House buying

The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

smaller one used mainly by farmers etc. for their weekly shopping expeditions. Shopping on horseback was a fairly common sight.

Our first Christmas down under was different! It was very hot!. We went to Jean’s for the evening on Christmas Eve, Colin’s parents had arrived on the 19th. On Christmas morning we went to service then on to some neighbours near the flat for drinks after which we went to friends of Colin’s for a swim in their pool. A light lunch, games with the children and then the turkey and plum pudding in the cool (80 degrees) of the evening. On New Years Eve we went to service and then a swim at Brookfield and having made up our minds to look for a home of our own we went to look at one in Enoggera, that day it was 104 degrees! We had been invited to visit the Gold Coast with Harold and his wife but were unlucky with the weather because it rained but Harold and I went for a swim in very rough seas.

We bought 110, Stanley Terrace, Taringa on January 3rd, fully furnished including a T.V. which we soon changed. Brisbane was surrounded by 7 hills with a Roman Catholic building on the summit of one of them. Our site was on the top of a minor hill with roads running down sharply on two sides. It was fairly rural with lots of trees and strange (to us) shrubs in our front garden. In the back garden we had avocados, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and a banana tree which produced lots of fruit which we had to gather before the flying foxes ate them. The house was set up on concrete pieces which were 8 ft tall at the back because of the steep slope and each was topped by a metal skirt to prevent ants and other crawlies getting inside. The construction was wooden framed covered on the outside with clapboard and on the inside with vertical matchboard, including the ceilings. The floors were polished hardwood. The roof was corrugated iron, perfectly watertight but very noisy when it rained ! 76

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Our windows had the old type wood slat blinds and we had some awnings too but no insect screens.

1968.

In January I was made responsible for all sales from customers in Papua-New Guinea and in March I went up to our branch in Bundaberg to assist a new manager to settle in there. I left at 6.45 a.m.on the Monday in a new Holden ‘ute’ which I was taking up for the new manager. The town in appearance was very much like some of the cowboy places seen on films with a wide main street with covered sidewalks and balconies. I was accommodated in a western style hotel with all the comforts, including mosquitoes, plenty of good food and drink, typically Aussie. I very much enjoyed travelling round the countryside with my ‘protege’ . I returned to Brisbane by air in a Fokker Friendship on Friday and then Mum and I went to Tugun on the Gold Coast where Jean and Colin had the use of a friend’s house on the edge of a lovely white sandy beach and the sea.

Fokker Friendship

We spent most of the weekend on the beach and in the sea, the sand was so hot that we couldn’t walk in bare feet or lie down without some protection under and over. We did fit in a visit to a lovely bird sanctuary. The following Friday I was on duty one day for the Toowoomba Show and on the Saturday we attended a function at Cromwell College, U.of Q. at St. Lucia, the training establishment for future Congregational Ministers. We were beginning to feel part of the community now and were made to feel that way by most people. Our immediate neighbours were a retired American naval officer and his Australian wife and an Austrian refugee and his English wife who was the daughter of J.F.Wiseman, chairman of Birmingham

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City F.C., they had a pet wallaby. We had to adapt to the new currency, the very humid atmosphere, no light evenings in the summer, thirst, newspapers being thrown from the delivery van onto the front lawn even when wet. Mum learned to avoid the hot side seats on public transport, drive-in cinemas, the number of small stores that sold hot and cold snacks and cold drinks in addition to numerous small cafes in the city, people taking off their socks and shoes in heavy rain, and temperature extremes from the heat outside to the icy blasts from the air conditioning inside. I was impressed by the size of the ‘properties’, I knew of one sheep farm that stretched for 80 miles from one boundary to the other.

In May we attended the opening of some Old People’s flats at Wynham on the coast, under the auspices of our church. We had been very much involved serving on the responsible committees and working on the preparation of the site. etc.

Kenmore Pool

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The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

In June Mick and Wendy came to spend a three week holiday with us and we were able to take them to all the local sites of interest. We had several days by the sea at Shorncliffe and watched Australian Rules football, college rugby union, and rugby league international against England. I made myself known to the manager who was a great friend of one of the reps. who called on F.Sparrow and Sons and often gave us two tickets for the Rugby League final at Wembley.

Fiona developed appendicitis on July 3rd and Andrew and I had a day at Greenmount helping with repairs at the church holiday bungalows in the ‘sticks’. I was elected a deacon for the church and had one of several visits to cricket games in connection with my work. November began to warm up a bit and I have recordings on 3 consecutive days, in the shade, of 93, 98, 104 degrees. As Christmas approached Harold and I entertained some of our best clients e.g. Military Staff.

We went to an unforgettable Carol concert at the City Hall where 600 children, Fiona was one of them, from primary and junior classes were singing. The girls were in white dresses and the boys in white shirts and dark trousers, they looked a picture en masse and sounded as good as they looked.

