Born: June 14, 1952 in Public Hospital, Griffith, NSW
Married:
Children:
Christopher John Daly: Born November 22 in here Brisbane, Qld.
Benson Charles Daly: Born January 30, 1981 in Brisbane, Qld.
Mary’s Memories:
Kathy was one year old when we went to “Rostella”. She could ride old Peggy the pony by the time she was two. She even had the measles and Whooping cough without any after effects.
She liked to sing along with Jim in the car. ‘Take me back to the black flats, the black flats of Rostella’. She fell off her bike in front of a car one day, causing the driver to almost have a heart attack – no more bike.
After school she went nursing, but didn’t like it, and did secretarial work. She went to Uni as a mature-age student where she had a few stops and starts due to health, but will continue on next semester.
She loves her music and is an accomplished pianist and saxophonist. She plays the saxophone in the Army Reserve Band, 25RQR, Toowoomba.
Kathy’s Story:
Irrarra Creek: Sometimes when there was good flood we used to go over to the Irrarra Creek which was just past our Eastern boundary. It was a fairly wide creek with two main flow areas. The main swimming area was just near he crossing which was nothing more than well-worn tracks through the causeway.
I guess Mick and I must have been about four and five years old when we came down with the measles. At the time we were still living in the shearing shed and our beds were near the big sliding door. The Irrarra Creek was in flood and the whole family had driven over to go for a swim Mick and I were told not to go into the water and we were supposed to just sit near the ute and watch. How cruel. Nevertheless, due to “childish inability to follow instructions”, we absconded and managed to sneak into the water about 50 yards downstream, gradually moving unnoticed into the crowd. We were having a great time until Mum finally realised that we weren’t where we were supposed to be. She started calling out for us and suddenly everyone woke up and recognised us and we were banished from the waterhole.
Floods : During the 1956 floods planes were used to drop vital food supplies to isolated properties. When the plane flew over to drop food to us he circled quite low to plan his target, and then attempted to drop the food onto the clay-pan near the sheep-yards. Imagine the scene from the plane. This guy is about to let go of a sack of sugar and a whole tribe of kids run right into the middle of his target area, waving their arms in total excitement. When he does finally drop the sack of sugar it lands on a stump and spills out onto the sand. And that’s what happened. Someone had to scoop up the sugar as ants scurried out in absolute frenzy believing they had won the “ant lottery’. As the plane came around again the target area must have been reduced quite substantially because they ended up dropping the spuds onto the roof of the shearing shed.
Enngonia: The whole family used to go to Enngonia for special events, such as the Christmas Tree, sports events, dances, race meetings, and balls. It really was the social scene of our area.
One evening there was a gala talent show at the Hall, and the Watts entrant was Terry playing a wonderful piece on the piano. Another act on the show was a shadow skit about surgery where the doctors used ridiculous instruments such as saws and axes and hammers, to operate on the patient. They kept on pulling out weird and wonderful objects from the patients prone body. Things like clocks, fish skeletons, sausages, a heart shape and multiple other things. Then they stitched him back up and he got up and was cured. The other memory was Mrs Lack’s stole. It was a beautiful red fox with its head still on. I asked Mumin an Irish whisper, “Why is she wearing a kangaroo skin?”
The Tree Horse: Down by the bore drain just near the shearer’s huts where we lived, was a magnificently strong old gum tree which had an incredible branch just the right height from the ground. It had an appropriately shaped bend in it, rather like a sway-back nag, and was as springy as a taut trampoline. This was our TREE HORSE. Just overhead there was another well-positioned branch which was used as the steadying apparatus for the “power source”. The rider would position him/herself into the saddle-shaped bend in the branch and hold on for dear life while a loving, caring, gentle sibling would bounce on the tree end of the branch in a rhythmical motion to create the effect of a horse galloping furiously over the plains. Just when you thought you had the idea and relaxed in the even rocking motion, the rhythm would change. A variety of effects could be expected. You would either wrap your face around the branch and sustain multiple abrasions, or you could spin to the underside of the prancing steed and have your head pounded into the dirt, or you could fly off and land in a most ungainly fashion on the ground, or all of the above in flowing succession as if choreographed for a ballet.
Hide and Seek: Another interesting game we used to play was Hide and Seek. Sometimes this could take hours. The boundary was virtually the whole of “Rostella” (sometimes it seemed that way because we used to put up some mileage), and if we couldn’t find someone we would just go home, have some lunch, and then return for the search. However, it wasn’t always the searcher who did the quitting. Once we were searching for hours for either Chris or Mick, but they had gone back to their room, read a comic and fallen asleep.
Not the Kerosene Again: When Tony and Greg were both young, they had trips to hospital with kerosene ingestion.There was also another kerosene incident at “Rostella”. Kerosene lights were used by us when the generator went off. On one occasion, we were filling up the lamps in the kitchen of the huts and kerosene was spilled over the bench and somehow caught alight. The flames spread like lightning and began climbing the wall. Most of us deserted and left Pat to deal with the problem.
Bathtime – Special Event: The bathroom near the shearers huts was a large tin shed which housed about two or three showers, laundry tubs, and washing machine, and a bathtub with a chip-heater. The bathtub was quite large and it was not uncommon for three or four of us to be in together.When ‘no-one’ was looking we would pinch Rinso from the laundry end of the shed and pour it into the tub. Taking a firm hold of the side of the tub we would then agitate the water by running on the spot until soap suds would foam up around our heads. Then we would run outside like ‘snowmen’. When the suds had fallen off, we would roll in te dirt and then rush back into the tub for more suds. This could go on for quite awhile until the bath water became so dirty that we would then rundown to the creek for a wash.
