to a station property near Calliope, and stayed for seven weeks. At this time, she was of- fered a teaching position in Proston, but rejected that for a job in Brisbane. She joined her sister, Lorna, who was teaching in Bulimba. They rented a flat in New Farm for the princely sum of one pound two shillings.

Mae commenced work at the Taxation Department and it was here that she met her future husband, George Wilson Cooper. George was born in England and came to Australia with his parents and sister when he was 11 years old.

Mae was 18 and George, 22, when they starting going out together.

George told Mae when he first met her that 'he was going to be an artist and

ff

I wanted to go with him/ I had to go along and sit down while he painted'. For a period of some sixty years, Mae did exactly that. They married at St Barnabas' Church in Ashgrove on 10 No- vember, four years after they first met. Mae and George settled into their one and only home at Alderley. By this time, George had left the Taxation Department and was working with the Bris- bane Telegraph as a full-time artist and cartoonist. Mae's occupa- tion became full-time wife and mother and in 1939 their first child, Margaret, was born and, in 1942, the second Wilson was added.

As Mae stated,' You didn't work in those days. I was flat out anyway with the children'.

George left his job with the Brisbane Telegraph to join the army and the 3rd Armoured Division used his services as they were allotted the task of protecting the Australian homeland. He would not be allowed to see service overseas but the irony of it was that he came close to losing his life by thirst in the desert of Western Australia.

The army also dealt him the bitter blow of an accident smashing his right wrist, which for a time, threatened his livelihood.

The war ended in 1945 and George returned to the Telegraph as a cartoonist. (He had to adopt a different way to sign each cartoon because of his wrist injury). In 1945, he andMae had another daugh- ter, Anne, and in 1953 their final child, Marion, was born.

George left the Brisbane Telegraph newspaper as a cartoonist in 1958 and still continued in the art world spending eleven years in graphic design (i.e. commercial art and TV animation) and seven years at the College of Art as a teacher, and Acting Principal for six months.

George retired in January 1977 and he and Mae commenced their travels around Australia and overseas. They also spent many times travelling to locations in Queensland such as Goondiwindi, Charleville and Dalby in search of landscape for George to paint.

At this time, George turned to sculpture.

A memorable trip was the time they visited the United Kingdom for five months, meeting up with family they had not seen for many years. Both of them loved England, although they were happy to return to Brisbane. The following years of their life were busy ones, as George continued with his art, the Gallery shows, the art groups they had formed and their many friends. One of George's impor- tant exhibitions commemorated six decades of his painting and was held at Twelfth Night Theatre. The proceeds of the sales went to the Handicapped Children's Fund. In 1994, George wrote and illus- trated a book called' As I Remember It~ which encapsulated his mem- oirs of the art world in Queensland.

When Mae was asked if George used her as a model she said he did 'too many portraits/ of her, although in total there were no more than half a dozen. She stated, 'I hated sitting stzll. Fm sure I had a pained look on my face ... I was quite happy for him to draw somebody else~

George passed away from an illness in July 1998 and Mae now lives in Hilltop Gardens visited often by her children and 14 grandchil- dren.

Acknowledgement is given to Raymond Cecil Euston's book (1994) The Euston Eleven, from which some of the information for Mae's story has come.

Victoria Da'Riff

VICTORIA Da'RIFF

7 met General Booth when I was four years old I was taken on the platform and handed to General William Booth./

Victoria Da'Riff was born in Edinburgh on 14 September 1908, but lived her early life in Berwick on Tweed (near the border of England and Scotland). Although she had a strict bringing up in the Salvation Army, she is now a Presbyterian.

Victoria commented, 'my mother was a great SalvationisF and attended numerous church meetings, many at night after Victoria's father had come home from work. Of her father, she observed, 'It [Salvation Army] didn'l have any Effect on him/ I don/! know what religion he was/

he never went to church. He was a very good living man/. Victoria remembers that when she was a child, 'children would laugh at you/

because you were Salvation Army.

When Victoria was about seven years old, her father died and her mother was left on her own with Victoria and her younger brother.

Victoria stated that 'she [her mother] never married again~ but she worked. She was not sure what work her mother did, but she was quite sure that she 'dzd something for the Salvation Army~ Sadly her mother died when Victoria was 12 years old. Victoria remembers her brother and her being taken out of school and being told to go home as there was trouble there. She stated, 'My brother and I went home and later on we went to the funerar She and her brother then went to live with their aunty in Preston in Lancashire.

