My fathers occupation

My fathers occupation as given on my birth certificate is that of dairy man. His father had established the Gladstone dairy at Pennant Street Parramatta. For many years that business supplied milk to the residents of Parramatta. milk was delivered twice daily, in those days and life at the dairy are recalled amongst my earliest memories. I do not recall the exact number of horse drawn milk carts that operated from the Pennant H. establishment, but it would be in the vicinity of eight. The horses and carts were located at Pennant H. and the milk and cream was distributed from there. The cows, a herd of black and white Freisians were maintained and milked on a large property out at H. Marys, toward Penrith. The milk was brought into Pennant St by the truck load, generally in large, approx. Twelve gallon stainless steel milk cans, pasteurised and then delivered out to the household, of Parramatta. There were no milk bottles in those days. Each household left out a billycan or container once or twice daily and the milk was delivered by hand in multiples of ½  and 1 pint or more as requested. Each milk carter maintained a record of deliveries made to each household. a few people paid cash for their milk, the majority received their milk on credit. Accounts were sent out either fort nightly or monthly. (Possibly weekly but I’m not sure on that.) however as mentioned , there was not much money about in those Depression years and consequently many people were unable to pay for their milk. I understand that my grandfather supported many many people throughout Parramatta in those days by maintaining the supply of their milk even though they did not have the money to pay for it. My grandfather Arthur Henry Collett was also Mayor of Parramatta for a number of years I believe from 1912 onward (?) He was acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of the modern day city of Parramatta. He also suffered a disability before I was born having lost a hand at the wrist , whilst feeding hay into a steam driven chaff cutter whilst preparing feed for the horses and cows.

After his death in the early 1930’s a monument was erected on an area of land tobe known as Collett’s Park, at the  intersection of Victoria road and Pennant Street, Parramatta. He was a well respected and much liked man. On his death he left a wife Maude (Mum Mum) and nine children, five daughters, Ruth, may, Trix, Maude (Bossy) and Louise and four sons. My father Mick as he was known, George, Jed and Rex. The four sons all worked at the Pennant ST Dairy and they continued the business after their fathers death.

    The Gladstone Dairy was located in Pennant St beside the (Collett) Park. Grandview St was directly opposite the dairy off Victoria Rd at R. right angles. The dairy consisted of several large buildings, where all the washing, Pasteurising, loading and dispatch were carried out. A large  barn contained fodder and stalls for the feeding of the horses. There was also a building to house the carts and harness for the horses as well as garage for the two trucks and car. There were Paddocks approx fifteen acres out the back  where the horses (probably more than 15) p4 were kept. As mentioned the cows were maintained out at St Marys where they were milked etc. in those days there was insufficient land at Parramatta to provide for such a large herd of dairy cattle as needed for the supply of milk. There is no trace left of Gladstone Dairy today, only the Park remains. Progress and development saw the whole enterprise taken over for housing and residential development. Gladstone Dairy started to go after World War 2  when the NSW Dairy farmers Assoc., I believe a government body, took over the dairy operation and the land was also acquired by the NSW housing commission for residential development. The whole concern became fragmented along with the family and thereafter they all seemed to go their separate ways. However it was long before that, that my parents made the decision to separate. most probably my mothers mind was made up for her by her mother and at the age of about six, Mum Jean Doreen Daphne and myself were taken off from Grandview ST. by my grandfather and Uncle Arnold, Mums brother, to live with them at Bathurst. Brother Jack stayed at Parramatta with our father. That was quite a traumatic period or episode I expect, although I do not recall much of the events leading there to. I do clearly recall the day with grandfather Peacock and Uncle Arn being there with their car packing us all up and into the car and driving off to Bathurst. I clearly recall our great aunt Edna Bailey who was my fathers aunt on his mothers side saying to me make sure you get in the car love and don’t get left behind. p5  My parents marriage had been deteriorating for some considerable time and my father was associating with another woman when the break up occurred. Jessie Burgess was her name. She and her son Ray moved in withg my father some time  after we left for Bathurst. My Fathers Mother, brothers and sisters all resented what my father was doing to his family and the way that he treated my mother. From then onward, there was constant friction between him, his mother and family and eventually they all bought him out of the dairy business and he faded into oblivion for many years there after. I understand that he bought a dairy farm about the Moss Vale area, struck a few bad years and eventually lost all of his money and property along with his lady friend. My father had served in the First World War from 1915 until wars end. He saw service through France in the Veterinarian Corps, being closely related to the tendering and maintenance of horses. He was discharged as a Sergeant. he re enlisted in the second World War but I know nothing of his life through those years. It was not until around 1949 or 50 that I came back into contact with my father. 

