BIOGRAPHY

HELEN FERGUSON (NEE- GAMMON)

Born 21.8.1953, Cooma District Hospital
Parents: Martin William Gammon and Lyndell May Gammon (nee Keir)
Married Bega 29. 4 .1953
Family members in order of birth
        Michael John Gammon (16.4.56)
        Stephen Lawrence (30.11.63)
        Jason Scott (3.10. 69)
Married Charles Stewart Ferguson 3.8.74 Saint Judes Anglican Church Randwick
Family: Temiel Lyndell Ferguson (6.5. 85 - adopted)
Extended Family:
        Ken Keir
        Greg Keir (deceased)
        Keith Keir (deceased)
        Robyn Keir
        Carol Keir

After the death of my grandmother Illma Rose Keir, my mother went to work in a guesthouse in Eden as it was imperative that she makes her way in the world as she needed to feed and clothe herself. M y mother had a good friend Eddie Parker who she worked with, living in Bungo Street Eden. Madge Bobbine, my dad’s sister was her neighbour and friend, it was while she was visiting Eddie Parker, my mother met my dad who was visiting with Madge. My dad I believe corresponded and courted mum for a while, it was difficult for them to see each other as dad lived on the Monaro and mum lived down the coast, I have a vague recollection that dad could of worked on the Hydro, I believe the Hydro was based out of Bemboka, in those days it was quite a distance to travel from Cooma to Eden as the roads were not the best.

My parents were married in the Anglican Church in Bega on the 29th of April 1953, my dad was 18 and my mum was 19 just kids, I was on the way. On her wedding day my Mum wore her sister Betty’s wedding dress, made by a seamstress in Bega. Mum’s friend Eddie was bridesmaid and my Aunt Robyn Keir was junior bridesmaid my dad’s brother Keith Gammon was best man. I believe the wedding was followed by a modest wedding reception in Bega, there was not the money for anything lavish as both my mum and dad came from large families eight and ten children.

After my parents wedding my parents went to live with my grandparents Louis and Gladys Gammon in Culey Avenue Cooma, this was an old home with an extension, my nanna kept chooks and turkeys, had a great flower and veggie garden and tennis courts, all were, things that supplemented Grandfather’s income, nanna was a no nonsense matriarch, grandfather always worked on farms out of town, only returning for the weekend. My parents resided with my grandparents until my birth; mum found this trying at times, as dad was easily led by his six brothers.

The Birth of the first child

I was born Helen Lynette Gammon, the first child to Martin and Lyndell Gammon on the 21st.8.1953 at Cooma Distinct Hospital.

After my birth my parents took me home to my grandparent house in Cooma.

It was around this time when things were not going so well for both my parents and my mother’s family, as my nanna Keir had died prematurely in her late forties, leaving a family of ten children motherless, I believe the youngest was a daughter of four, this was proving a great strain on the older children. My grand father, was a less then ideal sole parent as he had some rather unfortunate habits of which the worst was the excessive consumption of alcohol. The farm, the family were living on Greenmount, was about to be sold, there was much uncertainty for all the family members, they had no where to go and little or no money, it was looking like brothers and sisters would be separated, a sad situation. The farm was up for auction; the family was in the grip of life changing decisions. The family's future had to be decided. My mum and dad decided to go to the auction for two reasons out of curiosity and to help with all the decisions to be made, about my mum’s families welfare no one liked what had to be done and the long term effects are still felt today.

The farm was sold to Ron Mould’s long time friend Tony Phiffer, Mr Mould went guarantor for Tony in this purchase. A conversation took place between Tony Phiffer, Ron Mould and my dad, it was mentioned that my dad was looking for work and a place to live and it was explained about the family's desperate plight. Mr Mould offered dad a job to trap rabbits on Kybeyan station. My parents took Robyn to live with us as mum needed help and did not like the idea of being separated from her sister and also felt she had to help her family through this desperate situation, mum believed it would be some what lonely and frightening with out family support, a nineteen year old with a new baby.

We all moved to the shearer's quarters on Kybeyan station late 1953, Tony Phiffer drove us to Kybeyan, I believe we all arrived in the dead of night to very Spartan conditions, I believed I was housed in a drawer from a chest of drawers just as well I was not a big baby. Our accommodation was only meant for shearer's, not long term residents, this was Robyn’s first experience of a septic tank, she was more familiar with the little shack out back as toileting facilities it was so good to be able to flush not have sani pan or a plop hole. I believe the shearer's quarters had just been completed, the shearer’s quarters were to go onto house other residents as time passed.

The station hands on Kybeyan station were a great bunch of people they made sure this little family got to town. Ron Mould was very fair boss; he often went guarantor for station hands when they were asking for credit in town.

In my life, rabbits have always had a prominent place, the humble bunny has always helped us to survive, my father trapped and sold the skins to supplement his income and this was how he was able later to afford his first car, a sage green Austin A 40. On Kybeyan Station, station hands were not paid monthly they were paid six monthly. Stop money or advances in salary were taken from your overall six monthly payments.

After working at Kybeyan for about a year my dad was called up to do his National Service, affectionately known as the Natios, mum and Robyn and I remained on Kybeyan, I believe dad sent mum and allotment of money to live on. Dad was away for six months, and from what he has told me had a great time doing National Service making many friends and living the life of Riley. The little women were at home keeping the home fires burning. I was growing up fast and fast becoming a chatter box, to me every male was daddy, what a disappointment for my dad when he arrived home to a child with this identity crisis it must of been a sad moment.

On returning from National Services Mr Mould’s cousin Bruce Mould requested dad come and work for him on Boconnoc, as he had a rabbit problem. My parents encountered much hardship on Bocconoc, one of the problems they encountered was that there wasn’t a school bus to get Robyn to school, the only way of getting to school was in an over loaded Holden Car, not a safe proposition. Robyn was sent to Eden to live with my mum’s sister Beryl. The other problem was that mum had to break the ice on the river to do the washing. This property was later sold to The Snowy Mountains Authority and now sits on the edge of Lake Eucumbene. Our stay at Boconnoc lasted about twelve months.

Our next move was to a property called Yarrabin on the Carlaminda road, dad once again trapped rabbits, from what I can remember dad did not have a great relationship with his boss, or his brother. I seem to remember that there were two brothers Pat Lang and Jan Lang one was a nice man and the other the opposite. I think Jan was the one dad did not get on with. I seem to remember both Robyn and my mum saying this was a very pretty property, this indeed is correct. I have since visited the property and found it very pretty. It is now used as a farm home stay the house is called Apple Cottage; this was because of the proximity of an old apple tree close by. Robyn was able to return to us, which was wonderful because we all missed her. My brother Michael was born while we were at Carlaminda. I am told that my dad had to swim the car through swollen creeks in order to get my mother to hospital so she could give birth to him. This was the year of the big floods in Cooma, I have seen pictures of Sharp Street and the Cooma creek in flood, and this may explain why Michael loved to play in the mud and water.

Bruce Mould once again required dad’s services, he wanted dad to finish clearing the Rabbits from Bocconoc before it was sold. Robyn was now 13 going on 14; her job each day before was milking the cow, along with lots of other farm related chores. I believe washing day was a two person job, Robyn often had the day off school on washing day to help with the washing, as water had to be carried in Monnel metal buckets from the creek to the house. Even without water these buckets were heavy, the creek was a distance from the house so it is understandable why it was a two-person operation this would have been worse in winter with the snow and frost freezing the river. One would imagine that the water would have to be heated in the copper before the washing was to begin. A hardship often endured was getting to town, as the roads were not crash hot, and if there had been bad weather the car often got bogged before it got out the gate onto the main road. I have been told of an incident that took place while we lived at Bocconoc. We were snowed in for a month and things were getting pretty desperate, we had run out of food so we were living on Parrots and rabbits, dad had to dig for rabbit burrows under the snow, and had to shoot the Parrots with the three-o-three. It really makes one think how life has changed and how we are so lucky today. I believe the population living in the area had increased significantly, so the powers-that-be gave the go ahead for a school bus to travel to Cooma, Robyn went to Monaro High from 1956 - 1957.

In 1957 we moved back to Kybeyan. Robyn was offered a position at Kybeyan Homestead, as Cooks Assistant this is where Robyn commenced her great long-term friendship with Belle Keevers .Mrs Moore senior was the cook at the time.

For me the time spent at Kybeyan Station, was one of the happiest times of my life. In the years since leaving and adulthood I have often tried to analyse why. I believe the answer lies in the people that were around at that time and the era. It was when Australia was on the verge of becoming an open frontier, we were not the mobile communicative people we are today, television was new to us, as was the telephone and travel. We were in the midst of a post war boom, we thought of Canberra and Sydney in terms of being great distances to travel. It was a great outing to go to Cooma, a place where most of the employees went on a monthly basis on payday. Cooma was in the grip of the Snowy Mountains Development. It was hard to believe that we could fly across the country in a few hours and a sheer impossibility to believe we could fly to Europe and the UK in 24 hours. For me it was not even possible to believe I would ever live overseas all of which I have achieved. We accept all this as a part of life now and part of being a mobile communicative society. I had no idea of what would pan out but I was certain I wanted more than my parents had in life.

