26. Into the 1950s.

By the 1950s Bert's life was settled and more comfortable than it had been since the years before his father died. He was wiry and active. He had given up smoking. The only beer he indulged in was Horehound Beer, a non-alcoholic drink purchased every now and then from a stall in Sydney's Central Railway. His children said this was all Nell would allow him, but Bert was a follower of health foods, and Horehound had a long history of association with the English mineral water business that Bert's family had been a part of.

Bert also had raisin sandwiches, banana sandwiches and bread and honey most days - certainly his own choice, not shared by anyone else in the household. He had a 'fizzy drink' each day after his evening meal - Alkasetzer - to aid his digestion. On weekdays Bert drove to work early. On his way home he often stopped to see Grace, still living in Mascot, and estranged from her mother.

Nell had the evening meal on the table at 5.00pm. If Bert was late, his meal was in the oven of the coal-fired stove. Bert was mostly home before 4.00pm, working in his shed. Just before 5 he would come into the house and wash-up in the large bathroom, scrubbing his hands with solvol, lathering again and again, pushing the lather down each hand until it was clean.

After the evening meal, he and Nell retired to the sitting room, in front of the radio. Nothing came between Bert and the radio serial, When a girl marries. 






There were celebrations with the Harris's - their friends from the Orontes - or with Fred and Clare - around the pianola.

Bert had a permanent booking on Saturday nights at the Botany Empire Cinema - upstairs, first row on the right, a double seat. He and Nell rarely missed.

On weekends there were still the drives into the bush. Sometimes Nell would spot a plant in the scrub and call for Bert to stop. She would dash into the bush, dig up or snap off enough to try growing it in her bush-house. Bert still grew vegetables and flowers for home consumption and Nell kept chickens.

Bert paid for Sylvia's two children to be born in the Pacific Private Hospital in Brighton-le-Sands, perhaps hoping to prevent his daughter having the difficulties that had plagued Nell's pregnancies.

Bert badly wanted a grandson. When Sylvia's first baby, born in 1947 was a girl, Bert refused to look at her for a week, and called her 'Sonny Jim' for 16 months until Sylvia obliged with a boy.















He was always kind to his granddaughters - but in his world a boy was what counted.

He had no time for women drivers, women in public life, or education for women.

Albert's photography business thrived in the 1950s, leading to Albert becoming the photographer for Woolworths in Sydney, near the Town Hall. He had a small studio there were he took photos, which he developed in a darkroom near Central Railway. Irene learned to colour the photos and Beryl served as receptionist.

Grace and Brenda Grace

Grace and Sid had a daughter, Grace Brenda, born in 1949. Sid worked at the Bunnerong Power Station, near the Botany Bay heads.

Bunnerong Powerhouse from Banksmeadow School 1940

In 1953 Sylvia and Len bought their own home in Livingstone Avenue Botany, the same street that the family had lived in when Bert worked on the Banksmeadow retaining wall. Bert and Nell drove over to visit on most Sundays, sometimes staying, sometimes taking everyone on the routine drive to the bush.










In the school holidays Nell and Bert would take Sylvia and her children on day trips to places like the Captain Cook landing place at Kurnell.

On the way home, Bert always stopped to buy ice-cream for everyone - vanilla between wafer biscuits.

23. Adult and Adolescent Children in the 1930s

Albert Banksia St

Albert and Grace, Bert's two older children, came to Australia in early adolescence. The first years were hard, as the family hung on through the worst of the Great Depression, adjusting to new climate, new ways - similar poverty in new surroundings.

The experience was very different for them than for Sylvia, who began school in Australia. Albert and Grace had left school behind and needed to find their way to financial and adult independence.

Albert found work at Bailey's tannery and quickly made friends. Albert and Grace joined the Methodist Youth group in Botany and made more friends. As they both got a little money in their pockets they wanted a life other outside the work routines - and expectations - of their parents.

Albert fishing

Albert at Cronulla

Albert

Albert and his friends went fishing - staying all weekend in makeshift huts near Cronulla. Albert eventually got a boat, and sold some of the fish he caught.
With his friend Tommy Meahan, Albert took up boxing and practised at home in Banksia St - buying boxing gloves to alleviate the fear and abhorrence that Bert and Nell expressed at the damage they did to each other.

Albert on left, with mates on Manly ferry

One of Albert's favourite pastimes was taking the ferry to Manly with his mates on Sunday - dressed to kill in their striped blazers - going back and forth on the same ticket, listening to the bands that played on the ferry, and flirting with girls.
It was not a life with which Bert had much empathy.

For a while Grace helped out and home, then went into service. She worked for a while at Coghlan's Nursery.

Grace

As things improved economically, she got a job at Johnson and Johnson. She rode her bike there - never mastering, according to her sister, the back-pedal brake, and stopping when she got to work by running into the wall.

Grace, 2nd from left

Grace liked to dress up and go out. She also loved the rare occasions when she could visit the country, or places of interest.

Albert and Beryl's wedding party. Grace in pink

In 1938 Albert married Beryl Thompson, one of Grace's friends from the Methodist Youth Fellowship.

Their daughter, and only child, Irene, was born in 1942.

Grace and Sid wedding

In 1940 Grace married Sidney Molloy, one of Albert's friends from Bailey's. Sid had by then joined up and was serving as a stoker on HMAS Australia.

Sid was a Mascot boy, and the couple settled  in Mascot.

20. Australia in 1930

The Orontes arrived in Fremantle on 25 November 1929 and in Sydney about ten days later. In the six weeks it took the Orontes to reach Sydney, the impact of the October Crash of the New York Stock Exchange was being felt in Australia in job losses. Unemployment had been just above 10% in October 1929. By mid-1930 it was 21% and Bert was amongst the unemployed.

Nell, Albert, Grace & Sylvia, Sutherland St.

Bert's sponsored job evaporated before the Orontes docked. Fred and Les, Bert's two single younger brothers, gave up their jobs in favour of Bert, but even that one, shared, job dried up as the country sank rapidly into Depression.

The family found accommodation in Mascot, first in Roby St, then  at 136 Sutherland St.

In 1930 there was no unemployment benefit scheme in Australia. In 1929 the Federal Government made £1 000 000 available to the States to use unemployed workers to undertake roadworks. In July 1930, the Federal Government, led by Scullen,  provided a further £1 000 000 to the States for Public Works, using the unemployed.

Fremlin St Flooding 1930. Sir Joseph Banks Hotel in background

In 1930 storms and high tides caused substantial flooding in houses along the shores of Botany Bay.

Flooding in Fremlin St Botany 1930

Sea wall construction Sir Joseph Banks Park.

The NSW  Government used part of its Federal Public Works money to build a retaining wall along the Botany Bay foreshore at Sir Joseph Banks park to prevent further flooding.

Banksmeadow retaining wall 1948

Bert got work under this scheme, labouring to build this retaining wall at Banksmeadow.

The wall is still there.

                                                                                         

View over Botany Bay from Tenterden Rd, 1938.

The family moved to Botany, first living in 2 Livingstone Avenue, then in Tenterden Rd. Sylvia attended Banksmeadow Primary School. Botany in 1930 had a lot of open space. It must have looked a little bit like the Isle of Sheppey where Nell spent her early childhood.

They lived frugally - eating their share of bread and dripping, while Nell saved for furniture.

In 1933, Bert and Nell moved to a rented house at 98 Banksia St Botany. 96 Banksia Street, a block with no house but a large shed, came with the rent. Here Bert set up Bonnie Doon Nursery and went into business.