Index
The Demise of Walter Lindo Moyle
New life for Mary as a war widow
Buying 18 Alexander st, Largs Bay
The Demise of Walter Lindo Moyle
Mid realized that she was the only unmarried daughter. Les her brother was very close to their father and he had applied to be enlisted in the war. Aunty Aileen wrote to Mum explaining that her help was needed.
Aunty Kath wrote a lovely letter to Mid expressing real concern that she was considering leaving her teaching world. Here is an excerpt from this sweet letter….written on May 31st. Mid had already told the sisters that she was intending to come home.
“It is hard for you to have to leave off teaching, but you’ll be closer to all the family and it’s times like these that you need them don’t you? I think it’s corker of you to come home with Dad and I have a good old howl every time I read your letter.”
This letter is in the Moyle Line Miscellaneous section. It describes the love and concern of all the family members and particularly the sweetness of Aunty Kath..
Mid’s letter to her father is reassuring him that this is her choice.
She applied for leave but it wasn’t granted. She therefore resigned.
Below is a Transcript of her letter to her father having decided to return home.
Edillilie
York Peninsula
June 12th 1940
Dear Dad,
This is my first letter since I came back and I had great intentions of writing to you at least fortnightly. However, for the last week I’ve been waiting on a letter from you , but as it is not yet to hand I’ll try to send a page or two by today’s mail.
I wonder if you’ve been to a Doctor yet Dad – I do hope so, as if it it’s necessary for you to go on a diet it will give you a good chance to pick up again and resume your normal “toughness” and it really mightn’t n\be anything very serious. I’m pleased to heat that jack is progressing and there’s even talk of you and him doing another trip to Gray’s I believe. That would be goodo for both of you- anytime after Jun 3oth as I hope to be home on that day.
As you‘ve heard from the girls I have tendered my resignation.
Please don’t attach any blame to any of the family – except me- for acting as I have Dad. Ever since Kath was married I’ve felt unsettled and yet it seemed that you didn’t really need me – or at least you were managing as well on your own and the others all realized it was a big thing to forego my position if not really necessary. But now that you’re not well and the winter is here when you really need a few warm meals and the comfort of fires etc I feel it is my duty to be home and I really WANT to go. As soon as I heard that you were not any better than during the holidays I had no hesitation in feeling what I should do. I wrote to the Department to apply for 6 month’s leave, just as a safety valve but am quite pleased that they can’t grant it and that my resignation holds as from June 29th. Don’t think that I’m giving up teaching for your sake. – I’m quite looking forward to making a home for myself as well and I can assure you after ten years boarding it will be a treat to feel that I shall be in my own house. Just to switch on the wireless as I wish and not to be bound to a timetable is going to be a welcome change.
Anyhow, I couldn’t settle down to studying and was making no headway in teaching ; postal tuition is fairly dear and it was hard to settle when I felt so uncertain of the future.
I guess I’ll make a pretty poor go of housekeeping as I’ve had very little experience, but I shall do my best and I only hope that it will be a bit more company for you to have someone (such as I am) around the place.
It will be great to be near the girls again. I shall be going overland with Tom Bowman who is going over to enlist. No doubt you are feeling the same as we all are about Les and Bob enlisting Dad. I can quite understand how Les feels, but had hoped it wouldn’t be necessary for Bob to go, but then whether a man is married or not it seems that once he feels that he must go then he wouldn’t be content to stay at home. The situation overseas is ghastly isn’t it? However it’s no good pondering gloomily upon it and I’m on my third pair of sox and trying to collect for the School’s Patriotic Fund so that’s my little contribution.
It’s now time for Geometry, so I must keep up to scratch this last fortnight. I’ve probably made a poor job of this letter but all I want you to feel is that I am pleased to be coming home and am sure that we’ll both be better off.
Hope is that you’re feeling much better Dad and will be able to drop me a line shortly.
Your loving daughter
Mid
A telegram was sent to her on the 24th June from her Dad saying
“Your Win will welcome you home.
Wire when.
Cheerio Dad”
Mid did arrive home, but her Dad was very ill.
He had been diagnosed with cancer and because he was in pain, he spent time in Calvary Hospital in Adelaide..
He wrote to Aunty Kath from the hospital on July 13th 1940.
Dear Kath,
The IA (??) have just left and God bless them all, they do cheer me up..
( much here is unreadable. The original might be better. I think it’s held by Sue Longmire.)
I was not too clever this morning but feel much better now.
This glorious rain does good and I think with great hopes for your improved prospects. May it continue.
I have heard part of the footy over the air per portable in this ward.
My day nurse is a I McNamara from Mintaro. Kath and Jean Burnes are nursing on the next floor. Her sister Mary is a certificated Sister on holiday at home at present.