Their aunty 'had nothing to do with the Salvation Army/ and Victoria and her brother went to the Christ Church School which was connected to the Church of England.

Before her marriage, Victoria's mother was a seamstress and she continued to do this while she was married. Victoria observed, 'She did an awful lot

of

sewing, I think it was some sort

of

dressmaking~ Her father was an ironmonger by trade and Victoria remembers that 'it

was very hot work and very hard work~

Victoria also remembers she and her brother taking breakfast to their father at the factory where he worked. Before he left home in the morning, he would have a drink and a light snack. Then their mother would make a breakfast for him and the two children would talk to him. Victoria observed her father at work and she remembers that when he opened the door of the furnace that he used in moulding iron, the heat was intense and 'I used to think what an awful job~

Her mother and father were recalled by Victoria in the following way,' My mother was very strict, but my father spoilt us~ Victoria thought that her mother made most of the family decisions because she had the money,' she got all her father's moneJI~ As a member of the Salvation Army, Victoria's mother was opposed to alcoholic drink, but her father always had a drink at night and her mother always brought him the one glass of beer that he drank. Victoria and her brother never had lollies.

The aunty that Victoria and her brother went to live with on the death of their mother was a pastry cook and a confectionist and she used to run a shop from her house. She was named Isobel, but was always called Aunty Izzy. Her husband (Victoria's uncle) worked in the railway. He was a driver and had driven the Edinburgh Express.

Both houses in which Victoria grew up in had gas for lighting and heat. Neither house had a telephone nor a radio and neither family had a car. They travelled by tram and, Victoria revealed, 'we did a lot

of

^walking~ Victoria thought that radios were not readily available at that time and she suggested that 'some people might have had an organ or piano/ but you had to have a bit

of

money to get these~

Victoria commenced her schooling at a little school at the bottom of their street that 'my mother used to send me to~ She remembers that her teacher made her sit in the front row, something that she didn't like. She complained to her mother,' I don't like sitting in the front row because thats where they put the dumbsters~ Her mother followed this up with the teacher who stated that Victoria was in the front row because of her poor eyesight. She was five years of age when she started school.

At both the primary schools that Victoria attended, she did well with her arithmetic and English, liked history, did not like geography, but liked looking at maps. The games she liked to play were skipping, ball games, and board games such as snakes and ladders.

When Victoria was 13 years of age and living with her aunt and uncle, she won a scholarship to the local Technical College. At this stage, however, she thought of her aunty having four children to bring up and she said to her, 'I think I ought to go to work~ Her aunty's response was,' YOu don/! have to~ Victoria started work in a factory, a soap factory owned by the two Margereson brothers.

A notable event in the working lives of Margereson employees was their annual picnic held in the country. Victoria particularly enjoyed the wagonette ride. About six people 'sat on each side of the wagonette and horses used to pull us~ The Margereson brothers and many of their employees went to the same Methodist church and Victoria 'left the Salvation Army and joined her colleagues in the Methodist church for quite some time~

Victoria described her job with the soap factory as 'very good actually~

She was required to put individual cakes of soap into boxes, seal them down and stamp them. Periodically she and fellow workers

would take the boxed soap downstairs and pack it in cartons. While doing this work, she wore blue overalls and was paid about 10 shillings ($1) per week.

When Victoria was 18 years of age, she left the soap factory and went nursing. Afriend of her aunty who used to visit had a daughter who took up nursing. The daughter told Victoria all about the country hospital where she was nursing and also informed her that the 'money was a lot better'than what she was earning in the factory.

Victoria made up her mind to become a nurse, but she could not do so until she was 18 years old. As soon as she was 18, she joined her friend in the country hospital. Victoria was a nurse for approximately five years.

After she married, Victoria worked at cleaning and weaving and she even worked on a market stall. After the birth of her son, she focused on cleaning and stated that all the people that she worked for were very nice people. Cleaning was convenient for her at this stage. She was able to leave her son at a nursery, do some cleaning, and pick him up on her way home. Commenting on married women working at that time, Victoria stated, 'lf you dzd something outszde cleaning, some

ef

them thought that you were taking a mans job~

Victoria remembers both World War I and World War IL With the advent of the former war, both her parents were alive, and she stated that her father 'dzdn't go to the trenches because he was in the job

ef

making shells~ He was already contributing to the war effort. During the latter war, Victoria was in Europe and she remembers that food was short and that' most

if

the time we were on rations'. She worked in a very small restaurant run by a Miss Bean whom Victoria recalls as being very nice and quite young. What she considered was a real bonus in working for Miss Bean was that

'if

there was anything left at night, she'd give it to you, she would never serve anything the second day'!