Kybeyan to me has several parts, something like a jigsaw, a fantastic jigsaw each one piece interlocking, each piece being integral to the over all picture. The pieces for me are my family, my extended family, my friends and friendships, school and life on the station and all its highs and lows, a pretty amazing puzzle. For me it is impossible to write any biography without dealing with each piece separately and I will leave it up to the reader to decide where it all fits.

My immediate family consisted of my mother, Lyndell who was a real character, a person to whom I think, the word no, didn't exist, if you told her something was impossible she would immediately think of ways to prove you wrong. Not always conventional, she would have a go at anything. I can always remember her forgetting housework and disappearing outside to make bullroarers. These were timber, shaved with the axe with a pointed end and a hole in the middle for string when you whirled them around they made a noise like a roaring bull. She also made great shanghais out of tyre tubes and stilts made from Milo tins and wood. She never ever had a problem with kids messing up her kitchen. She made doughboys and jam rolley-polleys with many a kid on the station. I think she thought of herself as a big kid. She was always up to some sort of mischief or dreaming up some scam and very outspoken too. My mum was not really like a mum she was more like my friend. Mum also had a terrible temper, as some of the wives on the station would bear testimony, especially on washing day when she would be both tired and hungry, you learned to either hide or feed her. My mum used to be a dab hand on her old ‘deadly treadley’ sewing machine. We had most of our clothes made on an old White sewing machine that must have been eighty years old if it was a day, she used to abuse it sometimes, especially if the belt slipped or the needles broke. I can remember the first pair of overalls my mother made my brother, they were a very interesting shape, but still wearable even with the crotch in a funny position, after all Michael was only a little boy, and what did he know about sewing. Mum was great mates with Roslyn Campbell and Edna Walsh and was the Kybeyan hairdresser for men and women alike. Perming and cutting hair for whoever needed a bit of a tart up. Mum was a member of the C.W.A., the ‘cranky women's association’. I can also remember my mum making cakes and helping with wedding preparations for both her sister’s Robyn and Carol's weddings, so as to cut down the costs. Weddings were always family affairs, the family catered where possible.

My dad, Martin was a funny beggar, he too didn’t know about the word no, he was always on for a laugh or a joke and a story, and some of them lent on the tall side. My dad had many loves - cricket, fishing, rabbiting and of course he loved to gamble. He would bet on anything. Cards, the horses, lotto, anything. It was one trait that was in his family. He was always playing tricks on the Jackeroos, short sheeting beds, putting split peas in their beds and was known to play some wicked tricks with dead snakes, I think he was even known to put burrs under Jackeroos saddles. Dad liked to think he was the best rabbit trapper on the Monaro. I would like to think that he was too. He was good, but there are some who beg to differ, all I know is that the humble bunny certainly gave us extra funds, funds that were to make the difference between Christmas and no Christmas. A story I will never forget about my dad which demonstrates his willfulness and how little regard he had for the opinions of others is when my father broke his leg when he had a buster off Tango and was laid up for quite sometime. Dad was not a patient man and there was nothing more he hated than being idle. Dad devised a way to get himself in and out of the Land Rover so he was mobile, then he devised a way to load his fishing gear and bits and pieces into the Landy. All was set to go fishing, so off he went. Dad was having a great time catching trout, then he caught a biggie and it got snagged. Not to be outdone, dad waded into the water, forgetting that he had a plaster on his leg. Well, the next thing he saw was the plaster disintegrating into the water. Dad somehow managed to get back home and did he have some explaining to do to Mum, Mr Mould and the Doctor. He was ribbed mercilessly for ages. With two parents like that, what hope did any offspring have? I can also remember just before my brother Stephen was born. We were setting Dingo traps at Doolondondoo and we had to go around the traps. He was lucky he caught a dingo but it was no use saying you caught it, you had to present the pelt to the Pastures Protection Board in Cooma for proof. We had to take this foul smelling pelt into Cooma to receive the bounty, it was really off. I wonder what our kids would feel about sharing their mode of transport with dead and smelly animals, my how things have changed. I can also remember dad going to the office of Mr Mould for pay or to receive orders and coming back totally drunk. The men were known to take a hip flask when they went mustering in the freezing cold. Dad came home once very drunk not knowing how he opened the gates or anything else for that matter. I know once he spent a freezing night in his vegetable garden because he got home to the big house and passed out, my mum said, " leave the silly B there. "

While living at Kybeyan I was to be blessed with the first of my three brothers, Michael. Michael was to grow to be a real chip off the old block, having many of the characteristics my parents displayed. He could tell better and taller stories than our father; he loved rabbit trapping and was never far from some sort of mischief. I remember three stories about my brother. The first is that Derrick Parker and Michael were great mates, they each used to call each other Jack. These two boys used to have ten traps and they used to set anywhere between the homestead and the reserve. Derrick was a much bigger boy than Michael so Derrick would use his weight to open the jaws of the trap and Michael would put the paper on the plate of the trap and set it - talk about Irish. Another story was Michael loved to play in the mud. He would strip off his clothes and play in the mud when he was two or three. One particular day, Michael had stripped off and was playing in the mud and was about to go home when he was spied by our big black rooster, the rooster thought Michael’s penis was a worm and was making a grab for it, Michael was running as fast as his little legs could carry him " yelling to my mum "the rooster is trying to get my Tommy Gammon mum help!" Poor mum did not know whether to laugh or cry. Another story I can remember well, is a time when Keith Edmonds, a shearer from New Zealand was shearing at Kybeyan and he had a terrible son with him. He fought with the boys for the whole period of shearing, these kids had no escape, the boys and the shearers devised a way of getting back at this kid. They would collect the afternoon tea things and instead of taking the empty tea pot back to the shearers quarters they would wait for the terror up the top of the shed and then pour the warm tea leaves all over him. This put paid to all the fights and the shearers were happy, for our boys to have got a win. Shearers from other teams that were ring -ins always copped heaps. A story I have just remembered was Michael’s first day at school he got the cane for rounding all the girls up and kissing them, oh for the mighty lover, he also hid the cane. Michael was the bane of my life while I was at Primary school, I always seemed to be called up to the office to take letters home to my parents or show cause for Michael’s behaviour.

My extended family were a great bunch of people, most of the time, the house was noisy, there was always interesting things happening, teenagers experimenting with unusual and extreme hair colours, modern clothes, talk about parties and outings, loud music, boy friend s, lost loves, new loves, work complaints, high jinx, you name it was happening. The music of the era was to have a lasting impression on me. I knew most of the words to lots of the 60 ‘s pop stars. There were two radiograms in the house and literally hundreds of records. I have a great love of all Buddy Hollies music, Bill Hayley and the Comets and many others, in fact I drive my family mad. Carol was renowned for appearing with coloured hair from loud red to blue and she was a real softy, we could always wangle our way around her, she also was a fantastic cook, we loved her cakes. Robyn has always been more like my sister; we have always been close. Ken Keir was always the volatile one, he used to give my mum a hard time, he would always be complaining about the food mum cooked, I remember when he was groom on the station he came in one day in a mood and demanded lunch, he was most unpleasant and mum just dumped the lot all over him. Keith, Greg and Ken all went to town in Ken’s car they all got on the grog and headed back to Kybeyan and they rolled the car near the reserve. They were not in the least bit worried about the car, but they were worried about all the grog they lost in the crash. I can also remember a Christmas when they all got on the grog and would get so full that they would play skittles with the big brown beer bottles and sing disgusting drinking songs and my parents would be really angry because we knew all these songs. Greg only worked on Kybeyan Station for a little while, he was a sweety. He was quietly spoken; he always brought my mum little presents and called her Lyndy Lou. Greg was a very lovely man, but he like the rest of my mums family, had a terrible temper. I remember when he was learning to drive he really lost his cool with my dad. I now know how Jim Parker and Dad got all the beer bottles to edge their garden beds - these were mainly courtesy of mum’s brothers and the shearers. There was once a little foray into the home brew but it exploded and went everywhere. My extended family certainly were an entertaining lot.

My friends on the station were Bev Parker, Barbara Rowlinson and Janelle Thew. My friend from on the road was Ruth Green. We girls used to have a great place we loved to play which was a huge overhanging rock that was between the little house and the shearing shed we used to call it "The Great Wide Verandah", heaven only knows where we dreamt the name up from, but we used to pretend we were great and important people, dressing to the part. Every chance we had we escaped to this great place. We were too young to be included in the big kid's stuff so we had our own private place. We also used to love to spy on the Big Kids. We also used to give my Aunts hell when they wanted private time with their fellas. We have been known to daub windscreens with mud pies and let tyres down, weren't we delightful children? I can remember when Parker’s got television, Michael and I were invited to watch Mr Ed the Talking Horse, and it used to be such a thrill. Beverly and I also had a great play house, Parker's old caravan that was parked in the workshop, we used to have posh tea parties with "THE BEST CHINA" and we also had a great horde of dress up clothes courtesy of the Moyes family and my aunts. We could be seen roaming around with stiletto healed shoes, looking like we were about to break our legs at any minute.

