| Note* | THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE ANNIE CONVARY. I was born on the 27th. October 1920 in our family home situated about three kilometers from the small country town of Gilgandra, situated in the western plains of New South Wales. This township was known as the 'Windmill' town because practically every home had it's own windmill as there was no town water supply, and the water came from the Castlereagh River, which meandered alongside of the township -the water was practically always hidden under the sand, so it was a sandy river.
My Father's name was John Convary (born 1875) and my Mother was Alice Annie Convary (nee Smith) born 1875). Both of my parents came from Nhill (situated in the north west of Victoria) and my father was a bricklayer. Their first child (Peter John) only lived a few hours. Glen Halpin was born in 1901- then Clarence John in 1905- Glen was about five years old when the family loaded their worldly possession on a cart drawn by horses and left Nhill to seek work elsewhere -Lawrence James was born at Wonthaggi in 1910- the family continued their travels and crossed into New South Wales, they had intended to make their way to the coast for a better climate in which to live but the horses could not take the hills at Cudall so they turned back and finally made their home in Gilgandra where Leonard George and myself were born. My Father built a lot of chimneys and his work was always distinguished by a row of bricks near the top of the chimney, which he called 'The engagement ring'. At one time in their travels my Mother ran a fruit shop in Melbourne while Dad followed his trade. She often told stories of the hardship of having to get up early and go to the markets for supplies and take care of the children at the same time.
Around our home was an orchard consisting of oranges, mandarins, figs, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, lemons. We were very poor and Mum used to get empty flour bags from the Flour Mill, bleach them and so the markings would disappear and then make shirts and trousers for the children. Although poor we have a fairly happy home mainly by the endeavors of our dear Mother as our Father was a heavy drinker and came home very violent and we all had to run and hide in the scrub which was nearby. I can always remember my birthdays at an early age as we had a high chair and Mum made a wire hoop at the top of this and wound sweat peas and wildflowers to make a flower hoop. When I was born my father was disappointed that I wasn't another boy and left the task of naming me to my Mother who gave me her name. As I began to toddle around my father's attitude changed and he made me a tiny hammer, chisel etc. and I worked? alongside of him whenever possible. He was always singing 'Abie my boy'(a popular song at that time) I tried to imitate him but said 'Adie' and so he gave me the nickname of 'Adie' which was mine for many years. Dad was very musical and could play any instrument by ear. Mum was also musical and had a beautiful singing voice, and was always singing as she toiled away at her many chores. She could also play the concertina and played for dances.
When I was about three my Father was coming home well under the influence and crossed the railway line in front of our home instead of going to the 'Crossing' further along the line, he slipped and fell and could not get up before the local train ran over him.
This tragedy left my Mother and our family in financial difficulties because although Dad earned good money he wasted a lot on drink - so at the time of his death their savings were nil and Mum hardly had enough to pay for the morgue fees etc. My eldest brother, Glen was the only one working so began an uphill battle for survival. Mum was a great homemaker and prior to dad's death she had crocheted curtains and cushions etc. for the home, but these were all burnt by my Father in one of his 'Drinking bouts'. Mum worked long hours in the orchard, our only means of income, pruning etc. and selling the fruit and making jams and pickles. I can remember helping my brothers on a fruit stall in front of our home, selling fruit and jams etc. to the farmers as they passed with their lorries of wheat for the silos. We were barefoot as shoes were so costly. My brothers helped in the orchard whenever possible. There were a mob of wild goats on the common near our home and Mum milked them and sometimes the boys killed one of them for meat.
We had a windmill to give us our water supply and many a story was told of these young boys as they endeavoured to fix any repairs. Two of them went down the well without leaving the covering off long enough and collapsed with the fowl air and the other one had to go down and help them to the top. On another occasion Clarrie went down the well and shouted for Glen to send down some nails and screws -Glen promptly tossed them down and they hit Clarrie on the head. Another time they did a quick ascent as they found they were sharing the well with a large snake. My Mother also had a lot of hens and the large goannas used to steal the eggs so a gun was ever ready to dispose of these intruders. Of course there were no widow's pension in those days so the family had to exist on the products of the orchard, the hens and the goats.
To add to their problem it was discovered the house and the orchard had been built on crown land so Mother had to go to court over this. Two Catholic neighbours went guarantee for £500 to help out. After a lengthy battle she was granted ownership of the land and we could stay there.
My brother Glen was married soon after Dad died - his wife was Molly (Howard) and their daughter, Dorothy, was born when I was about five. She was more like a long awaited sister to me and as we grew up we spent many happy hours together and this helped the loneliness in both of our lives as Dorothy was an only child.