Doff and I were members of a committee formed by the churches of Ann Street to look after the welfare of the city’s homeless men. There were a large number of them, mostly middle and old aged and many were ‘winos’ addicted to methylated spirits.We would take our turn on duty at their headquarters where refreshments and entertainment were laid on but it was a job to keep them from their bottle. Just before Christmas Doff and I were gardening and somehow I knocked a plank of wood which fell on Doff’s head and caused her to fall to the ground with a split head. We ‘phoned Colin and he came and did some stitching. On Christmas Day we went again to

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Brookfield for a swim and then back to Kenmore for the day. An eventful first full year down under, lots and lots of new experiences. mostly good, some not so good.

The year 1969 started off with a period of storms. On 27th January, Australia Day, we all spent a day at Cunningham’s Gap. We found some unusual social customs, e.g. it was fine to attend services at the Church in open neck shirts but for social gatherings following evening service jackets and ties had to be worn. We had very little spare time, work was very busy and I did a lot of travelling and both of us were on several committees and Doff had her volunteer work with the U.N. all of which was rewarding. Holiday time was here again and we had decided to go north to the Sunshine Coast spending the first night at Mooloolaba and heading towards Nambour where the sugar cane trains run through the main street. We spent two nights in Noosa taking in the National Park and then to Nooseville where we found a comfortable Motel and booked in for the rest of the holiday. It overlooked the river where there was always plenty of fishing going on and in the middle of the river was an island inhabited by pelicans. These huge ungainly looking birds would wait until the fishermen had caught and gutted their fish and would then swoop down onto the water like a lot of seaplanes, load up their baggy beaks and take off for home.

We went to Noosa Heads to watch the surfing, to Peregian Beach for a swim and then to Sunshine Beach for more swimming. June was winter and although to us the temperature was better than we were accustomed to in summer I was always the sole occupant of the sea! On our second trip to Sunshine Beech I left Doff at the top of the cliff and was down below enjoying myself when I saw a man shouting and waving his arms about near the car and thought something had happened to Doff until I saw that he was pointing out to sea, and then the penny dropped - about 100 yards from where I was swim80

The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

ming there was a row of fins sticking up from the water - I was like a cork out of a bottle - they were sharks.

It was not all sunshine, we did have some rain but it didn’t interfere with us much and we were able to have some lovely walks, one day finding a dead turtle on the beach. At the end of our 3 week holiday we had a few days at home, gardening etc.

Despite the fact that we were happy enough in our activities and surroundings Doff was finding the weather a bit too much with the heat and humidity and the severity of the storms. We decided that we had better return to the U.K. and started making the necessary arrangements. Having come out by air and one of my ambitions being a long sea voyage, that was the mode of transport we settled on for our return. At the end of June I was able to book a cabin, No. C 73 on the P.& O. SS Orcades sailing from Sydney on 15th Dec. We carried on normally with our various jobs and recreations and learning something new all the time. On 30th Nov. we left 10, Stanley Terrace with a lot of regrets because we had both become fond of the place and it’s situation and frequently talk about it now. We moved in with Jean and family in Kenmore until our departure. Another baby was due at the beginning of December but Jean was determined that before going into hospital Sarah should have a good birthday on Dec.2nd, and she did although the icing and candles on the cake melted. Simon duly arrived on Dec.4th to give Andrew a brother to help stand up to 3 sisters!.all was well.

Colin had been busy in his spare time excavating by hand for the installation of a swimming pool with which I was able to help in the latter stages, and to enjoy it’s facilities on several occasions.

On Sunday Dec. 14th after a dip in the pool and an early lunch Colin, Jean and Simon took us to the ‘bus station at North Quay and 81

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waiting there to see us off was Rev. Rees Thomas. We left at 1.30 p.m. for the 600 mile journey to Sydney and after stops for supper and an early morning cup of tea we arrived in Sydney at 7 a.m. After a leisurely breakfast at a nearby Cafe we took a taxi to the docks to the P.& O. berth, boarded the Orcades, We were safely installed in our very comfortable cabin and sailed at 12 noon into rough seas and a rather cool and rough night. However the next day the sea was calm, the

SS Orcades

sun was hot and we arrived at Melbourne at 1800 hr and spent that night and the next day there. We were able to go and have a look round the city.