I get quite a lot of visitors Kath and am sorry that I should have to disappoint you all so much. It makes it hard to correspond I know but keep (at it?) old kid. I’m not going to capitulate yet…will fight on and hope for the best.
Everyone has offered to help. I must just get better Kath so I can repay.
I expect the barber any minute now.
I get 2 papers a day by post .
And get weighed about 3 times a day.
Mid calls at least twice daily and Bob when he can. Have plenty of chocs and barley sugar …also reading matter.
Visitors called
Uncle Bill Morton
Uncle George Morton
Aunt Nell
Les Ness
Paujline
LJ RJ MI & Phyl
Ada and Aileen
Lawrence
Expected
Aunt Rose
Aunt Mabel
Mervyn
Uncle Will M
Last thoughts tucked into the side of the first page.
I guess Kath that the rain will work a transformation within a few days and the demand for hay will fall off.
I hope I’ll want some later on. I will report on home conditions on Monday.
And now Cheerio my dear. Much love from D A D
Walter received a lovely letter from his cousin Jack Lindo shortly before he died.
28 Devonshire St
Hawthorn
7 /7 / 40
Dear Walter,
I was quite thrilled to get a letter from you this morning, to me it looks to be a good omen. I am sure you had neither the strength, energy or inclination when I first saw you at Calvary. Re the weight..well Walter I suppose like me you were in a bit of a quarry. I tell my Drs I am not satisfied it seems to slow picking up my strength. He said Well for an old man you have done miraculously well and he gave me permission to drive the car…said I was only to drive it around the block this week just as a feeler so I am going to try it out tomorrow and all being well will take a trip up to Clare this weekend or next.
Re Staying at Sheoaks – Poor Mary. Just fancy having two old crocks to administer to. I bet she would wish she was back teaching thick-headed unruly kids again. It was very kind of you to suggest such a thing but am afraid it would be too much for Mary, for though I can walk about, I am nearly as much trouble as a baby. I feel fit to do anything until I try to do it then I find the Ghost is willing but the meat is weak.
I note in your letter that you had a hell of a time a few days ago, but better when you wrote. I suppose these pains will come along periodically, until you get rid of the cause which I sincerely hope will be in the near future. You know I get nerve pains with the changes of the weather, but they are nothing compared to what I had to put up with before the operation.
Now Walter, old boy you do not want to lie down and just die…don’t go overtaxing your strength and trying to do things just because they want doing and there seems to be noone else to do them. You want to leave some work for others to do. That is the moral of getting old. One gets the idea that no-one can do it right but yourself, but when we are no longer able to do things others come along and do them just as well as we did and in some cases better, so why worry.
I am still hoping for that Murray, Darling, Broken Hill trip. We can arrange that when I come up.
With love and best wishes for the Tribe. Hoping to see an improvement in you when I come up.
Yours affectionately
Jack
(I don’t know if Jack made it to Clare but I suspect not. But what a lovely genuine friend . A beautiful manly, cousinly relationship. Two wonderful old men.
Mid had two precious months with him, and then he died at Aileen’s house in Mill St Clare.
Walter Lindo Moyle died on Sep 2nd 1940
He was buried at Clare cemetery next to the grave of his wife Lucy
.
Mary and Tom Bowman
On a recent trip to the Eyre Peninsula in 2022, Wayne and I called at the Tumby Bay kiosk called The Ritz and the walls were covered with old photos of Tumby Bay. The history of the area was presented visually. I was interested because Mary was teaching nearby in 1939 and 1940 and it was the area in which my mother met my father.
I could see from the photographs that it was quite a prosperous area.
It was and is, a grain growing and mixed farming area of the West Coast. There were many teams of draught horses used for cropping and carting of grain and taking sheep to and from markets and the ships in Tumby Bay. There were cars, trucks and tractors beginning to be the norm with those who could afford them.
Many farms had been sold during the Depression because their families hadn’t survived financially. Many had been unable to support more than one son. This is what had happened to Tom Bowman’s family. There were 4 sons and they had lost the farm.
Many young men were looking for farm work including Tom Bowman. In 1940 he was employed on Ken Ford’s farm near Cummins.
War was happening in Europe and many men were enlisting. Mary’s brothers Les and Bob were enlisting.
.Note the line in Mary’s letter to her Dad’.
“I shall be coming overland with Tom Bowman who is going over to enlist.”
This is the first acknowledgement of a relationship between the Tom and Mid.
And the first written acknowledgement that he intends enlisting.
Since early June 1940, Tom Bowman and Mary were quickly becoming an “item”.
.In June Mary wrote and invited him to join her at a local person’s invitation for an evening at their home. Assumedly for dinner? Tom had a car and he accepted. The whirlwind had started. There is no record of how the romance flourished but it clearly did.
