Biographical Notes |
Note: Gwen talked about her life to her daughter Deidre. "I was the third girl in my family and later on a brother was born. My mother had a mid-wife for him and I was sent across to play with a friend and when I came back they said: 'you've got a little brother'. Ila and I were sent to MLC and Jean to Melbourne High School. I started Kindergarten at MLC and really loved it. I was there for about 8 years. When my class heard that my father was being transferred to NSW they all called to see me and gave me a big farewell together. I remember I opened the door and saw these girls in party frocks and I cried. My mother said, 'You must excuse Gwen crying, she got rather a surprise.' I was very good at English. I won book prizes for English and I won a prize for an essay I wrote in the school magazine, 'Silver and Gold'. All the teachers at MLC wore University gowns. Miss Christenson was very popular with the girls because she was younger. Another popular teacher came from the islands with very black, curly hair. Everyone wanted her stamps and always chased after her. I liked reading and remember my sisters laughed at me because I cried over Dot and the Kangaroo. Ila and I were daygirls and we walked or caught the tram to school. There were beautiful sports grounds opposite the school. I liked tennis and we played netball and softball. I loved to iron my uniform for school. One night I even tried to iron my hat and it took a strange shape. My father made me wear the hat to school next day. I always did my homework and used my father's office in the bank to do it. The safe door was always open but I didn't go in because I was only interested in my homework. I was very proud he trusted me so much. The school had a tuckshop and I loved bird's nests, a macaroon. I used to love buying my lunch, it was a rare treat." When the family moved to Sydney, Gwen attended St George Girls High School. "I left school at about 15. I did very well in the Intermediate. At Business School I did shorthand and typing. I loved shorthand but I wish I'd done bookkeeping. I became A Sunday School teacher in Sydney, which I enjoyed. I used to go to church 2 or 3 times on a Sunday. I enjoyed meeting my friends there. We used to go hiking through the Royal National Park. I really enjoyed it and we had lovely days out. We had camps and slept on straw mats with the Youth group. I was very, very involved in that. My father paid for the course at the business college. Sometimes he would take me to help him with typing. Once he asked me to write a letter to Wallsend and I spelt it Wal's End as I'd never heard of it before. After 6 months at Business College I got my first job at a Real Estate Agent's in Hurstville. Next I got work with the W Dickie in Sydney. Work was Monday to midday Saturday. I was very shy there and too shy to speak to the articled clerk so I read 'For the Term of His Natural Life,' every lunchtime, which I found interesting. Later on I heard poor old Dickie had to go to jail for unpaid debts. The job wasn't very well paid and I had to contribute board to my mother. When Dad got a job as a bank inspector we moved back to Melbourne. We lived in Kooyong Road, Caulfield. I worked at T&G in Collins St. I was there about 10 years and I loved it. I was a secretary and I had to do all the typing. We had an office on the 10th floor with a lovely view over the city. I loved all the people there. We always called our fellow workers Mr or Mrs and they called me Miss Ferguson. I joined a fellowship club and made friends."
When the family moved to Newcastle, Gwen worked at BHP as a secretary and met Benedict Francis O'Sullivan. Her daughter added "Ben courted Gwen on Friday and Saturday nights but she had to be home by 10pm. They would meet at the Great Northern Hotel corner and Ben would give her a tin of sweets from a special shop. They went to movies and cafes and Tattersalls club. They became engaged in 1941 but Ben joined the RAAF and went to war for the next four years. He was a rear gunner and did many night sorties over Europe from bases in England. Mum remembers going to Sydney with her parents to farewell Ben on the ship to Canada, staying in a hotel in Macquarie Street. Gwen continued to work at BHP and went out with friends to dances and youth groups. She and Ben corresponded during the war and she would visit his family in Church St. Ben sent photos and letters from New York where he had leave as well as from England and Canada where he trained. In her free time Gwen went to some dances for American sailors and declined a proposal of marriage from one but she never told Ben. Gwen also did some volunteer work packing parcels for the soldiers."
In 1947, her father was retiring from the bank and looked forward to going back to Adelaide. It was difficult for mum but she decided Newcastle was now her home and she stayed on in a Church Hostel where she was happy and independent. She had decided to marry Ben. Before she married, mum converted to Catholicism, which was difficult for her family to accept. She and Ben were married in St Mary's Star of the Sea in Newcastle on 19.2.1949. In 1950 mum lost her hearing. One day in Church she said to Ben that she couldn't hear and visits to the doctors diagnosed nerve deafness. Luckily Ben was pretty good at waking up to the babies in the middle of the night. After their first couple of years living happily in a "pokey little flat" in Newcastle, they moved to Kotara. Gwen's father had helped them to obtain a war service-housing loan to build a new house in the suburbs. They chose the land at Kotara as it was near a railway station and were very proud of their "architect" designed new 3 bedroom home. They lived there for the next 40 years. Family contact was maintained by weekly letters to and from her mother and frequent 1etters to and from her sisters. Mum shared these with her children, reading about farm life with Auntie Jean and her children, following Ila around Tasmania and back to Melbourne, swapping delicious recipes. We, of course, especially loved birthdays and Christmas when the postman would deliver large brown paper parcels, tied tightly with string, covering mysterious treasures wrapped in colourful paper within. Rare visits by Nana and Grandad and Auntie Ila were anxiously anticipated and the house in Kotara was cleaned inside out for their arrival. Mum remained close to her family and I'm sure she missed them. She worked hard for her daughters: sewing most of our clothes, cooking, reading to us, helping us with homework and our English grammar. I think she was frightened of some of the rougher influences of Newcastle. She even made our ice cream, refusing to buy unhealthy modern things. Ben gave her a break occasionally by taking us swimming at the pool or the beach where mum would also come on Sundays while the roast cooked in the oven. She was a wonderful mother and friend to her daughters. Mum started work again when John started school. She volunteered to do secretarial work for the new senior Catholic School attended by her daughter. This gradually became paid work for the next 10 years. It gave her satisfaction and independence to work, as well as much needed money. She saw Christine and Deirdre through senior school at St Anne's. Her stroke at 54, on the death of her mother was a turning point with its slow impact. While she continued working, Ben realised how much he appreciated his wife and we all pitched in more. Nevertheless mum remained active and involved with diverse friends and interests in tapestry, brass rubbings, novels her daughters shared with her, gardening and her family among other things. Ben died in Newcastle on 10.4.1998, aged 84. Gwen moved into a nursing home, where she died in 2002.
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