Remember when …..we used to go into town and Mum would leave us in the park in the care of Dad or one of the older kids, and she would go and do the shopping. There was a cafe across the street and we would be rewarded for our patience by being treated to an ice-cream. sometimes we went in to have lunch there.
One day, while playing in the park, Colleen was trying to get the swing to do a full loop when, suddenly, the chain broke and she was sent flying off into the distance. There were no broken bones but the evidence of the mishap took the form of a large bruise.
On rare occasions, we would stay in town for the night at the hotel. We particularly liked the dining room with its white linen tablecloths and napkins which were folded in the shape of a cap. Naturally we would all sit there with the napkin on our head – just for a laugh. (Mum couldn’t stand the embarrassment so she would send us down to meals first in the hope that we would be finished and gone by the time she arrived). Unfortunately though, the waiter would make us sit there like good little girls and boys and wait for our mother.
One night, after a delightful first course we were tucking into some ice-cream and Tony’s scoop jumped out of his bowl and rolled onto the floor. So as to avoid any wastage, Tony followed the runaway treat, retrieved it, and returned it to the bowl. Then licked his hands clean before using the napkin!
Forbes: When we went to Forbes to live, Terry went to Our Lady of Mercy College for girls while the older boys continued going to MBC (Red Bend) where they had been boarding , and Pat, Mick, Chris and I went to South Forbes school, which was about 1km from our house. Pat was in Grade 3, Mick and I went into Grade 2, and Chris went into Kindergarten. On one occasion, Grades 2 and 3 were treated to a special recitation of the alphabet by the kindy kids, and for an extra special treat Chris said the alphabet backwards.
There was a co
ncertina dividing wall between the two classrooms as well as in front of the altar. The desk tops folded down to become pews. We were always very willing to give our time and energy to stay back and help get the ‘church’ ready for Mass the next morning because Sister Gemma and Sister Rose would reward us with toffee apples or similar treats.
In the school/church there was a big old pump organ and somehow I ended up as the organist for Mass. How wonderful that must have sounded. At that stage I played everything in the key of C major and I wasn’t game to use too many of those black keys. Towards the end of its life (ie the organs) only one of the pedals worked so you had to pump really, really fast with one leg.
Mum used to get up with the sparrows to make our school lunches and the kitchen looked rather like a tuckshop with the slices of bread spread over one end of the table. when they were made, the sandwiches were wrapped in grease proof paper and put into a brown paper bag. There was always a box of fruit and we used to just choose our own. Sometimes Mum would line us up in front of the old green stove in the kitchen and polish our shoes. All the toes first, then spin around for the heels. Very efficient.
I had long hair which, more often than not, I wore in plaits, and with plaits there is always that little bit of hair left over at the end that looks like a paint brush. In grade 3 we had ink wells set into the top of the desks and I’m not sure whether it just happened or the student behind me helped but one day one of my ‘paint brushes’ got dipped into an ink well.
Another incident with my plaits occurred when i was riding home in a bus from St Lawrence’s. Some boys, who were sitting behind me, tied the ribbons together around the hand rail at the back of the seat. When I tried to get up and leave I was almost scalped!
When I was in Grade 5 at St Lawrence’s there was an outbreak of head-lice. I still had a good head of long hair. Mum couldn’t stand to see me scratching any more so she got out the can or Mortein and ‘drenched”me and THEN she read the warning label on the side of the can “. “Avoid contact with human skin”. Mum didn’t mention this for a few weeks because she was waiting in fear and trepidation for all my hair to fall out.
Because it wasn’t far we used to walk to school at South Forbes, and always got there in plenty of time to play. I recall one day prancing off to school with lipstick and powder on, as well as a pair of sunglasses I had borrowed (secretly) from someone. When confronted by Sister Gemma about the “new look” I had to think quickly. My excuse was that we (note the plural) had forgotten to wash my face. I’m sure she was convinced.
Another day while we were walking home from Mass at South Forbes we were followed by Pat Meagher on his bike. He wanted to play “chicken” with us – which meant that he would ride bike towards us very fast and then at the last minute he would dodge around us.Well, I didn’t have the staying power and I dodged just as he did, and in the same direction!
When we got home from school we used to eat whatever we could lay our hands on. John was renowned for his ability to sniff out biscuits which mum had hidden away for a special occasion. Some favourite after-school snacks included:
* Bread with jam and cream
* Bread with peanut paste, cheese, and honey
* Bread with Milo
* Malted milk or Milo
This was then followed by a full and very tasty dinner and usually pudding.
Bonfire Night: During the 60’s people were still allowed to organise their own bonfires and set off crackers. The residents around the South Forbes area built a monster bonfire in the park near the tennis courts at the back of our house. We watched the development over a period of about two weeks as the neighbours gathered sticks and garden debris to create a giant mound. On the night there were people all over the park letting off crackers. Rockets were shooting off to land who-knows-where? Spinning wheels were attached to the tennis court fence and Tom Thumbs weren thrown at people’s feet.
The next big bonfire was behind South Forbes school under he guidance of Father Coyte. He was as mad as any ten year old and you had to keep checking over your shoulder to make sure he wasn’t sneaking up behind you with a penny bunger.
The Watts Family 