Mary had already decided she needed to go home and had resigned from the Education. Dept. Tom suggested that he could drive her home to Watervale on his way to Adelaide.
Meanwhile Tom had explained to his closest relations (e.g.his brother in law Syd Wundersitz) that he was “smitten”.
There was a lot of discussion between Mary and Tom and between Tom and some of his army contacts about the pros and cons of marrying before active service or waiting until after the war. There was an urgency about all such decisions.
Mary was dealing with the very sad loss of her father and waiting to hear if her two brothers were able to enlist.
Tom had been accepted and had arrived in Adelaide ready to start training.
I think Mary was in favour of sooner rather than later for their marriage.
She would have been aware of needing to start a new chapter.
Everything had changed. It was a very dramatic time.
Her dear Dad had died.
She had left the Education Department.
Her sisters had all married.
She was in love.
Whilst she was teaching from 1930 – 1940 5 her sisters and brothers had fallen in love and married
Mid had been a bridesmaid in at least 2 of these weddings (Kath and Ada)
| 1927 | Aileen had married | Eric Giles |
| 1932 | Les married | Jean Castine |
| 1934 | Bob married | Phyllis Osborne |
| 1934 | Win married | Oliver Burford |
| 1936 | Ada married | Reg Mugge |
| 1938 | Nell married | Lawrence Bagshaw |
| 1940 | Kath married | Les Longmire |
It seems obvious that marrying was an obvious possibility for the chapter for Mary.
By November Tom and Mary made the decision that they would marry and it had to be done immediately. They were engaged on Nov 9th…..
….and married at the Presbyterian Church Clare on Nov 16th.
They went to Port Elliot for their brief honeymoon .
And Tom went back into training immediately.
The new couple were unable to live together because of the army live-in training demands. Mary always rented somewhere close to where Tom was in training.
They had some of the weekend time together and one brief short holiday together. On this short holiday Tom’s parents drove from Ardrossan to meet the new couple and some of the Moyle sisters at Kath and Les Longmire’s house at Kybunga.
Front Row: baby Jan Bagshaw, Bruce Burford, Helen Burford
Tom was welcomed by all the Moyle family.
Time Line Of Tom Bowman – 1940 -1942
| To Harold and Beatrice BOWMAN | |
| 3RD child of a family of 7 siblings | |
| 1929 | From Primary school to St Peters College |
| 1931 | Left school – Farming Jobs – Cummins Farm |
| 1940 | Met Mary Moyle |
| 1940 Nov 9th | Engaged to Mary Moyle |
| 1940 Nov 16th | Married Mary Moyle |
| 1940 Nov | In Training Mary Renting nearby at Glandore |
| 1941 March | Albury Training NCO Mary renting in Albury with other wives |
| 1941 May | Woodside Training Mary renting in Bridgewater with Peg Warbuton |
| AWL whenever possible Wicked!! | |
| Short Leaves – visited Kybunga with Moyle and Bowman families tog | |
| Mid is pregnant . Baby due April 1942 | |
| 16th Nov 1941 | Boat has secretly left for Middle East |
| Numbered letters being flowing to each other. | |
| April 11th 1942 | Meredith Bowman born in Clare. |
| June 1942 | Huge battles in June at El Alamein |
| October 20th 1942 | Last letter no. 95 written from the Mediterranean beach before huge battle |
| Oct. 26th 1942 | Tom reported Missing after being wounded in battle |
| Eventually Presumed Killed in Action | |
| 55 years later | Explanation why no body was found He’d been directly hit by a bomb |
| Full Details of his life and years of OS army service in Jo Wundersitz’s excellent biography of Tom Bowman. I had all the letters kept in a case. | |
| 2020 | Australian War Museum accepted all the letters and photos from Tom Bowman. They are available to view if notice is given to AWM some days earlier. |
Mary always rented close to wherever Tom was training, first in Glandore, then Albury and then Bridgewater. Tom was training to be an officer. He was able to share some time with Mid on weekends and he managed to disobey the rules and occasionally escape from Woodside to be with her in Bridgewater. The AWL (Absent Without Leave) sealed the future with Mary becoming pregnant. I am very grateful for all the above – rushed marriage, rushed visits AWL etc because I AM HERE and have been lucky enough to belong to two wonderful families.
There is great joking always from Syd, Dulce, Ike and Judd.
Here is their response to hearing the new that Tom and Mary were to have a baby.
It is necessary to explain with photos Tom Bowman’s family. Mary was welcomed and absolutely accepted as a beautiful new sister by all the Bowman siblings. She visited and stayed with family members on and off for decades.
I can prove the point by showing a photo taken when Mid was revisiting Maitland en route to the reunion at Wheatleigh in 1988. The Bowman sisters were so thrilled to see their sister in law. The sisters are Dulce who married Syd Wundersitz decades ago, Judd who married Ike Adams decades ago, and Shy who married Frank Wilson later but still decades ago.
