Living History

A child's view of the war

The war began for me when I was eight years old and I overheard my parents discussing the imminent fighting. I lay awake terrified, waiting for shooting to begin right around my home - highly unlikely since we lived in far Western Victoria! It ended without me even knowing what was going on. I was enclosed in a very strict girls’ boarding school, where radios were non-existent and newspapers never allowed through the door, hence we had no idea what was happening in the wider world. Looking back, I can’t believe we didn’t learn more from the day scholars, but that’s just the way it was. We didn’t get to join in any of the celebrations that were driving the whole of Melbourne crazy! Imagine trying to exercise that degree of control over teenagers today!

After the initial terror, I have no recollection of the war affecting us, apart from food and clothing rationing, until about 1942 and 43, when I was still attending the local primary school. During those two years I was involved in quite a few small ways with the war effort. Our school-ground was cut by a long line of slit trenches that zig-zagged across it. Entering these trenches was strictly forbidden, but the mounds along each side added much to our imaginative play. On a wall in the front foyer of the school there was a big camouflage net in the making, which we were all encouraged to work on in any spare time. Most of the boys were adept at this, being used to making rabbit nets, but I can recall being embarrassed by being banned from helping, as I always seemed to get the knots wrong! I could knit though, and we girls spent many hours knitting socks, scarves, mittens and sleeveless pullovers from wool supplied by the Red Cross (I think). Looking at my knitting skills now, I wonder how many of those items were ever wearable! Some of us in Grade eight were invited to train as plane spotters, which involved learning to identify all kinds of allied and enemy planes that might come our way. It sounded like an interesting job, and we were always rostered with an adult who was to report any sightings, but I don’t think I ever saw one plane, so the time became very boring. Any plane was a thing of wonder to us, so when one made a forced landing on the local racecourse, and we could actually see it from fairly close up, we were delighted. The pilots were like beings from another world - and fully occupied keeping curious youngsters from getting too close.

All sorts of functions were held to raise money for the war effort , Red Cross/Comforts Fund etc. One I specially remember was the Boxing Tournament, which went on for months and involved boxers from quite a wide area who for some reason weren’t at the war. One of my brothers was involved right through to the end, and we used to go to watch him, among the huge crowds that attended every fight. I can’t believe I did that! I hate boxing now. But it did raise a lot of money.

At one stage of the war, it was suggested that children should be evacuated from our town to places further inland, as it was feared that the Japanese would invade via the south coast. Most of us had never travelled beyond the area, so were very excited/nervous to be moving to new homes for a while, even had bags packed with the regulation items, but then the whole thing was cancelled.

My father spent some of the war years as a clerk in the Stores Branch in Melbourne, being too old for active service, so we all missed him, but had no fear that he might not come home again. It was exciting when he came home on leave, because he came on the bus late at night, and we were allowed to wait up to see him. He used to play table tennis and quoits at some Comforts Fund facilities in Melbourne, so he taught us to play table tennis on our small kitchen table, and we continued to do this for years after. We enjoyed quoits, too, but were never as good at that.

The war held no real fears for me, just different experiences, so I was very fortunate.

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