Shep's Place Family Tree

She was a dreadful child noted for "dry bawling", that is, yelling without tears, which was no doubt the reason her male parent took an early dislike to her and made no attempt to conceal it. She has clear memory back to the age of two, but does not intend to inflict the following 63 years on her readers. Poor health with every childish ailment plus pleurisy and bronchial pneumonia kept her from school until she was six, however, Violet taught her at home ‎(and oh! those endless pot hooks in the fashion of Violet's own youth to develop handwriting)‎ and from four years books and newspapers had ceased to be a mystery. When she finally achieved Black Forest School Year 1, lasted all of 3 weeks, and Upper One even less. Lower Two was skipped altogether and Upper Two, and her contemporaries were reached in the first month. There was never another burst of such academic brilliance. A similar eye problem to Keith's, and undetected, had been the cause of much early illness, and as soon as she became a "four eyes" at eight ‎(and the tiny gold rimmed spectacles are still with her as a souvenir)‎ health improved quite dramatically. Unley High School followed but she left at 15 in spite of an offer by KMS that University fees would be forthcoming if she persisted. Mathematics which were a "must" in those days were just too daunting. A course at the Adelaide School of Arts and Crafts came next, some floral art tuition and temporary jobs at florist shops. The Depression was at its height and EMS did not get a permanent position until 1937 at 10/- a week, rising to £2/10/0 at the age of 21 . This was a form of apprenticeship in embroidering and embossing club and school badges, etc, by a special machine.

The first employer who gave excellent training sold to Miss Elsie M. Mortimer ‎(still busily embroidering at nearly 80)‎ and as was usual she sacked EMS rather than pay the top wage. A position with John Martins Departmental Store was temporary as she was by then a member of the Women's Air Training Corps - uniform a navy beret and shapeless grey dustcoat with appropriate badges - and waiting for call-up by the Air Force. June 1942 saw her in the second call up of WAAAF and doing basic training at Mt.Breckan, Victor Harbor and afterwards a first posting to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School at Parafield, S.A. and doing typing and office work instead of "Stores" her correct category, due to lack of secretaries. Six months later Corporal stripes were on her sleeve but no further advancement came in the next three years, due not to her lack of ability, but to the dismantling of two stations, which broke up continuous service.

The youthful crowd with whom she had played tennis and table tennis and attended dances and films had scattered to the various services but there was plenty of social activity at a station with 2000 males and 20 women. She was engaged to trainee pilot David Arnold Barlow in September 1942. Arrangements were made for a wedding at St. Peters College Chapel on April 3,1943 but grandfather Barlow ‎(of shoe store and other fame)‎ who had been his guardian and paid for his education at the college and also at Roseworthy Agricultural College, got together with Keith and both decided a possible widow on their hands would be a nuisance and marriage must wait until war was over. They could have ignored their elders but did not do so, and David, Flying Officer Barlow, was reported missing as the result of air operations over Courtrai, Belgium on July 21, 1944 where he is buried. His crew of eight of the Lancaster bomber are also there.

By this time EMS was at Tamworth, N.S.W. the entire station at Parafield having been railed there, the males and equipment by devious back country lines ‎(from Oodna-whoop-whoop and back they said)‎, the Tiger Moth planes flown in stages, and the females by the more usual route but packed 8 and 10 to a "dog box" carriage minus a corridor, sitting up for 5 days and arriving - ahead of stores etc. and had to sleep on bare boards. EMS had flown in and enjoyed aerobatics and formation flying in Tiger Moths due to a friendly instructor needing a passenger for same. The new station was a disaster as it was surrounded by mountains into which young pilots kept crashing to their deaths, so the whole was dispersed and EMS came in for a second vast packing up of her aircraft store ‎(she had eventually reached her correct work)‎. This was October 1944. The next posting was to an all female station at Penrith, 30 miles from Sydney where she outfitted countless rookies, everyone of whom complained that her uniform did not fit. This station was also closed down following the end of the war in Europe, May 1945 and yet again much packing up was her lot.

