30. Three Score Years and Ten

Bert turned 70 in 1961, the year before Doll's visit. On 2nd June, 1962,  while Doll was staying with them, Bert, Nell and Doll went out to lunch with Albert. After they got home, Bert, still the fixer and maintainer, climbed on to the roof of the house to do some repair work. This time, however, like his father before him, Bert suffered a heart attack and fell - from the roof. He was dead when he hit the ground.

Doll and Nell managed to summon help. Telephones were not common in every house in Australia in 1962. Albert had one for his business, but no other family members had a telephone until later in the 60s. News of a death was delivered by the police going to the homes of next of kin and passing on the news.

Albert arranged the funeral and cremation at Woronora Cemetery. Sylvia and Grace's children were deemed too young to attend a funeral and were not allowed to go. Irene and Ray went.

Sylvia was rocked by her father's death and took some time to come to terms with it.

Bert's ashes were scattered in a rose garden at Woronora. When Nell died, many years later, Sylvia's children had memorials for both of them installed in the rose garden where Nell's ashes are buried, at Woronora.


In his lifetime he had done his best with the hand dealt to him, worked hard, served his country, reached out to new things, seized the opportunities that came along and provided for his family no matter what. Although he placed no importance on education, he was enterprising and prepared to take risks. He built a better future for his descendants.

Doll stayed on for a few weeks after Bert's funeral, then flew home to New Zealand. During the flight, somewhere over the Tasman Sea, Doll also suffered a heart attack. She died on the plane. She was 69.

Fred 1962

Fred lived another three years, but on 24th September 1965, he too died of a heart attack. He was 64.












Syd visited Australia and New Zealand later in the 1960s and died of a heart attack in 1972, aged 76.

May, Fred, four grandchildren, Barbara and Ian c. 1981

Les lived until 1985. He saw his daughter married in England and return to New Zealand.  He visited Australia again in the 60s. He had four grandchildren, including twins, when he died, aged 82.

29. Retirement

Nell (right) and friend at Heathcote house

In 1956 Bert retired and he and Nell drew the Australian aged pension. They had been planning and saving. Just before his retirement, with some help from Albert, they bought a house at Heathcote, then a small town on the rail line beyond Sutherland, south of Sydney, now a Sydney suburb.

There was a shed for Bert and the house was comfortable. It was not connected to the mains sewer and had an outside toilet, with a weekly collection service by the local council.

Bert's Holden looked like this

They established a garden and grew their own vegetables. Bert also bought a new car prior to retirement  - a green Holden.
They were closer to Fred and Clare's than they had been in Botany and it was an easy drive to visit Albert at Banksia. They could go for their drives to the bush without going through the Sydney traffic - now becoming busier and slower. None of Bert's children had cars or drove in his lifetime.

Fred, Clare & Nell on excursion

Sylvia, Len and their children visited on Sundays about once a month, catching the train from Sydney's Central Station to Sutherland, then changing to the small motor rail that went down the coast to Waterfall.

                                                                                           

Irene with her father

Beryl, Bert and Nell at Irene's wedding.

When Bert's eldest grandchild, Irene, married Ray Baker in 1961, Bert enjoyed attending the wedding and looked forward to great-grandchildren.

Albert's photography business was successful, and Albert enjoyed his work. Irene had worked colouring photos in the business but wanted to phase out as she had children and as colour photography took over.

Syd and Grace took advantage of the expansion of Sydney's power stations in the Lake Macquarie area, north of Sydney to buy land and build a house at Toukely, north of Sydney. With the opening of the Wangi and Munmorah Power Stations in 1958, Syd was able to transfer from the Bunnerong Power Station on Botany Bay  where he had worked since the war.

Sylvia had taken a part-time job at Qantas to help out with uniforms and books when her elder child began high school in 1959. She took advantage of staff travel concessions to visit New Zealand in 1961 and catch up with both Les and Doll and their families.

Nell, Clare, Bert, Doll and Fred in Australia 1962

In 1962, Doll made the trip by plane from New Zealand to Australia to visit her brothers, Bert and Fred. It was a very happy reunion. Doll met all the family and stayed with Bert and Nell.

It was to be their last time together, and the last photo taken of both Bert and Doll.

28. News from England

Amongst Bert's papers there are eight letters from his mother, Emily, between 1947 and 1952 and one Christmas Airgraph letter from 1943. In 1943, Bert's brother Syd is still in the Army, along with his son, Sydney and Doll's son, Jack. Emily is living with Les in Hendon, but visiting Hounslow often.