Leaving Parramatta

Before Leaving Parramatta I had started school at the Parramatta South Infant School with my sisters. It must have been several miles from Grandview ST, down across the Gasworks Bridge across the Parramatta River to Sth Parramatta school. There were no school buses in those days. (p6) When we went to Bathurst our lifestyle changed considerably. My Grandfather Jonathan Peacock was governor of Bathurst Gaol. He lived at the governors residence beside the front gate (entrance) to the gaol. A large stone house of two storeys. An identical building was to the other side of the entrance, this was the deputy governors residence. My cousin Bruce Peacock also lived with his grandparents. His mother had died at his birth and my Grandmother took it upon herself to rear him. He was eighteen months younger than myself. His father Arnold was involved with mining and spent most of his time then away prospecting or whatever he did for a living. And now, my grandmother now had a daughter and four more grand children in her house. Life became very traumatic for everyone I imagine. I believe that my grandmother resented having us there and we all must have been an embarrassment for them. My mother must have hated being in the situation that she found herself and I felt that she was inclined to take her frustrations out on her children. I was always given to believe that my cousin Bruce P. was just so much better than I was. He was a Peacock and I /we were Collett kids. But that was the type of woman that my grandmother was and it was there in that environment that I came to dislike my grandmother (maternal) and did so for the rest of her life. My grandfather had a job to attend to and so we didn’t see much of him there were always gaol inmates about the house. The men, presumably trustees did a lot of house work, yard cleaning and gardening. Of course we children were nor permitted to speak to them. (p7) and of course it was forbidden for them to speak to us. None of this helped with our residential status either. I started school at Bathurst but do not recall which school and have no recollection of school. In fact I recall very little of my life at Bathurst Gaol and fortunately that period of my life did not seam to last for very long. At some time then my grandfather was promoted to the governors position at Parramatta gaol. So off we went to life and to live in the governors residence at Parramatta gaol. A similar type of house to the one at Bathurst, but this one was across the street from the main entrance of Parramatta gaol. Conditions in the gaols must have been considerably different in those days to what they would be to-day , I expect. I recall that the prisoners clothing was very different in the 1930’s to what I see on T.V. to-day. In fact I would not think that it was so far removed or different to the 19th century clothing. Heavy coarse serge trousers, heavy black boots, black serge coats and I recall straw hats, flat brims like the school college straw boater hat. And so life at Parramatta Gaol did not seem to be any different to Bathurst, For a time then, I attended North Parramatta Primary school. Both at Bathurst and Parramatta my cousin Bruce attended private schools. Again my life here is very difficult to recall. My mother must have found it difficult being back at Parramatta so close to her husband and her former life. Brother Jack was still living with our father at Grandview Street and it always seemed to be taboo to mention of have anything to do (P8) with our other “family” at Gladstone Dairy. Again as a small boy, I don’t recall much of my life here and fortunately that period of life did not seem to last long. At some date then my grandfather retired from the gaol penal system after a life time of working in gaols. He was apparently a capable man and I do recall that he was strict with us children as well as those he watched over. My grandmother was also involved with the penal system, in fact it was at, I believe Broken Hill gaol that she met my grandfather so they served at Broken hill and then Albury gaols, I think. He was head warder at Long Bay gaol for some time before going to Bathurst as deputy governor, then governor and finally retired as governor from Parramatta Gaol. So he and his wife certainly must have been able to relate some tales of the penal system as it existed and operated in New South Wales for at least the first thirty five years of the Soth century. My Great grandfather on my fathers side also was engaged in the penal service of N.S.W. Arthur Henry Collett came to Australia with the NSW Regimental Corps as a sergeant in charge of convicts last century. He was stationed at Dawes Point Barracks. At some time he must have left the army and for the last years of his short life, he was a warder at Berrima Gaol. He died of consumption at Berrima in his mid forties I believe and was buried at Berrima. His father Thomas Collett was also shown on a birth/death or marriage certificate as, occupation Gaol warder in England. What the relevance of all that is I don’t know other than the similarities of (P9) occupations back in those days. 