As practically all of our relatives were back in Victoria we did not have a very big family circle. Mum's brothers Jim, George and Tom were living at Tooraweenah and Mudgee. Jim and his wife Rose had a large family and lived on the farm owned by George, a bachelor, who had gone to the war and sent back his money to his fiancé only to come back and find her married to someone else and his savings spent. He was given a 'Soldiers Block' for his years of war service. Jim had a family of 8 children and I can remember that in the school holidays they took weekly turns to stay with us, which was also an added responsibility and liability for our dear Mother. I can remember visiting our Nhill relatives twice driving over the long miles in the old cars and it took many days to arrive there. We stayed with the Kossatz (Mum's sister Rose) at Netherby and also visited my Grandfather living near Halpin Park, Nhill, a fine old gentleman with a long flowing beard. He was a well-educated man and in his youth his parents put him into a college to become a priest but his grandmother did not like this so she quietly removed him from the college and paid his fare to Australia. Here he made a lot of money but once again the curse of drink cost him his home and savings.
My brother Clarrie married Nancy Childs about five years after my Father died, they lived in Gilgandra and then moved to Canowindra, Orange, new Guinea and Sydney.
When I was 6 years old I started school and had been given a bike to ride the three kilometers to school, but the patches of catheads growing all around the area caused havoc and my dear brothers were always mending punctures. Before I go any further with this story I would like to pay tribute to my great brothers they were always there, although I was just the 'kid sister' they cared for me and helped to take the part of my father who I really did not have time to get to know. As I look back now I realise how many sacrifices they must have made to make my life so happy and fulfilled. To prevent the punctures they bought me solid tyres and although this made it harder to push it elimated the punctures. I often had to stop and put the chain back on the sprocket and in winter time the cold was terrible and in the summer the heat was intolerable but there was no other transport so it was either ride or walk.
I loved school and really did well, coming first in all my years until sixth class when I came second and missed out being Dux of the school. My brother, Len, had been Dux when he was there a few years previously. I continued onto High School and came first in the two years and then passed the Intermediate Certificate in the third year and gained the prize for the Best Sports Girl of the Year. I represented my school in hockey, vigoro and tennis. We would travel to Coonamble, Coonabarabran, Wellington and Dubbo and this would be on the back of lorries with a tarpaulin over the top. What great times these were especially when the lorry would break down and we would have to build fires alongside of the road to keep warm until word reached home and a team of cars would come out for us. A lot of canoodling went on under these tarpaulins as the boys team would be with us.
The Gilgandra Hockey team wanted me to play with them but my Mother would not let me as some of the players had bad reputations and she would not let me travel to other towns with them. 0f course this caused friction between me and other people and I was called “Lady Alice' but after the way some of these people finished in life I was pleased I had kept out of the team. I filled in on many occasions and played with the Gilgandra team at home.
When I was in fifth class we sold the house over the line and rented a house in Vera Street, which was only a few streets from the school. Still there was no help financially for us so my Mother made a living sewing, she would sew for hours and my job was to go along and cut the cottons. At the back of our house was our kitchen with a large brick surface from the chimney at the back. This made a great tennis practice wall so Len and I chalked up a net and then we would bash away with forehands and backhands. How our poor Mother put up with the noise 1 will never know but it improved our tennis and soon I was in the top grade team.
During these school years my Mother and all of us attended the Methodist Church, Sunday School and all the activities. The social life of the Church was a great one, the picnic and outings were all well attended. My brother Lawrie was always Santa Claus at all the Christmas parties. I became a Sunday school teacher at l5 years and spent seven years teaching. We had three Sunday School teachers and I asked them to join me in going around the town trying to get children to come to Sunday School. We did this and came upon one family whose mother said she would love to send her five children but they were so poor and their clothes so old she felt too ashamed. So we went around asking for materials etc. and then my dear Mother made a “Sunday” outfit for each child and they came to Sunday School and soon the parents too came to Church. It was at this period in my life that the Lord really spoke to me. I was eighteen at the time and on a summers night had attended a church service and was walking home alone when suddenly I stopped. In the quietness of that night God entered my heart in a wonderful way. I can still remember the joy of that experience and the desire to run and tell someone. What a change came over my life, my Sunday school lessons became alive and I became aware of people about me and their needs. I had a purpose for living. From then on God has been gently guiding me through the years. I started studying to become a Missionary but owing to unexpected family commitments that was not to be and I often wondered about this. However I now know that God wanted me to serve Him right here in Australia.