World War II didn't always go as smoothly for Victoria as described in the preceding paragraph. One day she was riding her bicycle home from work when the crew of a German plane fired machine

gun bullets at her. She saw the plane coming towards her and she 'threw the bike in the road and hzd in a hedge~ Fortunately for Victoria, she came out of this experience unscathed. There is an explanation for this incident. German aircrews returning to their bases from a mission fired off any unused ammunition they had on board. This was done because they thought that if they arrived back with unused ammunition, it might be thought by their superiors that they had not carried out the mission with due diligence and there may be repercussions for them. Often, instead of just firing off the ammunition 'willy-nilly' they picked a target for practice. Victoria just happened to be a convenient target.

Besides her son, Victoria also has a daughter. Victoria visited Australia three times before deciding to make it her permanent home. Both her son and daughter live in Brisbane and visit her regularly. Victoria has lived a very full life and a highpoint was when she 'met General Booth~

John WiCCiam GCedJiiCC

JOHN WILLIAM GLEDHILL

/Life is a wondeiful thing ... 1/d like to have my life again. /

John William Gledhill was born in Dennistoun, a county suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, on 22 March 1907. His father was born in York- shire and his mother in Scotland. Both parents came from large fami- lies as was fairly common in those days. Many of John's relatives from both sides of his family chose a life on the sea. John's two uncles on his mother's side worked on ships as officers, while John's father and some of his father's brothers worked on ships. John's grandfather was a sea captain who eventually lost his life at sea, trying to save a sailor. While the sailor was saved, John's grandfa- ther caught a chill and died of pneumonia.

John's mother had five sisters and two brothers, while his father was one of thirteen children (eight boys and five girls). His parents met in Carlisle and married in the Church of England Church. They bought and worked in a pastry, bread and cake shop for a number of years.

John recalls that both of his parents were gifted cooks. His father spent some of his early life as a chef on board a ship. He stated that his father 'was very clever with past~ bread and cakes ... [and] had a light hand at cooking/. His mother was a 'grand cook/too. His parents shared their love of cooking with him and John became a very adept cook and utilised this skill up until quite recently.

In 1912 when he was five years old, John, his siblings (Bert aged three years and Jean aged one year) and parents boarded the ship,

'Waipara' on the British India Line, and landed in Brisbane. John explains that his family left Scotland' on account

oj. ..

starting a busi- ness/. His parents had planned to go into partnership with John's aunt and uncle who were operating a successful butcher's shop in Breakfast Creek. This was not to be as

when our ship got to Thursday Island we got a wire message that my Aunties husband had been kzlled when his horse and cart crashed ... My dad was going to be a partner in his business/ but everything fell through.

John's parents went on to open a mixed business in Leichhardt Street, Spring Hill. Not long after, they moved to Pinkenba and established a business there.

John recalls growing up in a very loving and supportive family en- vironment. He stated,

I had two great parents. They dzd everything possible in my life for me. They were caring. Nothing was too big a job for them to rear me. They dzd their very best for me. To do right from wrong: that was their motto which I tried to do well.

John recalled many happy memories growing up in Scotland, then Brisbane, Australia. He remembered attending boxing matches with his father in the Botanical Gardens. His father knew the man who was in charge of the matches and John's father used to lift him and his siblings over the turnstile so they didn't have to pay to get in.

John's father was very keen on boxing and taught John how to pro- tect himself.

John remembers his mother as a kindly woman, and his father as a firm and good father. John recalled only one incident when he re- ceived 'the strap/. He was 12 at the time and his father had discov- ered him smoking. Interestingly enough, John did not touch an- other cigarette after this episode.

John attended the Pinkenba Primary School until he was 12 years old. Pinkenba was a farming area in those days and many of the children who attended the Pinkenba School had come from fami- lies of farmers. Grapes and other fruits were grown in the region.

John's parents had a desire that he would continue with his educa- tion and for this reason, he was sent to a boys' only school for two more years. This school, which was called the Normal School, was located where today the Shrine of Remembrance is, opposite Cen- tral Station. John travelled by train to school and recalls studying maths and English. John excelled in all types of sports and played cricket and football while at school, and was active in bike racing and soccer in his late teens. He won cups and medals for his achieve- ments. From the ages of 14 to 23, John was a keen cyclist and was a member of the Hamilton Wheelers. He used to race the well known cyclist, Hubert Opperman. According to John, Hubert would beat John on the road, but when they were cycling around the exhibition track, John used to 'lace him'.