A big change

A big change came about for us in life style after that Parramatta interlude and strangely enough my recollection of life from then on are mych clearer. With the retirement of my grandfather  from Parramatta gaol, they bought a house at Eastwood, ( 5 Wentworth Road Eastwood) and so we could no longer live with them. My mother was able then to rent a house, also at Eastwood, No 2 Campbell Street, for the princely sum of 10 shillings and six’pence per week. I’m sure that that rental amount was correct and the house was owned by a M. Frericks. The rental sum being correct, it left my mother with seventeen shillings and sixpence with which to raise five children and buy food etc. It was five children again because once we left my mothers parents brother Jack came back to live with us. It was also probably at about this time that my father was bought out from Gladstone dairy and he went to Moss Vale to start his own dairy farm. When my parents separated the Parramatta Court decided that my father was to pay  1.7.6 Pounds ( one pound seven shillings and sixpence) per week to my mother to support her and her five children. My mother was required to collect this maintenance money each fortnight from the Parramatta Courthouse and for the next few years she would travel across to Parramatta by bus each fortnight to collect this pitiful amount of money that my father was required to pay in regularly. As far as I know my mothers parents were unable to assist her financially or did not want to, but they were buying their (10) house on mortgage and I don’t expect that my grandfathers pension was all that much in those days. I do know that years later after the death of my grandmother and when that house was sold, there was still money owing on the mortgage. My mother had never had to work in her life and consequently hand never had any work training and so at this time of her life she was unable to go out and find herself a job. Very few middle aged women worked in those days also. My grandfather  Collett had died just after we left our father and went to live at Bathurst. No doubt mother would have received assistance from Gladstone dairy, financial assistance that is, but I believe that pride or whatever, would have stopped her from doing that. In years to come she would not even ask her own parents for assistance. So we did not have much money. However it must have been about this time that jean started working*( Timbrol chemical Co.) and if she did or did not help with the finances she would have been able to support herself. Jack was still going to school and must have attended Eastwood Boys Super Primary school for about two years. He would then have left school and I recall that he got a job serving behind the counter in a hard ware store in Rowe St Eastwood. Jean worked in the office of a chemical factory at Rhodes. Later on she was to work in a solicitors office in Sydney. It would have been late 1935 or early 1936 that we went to Eastwood to live. whatever the date, I took myself to Eastwood Primary School and enrolled myself at the Principals (11) office. His name was Wilson. Because I was on my own and answered his questions in an intelligent manner, he placed me in class 3A. I don’t recall what time of the year it was and so I don’t know if I spent a full year or how much of the year in 3A . I had a few woman teacher for that class, Miss Fraser she was the only female teacher in the boys only primary school. The girls primary school was separated from the boys as was the infants school. Separated again from them was the boys only super Primary school. This section was the equivalent of first and second years of High school but reserved mainly for boys who were nor really bright enough to go straight on to High School after completing Primary School. They did two years there at Eastwood and if they showed signs of improving intelligence they went on to third year High School to do their Intermediate Certificate. Most boys who went on from there went either to Homebush Boys High School or Hornsby Boys High School. Co-ed schools were unheard of in those days. Odd boys from Eastwood did make it to Fort Street Boys High in Sydney and if you made it to there you were really intelligent (?). My sister Doreen went from Eastwood Girls Primary to Hornsby girls high school. She travelled Eastwood to Hornsby and back each day by train . The Super Primary school for boys at Eastwood, did not have the equivalent for girls. When Daphne went on to high school, she went to Ashfield Girls High. This was a school for girls of higher intelligence. Hornsby girls High was (12) more a girls school that concentrated on Domestic Home Science skills in those days. It was really a dreadful education system by to-days standards, that existed for children in the public school system. If you displayed intelligence you went to a higher