There were 4 boys and 3 girls in the Bowman family.
Geoff had already enlisted when this was taken.
I think it might have been just before Tom’s trip to Adelaide to sign up for the Army.
Tom left Australia on 16th November 1941.
Meredith was born on April 11th 1942
Tom was reported Missing in Action in October 1942
The details of his war service in the Middle east and many of the letters he sent home have been compiled in a book by Jo Wundersitz , my cousin.
I could not have done this as the grief and sadness are too powerful.
But I am very grateful that it has been done. The book is available and can be borrowed from me or from Tom or Christie or from the Australian War Memorial.
There is great sensitivity and love an all the letters from Tom. Because of censorship he had to be very careful not to describe any realities of the action but the love is paramount.
I will include a letter which he sent to Lawrie Bagshaw (Nell’s husband ) at a time when a huge battle had been survived and he knew there was another one looming. He felt comfortable enough to ask Lawrie for his help in his absence.
The letters and the photo album of Tom’s time in the Middle east are in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and can be accessed as long as the Museum staff are given enough time to arrange the same.
Aunty Aileen
A very close older sister
As the oldest sister of the Moyle family, a lot of responsibility and caring for the family has been taken by Aunty Aileen.
Her husband Eric was serving overseas in New Guinea. It was an anxious time for many women, wives, mothers, sisters and friends. Families were extremely important and Aunty Aileen gave the pregnant Mid a great deal of support.
In 1942, when Mary was expecting to give birth she was in Clare and close to Aunty Aileen. The birth was a difficult one. Meredith’s was a breech birth and mother and child were in real danger. Aunty Aileen was at the hospital a lot and giving support to Mary whenever she could. Aunty Aileen used to recall how she was frightened that mother and babe might not make it. But we did.
At first I think we stayed with Aunty Aileen but Molly recalls Mum rented a flat very close to their Mills St house. Mary had an income from Tom’s salary so she was able to afford rent.
New life for Mary as a war widow
I was only 6 months old when the shocking news arrived from Egypt, that Tom was Missing in Action.
Mum went to Ardrossan to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Bowman and then to stay with Dulce and Sid Wundersitz as they all waited for any news from the front.
They heard nothing more except the he was Presumed Killed in Action.
Despite the despair and anxiety the family managed to have some funny times together. Sid and Dulce and Judd were always able to crack some very funny jokes and memories.
But overall it was a very sad family time.
There was no further news.
It was soon time to go back to Clare and wait for more news there.
.Mary was financially independent. Tom Bowman had suggested in one of his late letters that if Mary had any financial concerns with the army, she should contact Ralph Parker at Keswick. Ralph was an old family friend. He did help her with the army finances during this waiting period. She could have her normal income until such time as the army considered her a war widow. Eventually this did happen. It was less money but Mary of course managed on it.
A significant space we rented was in the Stacey’s house – a large old house at 9 Old North Road. This is the first rental I remember.
The house was accessed by a grand garden staircase. And the front door was basically our door. We had the two front rooms. The house was surrounded by beautiful gardens which included a special sundial.
It was a short walk over the hill to Mill St and Aunty Aileen. And it was conveniently just behind the main street of Clare. I can remember playing in the garden very clearly.
There was a huge Morton Bay fig tree with a swing which I loved.
Ralph Stacey actually made me a small doll’s pram which was treasured. Aunty Una was also a very special and kind family friend.
A diversion about names for friends. Especially those who are older.
In the 1940s we called our parents’ friends Aunty and Uncle …not Christian names nor Mr and Mrs.Stacey for example.
Aunty Gert was really Mrs Pratt when ever I stayed with Aunyt Ada. She was a close friend in Blyth.
I remember asking Wayne’s mother in 1965 if I could call his parents by their Christian names – Rex and Sylvia – and I was told No. It was to be Mr and Mrs Anthoney until they could be referred to as Grandma and Pop. In 2002 I asked our new Willunga neighbours if our grandson could call them Meg and Don like we did, but Meg preferred Mr and Mrs Allchurch.
Naming is interesting!
Here are Aunty Una and the pram. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of Uncle Ralph. They were not relatives, but very good friends.
As Mum didn’t have a husband or a farm house to tend, we were in a position where we could stay with any of the family who needed a hand. And it must have been great company for Mum to spend time with her sisters and their new families. She had missed living with them for the ten years of boarding away whilst teaching.
So we did that.
I remember staying at Saddleworth quite a lot with Aunty Nell and her 3 children – Jan and Richard and then the new baby Julie.