Although John left the Normal School at age 14, his formal study was not to end. He attended the Central Technical College (CTC) which was one of the foundation organisations of Queensland In- stitute of Technology (now known as Queensland University of Tech- nology) for a period of five years while he studied his trade, plumb- ing. Whilst at College, he met a friend who was training to be a carpenter. John recalled a conversation he had at this time with his friend, Fred. Fred said, 'John, when I get married will you do my plumb- ing'. John replied, 'Yes, what about when I get married?' As it turned out, Fred built his home and John lived there with his wife and family for over sixty years.

A turning point in John's life was when he was 20 years old and met Ivy, aged 16, who later became his wife. According to John,' it

was love at first sight. To John, 'Ivy was like no other lady~ John recalls that first meeting vividly:

We [Fred and I] had gone to the Wintergarden Pictures. We looked at the shops and had a malted mz?k and roamed around George Street.

When we got as far as the Lyric Theatre in George Street/ out came seven nice girls. They had been doing ballet and we happened to be there at the time. They all sazd Hello/ and we talked to them. I talked to one special one and I fell in love with her... It was very special Freel my mate/ also met one

of

the girls who was a nice girl The girl I liked introduced herself as Ivy and I introduced myse!f.

She asked me if I would like to meet her parents and she invited me to her place a week after on the Sunday. She asked me

if

I could dance. I sazCl /No~ She told me that she had done ballet and old time dancing. When I went to her home I met her parents. She told them that I couldn 'l dance. Her father sazd that the five girls in the famz?y would teach me how to dance/ which they did. Her father taught me to tap dance.

For the next seventy years, music, song and dance played an im- portant part in their lives. Not only did they ballroom dance at vari- ous venues around Brisbane such as The Ritz, Trocadero, Blue Moon Dance, Trades Hall, and later on at the Metropolitan Senior Citi- zen's Club, but they also enjoyed many happy times around the piano. Ivy played the piano, pianola and organ, while John sang.

As John said,' We were a wondeiful couple~ and they enjoyed so many happy times together.

John and Ivy dated for four years before they married in St John's Cathedral, Ann Street on 1st January 1932. Both of them followed the Church of England religion, although John stated that Ivy was 'more religious' than himself.

Before Ivy married, she was a typist employed by Metropolitan Pic- ture Theatre. Once she married, she became a full time wife and mother. John and Ivy had six lovely children, four boys and two girls. John supported his wife and family in his work as a plumber and gas fitter. After he completed college, he established his own business. Although the impact of the depression was devastating

for many families, John explained that he was lucky as plumbing was in demand. Later on, his business expanded as he was able to employ four workers. John retired from his plumbing at the age of 87 and handed over the business to his son, John Junior. During World War 2, John joined the army and continued to work in his trade. His position was foreman plumber. He recalls that he worked 'a 14 hour daJ/ at this time.

John and Ivy lived in Hendra in the house that his friend Fred built.

During the war, the US army occupied the grounds just behind his house. John recalled that many a US soldier would slip out for the night, under his fence, to enjoy the evening and return later to sleep under his house.

All of John and Ivy's children attended Ascot Primary School. Two of the boys (Clive and John) followed in John's footsteps and be- came plumbers, while the two girls (Marlene and Michelle) became dressmakers. Jeffrey became a panel beater. Glen, the third young- est son, had an unfortunate accident when he was a child and was unable to work. Today he is living in Challinor Centre. According to John, his children are spread across three countries with two of them living in the United Kingdom, two in the United States of America, and two in Australia.

John and Ivy were able to share their love of dancing with all six of their children and their grandchildren. Marlene, Clive andJohnJun- ior became champion ballroom dancers. John recalled a time when he and Ivy were holidaying on board a ship travelling overseas and entered a dancing competition. They won a prize for the over 50s section. John received a tie and Ivy a brooch for their prowess on the dance floor. John said that he and Ivy danced up until the time she was 85. She died in 1998 when she was 86 years old.

John and Ivy travelled overseas by ship on several occasions. In 1968 they visited Carlisle to see the place where John's parents had lived. Not knowing where to start, they approached a local police

officer and he advised them to visit an old lady who had lived in the area for over 80 years. John and Ivy saw her and she told them many stories about Carlisle. She knew the church in which John's parents had married, and had a good working knowledge of the area.

