Living History

Born in the Great Depression

When I was born in 1931 my sibling was little more than twelve months old. Fourteen months later my second brother arrived, followed by another, twenty five months later. He was born on Mothers’ Day and I clearly remember Dad taking me to the hospital to see my baby brother with his mop of black hair. We four were truly children of The Depression; it was to be another four years, to the day, before my fourth brother was born and the family was complete.

Dad’s family was in Adelaide but there wasn’t work for a circus performer. Mum was the middle daughter of a large family living in Sydney. Their concern for her situation prompted Mum’s brother in law to arrange for the family to move to Sydney and to employ Dad. Thus The Depression I remember was spent in Sydney.

Dad’s employment with my uncle at first entailed cycling many miles to and from a boxing stadium. Incredibly, boxing thrived in those early depression years, and when uncle set up a second stadium, Dad worked closer to home.

Both my parents were musical. Somehow, money was found for music lessons for my older brother and myself, singing lessons for my second. Contemporaries may remember that movie theatres, way back then, held live performance contests. I suspect that Dad’s winnings contributed to our musical tuition. Radio, in those days, was almost all live performance. There were recordings of course, but many performers became household names in comedy and drama. Singers and musicians were also featured, but not to the same extent.

While education was the priority in early primary school years, our parents continued our musical tuition, in my case adding elocution and dancing lessons. I was no Shirley Temple but we and our extended family had many impromptu concerts. With those, and the radio, we had all the entertainment we needed. And were very close.

Then there was no job and no money. Dad dug ditches for food vouchers. His health deteriorated, so did Mum’s. Now it seemed that the family was not so close, but even though being a girl excluded me from a lot of their games, my brothers and I still had a special bond. Even after they used my only doll, which I had won in a contest, for a football.

We loved summer evenings. There were few cars anywhere near where we lived, fewer still in our street. Always enough of us though for a game of rounders. When it got too dark to play, the street lights came on, so we sat under them and played guessing games. Inevitably, there were disputes. Usually about how the teams were chosen and who asked the questions in the guessing games. Always resolved, usually amicably. There was a lovely park not far away and, when we were old enough to be careful crossing the road where the trams ran, we were allowed to go there during school holidays, sometimes even on Saturday. My brothers usually carried a hessian bag to collect bottles before they used the playground equipment. They would take them to the hotel across the road, or to the nearby bottle yard, and usually come back with enough money for a small ice cream cone or iceblock each, or lollies.

Despite the fact that I now realize the hardships my parents endured while raising the family, I am so grateful that I was a child of The Depression, born into their family. We were too young in those years to know, or care, about what we did not have; we were happy with what we did. Some of the ‘make do’ lessons I learned from my Mum served me well in the early years of my own marriage, and I believe that values, instilled without recognition in my generation, remain with us today. Truly the lucky generation; born at the right time. We never really experienced the economic hardships of our parents, post war prosperity ensuring that work was available for school leavers, as well as others who were prepared to try something new. And because of advances in health care, many more of us are living longer, enjoying the wonderful technological advantages of the second half of the twentieth century and the new millennium.

Tess, Engadine, New South Wales

Look at more contributions:

previous | next