standard of school than those students who were unable to display the same qualities. From Miss Frazer’s 3A class I went on to 4A and the teacher there was Mr Slaght ( don’t know the spelling but pronounced SLART.) I seemed to do well enough in 4A coming third in the class at the end of year examination. So I went onto 5A. Here I struck a bad teacher, bad for me, and no doubt bad for many other boys. He was a bit of a sadist who had the habit of grabbing a boys nose between a couple of fingers and pressing with his thumb. Manys the time that he brought tears to my eyes from a twisted nose. Unable to recall his name which is probably significant, but he disliked me and once that was obvious my attention level must have dropped because I didn’t do so well in 5A. Not having much money and still at Primary School I was probably the child that went without the most. Quite frequently I would be allowed to go to school without shoes, and in those days that was a sign of poverty. I’m sure that the teachers did not appreciate my appearance and tended to disregard my presence maybe, I don’t know. It was always and embarrassment when the teacher would go though the class and ask each boy in turn “and what does your father do?” I would always have to say “that my father doesn’t live at home with us”.(13) I’m not sure but I think that my year in 5A was 1939. Of course that was the year that World War 2 started and it must have been about the time that Daphne died. That was a bad time for us. It seems as if Daphne was sick for some time and she was in Parramatta Hospital I think when she died. For some reason I was never to visit Daphne in hospital and I’m sure that it was my grandmothers influence that prevented me from even attending her funeral. Daphne was buried at Rookwood Cemetery. She was a lovely girl and I understand from a letter of condolence from the Ashfield girls high school principal that she was popular at school. Also during the early parts of 1939 brother jack was getting to be a bit wild. Had left School, was working and had some money and I think was starting to mix with some wrong (?) sorts of boys. Just before the outbreak of war he enlisted in the navy, mainly at the behest and direction of his father. So that was two children gone from 2 Campbell ST by the end of 1939. AT my age then Daphne’s death and absence did not seem to influence my life. But it must have been having a bad effect on my mother. She was obviously not a “fighter” and various events must have had a bad effect on her. We still didn’t have much money and frequently when I came home from school at lunch time there was nothing in the house to eat or very little. My mother would give me six pence and tell me to go to the butchers for six ? of dripping so that we would have something to put on our bread, there being no butter. (14) There was no sewerage to the houses in that part of Eastwood in those days. The toilet was outside the house and each week the night cart would come around and change over the metal fan that served each house hold. It was always a problem also if the pan filled before it was due or time for change over. Sixth class at Eastwood always consisted of three grades A B and C for the boys. Those in the A class usually went on to High School as did perhaps half of the B class. The other half of B class and generally all of C class, went to the Super Primary school. They did first and second years there at Eastwood. From 5A  I went  into 6B and it was here that I came up against a teacher who really turned me off school and learning for the rest of my school days. George Wallace was a strict disciplinary and I expect that by to-days standards was not a good teacher. I always felt that he resented me from the first day that I entered his class. I cannot recall a single day passing at school that year that I was not caned on the hands by him. Sometimes two or three times a day. The song went “Georgy Wallace Common noun parse him up and parse him down, neuter gender, common case, governed by his ugly face.” I was not the only boy on whom he took out his frustrations. There were several of us and I expect that we all had something in common that didn’t meet with his approval. At the end of sixth class we were required to sit for our QC exam. The results of this exam took the student (15) on to a good high school or else he floundered. For some reason I don’t know but I was not permitted to do the QC exam. I remember being told by Wallace to go stand out in the corridor whilst the other boys did the exam. From memory there may have been one other boy out in the corridor. But at the time I expect that I thought that this was good because I got out of doing the exam. But by not doing the QC I was guaranteed entry into the Super Primary grade there at Eastwood. By the end of that year the sewerage was going on to houses about Campbell ST and