It was during John and Ivy's stay in the United Kingdom that John learned a great deal about his family history. As well as catching up with relatives during this time, he and Ivy travelled extensively throughout the continent spending time in Austria, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Spain, Germany, and Ireland. Because John and Ivy stayed so long (14 months in total), they bought a car and used it to see the sights.

John recalled a somewhat 'scary' encounter when he and Ivy were travelling in Germany in 1968. His wife and he had been to a dance and after the dance they walked down a narrow lane (like Petticoat Lane in England) towards the hotel. His wife was walking ahead and turned the corner. Within a matter of seconds, she screamed as two German men tried to attack her. John swiftly approached them, reached in his heavy overcoat pocket and pretended that he had a gun in it. This action was effective as the two men ran away. Two police officers arrived on the scene and escorted them back to the hotel. The next morning, the police officers visited the hotel and asked if they were okay.

Another 'scary' but enjoyable and exciting memory John recollected was the time that he and Ivy witnessed a bullfight. He said that next door to the stadium was a butcher's shop, from which audi- ence members could buy pieces of the bull afterwards. They both enjoyed the bullfighting spectacle very much.

Ivy and John had other trips overseas in 1974, 1978 and 1986 re- spectively. They also spent 13 weeks in the United States, and vis- ited places such as San Francisco and New York.

John's statement that ?ife is a wondeiful thing ... Fd like to have my life again/ illustrates John's recognition of the happy and blessed life that he has lived for over 90 years. He shared 66 of those fruitful and joyful years with his wife, Ivy. Although she is' sadly missed:

she is certainly not forgotten. Every year on Ivy's birthday he rings 4BH and requests his wife's favourite song, 'The Anniversary Waltz'.

'Old plumbers never die/ they just go down the drain: is a saying of which John is particularly fond. When the time comes for John 'to go down the drain: he will have the satisfaction of knowing that he

has lived a colourful, rich and eventful life.

Gertnufe Greves

GERTRUDE GREVES

1 have had a wondeiful life/ a wondeiful husband and family.

I/ve got a lot to be than!iful

for./

On 7 October 1999, Gertrude Greves had her 105th birthday, an event that not only brought joy to Gertrude and her relations and friends, but one that was also noted by the local media, being, for example, an item on the six o'clock news (television).

Gertrude was born in and has lived most of her life in Geelong.

Before her marriage, Gertrude's mother was a seamstress at St Francis College in Geelong. St Francis was a girls' school and Gertrude's Mum did the girls' mending and, in general, performed any task that required a needle and thread. Gertrude commented, 'she was a lovely sewer~

Gertrude's mother was born in England and her mother (Gertrude's grandmother) lived on the Isle of Mann and was, Gertrude informed, 'dishonoured by her family because she married beneath her and she never heard from her people again/. Gertrude's grandmother eventually arrived in Australia with her husband (Gertrude's grandfather) who was in shipping.

With a partner, Gertrude's grandfather operated a sailing ship which ran between Melbourne and Adelaide, and referring to her grandparents, Gertrude commented, 'They evidently had a home in Adelaide and a home in Melbourne and she would go backwards and forwards with him~ Gertrude feels that this explains why' some of my

aunts were born in Adelaide and some were born in Melbourne~

Gertrude's father who was born in Norway was a signalman with the Victorian Railways. A highlight of his career was being in the signal box at Geelong and guiding the train bearing the Prince of Wales (Later Edward VIII), King George V, and Queen Mary through that particular section of rail during their Australian Royal Tour.

/Oh we had a good family life~ Gertrude volunteered, but by the same token, it was not necessarily free and easy. She commented, 'My father looked at you and that was enough~ Gertrude also commented,

'!f

you were at the gate with a boy and it was getting late, father would call out it was about time you came in~ Such a happening would take place around 10.00 pm. Visits to her grandmother were also well regulated occasions: 'We just had to go in and say hello to her and come out, that was it~ After the evening meal was a time that Gertrude remembers fondly, 'we used to go into the sitting room, every night, and my sister would play the piano an we would sing all the songs

of

that time~ The evening meal was also a memorable occasion as Gertrude recalls that their mother made beautiful dinners and cakes.