At one point, after Jim was born, Aunty Kath was hospitalized suffering from postnatal depression. Mum spent a significant time caring for baby Jim. From then on, she felt a strong bond with Jim. She stayed in town near to Aunty Kath and I guess Uncle Les was still needing to be at their Kybunga farm with the young Bill and Ian.
Kath was eventually able to return home and she must have been mightily relieved to be back with her family. There will be more later on the beauty and warmth of Aunty Kath.
The bonding between Mother and Jim was very real. Wherever Jim travelled he kept in contact with Aunty Mid: from Australia to Britain, to Mexico and back to Australia. Mum loved it because they shared an interest in football and cricket and she was delighted that he excelled in his academic career. She actually visited Jim and his family when Jim was doing his PhD in Newcastle UK. At the time she was on her one and only trip overseas. (1974)
When she was at the end of her life in the Mary Potter Hospice in 2001, she received a letter from Jim. It was received only a few days before she died and she was able to read it and enjoy Jim’s news….again.
Back to the Clare period from 1942 to 1946.
Mum and I had a new rental property after leaving the Staceys. It was at Mrs Dux’s house in the northern end of the Main Clare Road. I remember enjoying the neighbours here. Peter Gillen’s family owned the next door house and more importantly another Gillen family lived just up the hill. Therese Gillen was a single woman living in this house with her parents. I spent time with her and remember being fascinated with some of the Roman Catholic images and icons. She was a kind and lovely person. My friend.
Mum knew that she would be able to return to teaching once I was at school. She was realistic about her future as a war widow and relieved to know that she could return to teaching if she wanted.
She was interested in coming to town as her teaching options would be much better in the city. She was ready to create a new start for us both.
In 1947 Mum had been visiting the Duells at Largs Bay and they knew she was hoping to buy a house. Jean Duell was a friend from her High School days in Clare. She had been Jean Bowley and had married Alan Duell in 1938.
The Duells lived with Alan’s old father in Alexander St Largs Bay. The bungalow house opposite theirs was suddenly for sale. It was owned by the Bampton family.
Buying 18 Alexander St, Largs Bay
Old Mr Bampton who had built this bungalow had very recently died and the family were ready to sell it. Mum was very interested and made an offer but they had a better one and were considering ignoring Mum when old Grandpa Duell gave the real estate man a severe dressing down. How dare he not sell it to a single mother who was a war widow? She was a trained teacher and would be able to repay it once she was back at work.
She was triumphant – thanks to old Grandpa Duell and some friends called the Burrows.
Mid and Meredith were staying at Bob and Phyl’s house as Mum could help with the family and also look for somewhere in the city to start the next chapter. Phyl was very ill and had her appendix out in a hurry. From there Mum wrote a letter to Aunty Aileen describing the house-buying process.
It It is a gem.
As follows:
9 Killicoat St
North Unley
Tuesday 19th 1947
Dear Ai
This House hunting!
How about the house? I put in for the Largs place and by tomorrow afty I’ll know whether it goes to Morgan’s or Bowman’s.. the executors of the will had to work quickly so there’d be no squatters; so they put the price of 2,100 pounds on the place and after lengthy discussions last night they decided to let Morgan’s have the house. Thinks they were dubious of my financial position (no wonder).
Well this morning I went down to inspect the house – Mr and Mrs Burrow who have bought a house at Unley Park recently …after 12 month’s search went down with us.
When they saw through it , they said to take it. It was the best bargain they’d seen and Mr B said If I didn’t want it he’d take it from me or he knew that Cecil Hinks would snap it up. Well I was still wondering if I was doing the right thing – but Ai it would be so easy to make it into 2 flats and although not ultra modern, it is very solid.
Mr Bampton was a builder and built it 19 years ago for himself.
By letting half of it I’ll be able to pay the interest and something off the principle each week It is mostly bricks and the front has a veranda and freestone pillars –not elaborate you know but Burrows didn’t think I could go wrong. Well …The executors arrived after our decision to take it and told us it was too late – Morgans had been given it – They were the people who let me down about the flat!!!
We were so taken aback that we couldn’t say anything but Mr Duell (Alan’s father) went for Mr Bampton the executor and called Morgans dirty dogs and reiterated the father’s dying wish that we should have the place and now I was homeless etc etc.
Mr Bampton went in and rang up 3 chaps came out and told us not to give up all hope; then Morgans arrived to have another look and to pay rent in advance (til the sale went through). He wouldn’t take any rent and told us there was a 50/50 chance …He’d let us know tomorrow afty. Oh before he rang up he questioned my financial position and Mr Burrows said “She’s OK – I’ll back her – in fact I’ll write out the cheque right now! Did he raise his eyebrows – did we all!! Anyhow If Morgan’s got it I go straight to the Crown solicitor to put my case and Mr Burrows thinks they’ll be scared if the Returned Soldiers are against Morgan who is not a returned ….so there we are!