near by streets and so that meant the end of our residence at No 2 Campbell ST. It cost the landlord or house holder money to have the sewer connected and therefore the rents were increased. So at that time we had to shift and we moved to a place, I think it was No 23 in Clanwilliam St. just a couple of blocks up from where we were. It was a semi detached house that is two houses in one with a common divider wall but with separate entrances and yards. Don’t know who the landlord was. But it was only a two bedroom residence with a dining room and kitchen with the laundry cum bath room out the back. The toilet was under the back veranda. The back of the house was elevated. Of course there was only four of us then and Doreen shared Mothers bed and I shared the other bedroom with Jean. Of course Jean was a teenager growing up then and I’m sure that she resented having to share the bedroom with me. Those conditions lasted (16) for the next few years. A Mr. Clout became the next principle of Eastwood Boys School. The girls school had their own woman principle of the Super Primary School. Here we  were to undertake the higher education subjects such as algebra geometry science music wood work business principles and short hand  for one subject a week in 2nd form. Also maths 1, English, Geography and History. The same two teachers took us for all subjects except science and woodwork and shorthand. These two male teachers were Mr Arthur Knight and Mr Mc Zuirter. We had received no preparation for any of these new subjects prior to 1st form therefore much of it was like starting to learn all over again. Without the students realising it I expect, no doubt the 2nd World War was starting to have an  affect on education generally. 

The Journey begins

Many Professions were being affected by men and women enlisting in the services and no doubt teaching had to be a protected service for there was no change to my teachers during the next three years. 1940 was not a good year once again. I seemed to miss many days from school and quite a few of these absences were because I played the truant or “wagged id” from school. My grandmother from Parramatta had given me a scooter for Xmas or just after Xmas. I think that this was because she had learnt that my cousin Bruce Peacock had received a nice big scooter for Xmas. With my father gone from Gladstone Dairy I used to walk the six miles from Eastwood across to the dairy occasionally and started renewing contacts with (17) my grandmother and aunts an uncles. They were always pleased to see any of us who came over. It must have been about this time also that grandma Collett gave Mother a radio. This was the first radio that we had ever had that I was aware of. Uncles Jed and Rex brought ti across one day on the back of their truck. That radio was great for then we were able to listen to Dad and Dave  etc etc. But as said, I missed a bit of school and didn’t do so good at lessons, consequently I was required to repeat 1st form in 1941. That was a bitter blow to my self esteem until I became used to the fact. But unfortunately for me the damage was done and I lost interest in school and learning. (I expect that I must have become a real G.A. kid) but my mother did not seem to take much interest in my schooling and nobody else did, so again I started to play truant. There were a group of us at the time who did this. We would pedal our scooters down to Meadowbank Baths on the Parramatta River or down to the Lane Cove river and we did this for some time always being back by 3:30 or 4:00 pm, until the truant officers from the schools caught us out and we were fronted before the headmaster Mr Clout, individually and threatened with the Mittagong Boys Reform School if we didn’t stop the truancy bit. Of course that wasn’t much of an option, because no one wanted to go to Mittagong (after the style of the English Borstal Schools I think) and so we attended school from then on. I’m sure that they woke up to me from the types of notes (18) that I had been handing to the teacher supposed by from my mother giving the excuse why I was not at school also the poor attempts at forging my mothers signature. There were a few characters at that school during 1940-43 Boaty Fericks, Johnny Noyes, Bidgee Devlin, Kelvin Hogan,  Morlie Davidson, Big Bole Egar ( teacher Arthur Knight used to think twice about giving this lad the cane after a while, for Bob would catch the cane in his hand and pull if from the teachers hand) Mick Slavin Thomas and Allan Crocker a few of the names that come to mind. Those teachers all knew how to hand out punishments with the cane and on the odd occasion when we were sent to the headmaster for punishment it was always “six cuts of the best.” That really made the hands sore. I had a cane about ¾ of an inch thick and if you pulled you hand away on the down stroke, he would get you on the back