When I was thirteen I started to learn the piano and with a lot of sacrifices a second hand piano was bought. I loved music. Len had been learning the violin for many years and many happy hours were spent as we played together. Glen, Len and Lawrie were members of the Gilgandra Band, so we had cornets and bases being played around the house. My Mother, even with all her hard life was always singing and one of her favourites was 'Maggie' and the old favourite hymns. I had two girl friends who played the violin so the three of us would play for school (dances) and concerts. We gave this up when we realised we played for nothing and while we were attached to our instruments our class mates were attached to the boys.
As I mentioned before Dorothy and I grew up together, there was only five years difference in our ages and as I was the youngest with four brothers and she an only child we did everything together and got into lots of scrapes together.
Glen was like a father to me (being twenty years older) and although he had to work hard to keep his little family he often treated me to concerts, films etc. and was always there to give advice about the company I was in etc. To this fine brother I owe so much. His gentle discipline in my life is something I will always appreciate. Also Lawrie for his love and sacrifice as he presented me with a lovely two wheeler bike on my fourteenth birthday and I realised that it had taken him twelve months of payments to make this possible. Len, too as we moved in the same social activities and took part in plays etc. Although I had no father these brothers of mine certainly looked after their 'kid' sister. Clarrie always lived away from home and so I did not see very much of him or his family. We would visit him in Orange and Canowindra and enjoyed our brief time with them. This lovely bike that Lawrie gave me was my only means of transport. Glen and Clarrie had old cars which we had an occasional ride in., and many a story could be told about getting bogged etc. Glen got bogged one day coming back from a pig shooting trip to Warren it had rained and rained and was very muddy so Molly was given the job of pushing the back of the car, which started quickly out of the bog and she went face downwards into the mud. Then Lawrie and Len had motor bikes, which they would spend all the week repairing and then set sail on Saturday and come home again pushing their bikes. Despite all our hardships thanks to Mother we were a close loving family and had lots of laughter in our home and music and singing. In 1937 we moved from Vera Street to Miller Street.
Len, Lawrie and I would play for hours of a night -Lawrie and I on the piano or Jew harp and Len with the violin or the cornet. Our neighbours would sit outside of their homes and listen to us and often request some favourites.
Lawrie was always wanting to be a magician so Mum made him a black bag with a hidden pocket in it and he wanted to learn the disappearing egg trick so wanted an egg to practice on. Mum sent him down to the chook yard to get a china egg she had put there to encourage the hen to sit on the eggs. He came back and practiced for about an hour and then plopped the egg on the table. BANG it exploded he had picked up a rotten egg by mistake. All he did was laugh and we had to get rid of the terrible smell.
I worked at Nelson's Sawmill until I was twenty years old and then answered an advertisement for the office of the Weston Stores & Edgleys Ltd. Glen, Clarrie and Len had worked there, Glen and Len in the grocery department and Clarrie on the Ironmongery. So I succeeded in getting the job (I had been lonely at Nelsons because I was the only young person there) but I ended up in the company of Catholics, the big boss was Catholic and all of our office staff -in those days Catholics and Protestants were not close. However by perseverance I finally was accepted and enjoyed my time there. When the Stores became busy on Fridays and Saturday mornings I would be pulled out of the office to help take orders on the grocery counter or giving change up in the little box where dockets and money would come from all the different departments. We sure had to work hard for our pay.
Len left Gilgandra and Married Nath in Newcastle in 1939.
During the end of my school days and from then on I had a boy friend named Frank Bartley and we went around with a group of young people to parties, dances etc. Frank's sister, Kath was our Sunday School Superintendent and her family great workers for the Church. On Sunday nights after church we would all gather at Bartleys and sing around the piano the favourite hymns of our church. We went together for about four years, then one day Frank drove Mum, Lawrie and myself out to Balladoran to spend the afternoon at the Reichelt's farm. Here I met their son, Ivan and he asked me if I would like to see over the farm so away we went and we were so engrossed in this adventure we were late for the evening meal. My Mother said I 'should set my cap at him” because of his twinkling eyes. After this episode I was not very popular with Frank and gradually the romance waned
One night I had a girlfriend with me, we had been playing the piano and violin and Helen was expecting her boyfriend to come and pick her up to take her to the pictures. I had no boyfriend at that time. When a knock at the door came I raced out to let Brian (Helen's boyfriend) in but here was Ivan wanting to take me to the pictures. Lovely Surprise. We had not booked our seats so had to sit downstairs and had apple cores and nuts thrown at us. The picture we saw was 'Dad and Dave Comes to Town'.