It would seem that few of Emily's letters to Bert were answered. Grace wrote to her grandmother during the War and sent her food parcels but Bert, although quite literate, was a poor correspondent. Emily's letters are a mixture of family news - mostly about her brothers and sisters - news about rationing in Britain, questions about Bert's family and pleas for more news and photos.






In 1947 her letter is sent from Stan's house at Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea. From 1948 to 1951 she writes from Brookfield, the home she bought with the sale of the mineral water business, now leased by her brother Charles and his family. From 1947 until 1952 Emily lived with her brother, his wife Kate and unmarried son, Charlie. When Kate died in 1948, Emily kept house for Charles and Charlie.

In 1947, aged 79,she writes : You will be sorry to hear that Aunt Kate passed away 26 July. She had been a great sufferer for some years but we all miss her very much. Poor old Uncle seems lost without her. Young Charlie is still single and living at home. I do the cooking for them at present. Glad and Ted come in to do the rough cleaning,  and washing Glad takes home to do, but I really do not want the job now. I feel too tired now to do much work. I still have a lot of muscular rheumatism and I find the stairs trying.


She passes on news of her family - the Keens, her sister Alice, brother Dick and Charles' son Arthur.

Doll lives nearby and sees a lot of her mother. She has news of Les from New Zealand when he moves there in 1947. By 1949 Les has bought 2 acres of land and is starting out on his own.  Syd and Stan are sporadic in their visits and she yearns for news from Bert and Fred. What news she does get comes mainly from Bert's daughter Grace and very occasional letters from Fred and Bert.

She has news of cousins' children marrying, and uncles and aunts aging and her own activity.







In 1951, news of her sister Alice's death is overshadowed by the death of Doll's husband, Fred. He had been ill and in hospital, but expected to live for some years if he took things carefully. Doll's grief is exacerbated by her daughter, Meg, moving to New Zealand in 1952, along with her family. Les put them up until they bought land and put up a garage they could live in while building a house.

Emily would like to be independent herself, but sees no way of achieving it.
She organises, through Grace, for Bert's signature on a document that allows her to cash in an insurance policy she held on her children's lives.


Rationing was in force in Britain until 1954. In 1951  Emily reports: We are still rationed to meat, and only 3oz butter, ¼ lb marg, and 6 oz sugar, 3 oz bacon, 3 oz cheese a week, some weeks 1 egg and some 2. Are you able to get plenty now? What we miss most, I think, is sugar, or at least I do.

She complains, as the years go by, of rheumatism, bronchitis and a bad back. Before Christmas 1952 she has moved to live with her son Syd and his wife Flo and has been confined to bed for some weeks. She was, by then, 83 years old.

In August 1952 she sent Grace a photo of herself in the garden. She says it was taken by Maud, presumably her niece, Maud, or Molly, Keen.  She asked that Albert reproduce it for her and provide it to both Bert and Fred's families so their children 'can see what their Gran is like'. Albert obliged. He retained memories of staying with her as a boy, when she bought him a pair of trousers and put a penny in the pocket, telling if that if he left it there he would never be broke!





In spite of her news and cheeriness, her letters have a sadness and pain.
She very much wants news of her family, of their daily lives, of the small news of their hopes, fears, tribulations and joys. She asks again and again for photos. She is grateful for surviving, and getting by, but she pays the price of a mother whose sons migrate across the world for a new life in an age when telephoning is a luxury and travel is slow and expensive.

On 20 May 1953 she writes to Grace wishing her happy birthday.  She is lucid and alert - commenting on the Coronation plans and on Sylvia and Len moving into their own home.

On 21 November 1953 Doll wrote to Bert to tell him their mother has quite suddenly developed dementia and has not known any of the family for six weeks. Doll has gone to stay with Syd and Florrie to help with Emily and Stan calls in each week. Eventually Doll took Emily to live with her but, within a couple of years, could no longer cope and Emily moved into a nursing home.

Doll left Southampton on the Southern Cross  in September 1959, arriving in New Zealand on 26 October. She travelled as a tourist, but never returned to England. Her son, Jack, followed on the Rangitane in February 1960 with his wife Kathleen and daughter Sheila.

Of Emily's six children, by 1960, two were  in Australia, two in New Zealand and two in England.

Emily outlived her son Stan by several months. He died of a heart attack while drinking at the Bell Prince Hotel, Southend-on-sea on 21st January 1961, aged 61.

Emily died in the nursing home towards the end of 1961, aged 91.