Getting to and from school was a delightful experience in an overcrowded bus, hot as hell in summer and as cold as charity in winter; we used to all rug up. I will never forget those lovely phone calls coming through to Nimmitabel school saying that it looked like the rivers could swell and flood and could the Kybeyan kids please leave early, it is amazing, Bernie for all his faults, always got us through. The bus trip, was in a sense, a source of entertainment, mothers sometimes had to use it to get into town. They were pretty shocked at what happened on that bus, it was a great source of gossip, you could find out all that happened on the road over the weekend on Monday mornings. Bernie copped his fair share from us, as he drove the bus, but then again so did we from him, we used to get on the bus and put our school books under our tunics so the thumpings he dished out didn’t hurt so much. I used to be always in trouble for eating raw carrots on the bus. I can remember many times getting to Mike Herbert’s and all the kids piling out of the bus to get raw turnips, we would all pile back in and munch our way home. I can also remember Edna Walsh’s cockatoo, this bird used to really yell at the Walsh boys, using all sorts of expletive language to tell the boys the bus was coming. I can also remember a time when Edna had rollers in her hair and the bird went for her, I don’t think she let him out of the cage again.

There was a tremendous amount of rivalry between the catholic school and the public school, sometimes things got pretty heated down on the fence line, I don’t think too many of us were keen to go down the street at lunch time, I can remember a couple of very dirty Netball games where I came home battered and bruised. We all used to love the combined schools sports carnivals that were held on the show ground in Cooma, I think we used to do pretty well for a small school. All in all school was not bad, but the holidays were even better.

Life on Kybeyan station was really special; we had some wonderful people, who were always planning special activities for the children. One of the most special people I can ever remember was Mrs Mould. We had the most amazing parties, with all sorts of themes and Mrs Mould was the most generous person, she gave every child on Kybeyan road a birthday present, mostly this was a book, Mrs Mould was also responsible for arranging colouring competitions and those famous decorated saucers we all made. Mrs Mould was a great supporter of the Bush Nursing Association; she used to have Garden Parties to raise money for the BNA. A funny story is at one of these Garden Parties my dad was behind the Bar and mixed two identical buckets of drink, one had raspberry cordial meant for the children and the other was Gin and Raspberry for the ladies, well the silly bugger mixed them up and the children were all sozzled and the ladies were all sober, the mothers were not pleased. Martin Gammon’s name was mud for ages.

I think this is where my love of plants and gardens comes from, Kybeyan Station had a magnificent Garden. The kids on the station were not denied religious instruction, Mrs Thew held Sunday School at her house, we all used to drag a chair from home each Sunday Morning, until I was expelled for saying "Mrs Thew did a poo behind the kitchen door". However this did not deter me from becoming a Christian, I think it did the opposite, as I am now a practicing Anglican and have been for years. The other people who made sure that we as Children did not miss out on much were the ladies from CWA, affectionately known as the Cranky Women's Association.

Fruit season was great fun, we Kybeyan kids were great fruit thieves, we used to pinch, apples, apricots plums and cherries from Mr Moulds garden, we used to sneak the fruit home in the metal milk buckets found in the meat house, I think the big kids climbed the trees and the little kids acted as lookout.

We used to have a great time at shearing time too, we loved the shearers and they were a great source of entertainment, they held a special place in my heart especially John Schofield’s shearers. Abbey the wool presser was a friend to us all, even though he was an alcoholic and

Dicky Appleyard, he wore loud pink socks. Mum used to, when cooking for the shearers, have to bring all the essence home especially lemon essence because of the alcoholics. They used to give mum chocolates at the end of the shed, mum used to do mending for them and also cut their hair. Mum was the station hairdresser, on many occasion mum could be found perming hair or cutting hair and Mr mould used to use mum as his hairdresser. Mum used to earn her town money this way.

Another memory I have is the catalogues. We as children mostly got all our new clothing through catalogues, these were The Weekly Times, Walton Shearers, Winns, Anthony Horderns, Mark Foys, Grace Brothers, Fletcher Jones, David Jones and Morwells Knitting Mills in Victoria. For the most part my mother brought stuff from Wins, the women folk would order knitting wool, fabric, children's clothing and linen. I can always remember the unbleached calico sheets my mother used to buy; they were stiff and hard, like hospital linen, they were always hung out in the rain to soften them.

Mrs Parker used to run the station shop, everything was put on tic, or the never never, or an account for the more refined. We used to, as children buy a shillings worth of broken biscuits or broken boiled lollies, they were the best especially Iced Vo Vo's and squashed fly biscuits (date pillows).

Mr and Mrs Moyes were also very good to all the children on Kybeyan Station, Michael loved Guy Moyes, and he was his hero. Mr and Mrs Moyes seemed to have an endless supply of Chocolate Biscuits, they would also give Michael packets of them, they also gave us interesting books to read and always had time to talk to us and made education bearable.

Nimmitabel was a funny little village; the people who ran shops were all-important people, through the service they provided and their friendship. People like George Van Zanden, I can even now recall the taste of his bread, and it still makes my mouth water it was the best bread I have ever tasted. Joe Mclennen the butcher, he was great, he was always one for a joke when we did buy meat from him, and he had a ruddy face and a great disposition. Payton’s pub, (I think my dad and my extended family had shares in the place) I can remember the Payton children well, especially Alana, she used to take her knickers off and twirl them in the air, maybe she was preparing herself for another life, the boys were great Rugby Union players. Bobby Warren the local Cop he was great fun, a fair and honest cop, he had a good way of dealing with local problems, he also was the local football coach. Thiso’s shop, I can almost taste Butterballs and clinkers, butterballs were butterscotch sweets in a maroon wrapping paper, and they were YUM. Thiso’s was a lovely old shop, I can remember the old wire system of sending cash, and it used to amaze and bewilder me. Tozer’s shop was more like a delicatessen, a shop where people brought last minute items only. My mum used to frequent Judy Cassiles drapery shop for drapery items, buttons and the like.

The Shows were an eagerly awaited time for us kids, we would dream of show bags and side show alley, my dad used to hang out for the show too for two reasons - the boxing tent and the shooting gallery. My dad was never far away from the boxing tent especially if he had a drink under his belt, dad would line up with all the would-be boxers and try his hand at beating the so-called professional. The dreaded bell would ring, the drums would start beating, then the sprooker would start, it used to make my blood curdle seeing these men get beaten up for money. On Show day we could experience all four seasons of weather in the one-day, from winter to summer. We often came home with colds from sudden changes in the weather. Our mothers used to show off their culinary and floral skills and Robyn used to win prizes for her sponges, they were beautiful as did Carol. The men folk, not be outdone, used to do well with their vegetables.

The Sundowners, now this was a momentous event in many peoples lives.....real film stars had come to town. Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov and I think Berl Ives. Some of the Kybeyan men had cameo roles in the movie and I believe Jim Parker and dad were in a riding scene. I know I shared an ice cream with Peter Ustinov, I can remember him coming into Thisos and asking me for a lick, it made my day, it was fantastic. The main Street down near the Royal Hotel was where the Hotel scenes were shot I think Carol and Robyn also had cameo parts, a lot of locals were used in crowd scenes.

Life on Kybeyan station was good. My family left Kybeyan Station just before my eleventh birthday and just after the birth of my second brother Stephen. I can remember Roslyn and Jim Campbell having a drink with my parents when the announcement of J F Kennedy’s assassination was announced in an ABC news bulletin on our old wireless. We moved to Cloyne Station, renting the station house from Tony Phieffer, dad worked for his brother, fencing. This was not a happy time, money was short etc. Michael and I went to school at Cooma East Primary. Life was pretty itinerant for a long time. We moved from Cloyne to Bredbo and dad worked for Steve Aboud on Bredbo Station where we rented the horrible old house near the post office, life at times was very unpleasant. Grandfather Keir lived with us and so did Keith. We were always worried about being so close to the pub; the toilet being outside and Keith was fitting badly.

In my first year of High School at Monaro High we moved to Dromore Station, a reasonably happy time, money was secure and rabbits plentiful. We also lived at both Rosebrook and River view. Dad was working as Station hand and had the freedom to set his rabbit traps, I think we were getting a dollar a pair for rabbits, the rabbits were sold to Charlie Benedict, a very funnyman. A European immigrant with a very enterprising disposition, he was into to everything from selling mud eyes to rabbits. My parents were firm friends with Oscar and Muriel Stoddard, I believe my parents knew Oscar and Muriel before I was born as they both came from down the coast.