This commenced a wonderful time of companionship together. As Ivan did not have his own transport he had to rely on getting a lift in his fathers car. So our meetings together were limited but we wrote to each other once a week - even wrote poetry to each other. We had no telephone at our home so as my friends worked on the telephone exchange I would ride up to the Post Office and go into their room and they would connect me behind the board. It was like carrying on a conversation in the middle of a crowd. My friends could butt in and also George on the exchange at Balladoran and the Reichelts were on a party line with several families able to listen in. However it was one way of communicating with each other. The Reichelts came into the Lutheran Church every Sunday and often the family came to our home for lunch and so we could see one another for about an hour. Sometimes Ivan's sister, Mavis would come and stay with us and we would put our bikes on the back of a friends utility and he would drive us to Balladoran on his way home and then we would ride the six miles through sandy roads and bush tracks to Lynsdale. One night we decided to surprise them and rode laughing and chatting through the two paddocks from the road to the homestead only to learn that the savage bull was loose in one of those paddocks. He certainly would have hurried us up.
On the 3rd. September 1939 I was in the local hall making paper jasmine in readiness for a big Ball on the next night when word came through that War with Germany had been declared. We were all dazed and immediately made the Ball a charity one to help the War effort.
Life became changed - friends departed for the forces, some to never come back. Len entered the army. Harry, Ivan's brother being the eldest entered the Light Horse Brigade. Ivan was required to work the farm as wheat was a priority. Lawrie and Ivan joined the Volunteer Brigade and would go into training at the weekend.
I went and did a V.A.D. course and our living room at home was set up with a camouflage net frame and every spare minute one of us would be working on these nets. We even dug a trench in the back yard in case of bombings.
We began a day-to-day existence not knowing how things would go. With blackout curtains etc, everything was geared for the war effort. Every night we would sit and listen to our wireless sets and breathe a sigh of thankfulness when we heard the chimes of Big Ben in London. Through these times the Reichelt families were under fire because of their German heritage, which did not make life easy.
Despite the tension of our lives and not knowing what the future held our love for one another grew and when I was twenty one the Reichelt family were kind enough to let us use their home for my party which was a very happy time, my birthday cake was made by my long time friend, Georgie. Georgie and Arnold were great mates of ours and we attended dances together - often I would fill in for the pianist and Arnold would play the drums for the dancers. It was a time of grabbing happiness at all costs as we never knew how long that would last. Wherever we went our knitting went with us, knitting socks for the boys in the army, we learnt how to master the four knitting needles, how to turn heels and toes of the socks for those serving their country. There were many sad hours as news trickled through about school chums who had been killed and happy memories flooded back of school days spent with that one and little incidents that they brought to mind. As many factories were taken over for war products, clothing etc became scarce and coupons were issued. We were given permission to go to work without stockings to save on coupons.
Wherever we lived our home was an open home and my mother was always helping people. If she knew of anyone who needed clothes for their children and were in desperate need she would cut up some of our clothes we had grown out of, and remake them. She was a midwife and several times had to go and assist at births until the hospital was built. Our friends were always welcome and our home filled with laughter and fun. I think this type of life style in my home life equipped me for my life in the future.
On the 3 October 1942 Ivan came into town unexpectedly and spoke to me over the counter while I was taking orders for a customer and then waited for me to finish work. We walked home together and I wondered how we were going to spend the evening. As we sat on my front verandah on this calm pleasant summer night Ivan asked me to marry him and we celebrated with lemonade when we told my mother, who naturally was upset at the thought of losing me as this would leave her all alone.
I had to ask my boss for time off the following week to go into Dubbo to buy our engagement ring - he gave me time off but requested that we make it a long engagement as there was a staff shortage and by this time I had worked myself up in the Office to be second in charge.
However love is never patient and all though it was war time we decided to marry on the 26 April 1943. With the coupon shortage I found it necessary to ask Len's wife Nath for the use of her wedding gown which she so generously loaned me and took the time to let it out a little here and there. I managed to purchase a long veil and headgear. This did not arrive until about two days before the wedding and I can still remember riding up to the Post Office and collecting the long box and then juggling this as I rode back home, jubilant as I thought it would arrive too late. Owing to war condition we only had the family present and could not unfortunately invite our friends.
The day before our wedding was Anzac Day and Ivan & Lawrie in their VDC uniforms marched through the streets and then we had a big memorial meeting in the picture theatre. After Ivan borrowed Lawrie's bike and getting a lift to Balladoran he rode the six miles home on the bike.
Len and Nath arrived - Len had asked for ten days leave to attend the wedding and was asked if he was a going on the honeymoon too!!!! Harry also had leave and was home for ten days. Clarrie and his family were unable to be present.
Ivan and I had been to see the new Minister of the Methodist Church - Willis and Beryl Jago and mentioned that we were nervous because this was the first time we had been married. He informed us that he too was nervous as this was the first wedding he had performed.
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Ivan Conrad Reichelt
