August 24 - 30, 2022
By BELINDA HARRISON
BETTY Mitchell had never spent much time colouring in or drawing in her younger years but now the 87 year olds’ room at Rangeview Private Nursing Home in Wangaratta is covered with her work. Betty entered Rangeview two years ago and found she was getting a bit bored as ‘there is only so much knitting and crocheting you can do’ and she was used to keeping busy. While she had been an avid Bingo player at Grey House and when she first moved into Rangeview, when Betty fell and broke her wrist, she was unable to knit, crochet or do much of anything for a time, so her daughter Kylie bought her a couple of colouring books and some Textas and suggested she pass the time that way. “She now goes through about two packets of Textas a week and she’s quite particular about the books I bring her in to colour,” Kylie said. “They have to interest her or she’ll make me take them away again.” When Betty was 17 she was a nurse at Sydney Royal Prince Albert Hospital, working two days on the ward and two days with the babies - which she loved. She then worked at the Adelyn Clothing Factory which was on the corner of Wodonga Place and Hovell Street in Albury where she made dresses. The factory had previously been in Olive Street and was known as the Alamac Clothing Factory from its establishment in 1943 until around 1945. At that time they were engaged in making drill trousers, drill berets and bandoleers for the defence force and approximately 60 women were employed in the factory. In July 1945 the Border Morning Mail reported that in the first 12 months of production “a quarter of a million articles of clothing and equipment have been manufactured for the Army and 100,000 for civilian requirements.”
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Keeping busy at Rangeview
◆ PROUD AS PUNCH: Betty Mitchell takes great pride in her colouring and pictures. PHOTO: Belinda Harrison
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