Do you still want to come down – if so the change over will be very quick and I think that Col should sleep in the house as that would mean possession.
If you’ve changed your mind I know Shy would snatch it up and get married but I’m sure it would suit you well and it’s not 100 yards from the beach. There are 2 nice sized bedrooms, 1 smaller and a sleep out, quite a nice bathroom, lounge, dining room, kitchen with a small pantry.
I’m sure I’d never lose money on it and the little Ch of Eng is exactly opposite. Barbara Duell goes there. They teach to first year High .
I wish you were only down here……..be prepared for a telegram praps tomorrow night.
Bob will dash down to post this so cheerio and hope you’re all well. Don’t talk the price to anyone Ai as I know it sounds colossal but may as well pay 2 pounds a week for it as 2 pounds a week for a flat and have nothing and being at the beach I could make a lot of money if I didn’t want to go out working,
Keep your fingers Xd
Love Mid
This became the family home from 1947 – 1974
Aunty Aileen and Uncle Eric had two adolescent children, Colin and Molly. They had both completed their schooling in Clare. Colin had left home and was working at the Electricity Trust in Osborne. Eric had been running the greengrocer business in the main street of Clare . They had all discussed maybe shifting to Adelaide.
That time had arrived .
The transcript of Mary’s letter re the house which she now owned and that the Giles family were going to share is included here.
9 Killicoat St
North Unley
Sunday 24th 1947
Dear Ai,
Well I’m tipping there’ll be a surplus of hankies in next week’s wash and In know it’s going to be a big break for you to pack up and leave Clare.
But don’t let yourself get too sad about it’ try to make up your mind that you’ll be happy down here – and you will be. To be honest I wish my furniture were down here instead of leaving that little flat just when the flowers will be blooming and I couldn’t have a happier neighbourhood that there. Still we have to look ahead and everyone is telling me how lucky we are to find such a place etc etc. I’m wondering how Col is getting on its so dreadfully cold but I think he is thrilled at the thought of a house once more that he’ll be quite happy. Wish it were nearer so he could come for a nice hot dinner. Jean will help I’m sure. (That would be Jean Duell from over the road in Alexander St,)
Look Ai I’ve thought it over and praps it would be better if I stuck to the flat – those 3 room and had my own kitchen. We’d both feel then that we had our own houses – You could have any of the friends or your family – so could we – for meals &/0r the evening.
We could praps have our 5 night meals with you, if convenient, but actually I’d love to have my own little kitchen and cook at weekends and then Mol could have that breakfast room as her bedroom and there’d be room enough for another bed there if she wanted Mary Dingle to spend a weekend . Jus thought I’d drop a line in case you sold some of your kitchen furniture: we can make final arrangements later but if we can both feel “This is My house” – it’s better. I won’t have much time for gardening but we’re all interested. I’m going to town in the morning to pay another week’s rent and tell the Exec Trust I’ll be in Clare for a few days. Bob says we’ll probably have the furniture moved this week. I go to Ada’s Tues Morning train and on to Clare on Wed. Have just written to Mrs Dux.
(More info about Aunty Phyl’s health )
Then signing off with
If at any time you want to go home or find anything else more suitable well I’ll be installed in my little flat ……..and there’ll be no changing of lino etc
Love Mid
This is just after Mid’s letter to Ai
The Move to 18 Alexander St
Mum and I had a lounge room , a bedroom and a tiny kitchen. Aunty Aileen’s family had a dining room which could be used as a bedroom, a small bedroom off the kitchen for Molly and sleepout for Colin. We shared the bathroom, toilet and the outdoor laundry
I felt very proud of my grown up cousins. When I was 5 and starting school they were young adults. Molly was 16 and Colin 19. Molly had just left Clare high School and Colin was already at work with ETSA. He had left Clare and was living at Woodside but was now able to join the family at Largs which was much closer to his work at ETSA Osborne.
Uncle Eric joined ETSA.
This photo of Colin aptly captures his confidence, humour, and appealing nature. He was always good fun, a very attractive and interesting person. In his advanced years Colin became a wonderful father and grandfather but also our family historian, an artist and a promoter of Esperanto the international language. (See his eulogy written by his daughter Sally)
Back to the late 40s and early 50s
Sometimes Uncle Eric went fishing off the Largs jetty. I recall Tommy Ruffs being caught but I have no recollection of us eating fish at home. The Moyles had all lived in the country and none of them could swim. Here we were at the beach but I have no recollection of any of the aunts appearing in swim suits or joining us when we went swimming.
Our two families lived happily together at Largs for several years.
Molly worked at Elder Smiths in Port Adelaide. She was always sweet, gentle and yet quite strongly independent. Molly was a member of the Girl Guides and also a member of the Sea Rangers. Molly developed into a guide leader – in fact a District Commissioner of the Guides.