We lived in converted shearers quarters, a great house for kids, you could do what you liked and no one would hear you and we all had rooms of our own, there was no hot running water so we had to use the chip heater to heat water for a bath. Baths were a once a week affair, the cleanest person bathed first. I was always guilty of using a bit of kerosene to get the heater going and for my sins was always singing my hair and eyebrows. It was lambing time when my third brother Jason was born, I was left to hold the fort and look after my brothers, dad went into town to await the arrival of the new baby, I was not the least bit excited about the impending birth, I saw the new baby as more work and even less money and what was more I was pretty certain I would end up with another brother, in my view the world was a mans world. I was correct........another brother! I left school to look after my mother as there were some severe complications after Jason’s birth, my mother became very sick, so I ran the house and looked after my mum until she was well. Life is indeed tough; sometimes I wondered if things could get any tougher. When my mother was well I found employment as a Nanny on Dromore Station, it was a live in position and I looked after three young boys under five. It was hard work starting at six in the morning and working till six at night, five days a week for twenty dollars a week, a joke by today’s standards. I then made the decision that my life was not going to continue in this vain, there was no way that I wanted that kind of life, I wanted travel, have fun, be totally independent and wanted more than anything, to be financially secure forever.

My parents left Dromore just before my seventeenth birthday and we moved to Cooma. Another pretty miserable time, things were not good on the home front, I found a job working in the Dragon Gate Chinese Restaurant, I didn’t mind the work, I saw it as the means to an end, a better end. It was at this time I was to fulfil one of my ambitions to better myself, I applied and was accepted to become a Enrolled Nurse and so begins the next chapter of my life, a life that has fulfilled all my dreams, in fact I feel really privileged and blessed to have been so lucky and I am sure if my mum were alive today she would have been happy for me too. I am not sad for my early life, I see it as part of learning about being happy and making the most of life. Out of harshness and sorrow comes happy endings.

I commenced the enrolled nurses course on the 22nd October 1970 and completed my training 22 December 1971, a great period of time where I had fun, was challenged and proved that I was not stupid because, I did more then pass, I received a Credit and was 2 marks off a Distinction in the state exam, my self image was restored. I must prefix this by saying that my father believed that women did not need an education, they were going to just leave school and get married and have babies, not for me though, I wanted to go on, do more and get away from Cooma, look for new challenges and make a life for myself. I went home to my parents for the New Year, had some fun, all the while applying to hospitals advertising for Enrolled Nurses. I received a letter telling me that I had been successful in my application to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, I duly went for the interview and was soon on the staff working in Cardio Thoracic Theatres. This was to prove to be an enormous challenge working 10-hour shifts and working 6 days a week, I saw and did things that I had only dreamt about. I worked for about 6 months under enormous amounts of pressure, open heart surgery is hard on staff because it is so exacting, and there is no room for any kind of error.

It was at this time while working at R.P.A H., I met my husband. This was through the nurses quarters. Guys from the RAN used to ring and want the nurses to go to Cocktail Parties. I was led to believe that there were never enough girls to go around and they were always hassling us to go, though I really did not want to, especially to this silly ‘do’ on HMAS Melbourne but gave in, softy that I am. It turned out to be a fun night...... a real exercise in how the other half lived. I went to the Cocktail Party with a girl called Marilyn Gander, (Gander by name, Gander by nature) she got drunk and was making a fool of us all so I dumped her on an unsuspecting Midshipman that was on duty. Well he was not impressed and he ticked me off for my actions and said for punishment, I should sit with him and talk to him all night. It was not difficult as he was from the Wheat Belt of Western Australia and it turned out, we had a lot in common so that it how our relationship started and also the fact that he had invited me to see Jesus Christ Super Star something I had been hanging out to do. It would have been difficult to save enough money to go on the wages we received then. We really got on well and always have; he is my best male friend.

I continued at RPAH until 1973, working in ‘Gynie’ Theatres and my great love Casualty theatres, Casualty is the best place to work, always so much happening and always something to do, no two days were ever the same. I made a couple of life-long friends while working there. I can remember doing night duty and sleeping behind the X-ray Screen, we used to take turns in getting a bit of kip and we were nearly sprung a few times. I can also remember working Christmas Eve and the Doctors being the worse for drink. My best memories are a time when a Junior Resident was doing his theatre time. Well, he got married and injured himself in claiming his conjugal rights and he had to have emergency surgery to repair the problem instead of putting a normal dressing we built a tower of plaster of Paris and sent him back to the ward. He was one very embarrassed man and his wife was even more embarrassed. The worst part for him was, he had to return to do his theatre time and from that time on, he was never with out a mask. The other memory is of April Fools Day..... a Doctor who had been giving me heaps came into the Day Room demanding breakfast. I thought I will fix you, I offered him cheese on Toast and I cut thin slices of sunlight soap and bunged them under the griller, that fixed him.

I left R.P.A.H. on the 19 .2.1973 and went to work at Prince of Wales Hospital in May 1973 once again in General Theatres. I worked as Reception Nurse. Prince of Wales was doing a lot of Plastic surgery then and I was able to witness work done by Professor Bowring and Earle Owen and a couple of others who used to do sex changes - an appalling operation. At this time I lived in Randwick and Charlie was spending a lot of time at sea. I shared a flat with my brother; Michael and we got on well. It was at this time my parents moved to Sydney. I found them a place in Coogee. Just before I left Prince of Wales I decided to move in with my parents in order to save money for my impending marriage in the following year.

In 1973 I commenced work at The Blood Transfusion Service, a great job, good hours, clean work, no long term interaction with sick people, based in the City, just taking their blood and going out on Mobiles all over Sydney, it was fun. I actually did some more study and completed my BTS certificate; I worked for the BTS twice.

I married the love of my life, Charles Stewart Ferguson on August the 3rd 1974 at Saint Judes Randwick, a small Naval wedding - swords, uniforms, and the works - with about 50 guests in attendance. Mostly family and friends. We honeymooned on the Gold Coast and came back to a Navy Flat in Manion Avenue in Rose Bay. We lived in this flat for about two years, it was a noisy place to live and we were very close to South Head Road. There were 12 flat s in the block and everybody was connected to the Navy. The wives were mostly teachers or nurses and of course all the guys were all Naval Officers so there was no escape and we were also in much the same age bracket. Everybody was terribly social and a lot of friendships were formed. This had its good side and it’s bad, the bad was there was no escape from shoptalk and everybody knew everybody else’s business. In the end this got too much for me, so we requested a move to a house, somewhere much quieter with a garden for me to potter in. We did not have to wait long as our request was granted and we moved to 21 Neville Street North Ryde. This was a nice area, still Navy accommodation, but at least you could escape to your own back yard, which were not common areas. The house was old with polished floorboards so it had noisy floors and we also had to carry water from the bathroom where it was heated by an instant gas hot water service. At this time I was still working at the Blood Bank, life was jogging along nicely and we had decided to have a family.

Life suddenly took a turn for the worse....... things were not as they should have been with my health. I sensed there was something terribly wrong, I was not falling pregnant, so tests were carried out. I had some minor surgery to check everything out and to put it in a nutshell, I was seriously ill. There was the need for major surgery and we were advised to look at adopting a child if we wanted a family as the surgery was going to be a hysterectomy with complications. Prior to undergoing surgery, we decided we would take a five-week holiday and use up all the outstanding leave owed to Charlie. We need to go on big holiday just in case things went wrong and I did not pull through the surgery. W purchased a Nissan Campervan and headed off to explore the coastline from Batemans Bay all the way around to Western Australia. I had not traveled that far in my whole life....... it was exciting and relaxing and we had a great time. It was just what the doctor ordered, taking my mind off the events to come. The surgery was scheduled and done, all went as well as could well be expected with sometime being spent in intensive care and three weeks in the ward to recover, after which I was discharged from hospital. There were some funny incidents as I was always breaking glass drip bottles because I had a mind to explore the gardens of Royal North Shore Hospital. I also could be found asleep at almost anytime, often woke up with my face covered in dinner. I also devised a picnic on my hospital bed; wine and gourmet foods were on. A wonderful present came in the form of flowers, I received an arrangement of white flowers from Bev, I can remember having a big howl over them I was so moved, at the time, Bev and her family were on a working holiday around Australia. I also remember the hot flushes it was all kind of strange for a twenty three-year-old to go through menopause, the joys of being women. My recovery went well and within six weeks I was back at work feeling better then I ever had, walking miles and firing on all cylinders with tons of energy, I realised just how sick I was.

Charlie was at sea on H.M.A.S Vampire escorting the Royal Yacht Britannia while HRH was on tour in Australia. Life once again settled down to me working and Charlie being at sea. Naval life is hard on marriages especially in the early days while Officers are under training as they spend a good bit of their time at sea getting Ocean Watch - keeping Tickets and all manner of other training.

Our adoption application had been lodged, we were approved so now we had to play the waiting game which was said to be between seven and ten years, inspections were carried out, interviews done and we were proven to be suitable prospective parents. We were advised that we would be contacted at intervals of between two and three years for reassessment by the Social Worker from the then Department of Youth and Community Services.

