nelly

nelly my mum was 85 on june 7th 09
her Writings at ...
http://www.scullywag.com/kokoda1942stoush/
ELLEN MAY JOHNSON.
Yes Ellen Brummell was her name,
our good sweet Mother dear .
We wouldn`t trade this girl so game,
I`ll surely make that clear.
When droving sheep with her we went,
back in the early fifties.
She drove the truck wherever sent,
and set up camp so swiftly .
She fed the mob and kept us neat,
and educated too.
She always was so good and sweet,
of mother this is true.
She always gave us of her best,
waited on us hand and foot.
With such a mother we were blessed,
these words I`ve poorly put.
If ever with her down you set,
She`ll fill your plate my friend.
The fastest meal you`ll ever get,
If not your arm she`ll bend.
How she ever put up with our mob,
watched over us with care.
Only mother could just do the job,
of this of course I swear.
So when you see her run about,
too busy to sit down.
Just you she waits on have no doubt,
or some stranger from the town.
Don Johnson
Taken from an article printed by the Ballonne beacon newspaper of St George Queensland
By Ellen May Brummell Born 7/June/1924
I read with interest the stories under Remember When and Memories of the St George district in your paper.Thought Id write of my memories of growing up through the great depression in Dirranbandi. Our family consisted of my Dad Charles Brummell, his wife Alice and sons Bill, Walter, Keith, Charley, Viney and myself Nell. We shifted to town because my mother needed medical attention and the children needed schooling. My mother died in 1933 and my father took on the enormous task of rearing us in a depression.We were lucky to have a home under the Workers Dwelling Scheme.
Lots of people lived in houses with dirt floors, hessian bags opened and used to divide the rooms. No lining on the ceiling or fly screens. In fact the windows were made of boards with a stick to prop the window open .The continuous use of the wood stove burning smoked the walls and everything in there. Some people used lime to whitewash the tin around the fireplace the ashes were spread on the ground floor and wet and open hessian bags pushed into the floor until they became hard and used as the floor.Smoke would also come from cow dung , fly and mosquito buckets .
The dry dung would burn producing a smoke that would chase the mosquitos and sandflys out of the house. Not forgetting the smoke from the fat lamp, being a jam tin filled with fat (sheep kidney fat) And a piece of old hat (felt)used as a wick.
Of course there were kerosene lights and gas lights , no electricity! Water was always a problem, the river was often dry except for a few deep holes. People made little carts that were pulled by wether goats On which were put two kerosene tins to cart water in.
The children did this chore before and after school. The rain water in the tanks was kept for drinking and babies. A small piece of carbide would be put in the river water to clear it. People never wasted water, they knew how precious it was . The town had a large mob of goats that were owned by many owners . Goats were kept for milk, meat and their skins were sold . So it was another chore for the lads to get the goats in off the common at night for milking next morning . I remember Jack Cott the pound keeper used to come every six months to collect agistment on the goats . Some people hid a couple in their dunny (outhouse toilet) building, to avoid paying for more than one . talking of the old time dunny, news would come on the grapevine that the health inspector would be out on the train for inspection, this was about every six months .
Every one would scrub the seat and floor with phenol and see that the gauze on the thunderbox was flyproof . Also the gauze on the rain water tank was doing its job. More times than not old newspaper was cut and impaled in a nail in the toilet for use as toilet paper. Really the dunnies were always clean, most people even buried their rubbish for fear of tetanus. People those days made the most of what was available, they saved the labels off milk tins and tea packets. Youd often find people at the Common Rubbish Dump gathering these. If you sent them down, the makers sent tea towels and all sorts of handy things back .
The Rolled Oats bags had traced on them by the maker Goldy Locks or a Bear. These were hastily sewed up and filled with what could be found and given to the children as dolls. Aprons were made from sugar bags

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• nelly
• my
• mum