Secure your copy!
call Andrew on
0414 227 650
|
"However Did I Manage" has been birthed by that question being asked so many times over the years. There are many Home Executives who will identify with my experiences, and others will be encouraged to know they are not Robinson Crusoe in the life-style in which they find themselves.
Over a period of fifteen years, we had six children. This may not seem so many to you if you already have eight or nine. It will certainly seem a large number if you have only one, and he or she is giving you a strong desire not to have any more!
Since 1956, we have lived at Bomaderry, one hundred and sixty-two kilometres south of Sydney, with the picturesque Cambewarra Mountains running parallel to the coast, and the wide Shoalhaven River dividing our town from Nowra.
We always had "open house" in those early days, extending hospitality to all and sundry. In sixteen years, we had thirteen boarders (not by choice, but out of necessity), who stayed from twelve months to three years. We had three families, with four children in each, staying with us from nine months to twelve months. Two caravan families camped in our garden for several months and used our facilities. My mother-in-law stayed for every alternate six months during the last three years of her life. There were always twelve to fifteen people for two meals a day, and twenty to twenty-five for Sunday's baked dinner, which I prepared before going to church fifteen minutes early to play the organ.
The reason for so many extras on Sundays was the open hospitality we extended to our children's friends, and to any visitors who happened to be in the service. One church family a week graced our table. In this way, we were able to have every family in for a meal, fellowship, and getting-to-know you. Eric, at that time, was founder and Pastor of the Bomaderry Faith Centre, which later became Shoalhaven Christian Life Centre. I was also involved in the Children's Church, Royal Rangers, Women's Fellowship, and mid-week Bible Study. You might well ask-"However did I manage?"
|
CHARLIE
Charlie's Dad and Mum had a dairying business in the 1900's situated in Willoughby, Sydney.
They had one hundred and seventy cows, twelve horses and six milk-carts. The dairying business was run quite differently by today's standards.
Dad and his family, plus three hired hands were into the milking sheds at 4am winter or summer to start the long tedious job of extracting every drop of milk from every cow by hand before harnessing the big draught-horses into the carts and delivering the milk to their customers in the district.
The milk was carried in large cans and dipped out into smaller ones for easy handling. The milkman would run down the path of each householder with his milk and pour the desired amount into the receptacle left for his convenience, while his faithful horse walked carefully along the street not stopping until he was given a signal.
While the fresh milk was being delivered, the family back in the milking shed was cleaning out the bails, washing the cans, and the floor and seeing to the needs of the cows.
Strict hygeine rules were adhered to, and no one could skip his or her part in the running of the dairy. After breakfast the school children in the family hurried off to school.
Reading, writing and arithmetic were the subjects that the dreaded school teacher taught without feeling or favour to all and sundry. The cane was used without mercy and weary youngsters after an early start in the dairy often found it hard to concentrate.
The 'flu epidemic was prevalent during the early 1920's and many customers succumbed to the disease.
Not far into the 1920's Charlie's Dad sold the dairy in Willoughby and bought a bigger one in Fuller's Road, Chatswood. There was a large home, established orchard, vegetable and flower gardens and good fences. The family felt that they had reached their 'Shangri-La', a little taste of Heaven, and plans were made to establish this property as a family business which would in time be handed on to each generation in turn.
This was not to be. The cattle became ill with the contagious foot and mouth disease and had to be destroyed. The horses, so valuable to the family, also fell victim to the disease and were destroyed along with every animal on the farm.
The property was devastated, and lay waste. Charlie's Dad was financially ruined and moved his family away. Charlie's mother, with four little ones went to Pretty Beach, Woy Woy for a holiday, while the four older children were farmed out to relatives until Dad found work.
The first employment he tackled was driving a Handsome Cab from Rockdale to Sydney. This was an exacting job. Motor cars were becoming fashionable and took up quite a bit of roadway. The Cab horses were sprightly, and in some cases flighty, and took a dislike to the four-wheeled monsters that made rude noises and rushed about. Charlie's Dad became an expert in keeping his charges in hand.
One day near St.Peters, a policeman on point duty put his hand up to stop him. Dad pulled on the reins and said "Whoa Jack!" Jack did what all good pacers do when they feel the reins tighten- he took off like a scalded cat, straight past the astonished cop and two or three cars before Dad realised you don't pull on the reins to stop a pacer. He released the tension and said "Whoa Jack!" and Jack slowed to a steady trot!
Charlie's grandparents were Salavation Army Officers as were his uncles and aunts on his Dad's side of the family, but Charlie's Dad gave it all away when he married.
Charlie remembers going from Chatswood to Bexley in a sulky, with his Mum and Dad and brother Jack, to visit Grandma and Grandpa. A well-groomed mare in shining harness pulled the sulky, which was beautifully polished. Charlie's Dad took pride in keeping his possessions in apple-pie order, and when he took his family for an outing he made sure the trappings looked their best. Bluey, Charlie's dog, always went with the family, trotting underneath the sulky, looking every bit as important as anyone up top.
The drive took the family from Chatswood, which was on the North Shore, across the punt at Milsons Point, to Dawes point on the Sydney side. The drive continued through the city to Bexley. At home-time Bluey could not be found, so a forlorn family drove away without him. Three weeks later Bluey came home ! His paws were bloodied and torn and his coat covered in mud. He was given a hero's welcome and fussed over by everyone. Charlie loved him best of all.
Charlie's Dad decided to try his fortune in the fruit and vegetable business. He rented a shop in Walsh Street, Rockdale with living quarters above, and a stable for a horse and cart downstairs. From Charlie's bedroom window he could see over the back yards of other shops, but best of all, the whole family could view the screen of the open-air theatre and watch the movies for free! The fruit and vegetable business prospered and was sold for a handsome profit. With money to spend, Charlie's Dad went back to the milk business, this time without the cows. He bought two blocks of land, built a cool room, sheds for carts, stable for horses and a house for his family.
He bought the milk from the Fresh Food and Ice Company of Hurstville and undersold his oppostition by a farthing a pint. The business built up to three runs, with two sons and himself driving the milk carts.
The world around the family looked good. Prosperity was not far away, and each older member of the household put money back into the business to make it succeed. After three years they sold out and moved into a new house built by Charlie's Dad and his uncles who were in the building trade.
At this point the eight children, Laura, Bill, Fred, Wal, Elsie, Stan, Charlie and Jack felt their future was rosy. They worked together as a team, laughing, teasing, protecting and fitting in a limited amount of schooling.
Charlie was eleven years old when tragedy struck. His mother, while walking home from the shops with her arms full of groceries was knocked down and killed by a runaway truck which had mounted the footpath in its uncontrolled career.
The family felt her loss keenly. She had been the back-bone that had held the children together. Her ready smile and cheerfulness stablized them when times had been hard and the dairying business had failed. She made each child feel special, and in her busy life-style she had made a haven for all of them.
Elsie took her mother's place and bravely carried on with the running of the home. The children continued their work in and outside of the four walls of their dwelling place, and life gradually returned to a semblance of normality.
This story will continue Charlie's life from a little carefree boy to the present day. |