In October 1977 we were advised that we were to be posted to Canberra, Charlie was now promoted to Lieutenant which meant a pay increase and of course a long awaited shore posting. He was posted to the Department of Defence Campbell Offices to the Directorate of Naval User Requirements which was responsible for weapons performance and data standards, munitions policy, shipboard lifesaving, seamanship equipment trials and so on. For us, all that was really important was, some shore time and being able to pursue activities on land. Charlie and I both had interests we had put on hold, for Charlie it was sport..... summer cricket and hockey in the winter, for me it was craft activities. We managed after some difficulty to rent a house in Flinders Way in Manuka, a beautiful old house surrounded by fruit trees and an enormous garden, we were in heaven. A house with a fabulous location, close to everything and a great bus service. We were very happy doing everything that Mr and Mrs Joe Bloggs did. One of the highlights of our time in Canberra was my parents Martin and Lyndell’s twenty fifth wedding anniversary. We had a party for them inviting Jim and Hilda Parker, Bev and Alan, Robyn, Carol and other family members. I did all the catering, it was a great night, Dad made his speech, it went something like this, ‘after twenty-five years can I renew my contract with a new log of privileges and claims" for those that knew my dad well, would realise he was a union man. In hindsight I am so glad this part happened because it was one of the last family parties before my mum died.

While we were in Canberra on this posting in the years from 1977 to 1980, we were, at long last able to take the plunge and make the reality of owning a house on a quarter acre block possible. We saw land up for tender in the suburb of Woodbine just outside of Campbelltown. My husband and I tendered $55 above the fixed price and later received a phone call asking us to take the pick of the lots we tendered for the land was owned by The Department Of Defence, war service land, we applied for The War Service Home Loan and got it, now we were ‘set like a jelly’. We took holidays and did all our own conveyancing, this was great fun, going to the titles office, the registrar general and loads of other departments if we couldn’t dazzle the government employees with our brilliance, we certainly did with bull shit. We saved a great deal of money into the bargain. The next stage was to find ourselves a builder and after visiting project home builders, we decided on Masterton Homes so we signed a fix priced contract that our home would be built in three months which was about the time we were to be posted back to Sydney.

We were posted back to Sydney in 1980 and Charlie underwent navigation training. It was a busy time for him also pretty stressful as this course, like the PWO course was hard work as it was working under simulated wartime conditions. I went back to work at the Blood Bank so we were both doing our share of travelling, leaving home at six thirty in the morning and getting home at the same time at night. Twelve hour days. I was working so that we could finish the house and gardens, buy furniture etc. We used to spend every weekend getting things straight, all was coming together nicely so in late 1980 I chucked my job at the Blood Bank as the travelling was too much for me and I was once again starting to get sick.

1982 and Charlie was posted to H.M.A.S Perth and preparing for a six month deployment to the Indian Ocean, when a terrible tragedy struck my family. I was sitting at home having a lousy day, a day when I could not settle, feeling ratty, so I decided to go out and explore, telling myself it was all silly. Then to return home to receive a phone call from Prince Henry Hospital, telling me that my mother had a very serious heart attack and was not expected to live. I ‘conned’ my neighbour to take me to the train, reasoning that it was just as quick to get into Sydney on the train as any other way. This was the longest journey I have ever made, all the time there was a mantra going on in my head.....please keep her alive until I get there...... Eventually I arrived, jumped in a taxi at Central Station and asked the drive to get me to Prince Henry fast, as it was a matter of life and death. I finally arrived at the hospital to be ushered to the Coronary Intensive Care where mum was in a private room connected to all sorts of cardiac monitoring devices. It was terrible, a huge ball formed in my stomach and ten million questions went through my head, thoughts like what will dad do if she goes? what about Jason, he is just thirteen? how will he cope with no mother? and then what about me? I was so dirty on God for allowing this to happen. I had to learn over the next ten days to shelve all these feelings and emotions, as my mum’s life hung in the balance when all started to look really promising, the hospital staff made the decision to transfer her out to the ward. I was so excited, we spent the visiting hour with mum. I filed her nails and other items of personal care and mum said she was worried about me and told me to come in later the next day saying, " have a rest love your tired". I thought this is what I would do. In the morning we had both got up and were ready to leave from home to go into Sydney when we received a phone call.......mum had passed away early in the morning, The worlds of all my family fell apart, dad had lost his mate and all four children had lost their mother. The days passed in oblivion, the funeral had to be organised, family contacted and all the arrangements made. Mum was buried on Australia Day 1982. This is a bit ironic since my mum saw herself as an Aussie battler; she was 48 years old. My dad was never the same as his world had fallen apart; he hit the booze.... I believe dad just gave up as he lived the rest of his life a broken hearted man. For me life was extremely tough, supporting dad helping mother two of my three brothers and having a husband sailing around in the Indian Ocean being on call to be deployed to the Falklands War and being buzzed by Russian Planes. Life was not too much fun and I ended up being in poor health, which led to a total breakdown. When you are at rock bottom there is only one way and that is up and after lots of TLC from my mother in law, Robyn and Bev, I emerged from the black cloud with a new resolve and that was to keep busy and get on with life and above all have fun. None of us are invincible and but for the grace of God.

In 1983 my faith was to be tested again with the premature passing of my mother in law, some how this death was easier to cope with perhaps it was because I was now better conditioned. Hope was a funny lady, if you asked her name she would say Hope, she would say that her parents hoped she was the bloody last. It fell as my lot to go West and sort out her affairs having three sons who were not particularly close to their mother. I really did not mind doing this task, in some ways it was out of curiosity. Hope’s house was a dump full of all sorts of dirt and junk. I found mountains of old clothes that needed getting rid of, these were not suitable for the Op shop the only solution was to burn them. I filled an old tank with them and started a bonfire which went from daylight till dark for three days, each day ended with me resembling someone from the darker races which was funny because of being so fair. I was staying with my husband’s uncle and his step aunt, I will never forget the first night going to bed and then hear this terrible scratching noise in a sugar bag, thinking the worse I got up to investigate only to find a tiny Joey kangaroo, it was just about out of the bag. Trying to comfort the stupid****** thing was a nightmare, it scratched me, tore at my night clothes but finally it was settled and I was not best pleased at all, all I wanted was some sleep. Morning came to more strange noises, it sounded like some sort of bird in distress, I climbed out of bed to investigate, went to the kitchen to look out the window, the noise by now was very loud sounding like it was in the same room as me, looked to the mantelpiece, to find Charlie the Galah, one beaten up poor bloody bird, the poor bird was my mother in laws pet, the family freed him from his cage when Hope died, needless to say he could not survive in the wild because he had become domesticated. What next! I was going back to bed! Settling to go back to sleep, more noises, BAAA BAA, lambs needing to be fed. Where was I, some bloody Zoo? I could now understand why my husband ran away to join the Navy to live in civilization. My brother in law rescued me the next day; we sat at the wood heap and got tiddley.

I went back to work. I was back working in the city. Working at a nursing home in Vaucluse three days a week as Divisional Therapist. I was able to procure this job because of my nursing and craft background. My boss was great; she was heavily involved in training and administration so she sent me off to do all sorts of courses. I was most fortunate as she organised for me to do a course which would give me the qualification of Diversional Therapist. I stayed at Vaucluse for almost two years. I loved all the residents they were characters. Once again the travelling got too much so I applied for and was accepted to work close by at the Masonic Village at Glenfield where I stayed until we were posted.

At sometime during this year we were visited by the Social Worker regarding our adoption, we still fulfilled all the criteria and were told we would still be suitable parents and we were progressing up the list, it would all just be a matter of time.

In July 1984 we were on the move again, back to Canberra this time. We were then advised by the adoption people to reside in New South Wales because an adoption order would not take place if you lived interstate. Charlie was posted to the Russell Offices Defence Central in Canberra Officers Postings. We moved to Nimmitabel Street, Queanbeyan, and NSW. Even before we moved into Nimmitabel Street, I had decided to do some more study so I enrolled in a course of Special Care as I have always enjoyed the health care field. It was a good posting because we were close to my family and once again shore time. It was not easy living in Queanbeyan though because we had to live in a silly little town house, as housing in Queanbeyan was scarce. On completion of my studies I applied and was successful in getting employment as the Recreational Officer at the Goodwin Homes working with two hundred residents, a very demanding job as I was employed to work between two retirement villages both as different as chalk and cheese, the oldies were great fun, the management were something else. I have a couple of fond memories, one is the sight of eighty years olds doing Tai Chi and the other is being involved in a siege with a bus load of old people, that was a real lesson in bad language. I think if the crook had heard what I heard he would have feared for his life.

The stress of this job was too much so I chucked it in inside twelve months deciding to be a lady of leisure.