On one occasion she and a friend Josie Purchase rode their bikes from Largs to Clare! They stayed at the Gawler Arms Hotel on the first night and the next night at Rhynie. They made it to Clare and stayed there at Bentleys. Not satisfied with the enormousness of the ride they had already made, they did a one day ride to Bungaree and back. This famous sheep station was where Uncle Les Ness worked as a gardener. We almost always travelled to where there was a relative or member of the family! But they did it on bikes.
They rode back to Largs again and it must be remembered that there were no gears on bikes in the early 50s. At least it was downhill going back to Largs….and at least there were brakes – activated by backward pedalling!
Mum returned to teaching and was posted as Mary Bowman to Largs Bay Infant School in 1948. This was perfect. It was a comfortable walking distance from home and I was able to walk to and fro school with her everyday. She loved teaching here and was fondly remembered by many children. Dean Hutton (of The Curiosity Show fame) still remembers her as his significant teacher in Largs Infant School.
I recall that once I was unwell and had to stay home in bed. Mum still went to school and Aunty Aileen looked after me until I was well again. Aunty Aileen was always kind but it meant staying in bed so it wasn’t exactly a holiday.
Both families were involved with local churches. Mid and Aileen went to Largs Methodist Church for decades. Colin and Molly joined the Presbyterian Church at Peterhead and the PFA Presbyterian Friendly Society was very socially active. Colin met his wife to be (Josie Woods) at this church and Molly met her husband to be (Ted Hughes) at the Largs Methodist Fellowship.
Ted Hughes (Molly’s husband), Josie Giles (Colin’s wife), Aileen, Colin a greying father and Molly a young mother.
Ralph Parker
Mary and Ralph Parker had been in contact over some years as he was helping her with the searches for Tom in POW camps and also for her changing income as her status changed to a war widow.
Ralph was an old family friend of Dulce and Judd – Tom Bowman’s sisters. In the 30s Ralph had been working in the bank at Ardrossan and as a violinist he had sometimes played with Dulce on the piano.
Hence during the time from 1942, Mum and Ralph Parker were seeing more and more of each other.
Ralph was recently divorced. Ralph and his ex wife had had one child, a son called Leon who was 16.
They fell in love and decided to start a new married life together.
I was very young and very unaware of any romance. Ralph did give me a leather case filled to the brim with Golden Story Books. I quite liked him.
I gradually became aware that Mum and Ralph were going to get married and I accepted that of course. So many friends and relatives told me I was very lucky and that I would have a new man in the house. The Bowmans were very pleased because they knew Ralph and they did want Mary to be happy after such a sad time having lost Tom.
It meant that Aunty Aileen and Uncle Eric would be moving out and they needed to find another house to rent in Largs.
This was unexpected. I understand now, that it was a stressful time for them, but they finally found a suitable house a few streets to the north of Alexander St and later a large house in Gloucester St Largs, with a huge vegetable garden and a fence line of large pine trees.
Ralph and Mary planned to develop the whole house as their family home.
A marriage was planned and took place in 1950 at the Congregational Church in St Vincent’s St, Port Adelaide.
Uncle Les Moyle gave the bride away and Aunty Ada was Mum’s bridesmaid.
Somebody had placed the good will sachet on Mary’s arm. I think it might have been me. I wasn’t in the wedding …but I think it was considered an appropriately sweet action which would involve me. Yes I am now sure it was me that did that. Memories sometimes come flooding back.
After the service a reception was held at 18 Alexander St.
The Rattews were the children of Ralph’s sister Hazel and her husband Vern Rattew.
(Ralph Parker was one of 4 children. He had 2 older brothers, Len and Don Parker and his younger sister, Hazel. His mother was still alive but not his father)
The New Parker Household
Ralph had brought with him some very exciting new pieces of furniture, the very best piece being a piano. This was a thrill and it became a centrepiece of life in our Household.
Ralph was superb violinist, Mum played the piano beautifully and most nights there would be music as they played together.
The music from popular White Horse Inn rang throughout our house, as well as pop songs like Give me 5 Minutes More, Those Far away Places etc etc.
It was a very special central happiness of our new life together.
Ralph was the bread-winner. Mary Bowman had had to resign from the Education Department when she remarried and she chose not to work while she settled into her new wifely role. This gave her precious time to practice the piano, which she did. I don’t remember any stumbling on any of the piano work. She was truly talented. Her classical piano playing was also excellent. Brahms Waltz opus 39 no 15 was challenging and became a signature piece.
I was delighted with the new music in our lives and started learning the piano from the Dominican nuns at the Semaphore Convent. (As an 80 year old I reflect on how fortunate I was to be surrounded by this music and to be given the opportunity to learn to play myself).