Gertrude was the youngest of nine children, five brothers and three sisters. Two brothers, however, died of diphtheria when they were very young. She spent her childhood in Geelong and the family lived in a three bedroom, wooden house. The children shared bedrooms with two to a double bed. The lighting in the house consisted of table lamps and candles with a wood fire for heat.

Cooking was done in a wood stove on which there was a large black kettle that was always boiling. Gertrude described her mother as a 'wondeiful cook' who made lovely pastries, steak and kidney pie, roast beef and many other kinds of roasts, all kinds of vegetables, and rabbit. Gertrude explained, 'They would come around with the cart with rabbit~ The family rarely ate chicken. Her father also helped with the cooking and made very good soup usually from shank bones. Her mother, 'used to like cucumber and onion~ slices of peeled cucumber and finely sliced onion soaked in vinegar which was eaten with the steak and kidney pie. She recalled that 'it [cucumber and onion] made a beautiful sandwich efterwards '.

The above conditions changed when the house was connected to gas. Gertrude remembers when 'they used to light the gas in the streer for the street lights. While gas provided some comforts, the family did not have a telephone or a car. They walked to where they wanted to go. Gertrude commented, 'We just walke~ we walked everywhere and I rode a bike/ I rode a bike to work~ Some entertainment and news was brought to the house via a crystal set that Gertrude's father purchased. This was later replaced with a radio.

Religion played a prominent part in Gertrude's family. Gertrude was christened Church of England, her mother's religion. Her parents, however, attended the Baptist Church because they lived near it, but later they attended the Methodist Church. Gertrude commented, 'My father was a great one in the Methodist Church/ and /we went to Church in the morning/ Sunday School in the afternoon/ and Church again at nighr. The family had its own pew. Gertrude explained, 'You pazd so much and you had your own pew~ Gertrude and her three sisters were all married in the Methodist Church, but after their marriages, all four returned to the Church of England.

School began for Gertrude at the Geelong State Primary School at age six. She described it as 'a lovel!fa good school that had a very nice band: and she well remembers using slates, slate pencils and the sponge to clean the slate. The school was only about an eight minute's walk from her home. Gertrude commented,' I went straight through school until I had finished: and the finish was at the end of primary school when she was 14 years old, there being no high school in the area for her to go to.

While at school, Gertrude remembered, 'my mother would give me a halfpenny and I would go and buy a lolly~ Subjects she studied at school included reading, spelling, arithmetic, history, geography, 'a bit of French: and sewing. She was good at spelling and liked geography.

A favourite teacher was Miss Simonds who Gertrude described as 'very strict/ you sat zn rows. You sat up to learn and there was no fun about it/ you kno~ she was very strict~ She added that Miss Simonds was elderly, had a lot of experience, knew what she was doing, and was very interesting.

Every morning the flag was raised at the school while Gertrude and her school mates recited, 'I love God and my countJY I honour the flag, I wz?l serve the Queen [Victoria], and obey my parents and teachers~

On Mondays only, all the children would put their hands on their hearts as they recited this creed. The school did not have a school uniform and the children did not wear any special clothing for sports and similar activities.

Gertrude enjoyed the maypole and she noted, 'We used to have competitions with the other schools with the maypole~ Other activities that she participated in were skipping, hopscotch, exercises with dumbbells, and swinging the Indian clubs. Diablo was also one of Gertrude's achievements. It involved a large wooden cotton reel- like object (the diabolo) that was whirled back and forth along a string that was attached to two sticks held one in each hand. When the diabolo gained speed, skilful players could then toss the diabolo in the air and then catch it on the string. Gertrude enthused, 'I could throw it as high as the electric light, I could get it that high and run and catch ir

Though Gertrude left school at 14 years of age, she did not begin work until she was sixteen. In the meantime, she battled against typhoid fever. After this crisis was over her mother found her work as a tailor. Gertrude commented, 'For most girls in those days, it was either taz?oring or dressmaking or mz?lineJY or behind a counter, there weren't too many in an office'. Gertrude's tailoring career was interrupted by illness when an ulcerated stomach caused her weight to drop to six stone, three ounces (approximately 39.6 kg). Returning to tailoring after quite a while, Gertrude eventually managed the shop where she worked. She performed this role 'for about four years and then my mother passed away so I stayed home with my father~

World War I brought tragedy for Gertrude when the young man she was engaged to was killed in action. In time she got over this loss and married and moved to Melbourne. Her time with her husband in Melbourne was short as he was soon offered a position in Geelong which he took. Since her marriage, Gertrude's father