Lady of leisure nothing...... there was another plan. On the first of August 1985 life was to change in a way that, life, as we knew it would never be the same. I was at home, it was mid morning and the conversation went like this.. Mrs Ferguson? "yes" " we have a little girl for you, she has not been very well, she has been fostered for two months, she was nearly a cot death, born in Broken Hill on the 6th of May, she has failed to thrive. Would you and your husband be prepared to accept her? " I suggest you put the phone down, go outside and walk around for five minutes and come back and talk to me." Well of course, my answer was yes however I still had to tell Charlie and ask him what he thought. I rang the office and he was not in. By this time I was jumping out of my skin, I told the guys in the office he was wanted urgently so they all guessed in a matter of minutes what it was all about. Even though it felt like hours later, he was on the phone and had then left the office and was on the way home to discuss this huge decision within a very short space of time. We agreed and made that life changing phone call. 9 years of waiting was over. We had arranged to pick our daughter up on the 9th August 1985 This all happened two days after our 10th wedding Anniversary and to this day we celebrate this day as Temiel, our daughter’s family birthday. We went to Sydney to get her as nervous as could be, not knowing what we were letting ourselves in for. We had to go to the Department of Youth and Community Services to be briefed, then onto Lindfield to the foster mother; it was exciting and scary. We eventually had her........... she was ours, a tiny little thing just three months old and less then eight-pound in weight with masses of brown hair. We were told that she was not a sociable child and that she would need to be watched. In the space of a couple of months we changed all that. Temiel went to Hockey with us perched in her Fraser Chair because of her gastric reflux, and we put her onto solids and she soon became quite ‘the fatty’. In October 1985 we had Temiel baptised Temiel Lyndell, the Lyndell was for my mother, it was a wonderful day with all our family and friends to celebrate with us, we were truly blessed. In February when Temple was nine months we had to take her back to Sydney to Prince Of Wales Children’s Hospital to be assessed prior to the adoption order going to court, we were scared stiff that the order would not be sworn, the Pediatrician was delayed, then the staff kept calling for baby Geraldene Mills, well it wasn’t until we checked the hospital number and registration number were we able to realise it was Temiel, so much for confidentiality. Dr Duffy gave her the once over and we were out of there, that box had been ticked. We now had to wait for the Social Worker to bring the affidavits for us to sign. Well like all good government departments they had got lost, so new ones had to be issued, finally after much huffing and puffing they were sworn, Temiel was legally ours.

On the move again. Charlie, while working in Officer’s postings always joked if he couldn’t organise a good posting for himself he would give the game away. I had invited some Navy friends around for dinner and we were having a great time, all pie eyed and laughing. There were all sorts of jokes going around about postings when my husband says "we are going on a posting in three weeks to Western Australia. I have got a drive on a patrol boat". I thought ha.ha, big joke and quick as a flash forgot about it. Well our friends left and we were both cleaning up when Charlie said "you know that posting was not a joke." Bloody hell, three weeks to get inventories done and removal organised, oh joy. To cut along story short we made it and Charlie was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Life as the skippers wife was very different. I think my role was somewhere between Social Worker and Social Secretary. The Patrol boat H.M.A.S Bunbury patrolled the Indian Ocean looking for illegal fisherman and boat people which was not the problem it is today Life was fairly social because the Skippers of the patrol boats and their partners had to represent Naval Officer Commanding Western Australia at official functions, known as N.O.C.W.A, which meant you had to have good baby-sitting arrangements, we were fortunate to have our parish priests daughters, we kept them in pocket money. At a function held at N.O.C.W.A’S residence we had reason to want to kill this beautiful adopted daughter of ours, it was a function where children were allowed to come, in fact it was a family function. Well, Temiel was being very naughty and Admiral Beard was forever placating us, telling us not to worry, he gave up and eventually took Temiel from us and deposited her with his steward in the kitchen. We were happily eating our meal when this delightful two year old came from the kitchen brandishing the most enormous carving knife, we swallowed hard and calmly removed it from her hands, so much for taking children to official functions from that night on we vowed we would always use a baby sitter. Life in Rockingham was very different; I used to cycle everywhere with my little dickie seat for Temiel on the back. I also became something of activist for Naval Families, as there was a great shortage of childcare facilities and support services for Navy Families. On one occasion I was to meet Kim Beasley, the then Minister for Defence, decided to cycle to the meeting, carrying my good clothes to change with me, got all dressed up, was in the meeting and happened to look at him to find him staring at my feet, well OOPS I had forgotten to change my shoes, I had the most disgusting old shoes on, he commented later and made light of it, just goes to show we are all human. Time in Rockingham passed quickly we loved the warmer climate and I fell in love with Bunbury, so much so, we brought land down there and booked Temiel into the Grammar School. Bunbury had a close relationship with the Patrol Boat which still happens today, we also made friends with a family that are still very close friends now. Our holidays were nearly always down south to Busselton as the navy have a caravan park called ‘Amblin’, a great place five minutes from the ocean and a lovely safe place for kids. We lived in Rockingham for three happy years.

In April 1989 we were to face the biggest move of our lives and one of the most challenging times of our lives, an overseas posting, excitement plus, organisation plus, plus, this was a nightmare. Official passports, medical checks, three inventories, selling car, organising banking arrangements, uniforms, briefings and the list goes on. We were posted to London, Australia House, Charlie's job was Staff Officer to the Head of the Australian Defence forces, and a mouthful in any mans language. I had to organise three inventories, sea freight, airfreight and storage. It was a nightmare counting everything, working out what you wanted done with it and so on, we were only allowed nine cubic metres of sea freight so I decided to use a sticker system to make it easier. The removal took three days, I was sick of it in the finish. We decided to go to Perth and stay a couple of days prior to leaving Australia to have a rest and do any last minute bits and pieces.

The day of departure finally arrived and we had literally tons of luggage, six suitcases and ten pieces of hand luggage, it was horrific booking it all in. The Navy paid our excess baggage or we would have been up the creek. We were advised to take all items necessary to begin our new life in suitcases as airfreight. We had arranged to fly with Qantas to Hong Kong spend four days in Hong Kong and then mosey off to London with British Airlines, all business class wow! It was great, I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong shopping, my first time overseas so there was so much to see and do. I was like a small child, so excited; I brought jewelry, clothes, and all sorts of bits and pieces. We took Temiel to Toys Are us, it was fantastic, and she wore her Alf glasses everywhere. Our accommodation was The Sheraton Towers, a swanky hotel overlooking the Harbour with a house boy, no expense was spared I thought I had died and gone to heaven, time went too quickly. In no time at all it seemed we were back at Kai Tak airport with Chinese people running around like ants on ant hill, chooks, geese, ducks and snakes - all manner of animal life, it was a bun fight we were taking a late night flight with Temiel in our arms asleep and we were trying to book our luggage through, what a performance. The Chinese staff at the booking counter were horrible, they gave us a hard time, too mucchey luggage, where you from, why you go, it went on, finally we started to crack. I think Charlie started saying Diplomatic, then we started to get somewhere, and we were finally ushered to the departure lounge. We boarded our flight and settled down for our ten hour flight to London, we were to refuel in New Delhi, just outside of New Delhi we could smell a burning smell in the galley, the galley aft had overheated so we had to put down in New Delhi to have it repaired. Six hours later, no air-conditioning going and we were not allowed out of the plane we waited and waited getting hotter and hotter, we once again were on our way, oh no, more trouble the crew had run out of flying time, instead of being off to London we were off to Abu Dhabi to wait until a fresh crew could be picked up. This was fast becoming scary and a nightmare, we finally put down in Abu Dhabi, to be bussed from the plane across the dessert by people carrying Kalashenkov rifles, us with Official Passports, real hostage material, well we were scared we sat as far away from people as we could, not wanting draw attention to ourselves, with this small child not understanding what this was all about saying" that ladies got a gun why." Are they going to shoot us " great fun, we needed to go to the toilet, what an experience, then we had to get something to eat, the airline arranged for us to have sandwiches, juice and yogurt, it was disgusting but we were hungry so we just put up with it, we were at this horrid place for three hours and were never so happy to leave. Finally we were back on board exhausted and pleased to be in the safe haven of our plane and something that resembled normal. We finally arrived in London; a flight that should have taken ten hours took eighteen hours.

London was great, the High Commission housed us in a serviced apartment in Kensington just off the High Street, they had placed food in the fridge for us so we were able to get our bearings and we did loads of sight seeing for the first couple of days then we had to get on with the business of house hunting as Charlie’s leave would not last for ever. While all this was happening I was starting to feel very uneasy, I felt that someone was trailing me. I decided not to say anything and just hope it would stop. Charlie’s leave finished, he was now at work in Australia House with acting rank of Commander, we had found a house after much looking, a beautiful big house with a real laundry or as the Brits call it, a utility room. You will never guess how hard it is to find a house with a real laundry until you live in England as the Brits wash in the Kitchen... Yuck! Now Temiel and I just had to wait until we could move into our new home which was in the Borough of Croyden, in the county of Surrey, a little place called Purley. I still thought I was being followed, this was really beginning to disturb me so I finally told Charlie and he said not to worry. Finally it stopped but I wanted to know what was going on, this was the last straw and then Charlie finally told me the security people were conducting a security check Phew! Our big house was located in a private estate and all the people were either moneyed or ‘would be if they could be’s. We finally moved, found a local Anglican Church, nursery school, play school, worked out shopping, bought ourselves a car, an old Peugot Estate, life was progressing. It was getting close to Christmas, we were so excited, an English Christmas and maybe even snow. Life in the High Commission was getting busy too, we were now expected to go to Diplomatic functions so a baby sitter had to be found. We started looking for someone through church, this was not successful.. We had started to make friends with our neighbours, problem solved, as they had three daughters who we really felt comfortable with. Peter, the dad was an Irishman and the mum was a real Cockney Londoner, they were fantastic people. Peter was a builder, a great guy and in no way a snob, some of the people in the estate would look down their noses at him, but he was the wealthiest person on the estate and they did not know it. Pauline, his wife was to become a close friend, both Pauline and Peter taught our daughter to be a real pom, she now could say words like jam and my dad in the best pommy accent you ever heard, they also taught her to say things like Peter is a miserable old fart, so much for education. We had also become friends with our other neighbours, Christina and Andrew, this couple were lovely but the biggest snobs you would ever like to meet, Andrew was an executive with British Telecom, Christina was South American, Andrew's dad was Member of the Conservative Party and a councilor on the Croydon Council, Christina had been spoilt rotten, couldn’t cook, we soon changed that in the time we were in the UK. I had her quite the domesticated housewife. A funny story about this couple, we invited them to dinner, Andrew asked Charlie what should we wear, Charlie said to just dress casually. Well, we thought we would fix them so we got dressed in formal evening attire. Andrew arrived early to bring some of their son’s bottles etc over and spied us all dressed up so he went home to change. Snobbery rules!