Stores Depot, Melbourne, was last posting, then demobilization on 18 Dec 1945. Civillian life meant a return to embroidery and Miss Mortimer who had been the last permanent employer and was required to accept her. The wage was by now £3/0/0 per week. Two years later the Myer Emporium offered the position of Head of their embroidery Department, a staff of six girls and a salary of £9/0/0. This was accepted but Miss Mortimer never forgave her for what she considered desertion. Her wage had not risen. though cost of living had done so considerably, so the financial improvement was very welcome. EMS remained with the Myer Emporium, Adelaide, for 13 years and was put on the annual bonus list with the heads of much larger departments and was treated well by this firm until the Easter week of 1961. Then, due to the carelessness of cleaners who left a pool of unused liquid wax at the head of a flight of stairs, she fell heavily and injured her back quite badly, and in such a fashion that she was never afterwards able to sit at her embroidery machine. After months of being incapacitated she made a determined effort to take up work again, but it proved to be impossible and she was forced to resign. No compensation was paid. So, at the age of 41 the working life of EMS was over, and thanks to sympathetic parents there was no great financial hardship.

Her biggest regret was the inability to garden anymore. In October 1951 she had purchased the vacant block of land next door ‎(at £350)‎ - for that particular purpose - in spite of opposition from KMS who doubtless had visions of being asked to pull weeds. This land had 18 large old almond trees, wrecked paling fences ‎(except for the border with No.46)‎, a partly filled dry well wherein broken china, rusty tins and decaying bones predominated. There were shoulder high weeds and much debris that had been accumulating since 1914 when the former owners had built to one side of their double block.

At this time ‎(1951)‎ EMS was in excellent health, and using a shovel she cleared her acquisition from front to back, unaided, and in her spare time, then designed and planted a garden which was later described by a European neighbour as a "mini Botanical Gardens" and by then KMS was giving visitors a personally conducted tour. EMS gave up every holiday and every weekend to horticulture, this being her particular enjoyment. When gardening was no longer possible for either EMS or Violet, she sold the land at a nominal price to her nephew Rod Muller who built there in 1976.

EMS had improved sufficiently in health to be able to care for Violet during her last years and on Violet's death in 1978 she inherited 46 Gordon Road where she is at this moment typing these records.

Last note on EMS: A browse through the Stevenson family album kept by Violet, reveals amid the cuttings she included that EMS, who was a member of the S.A. Caledonian Society, was a debutante at the annual Highland Ball in May 1939 and her photograph in line with eleven other debs. was in the "Advertiser" of Friday, May 12. The account is too long for inclusion in full. Typical of that period it was headed "Smart Frocks & Uniforms at Highland Ball" and was written in "Lady Kitty's" usual flamboyant style. "One of the most picturesque balls of the season was the Highland Ball which was attended by 800 people at the Palais Royal last night. The smart frocks of the women had rivals in the new uniforms of the 27th. Battalion ‎(S.A. Scottish Regiment)‎ which were much admired...... immediately after the arrival of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress ‎(Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Barrett)‎ twelve debutantes accompanied by their partners, ‎(officers of the Scottish Regiment)‎ were piped in by Pipe-Major W. Niven to the dais at the northern end to the Chief ‎(Mr. C.B.Anderson)‎ and Mrs. Anderson ........... the debutantes wore white frocks with a tartan sash across the shoulder, and all carried white posies ........ Miss Eunice Stevenson chose white georgette over taffeta and a sash of Royal Stuart tartan....... The girls in their white frocks with their partners in gold braided scarlet jackets and kilts of the Regiment formed a charming picture as they came up the room and formed a half circle in front of the official box. When announced by Mrs. Ogg each girl made a graceful curtsey and rejoined her partner. The presentations over, they danced off to a waltz tune by the Pipe Major and the guests broke into warm applause." The cuttings also have a copy of a "Join the WAAAF" ad. with EMS as one of the models. Copies of the original photos were not procurable.

A sickly child unable to start school until aged 6, Eunice achieved Lower One, Upper One, Lower Two and reached her contemporaries in Upper Two in 3 weeks from commencing a feat of brilliance never again achieved. At 4 she could read and write and wrote and illustrated "books" which her mother sewed together. Jokes were copied from a comic, priced 2 pence, called "Chick's Own", strictly forbidden by father, surreptitiously procured by mother. From an early age her ambition was to be a writer and journalist, but that was not to be.

Education was at Black Forest Primary and Unley High Schools followed by a course at the Adelaide School of Arts and Crafts. The depression being in full swing it was not until 1937 that she obtained work, learning to use an embroidery machine for school and club badges, pennants and so forth, commencing at 10 shillings per week.