24. Sylvia's Childhood in Australia in 1930s

Sylvia (right) and friend at Banksia St. c. 1935

Grade 1 Banksmeadow Primary.
Sylvia fifth from left in 2nd row.

Sylvia's schooling began in the Depression and ended at the outbreak of war. She made friends at school and quickly learned about Australia. The school curriculum covered a lot of history, not just of Sydney, but of the local area. She read and learned to recite Australian poetry - mostly Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. She knew the sites where Cook landed and the plants that Joseph Banks identified. She joined the Gould League.

Sylvia as flowergirl c. 1934

Sylvia (right) in Botanic Gardens Sydney

Sylvia made friends easily. She had a friend with whom she sometimes stayed, who lived on a farm at Fairfield.






When she was about 11, Sylvia had an accident on a swing at school and fractured her skull. She spent several months in Rachel Foster's Hospital, where she learned to make a bed with hospital corners - something she did for the rest of her life.

with friend and friend's mother, Botanic Gardens Sydney

Sylvia didn't follow Albert and Grace to the Methodist Church Youth Group. Perhaps because of its location, close to Banksmeadow Primary School, Sylvia went to the Salvation Army hall. She loved the Salvation Army meetings, people and music. She learned to play a guitar and a timbrel.

A lot of her time was spent with Bert.She spent most of the school holidays working in the nursery and, on Fridays, accompanying Bert to Paddy's market. He taught her the mechanics of a sewing machine, how to oil one and do basic maintenance and repair.

He would not, however, agree to her continuing at school beyond the mandatory age of 14. Bert saw no point in educating a girl 'for another man to benefit'. It was an attitude that Sylvia rejected and which she spent much of her life trying to overcome.

Sylvia went to work at 14, first at Tasma Radio, Thom and Smith's factory at 919 Botany Rd., Mascot, set up in 1929, the year Bert's family arrived in Australia. Tasma Radio rode out the Depression and employed 300 people in 1938. Their radios are still collectable.

J&J workers Botany c. 1943

Sylvia then, along with her sister Grace, went to work at Johnson and Johnson's Botany factory, which was on a war footing, supplying medical equipment for the forces.








Bert  refused his permission for her to enlist in the Salvation Army when at about 17 she wanted to join. Bert prevented her ever wearing a Salvation Army uniform.

Sylvia and her friend Doris at Mark Foy's steps.

To occupy her time, and do her bit for the war effort, she also took an evening job as a waitress in the city. Sydney was full of troops and waitresses were in demand. There were English servicemen in Sydney - bringing first-hand accounts of life in England since Bert and Nell left. Bert had a car and was more than happy to show servicemen the sights of Sydney when they had weekend leave.

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.

19. A Courage of Farewells.

In 1929 Bert and Nell applied and were accepted as assisted migrants to Australia under a scheme that gave a high priority to English migrants with agricultural skills.

Nell, Grace & Sylvia with Nell's mother, Kate

In the weeks before leaving they visited family, taking photos that would be their main memory and link to their roots throughout their lives. Nell collected photos of most of her family. Some of them, like the one here, taken by Albert with his Brownie Box camera.




Photos were taken of the family with Bert's mother.

The most homely photo is of Bert's mother having tea in their council house. The photo was taken by Albert with his box camera.

It was a hard time for Bert's mother. Her two youngest children were already in Australia and her eldest son was now leaving as well.

Bert and Nell, with their children Albert, 16, Grace 14, and Sylvia 3, left the Port of London on the Orontes on 25 October1929, the day after the collapse of the stock exchange and two months before Australia suspended assisted migration because of the Great Depression.

They brought very little with them. Bert, however, brought a machine for knitting socks - perhaps justified as a practical measure, but more likely because of its mechanical and engineering interest.






The Orontes went via Suez and Fremantle to Sydney. It was its first voyage as a migrant ship. Launched the same year, The Orontes had its maiden voyage in June 1929 cruising the Mediterranean before being fitted out to take migrants to Australia.

Sylvia, aged 3, does not appear on the immigration form in Fremantle, but does appear on the quarantine form. Their address in Australia is listed as Kingsway, Miranda, the address of the sponsoring nursery.

Orontes arriving in Fremantle

While the family was looking around Fremantle, the cautious and law-abiding Bert was stopped and cautioned by a policeman for jay-walking - his first experience in Australia! At least in later years, Bert and Nell would tell the story and laugh.







Ted and Nell made friends with two couples on board, Jack and Jessie Harris and the Taylors, neither of whom had children. They kept in touch once they reached Sydney and remained friends throughout the rest of their lives.