Christmas came, it was cold but did not snow, we were able to have the whole traditional bit, but the most fun was being Santa, we had a chimney for Santa to come down and Temiel was of the age when Santa is important, so we played up to the part decorating the house, putting some whiskey out for Santa to keep him warm, some carrots for the Reindeers etc, we stuffed the chimney full of Christmas paper, it was great and to see it through a child's eyes was truly beautiful.

Temiel enjoyed Nursery School, Mrs Topley was the nursery school teacher, a real old school arm, and she wore lilac coloured twin sets and pleated skirts. Temiel was a bit too outspoken for her, both Charlie and I have always been pretty up front people and Temiel has always been taught to be honest in all things, there never ever has been any problem with the disclosure of her adoption, Temiel has known since the day she was brought into our household, she is adopted and adoption is nothing to be ashamed off, in fact we believe it is something to be proud of because she was chosen. This did prove to be a bit too much for this old girl and to be outspoken in an English Nursery School There were two incidents which demonstrate that being outspoken was not the accepted behavior at pommy nursery schools, one was when the children were being taught about other countries, Mrs Topley was talking about a Hong Kong building (which was no longer there). Temiel put her hands up and said, "I am sorry Mrs Topley that is wrong it is not there anymore " she was livid. Another time was when the topic of brothers and sisters was being discussed, Mrs Topley insisted that Temiel did not have brothers and sisters. Temiel said " I have a half sister, she lives with my other mother." This was too much for this old darling. I threatened to pull Temiel out of the school, Mrs Topley would not have this because it would be known in Australia House that her nursery school was old fashioned and old fuddy duddy ran it. Who said we are in the twentieth century? Temiel, when she was four went to school at Christ Church, Purley, an Anglican School. Choosing a school was hard work, the state schools were terrible, the school system is three tiered, state, church and then several different levels of private schools. We investigated the lot. A funny story was when we were interviewed by one of the more exclusive girl's schools. The head was a Deaconess and was most keen for us to send our daughter there, an interview was arranged and we were ushered by the receptionist to this dingy office, greeted by the Deaconess sitting at a desk on a podium, "What can I do for you "was her greeting, we went on to explain, all was going well, she then decided to take us around the school. The uniforms looked like a mixture between Carneby Street and those worn by the girls in the movies about Saint Trinnians, they were purple, yellow and green with straw boaters. The class rooms looked like prison cells and the old deaconess referred to the girls "as our girls", and used language such as "we expect" and "my dear," there was no way we were going to commit a child to this kind of prison. Temiel ended up at Christ Church School associated to our local church. This too had its faults, the school was old and it had a couple of interesting teachers, Claire Rockley was a Christadelphian, she was a frightful teacher, she used to tell the kids " that they would not get to heaven without Jesus in their heart, to which Temiel reply was "Jesus would get all bloody if he was in my heart". Temiel did ballet and gymnastics in the UK; she appeared in a ballet show for four night's also gymnastic displays, an experience and a half for a five-year-old.

Charlie and I were now in the swing of things; we were in and out of Embassies, going to all sorts of functions meeting funny, interesting and mighty strange people. Charlie was working long hours involved with the Embassy Social Club and a member of the Association for Junior Naval Attaches known as AJANA. I was a member of the Australian Women's Club, the Embassy Wives Social Club and doing stuff for our local church plus running Temiel here and there. Life was going at a frenetic pace. I sometimes started my day at six and finished it at two or three in the morning, I often went up to London twice a day, being there for lunch and then up for functions in the evening, thank God for the weekends as they were always free in Diplomatic circles. I became a great fan of all the opp shops; they dressed me while we lived in London. I was seen at many a function in either a catalogue number or an opp shop outfit, it was too expensive to have everything new. We were going to the Theatre a lot seeing shows such as Cats, Phantom, Aspects of Love, Les Miserrables and others, this was great. You did however soon learn to appreciate the weekends which were usually spent slopping around in old clothes and slippers.

Holidays were great, we usually went off touring, going to places like Scotland and the Lakes Districts, Plymouth, Lands End, places the Brits thought were a long way a way, it was nothing for us to go two or three hundred kilometres in a weekend touring. The Brits used to shake their heads and think those silly Aussies, off again. We had three overseas holidays while we were in the UK and went on a tour on our way back home at the completion of our posting. Charlie and I for our sixteenth wedding anniversary went to Paris, a beautiful romantic three day break, we went to the Moulin Rouge, an amazing show, the first five minutes you were shocked by the nudity after that you spend the whole time amazed at the costumes and the entertainers. We cruised the Seine and walked the Champs Elyesesa; we did not go to the Eiffel Tower because it was too crowded. We had a great time; we stayed at a Hotel called Concorde Saint Lesare, a beautiful building. we walked all around Paris even to the Latin Quarter, Paris never sleeps. We also went to Rome that was a real experience, we stayed in close proximity to the Coliseum, an amazing experience to touch the twentieth century with one hand and the buildings built before the sixteenth century with the other, the history was amazing, visiting places like Vatican City and Saint Peter’s Square, we were there on the Easter Weekend so we saw Pope John Paul give his Papal address, we had a couple of funny experiences though, Temiel was sitting on her father’s shoulders, when she made the comment the is not the head of our church, the Queen is, the power of indoctrination. The other experience was our hotel; it was like Faulty Towers. The son of the owner was the only one who could speak English, he wore Coke bottle glasses and wore a striped apron and slopped around in shoes that seemed like they were five times to big for him, he was always saying "what you want?" In five days he only got one order correct, he was a bit of a laugh, he used to get flustered easily. Ireland was another holiday. I love Ireland, it is somewhere that has forgotten about the twentieth century, the people are just so friendly, they would give you their shirt off their back, we saw tractors on the road everywhere, we went to the Blarney Stone but we did not kiss it. We stayed in a thatched cottage in a place called White Gate not far from Waterford, I will one day go back to Ireland, I relate to the place, there is definitely some of the paddy in me.

The highlight of our posting was being invited to Buckingham Palace for The Garden Party, the royal tournament and being presented to the Queen. We were presented at Westminster Abbey on the occasion of the seventy fifth ANZAC day, that was special and also very funny, the Queen just came down the line of people being presented when, a member of the House of Lords, the worse for drink, fell through the Poppies sending them in all directions. I had to contain myself from really cracking up. The hardest thing I ever faced was The Gulf War, Australia House was running a war office, taxis used to come for Charlie in the night and there were many strange phone calls during that time. I thank God I did not know what was going on, it was scary, we never know how we value our freedom, until there is any risk of it being taken away.

We were posted back to Australia in September 1991. In July we completed our time in the UK with a grand tour of Europe, we toured for ten days it was fantastic. We went to France, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Italy, Switzerland and then back to France, stopping over in the UK for a few days and then heading off for another tour, this time to Florida in the USA, taking Temiel to Disney World and Hawaii, I loved this holiday, were in desperate need of a rest after such a hectic posting. We have been really blessed; we were so lucky to do things we had only dreamt of.

Once back in Australia, we were posted to Canberra again, Charlie was to work in the Russell offices in the directorate of Joint Command and Control Policy, a tri-service posting. After his work in London, this was a yawn, he was back with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and feeling disillusioned with the Navy and starting to think it was time to move on. We were living in Red Hill in a small rented house, a comedown from our lovely big house in England. Temiel was at Canberra Girls Grammar and there was a sense of marking time waiting for something better to happen, maybe a promotion. We had gone to Western Australia at Easter time to organise for a house to be built on our block with a thought that we would like to move back to Western Australia in the near future. Charlie had made the decision, he had written the letter to the heavies telling them of his resignation from the RAN, we were leaving Navy life behind after twenty one and a half years, we were moving on, a time of more changes. We were very unsettled after the excitement of London and we were finding it hard to comedown to earth after a posting like that, we believed we were so fortunate to do so much and both of us just ordinary people, not from rich backgrounds with our folks were Aussie battlers. We never changed; we just enjoyed the moment.