In 1939 she was a debutante at a Caledonian Ball, the Stevensons being members. It was the last pre -war function for the Association. The "Advertiser" of May 12 had the report headed "Smart frocks and uniforms at Highland Ball" written in "Lady Kitty's" usual flamboyant style. Much too long to include here, but the 12 debs were partnered by officers of the 27th Battalion ‎(Scottish Regiment)‎ in gold braided scarlet jackets and kilts and with the girls in white, were piped in to the dais to be presented to the Lord Mayor and his lady. "Miss Eunice Stevenson chose white georgette over taffeta with a Royal Stuart tartan sash over the shoulder". She had white flowers in her hair and a white posy and danced the debutante waltz.

She was dismissed at 21 due to her employer refusing to pay the adult wage so she applied for entry to the W.A.A.A.F. and was called up on 28 Jun 1942 and served for 3 1/2 years at four different Airforce Stations. In September 1942 she was engaged to David Arnold Barlow an Airforce Trainee and a graduate that year from Roseworthy Agricultural College whose guardian had earlier been his grandfather A.W. Barlow of Adelaide Shoe Stores and owner of much city property. The wedding was arranged for 13 Apr 1943 at St. Peter's College Chapel, and the banns had been called twice when grandfather and father combined to prevent the marriage with the excuse that E.M.S. would possibly be left a widow ‎(and therefore a nuisance to them both)‎. David agreed and on 21 Jul 1944 Flying Officer Barlow was killed, the result of ‎(Nazi)‎ air operations over Courtrai, Belgium. He and his crew of eight in their Lancaster Bomber were brought down in flames as they returned from a raid over Germany. All were buried at Courtrai.

Return to civilian life was a return to embroidery and to the last employer before enlistment as was the law. The pre -war wage of 3 pounds per week no longer sufficed and after two years, the position of being in charge of the embroidery workroom with a staff of 6 at the Myer Emporium was offered with a salary of 9 pounds, it was accepted. After 13 years an accident at work injured Eunice's back. She was 41 but unable to return to work again, so resigned her by then 18 pounds a week position. There was no compensation. Fortunately for E.M.S. generous parents were willing to house her.

In 1951 she had purchased the vacant allotment next to the family home, the last one for miles around the owner having put it up for sale for 350 pounds. Being then strong and well at 31 she cleared the accumulated detritus since 1914 with a spade, working from front to back and filling the well a number of times, she then laid out a garden and planted it with every type of tree, shrub and flower she could fit in, and the result came to be called the Mini Botancial Gardens by neighbours. It was very peaceful there. Every spare moment was spent in the garden and not a single holiday was spent away from it. Her father had been very much against the purchase and vowed never to have anything to do with it ‎(probably afraid he might had to pull a weed)‎ but presently he was giving conducted tours to every visitor with as much pride as though the whole thing had been his own idea.

After the back injury, gardening was an impossibility, so the land was sold to a nephew who bulldozed the greatly loved garden and then built his house, but moved away two years later. After the parents deaths E.M.S. lived alone at the Gordon Road house, having inherited it. She had taken up family history writing in 1962, at her mother's request to complete this present work commenced by her and wrote several, putting this one aside. In 1989 on June 29th she left Gordon Road and "Esmercraig" after 67 years to live near her sister at Strathalbyn, and here she remains in her 80th year in 1999. Incidentally she is called Margaret more often than Eunice ‎[and by the family "Argie"]‎.

"Argie", as we knew EMS, was a person of huge intellect and talent much of which had been severly repressed by a combination of factors in her life. First of all her father was very autocratic and controlled her life in a way which she would clearly reject today. Secondly she had an accident at work early in her career which left her with life long chronic back pain. An x-ray at the end of her life actually revealed that her back had been broken. This had never been diagnosed and her employer never helped her in any way. ‎(She got the sack!)‎ Thirdly she gave up her own freedom to look after her widowed mother who was quite demanding in her own way.

Nevertheless her output was substantial. This web site is a testimony to her family histories. ‎(And also those of Martha Shepherd.)‎ She kept a comprehensive journal for 60 years of her life which will be valuable source for future family and community historians. She was a very talented painter. Marion and I have some watercolours of hers painted when she was 14 years old which are amazingly precocious. She read voraciously. She corresponded extensively, maintaining her family knowledge and connections. She was also interested in the occult, more as a curiosity rather than as a belief or a practice.

Even at the end of her life she never lost her intellectual sharpness or her her memory. She was always curious and she was always ready for a discussion.