My place: 1943-1954

1943: I was born during WWII, in January 1943 at Parkes New South Wales. This is my only claim to being “a country girl”. My father, who was in the Air Force, was based at Parkes, No.2 WAGS, teaching Morse code and radio communications. However, by April 1943 we were back in Sydney (Dad at 24 Sqn RAAF Bankstown) and living at mother’s parents home in Bexley. My earliest memories are in this loving home.

1944: By January 1944 we were living at Mallacoota VIC, where I celebrated my first birthday. There are tales told of Mum walking with me in my stroller along the road at Shady Gully (still there today); also the dog Toby - he once pushed me head-first into the garden/bushes by knocking my stroller. We were still at Mallacoota in May 1944 because Mum has preserved a large gum leaf dated 21-5-1944. Still in the RAAF, Dad was a Signals Officer at the small base there.

1945: By January 1945 we were back living at Bexley and Dad was with the RAAF in New Guinea. Somewhere around this time I came down with a very bad case of the Measles. I have one tiny memory scrap where I’m lying in my cot, feeling very hot, and seeing the blue oil lamp (not necessarily still in use) on the wall above. I think I had to have my eyes bathed each morning as they would be stuck together with “goo”.

Another memory from this year, is going into St James station with my mother (I can remember the green tile lines) to meet my father as he was discharged from active service. I can see his shape, very distinguished in his dark blue uniform, and I was proud to sit on his knee on the way home in the train.

1947: My parents finally moved into their own home, built in Northmead and named “South Winds”. When the move from Bexley was finally made, I was proud to go on ahead with my Dad in the car, and we slept on the floor of my new bedroom on the car seats (the bench type). Mum followed the next day in the furniture van.

Northmead, north along Windsor Road from Parramatta and gateway to the “Hills District”, was a bushy outer area in those days. There was a deep quarry, filled with water, at the back of the house. On hot nights after Dad was home from work, we would go down and have a lovely cooling swim. I had no formal swimming lessons, but I used to hold on to Dad’s back while he swam, kicking my legs behind; then he gradually encouraged me to let go of his shoulders and do some “dog paddle” for myself. From then, I was then known as “the fish”, because I was always swimming, no matter where we travelled. Dad liked action photos, and there are photos of me diving, into the Canberra city swimming pool, the rock pool at Shellharbour and The Oasis pool at Nerang in Queensland, all in the early 1950s. Dad tells of the time when he was in Palestine during WWII (1941) and he had the opportunity to swim in the Dead Sea and to feel its great buoyancy. Both Dad and I are almost unsinkable - we float with our feet and head right out of the water - I always had trouble swimming underwater for long distances!

1948-1950: I was at school at Northmead primary. One memory from 1948 is doing some kindergarten craft work in the front window of Murray Bros. store in Church Street, Parramatta – that must have been for some event like Education Week.

1954: The Queen visited Australia this year, and as well as the school group trip to the Sydney Showgrounds, my parents decided to go down to Canberra for her weekend there, where there would be less crowds.

We often used to visit Canberra during weekends of the late 1940s and 1950s - I can remember the road winding down to a little wooden bridge among the willow trees (Commonwealth Avenue) over the Molonglo River before the lake was made. We would camp at the camping grounds beside Black Mountain (probably where the Botanical Gardens are today) - in early days, they would pitch their two-man tent and I would sleep in the car. After one of these Canberra weekends, they told me to tell my school class that I had been “out of the state” over the weekend (Canberra was assigned in the Australian Capital Territory), but my teachers said that that was all part of NSW anyway. I can also remember at school, being led to think that Sydney was the capital of Australia! Such were the ways of some of Sydney’s primary schools with education in the 1940s!

Other memories for childhood in Sydney

Trips by train into town with my mother - who in turn, met her mother, my grandmother, for a day’s shopping. Both the ladies (and indeed, all other women shoppers) were dressed well, in hat and gloves.
I remember the David Jones Christmas windows - seeing them with my mother and grandmother. During school holidays, we used to get the train in from Parramatta and walk up past Farmers to meet Nan coming out of Museum station. Sometimes Mum would go off and do some shopping and Nan would take me to the hourly Newsreel. Other holiday treats were to go over to Bexley and stay “all by myself” with them.

Grandfather was a sign writer, and in the days before he retired, he would let me have some of the tiny left-over scraps of gold leaf. Every year I received a new school bag for Christmas, and my initials had always been inscribed across one corner in gold. I still have one of my mother’s old cases, with her “gold” initials (MJH) showing.

Helen, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

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