In October 1992 we moved into the second home we had had built for us. This was in Bunbury in Western Australia. Our own home.......a big four bedroom house, thirty squares. We now were facing a somewhat uncertain future, a future that was going to be vastly different, life without the Navy and all the highs and lows it brought, it was a lovely feeling to be in charge of your own destiny, a sense of moving on was really within both of us. Temiel was too young to really worry; every day was an adventure for a seven-year-old. This was to be where we had the freedom to put down roots and grow to be a big tree. Bunbury was not new to us, we had made friends, we knew where the church was and knew some of the parishioners, Temiel was booked into the grammar school, we were familiar with the cities layout, we were comfortable about moving to Bunbury as we sensed Bunbury was going to be home for us years before. It was just a great feeling not to start afresh, as you get older the starting afresh gets harder. The only uncertainty we had was work for Charlie, he had been in a very secure environment for twenty years that really ordered his life, he was now in charge of his own destiny, with Gods help of course, he wasn’t worried, he knew he had skills.

One Sunday evening after church Charlie received a phone call from someone we had met at church, David Sherrard. He rang to ask if Charlie was interested in a job, if so could he come to his house on Monday night to discuss it. The meeting took place and Charlie was taken on as a relief Marine Surveyor with training taking place on the job. I became involved with Milligan House and landed myself a small cleaning job, it was great, just two doors from home, and all of this was almost too good to be true. Marine surveying part-time was not paying enough, we were getting to a point where we would have to start dipping into our savings, when we approached our local Community house with the idea of running Navigation courses, this too ended up being highly successful and was also helping to keep the wolf from the door. This was the beginning of our long association with Milligan House; we ended up both being on the Management Committee. Charlie also started to get involved with the RSL, he was soon elected onto their executive committee and then there was Saint Boniface Cathedral, our local church. We were soon very actively involved in Parish Council; I started attending a local craft group and ended up on its committee, so much for retirement. We were now busier than we had ever been in our lives and we were enjoying being involved, we were meeting new people and making a difference in our community. Charlie was nominated for Citizen of the Year.

In 1994 life was once again turned upside down, Charlie had to have a medical for Active Reserve time, Charlie wanted to serve as reserve Captain of a Patrol boat, this was for two reasons, one was extra money and the other was just to stay in touch with the navy. Our GP decided that he wanted him to have some tests and be seen by a Cardiologist, the Cardiologist booked Charlie into the Mount Private Hospital for tests. Dr Hocking conducted an Angiogram and discovered four severely blocked arteries; he required an emergency By-pass. At eleven o'clock on the ninth of February I received a phone call from Dr Hocking telling me that he had arranged a By -Pass for one pm. God. Bunbury being two hours from Perth and me not driving, what was I going to do, then another phone call telling me that they had put surgery off till five pm, this was better, I ran around like a mad thing making all sorts of phone calls, the school etc, departed on the train for Perth with a close friend who is now a female Anglican Priest, we arrived at our motel. I made another phone call only to be told my husband had been transferred by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital. What was going on, it took three phone calls to track him down by this time, I was almost out of my mind. My friend and I walked to the hospital and finally found the ward he was in, to be told that surgery was scheduled for the next day. I spent a very long day waiting and waiting; finally he was back in the ward alive, hooked up to all sorts of cardiac monitors drips etc. Thoughts went through my head and my mother’s death revisited, I waited until mid night when he was finally breathing by himself, he was going to make it. Recovery was good and Charlie was soon well, three days after being released from hospital he had organised himself a job interview, he was applying to work for a shipping company called SGS, he was successful in his application and worked for them for about six months, he had to leave working for David because there was insufficient work for him. For me this really impacted, a terrible sense of being through all this before, the big difference was Charlie made it, even so the worry took its toll.

In May 1994 tragedy struck again, Charlie’s brother was killed in a hit run accident at the age of 48, he was crossing a street in Perth when a four wheel drive collected him he had serious head injuries, he died never regaining conscious after five days.

In September 1994 I went to America with seventeen friends, we had been involved with Amway for a couple of years, a trip to America to visit Amway Headquarters was arranged, we thought this could be a great opportunity and were caught up in the Amway hipe. I had a great time visiting Honolulu, Michigan, Los Angeles and San Francisco, however when I came back we really did not do much with our Amway business, we are still distributors though. It was just a great holiday for me, a chance to see more of the world.

David Sherrard approached Charlie again to help him with Marine Surveying, Charlie was to work for David while he was away in the UK playing veterans Rugby Union, this came at a good time, money was short and there were times when we had to break into our reserves. David returned after playing rugby, he was not well, after undergoing tests he was diagnosed as having inoperable pancreatic cancer, once again Charlie was back running back stop. David’s health deteriorated rapidly he died six months later. David, before his death handed his Marine Surveying business over to Charlie saying that he was as good as any son to him, a very moving time. Marine surveying has gone from strength to strength, Charlie now does roughly ten ships a month and Bunbury port gets busier, the work is hard and the hours are long, for me it is just as hard as the life in the navy.

Since coming to Bunbury in 1992, the years have flown, there have been events that have punctuated our time, as a family we a have all moved on.

Temiel is now sixteen, she was seven when we arrived in Bunbury, she has been fortunate to experience so much, living overseas, being part of church groups, traveled to Sydney and Adelaide on her own, been able to pursue her love of dancing, been able to participate in life to the max with few barriers, she now has moved on, working part-time, has a boyfriend, is now in year eleven, has made decisions of what she wants to do with herself when she finishes school, she is going to do Child Care at TAFE, this will all impact on us as a family, I believe we nurture children and love them to set them free to have the dignity of risk, it is really hard though because we love them, she has to find her own way in life and experience it for herself.

For Charlie the years have gone by quickly, he remains committed to making a difference in so many peoples lives, by being involved in prison ministry, church life, RSL, mens fellowship. Marine surveying remains his paid employment and provides a means to an end, the hours are long and the work is sometimes hard, he sees a light at the end of the tunnel when he will retire and be free to pursue the things he wants from life. I can see all of the above not changing in retirement just doing more for others by the virtue of Charlie being Charlie, I know he too wants to travel more and have longer holidays. Bunbury has given him a place where he has been able to make many friends, Charlie's home is his castle, there has been highs and lows for him too, the by-pass, his brother’s death, his other brother Bill’s continual bad health, my health problems, my brothers, the highs have been the freedom and the ability to help others. He has no regrets about leaving the Navy, he has moved on.

The final chapter in my father’s life closed in June 1999; he finally met his maker and was reunited with my mother in heaven. He had a cerebral hemorrhage. He was in Randwick R.S.L Club, one of his favourite watering holes; at the bar having a drink when he went ‘a over t’ and landed on the floor, my brother Jason was with him and called the Ambulance. He was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital critically ill and he never regained consciousness. Dad died eight days later, a sad time. I believe he is now happy as he is reunited with his best friend. There is humour in all events, when you look for it - on the day my dad, Martin was buried, and Bev and I were heading out of Sydney when the most terrible storm struck. There was thunder, lightening, you name it, I think this was my dad and mum uniting. I think the conversation would have went like this....... ‘Martin you ‘b......’ why did it take you so long to get here, I have been waiting for you for nearly twenty years" dad would say..... " move over and let me in I am bloody cold" or " shut up old woman and give a man a break" . I miss both of them but now feel at peace because I know this is how God planned it.

For me the time in Bunbury has been good, I have been able to pursue a further education doing a Certificate in Attention Deficit Disorder at the University of Western Australia, a Certificate in Horticulture, being able to participate in craft groups, enjoy my garden which is always in a process of evolution. Bunbury has been a stable life style which enables me to be involved in community groups and given me the freedom to pursue friendships and assist family members when needed, we have had my dad live with us w hen he was alive, and now we have my brothers living in close proximity to us, I now can help with out the hindrance of having to go east when crisis arise and there will always be some by the virtue of who they are in their background. I believe Bunbury has been a good place to bring up children, free of some of the big city influences and just enough of the influence of country lift e to make a good balance. The education offered has been more or less what we planned for our daughter.

The future... who knows? I would like to travel more, see more of Australia and the world, I would like to work professionally as a horticulturist, I want to be involved with making the difference both with people and our environment, I want to have the gift of discernment, to know when and how to accept change and not be angry about it, also to have the wisdom to search for new solutions to old problems, CARE about this wonderful place called Australia and be Australian, in middle age I want to be seen for myself, not a preconceived notion. I have a great dislike for Hypocrisy and have no time for hypocrites I am fast becoming disenchanted with the globalization movement it is my belief our authentic roots are fast being removed only to be replaced with hotch poch of ideas and icons. I grieve that things like Vegemite and Arnotts are gone to the multi nationals off shore. I am also very anti genetic engineering to me this is immoral.

In 2002 it is more important then ever to care about our world the people and the environment we need to be good stewards of this great country called Australia, we need to when we depart this earth to be sure we left it in as good or better condition then when we found it, in other do our bit to preserve what is great.