Before proceeding any further on our journey I will tell you about our cabin and the facilities of what was to be our home for the next 5 weeks. The cabin was on the 3rd deck port side and was equipped with double tiered bunks, wardrobes, dressing table, chair, washbasin etc. a telephone, jug and glasses and a porthole. The toilets, showers and baths were just across the passage. The vessel was one class, most of the waiters were from Goa and were very good. It was a floating hotel with 2 dining rooms, 2 swimming pools, library and shops, cinemas, lounges inside and out side, post office and bank. The food was excellent with a good choice and there was evening entertainment, a daily news letter and a reminder as to when to change the time on watches as we travelled westwards. We sailed from Melbourne at 2100 hrs. on the 17th and docked in Adelaide on the 18th at 2000hrs. We spent the morning of the 19th in Adelaide and sailed into a rough sea in the Bight leaving at 1400 hrs. The rough seas continued until we docked at Freemantle on Monday 22nd at 7.30 a.m. In the meantime we had, with our morn82

The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

ing tea served by our steward, a radiogram saying that Wendy had given birth to a son, Mark Andrew on the 21st. That meant we had 2 grandsons born within the space of 16 days. We looked round the port of Freemantle in the morning and then at 3 p.m. left to spend 9 days in the Indian Ocean before docking at Durban on 31st December. A group of children gave us a dancing display on the quayside, and although we were only there for a few hours we managed a trip ashore and for the first time saw apartheid in action. We went into a Post Office to buy some stamps and found the interior split into two, one side for whites and one for blacks and the policy was not to serve the blacks until all the whites had been served. Seeing this sort of thing in action was horrifying but we were to see worse in Cape Town. We left the port at 1900 hrs and sailed off into 1970. And so along the coast of South Africa where I stood on deck in the darkness trying to imagine what was going on in some of the more isolated parts of the coastal strip. The isolation of that trip across the Indian Ocean (only 1 other ship seen, and that was going in the opposite direction) was an unforgettable experience with glorious sunrises and sunsets. We crossed in warm and sunny weather until we ran into rough seas round the Cape of Good Hope and berthed at 09.15 on 3rd January with a wonderful view of Table Mountain. Air travel is so much quicker but oh what you miss!!! In the afternoon of that day we had a lovely scenic tour along the coast to Hut Bay with afternoon tea en route. Here again we were to see apartheid with bathing beaches marked White and

Table Mountain

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Black. We ventured forth into the city on our own at night, saw part of the Mardi Gras Festival and the lights on top of Table Mountain with illuminated cable cars going up and down - fascinating my diary says. We were due to sail at 1300 hrs. on 3rd Jan. so in the morning we took ourselves into the city to see what it was like in daylight and to do some shopping. In the middles of all this I was stricken suddenly with a severe tummy upset so you can imagine what it was like looking for a toilet in a strange place in ever increasing desperation. To my great relief I did find one but only to be turned away because it was for Blacks only! My coloured friend directed me to the right (Whites) nearby but only just in the nick of time. Some experience to remember a great city by!! I must have made a good recovery because that evening, on board and at sea again, we saw ‘Mary Poppins’ at the cinema, participated in ‘What’s my Line’ and went to the Old Tyme Dance! We were now travelling well off the African Coast en route to Senegal and at various times we were 400 miles off St. Helena and 600 miles off Ascension Island, and of course on the Atlantic Ocean. We were now being accompanied by flying fish and other strange maritime creatures. The weather was glorious and our entertainment included swimming sports, ship’s concert, Scottish dancing and on the 8th January we crossed the equator with the traditional King Canute’s Court ceremony.This day was marred by a tragedy when a 5 week old baby was found suffocated in it’s cot.

We berthed at Dakar in Senegal at 1300 hrs. on the 10th. Here we were greeted by numerous colourful stalls manned by the natives selling fruit, souvenirs etc. accompanied by the beating of the tomtoms and other, not very musical instruments. We also saw the Muslims at the hour of prayer when one man selling beautiful rugs, grabbed one from his stall and took up his appointed place on the Quayside and used the mat for his prayer session. In the evening we had a rare treat when the real African Ballet came on board and gave

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us a marvellous show, bare bosoms and all! We sailed in the early hours of the next morning, bound for Lisbon. The weather was getting cooler and showery and it was like that when we berthed at Lisbon at 0700 hrs. on the 14th. We had a look around the city on our own in the morning and in the afternoon we had a coach trip along

Sintra the coast to Estoril and then inland through the countryside to Sintra where we were able to look round an old castle.

We sailed at midnight for Rotterdam and sunbathing was now out of the question! The seas were rough and there was a gale force wind blowing,we were in the Bay of Biscay. Ropes were put round the decks for handholds and there were plenty of empty places at mealtimes. We eventually arrived in Rotterdam at 09.15, two and a half hours late. We were fog bound all day finally sailing at 22.00 hrs., 9 hrs. late. This delay was going to cause us all problems at Southampton, those who were being met by relatives and those who like us were catching trains with connections in London. The fog had cleared by the time we berthed at 1400 hrs. 18th Jan. but there were more problems ahead, we were in the middle of a labour dispute with the dock workers and had to sort and unload our own luggage. By the time we had cleared customs we just managed to catch the train to Waterloo, taxi to Liverpool St. where we left at 17.30 for Ipswich. A taxi from the station to Mick’s in Westerfield, time 21.20 hours! Quite a memorable end to 5 weeks of luxury and learning, and weatherwise a complete change from Queensland and hot December to Suffolk in cold and bleak January. But, another new grandson to see !

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