of the fingers on the up stroke. But they all do that. It was also during 1940 that I got my first paper run. This was out walking the streets in the evening on a set run with a great load of newspapers “The Sun” under the arm, carried in a leather strap over the shoulder and a leather money bag on a belt around the waist. We were each given so much change and so many papers and of course had to account for papers sold and money when we got back. If the bag did not check out then any loss was taken out of ones earnings. I would walk several miles (19) through the streets on my run up around the North Rude area and from memory my first weeks wages at this was about 10/60 (Ten shillings and six pence.) It must have been about 1941 or 2 that the Daily Mirror came out on the street and with the advent of the Mirror I was able to graduate to a hand cart as we just couldn’t manage all of the news papers and it was difficult keeping them dry in the rain. Also my run took in the North Ryde Soldiers Memorial Hospital and I was able to take some magazines one afternoon a week. So my earnings used to get up about 1.0.0 pounds per week sometimes. This made things a bit better for Mother as I was able to give her some money then. I remember that I bought my own first pair of long trousers. I expect that I was able to buy some other things as well. The news agency in Rowe ST Eastwood was owned by Mr. and Mrs John Jackson. I don’t know what Doreen was doing at this time, if she was working. By now I think Jean was working in Sydney for a firm of solicitors. I was starting to spend some of my money on milk shakes and sweets by now and finish up with the shelf under my desk at school full of toffee papers etc. We were buying the odd packet of cigarettes also. You could buy a packet of five “Wild Woodbines” in those days for sixpence. But we didn’t smoke much. However 1941 went by with the repeat of 1st form and they couldn’t keep me there for another year and so I had to go on to 2nd form in 1942. 1942 was a “nothing” year forme as far as school work went. They tried to teach boys (20) like me shorthand of all subjects, for half a day a week we had this. A lady teacher used to come across from Parramatta for this lesson. I don’t know if anyone else learnt anything of it, but I didn’t. From memory also 1942 was when the Japanese shelled Sydney and there was fear of fear of air raids. All schools throughout Sydney would have had to have their air raid shelters I expect. Eastwood did in the form of air raid trenches and it became the lot of the boys in second form to dig them. So we spent a good deal of time throughout the year digging six foot deep by two foot wide trenches in the school grounds. The children were to take shelter in these trenches in the event of an air raid. I helped with some of the digging on direction from the teachers but I don’t know who would have filled them in. So throughout 1942 there were many distractions away from schoolwork. I added to these distractions by taking on two additional jobs outside of school as well as my afternoon paper run. John Jackson the newsagent gave me work on the newspaper bookstore on Eastwood railway Station in the early morning. My job was to get to the station by 6am and lug all the bundles of newspapers that had been unloaded from the train up the stairs to the bookstall. I was doing this to help the man who usually operated the bookstall for the Jackson’s news-agency. I would continue to assist him with the sale of newspapers and magazines until about eight when I would go back home, have breakfast and then go to school. After school I would do my afternoon paper run return (21) home for tea and then after tea go off to the local fixture theatre where I had a job selling ice cream buckets and sweets at interval. We were employed bu the owner of the milk bar next to the theatre. Johnny Garrett was the other boy who had a tray at interval and it was he who helped me in getting the job. Having this job had a fringe benefit associated as it also gained us free admission to the theatre. So there I was spending my nights at the local theatre which usually closed up between 11:00 and 11:30 pm. Home to bed 9 then up in the mornings to sell news papers. All of this work didn’t amount to much income in those days. Newspapers were two pence each when I started a large malted milk shake was about six pence and so on. With my jobs I certainly wasn’t doing any homework and I started going to sleep in class. Algebra was my worst subject and essentially I refused to do it because I could not understand the theory. Mr Whirter gave up on me eventually and during Algebra I would read a book of some description. I certainly don’t look back on those years of schooling with any degree of pride. Quite the reverse and I have often wished in hindsight to have been able to have my time over again. Leaving age