What else changed when Ralph joined us? Because Mum had been conscientiously paying for the house, we had very little furniture. It was post war Make Do Time, but suddenly we had Ralph’s lounge suite…. Plush velvet georgette fabric with wooden sections on the arms for cups of tea and ashtrays. Quite posh.
There was also a beautiful timber dining table with 6 chairs, a sideboard and a crystal cabinet to match and a new double bed in their bedroom, new furniture in the kitchen –a table and chairs and our old cabinet from the little kitchen. We filled the house.
No longer did I have someone sharing my bedroom, nor did I have Mum walking with me to school. There were dramatic changes to our life but many were very happy. Ralph was very kind to me and was happy for me to call him Ralph. He wasn’t my Dad, but there was love and respect for him. He was amazingly clean and tidy – very snappy. His hand writing was superb. Controlled and fluid and sloping beautifully.
The polishing of shoes became an important ritual and the Army would have been very pleased with his leather shoes and my school shoes.
Ralph was part of the Army but he was unable to march as he had bad varicose veins. He became an office worker within the Army for quite a few years.
He changed jobs quite often after leaving the Army, working at Haydon’s Fizzy drinks, then Lloyd Watkins Motors and ended up working for the Customs Department in Port Adelaide.
They had some lovely holidays together. One trip was to Tasmania with Aunty Nell and Uncle Lawrence.
They were very happy together. It was the first time Mary had shared her life with a husband because Tom Bowman had always been in training or was overseas. Tom and Mary had never had the opportunity to share a flat or a house together.
Leon stayed with us for a short time. He worked as a delivery boy for Mrs Dunn’s Grocery Shop on Military Road.
Mum and Ralph bought a new Vauxhall Car, our first vehicle. It meant we could travel by car to Kybunga and Blyth an even as for as Aunty Nell’s new farm house in Victoria. Leon “borrowed” the car one night – without asking – and that was about when he found other accommodation.
The big news was the announcement that Mum was pregnant.
She had every reason to be very nervous after a very difficult birth with me, but she was strong and well and on the 20th of October 1951 she gave birth to Cathrine Felgate Parker at the LeFevere Hospital Semaphore, Felgate being the maiden name of Ralph’s mother.
Ralph was ecstatic to have his own wee daughter and Mum was so relieved that it went well and the baby was strong and beautiful.
I was 9 years older than my new sister and Leon was 18 years older .
Our New Family
Little curly headed Cathy was good fun. As a little one she did have some asthma attacks, but she gained weight and seemed to be very strong. She was a climber. Mum had jammed an old lounge between the two pillars on our front verandah. Cathy could then be left to play to safely on the front verandah.
I had been very unhappy at Largs Primary and Mum wisely transferred me to St Alban’s CEGGS (Church of England Girls Grammar School) just over the road. I loved this school and stayed there for Grade 6 and 7.
We could watch what was happening at our house across the road from our school windows. There was an old fisherman’s boat in the school yard which was a favourite place to eat lunch and sometimes I had sandwiches and salad on a plate, freshly brought across the road.
On one occasion during the lesson our teacher Miss Baddams said “Meredith, I think you’d better go out by the boat as I’ve seen your little sister heading in that direction.” Cathy had scaled the “lounge jammed between pillars”, opened the gate, crossed the road and was about to attempt climbing into the boat. Serious fence locking began from that day.
(I note that this athletic expertise wasn’t carried into her adulthood.)
When she was about 3 we did an act after tea. I played Mum and she played Ralph.
We copied Mum and Ralph’s every night dialogue
Mum (Me) “Which would you prefer for dessert – Apples or plums?
Pause
Ralph (Cathy) “ I don’t mind Either .”
Mum loudly “but just say which you’d prefer.”
Ralph (Cathy) I don’t mind I like them both.
Mum “OK Time to do the dishes”
Ralph (Cathy) “Look I’m just going to the toilet for a while”.
Ralph was beside himself. He cried with laughter . To see his little adored girl being totally, hysterically funny. It went on and on! Cathy really nailed it! Ralph was so very happy. We all were!
I received a two wheeler bike on my 11th birthday and loved taking little Cathy for a ride. There was a luggage rack on the back wheel and she could balance sitting on that. “Hold on tight Cathy!” “Keep your legs stretched out!” And we’d ride up and down Alexander St. We never had an accident. It was great fun. She loved it.
Kate started school at St Albans. She was there for a little while but then transferred to Largs Primary School.
On the above occasion, Longies were visiting. Oh how we loved it when they called in! I think they may have been delivering Ian to Kings Boarding School. He is wearing a tie and long pants. And maybe Year 8 is about to start. All the boys in suits is pretty impressive!
In 1955 I went to secondary school at Methodist Ladies College and on most days, I had another funny story to tell about what Cathy did or said last night.
Moyle Family History 