from in those days was fourteen years and eight months. I had it worked out to the hour when I was that age and I recall clearing out from school at lunchtime and not going back in the afternoon. Nobody missed me and I was finished with school. However I’m (22) sure that there were plenty of lads about like me. My brother was away at the war then and I wanted to get there with him. After leaving school I worked full time at the Jackson’s Newsagency. John and Judith Jackson were a nice couple, mid thirties and no children and I think that they must have had pity on me and generously gave me a job. It was quite a large business in those days and employed several people. I couldn’t understand though why I couldn’t have the school holidays off at the end of the year like all of my old school friends. But I soon realized that those days were over. Just around the corner from where I lived in Clanwilliam ST there had been an engineering factory, Joplins where they mad Joplin car jacks and other items. They had recently moved to much larger premises at Ermington, across near Parramatta. Mr. Joplin used to come to the newsagency to buy papers etc and one evening I asked him if he would give me a job at his factory at Ermington. Two of my friends Thomas and Alan Crocker worked there at the time. In any case he said yes, there was a shortage of labor of course, and so I left Jackson newsagency and started work at Joplins. By then I had a push bike and we used to ride our bikes from Eastwood across to Ermington to start work by 7:30 AM. We used to work until 5:00 PM in those days I think. My job there after I had graduated from sweeping the floors, was to stand at a drill stand all day drilling holes in cast metal jack bases. I don’t know how long this went on for and then I started to whistle whilst I worked to (23) break the monotony. People complained about my whistling and one day I just didn’t go back. This was early 1943 and I was fifteen. I was still sharing the bedroom with sister Jean. by this time also Jean had joined the WAAAF (Womens Australian Auxillary Air Force) and commuted daily to her work whenever she was not away in camp, training. Doreen joined the AAWAS (I’m not sure that they are the correct initials, but the women counter part of the army as was the WAAAF to the RAAF) but I am not sure when she joined or where she was based. Jack was coming home on shore leave when his ships were in port. The navy was doing a great deal of convoy protection work across to South Africa where the troop and cargo convoys were picked up by the British navy. It was at this time that I attempted to join the navy. The Australian navy would take a certain number of fifteen year olds in as cadets. They would be provided with cadet training for three years or until eighteen when they would be posted to sea duty. Sad to say I was not successful with any application. I recall sitting for an examination in Sydney, obtaining character references etc and was successful in these endeavours only to be rejected by a panel of naval doctors because I had flat feet. I was of course bitterly disappointed with all of this any personal decision that I made or action that I took through those years, I made and did without consultation with anyone. I mention that because if I made wrong decisions they were always of my own making. Obviously many decisions to date had been wrong ones, and (24) I would go on making them for a while yet. At that time also I was doing quite a bit of reading, with a liking particularly for books by Australians about Australia. One book in particular influenced my future life, and this was ‘Gather no Moss’ by Frank Clune. The philosophy was that the rolling stone gathers no moss and from memory related to the outback or country of Australia. Like most boys I expect, I had a yearning to “go bush” not knowing of course what that entailed. I remember one night Jean came in late and waking me. So I waited until she went to sleep and Mother and Doreen as well. Then quietly I got out, dressed, rolled a few clothes up in a raincoat, and left home. Must have had a spare shirt and pair of socks or something like that. But I had no money and no food and of course carried no identification. I walked almost to Parramatta before having a bit of a sleep in a paddock along the way. At daybreak I was off again and walked right through Parramatta out the Western Highway through St Mary’s and Emu Plains and was headed up the slopes of the Blue Mountains quite prepared to walk to wherever it was that I was going. That destination I did not know. Those wrong decisions. I had been out the Western Highway before on my scooter. I recall that there was a large camp of ? Troops out by St Mary’s and I had been out there once before having a look at it all. They may have been Australian troops. I’m not sure but there was a large military camp out there.