The Blacksmith’s Daughter – Chapter 34
The Southport Youth Conference had a profound effect on me. I had learned so much and met so many people. Stan and Sheila Bailey two of the hosts at the conference had been an inspiration to me and I had made some life-changing decisions as a result of the conversations I had with them during the conference. I was confirmed in my desire to serve God and had definitely decided that I would end my attachment to Bob W. when I got back home. Now that the conference was over there were a few days of post conference activities and I had a great time attending these. Then there were more goodbyes and a long bus trip to Sydney. I spent a few days at the Spencer’s home at Fairfield attending all the activities that the Spencer family took me to. I was becoming increasingly aware that Barry and I were not suited which was really a puzzle to me because he was such a nice boy, but the “chemistry” and a real mental “connection” just didn’t seem to be there.
Right in the middle of all this, and quite unbeknown to me, there was an event about to happen which would change the direction taken by all the Christadelphian ecclesias in Australia. A letter, dated 8th June, 1957, was sent to the recorders of all the ecclesias in Australia, both Shield and Central fellowships, from a group who called themselves “The Reunion Committee in Great Britain.” It was an appeal to all Central and Shield ecclesias to move forward towards a reunion that would end the divide between all the disparate groups in Australia. It was suggested that Bro John Carter come to Australia on the occasion of the next conference in Melbourne to aid in promoting harmony between the ecclesias.
(Looking back on events from my present vantage point in 2014. I can see what a brave move this was and how it deserved to succeed. It did succeed! But then, also looking back from this same vantage point I can see another point in the history of the Adelaide ecclesias where division again reared its ugly head. Thankfully, It was not Australia wide, but mostly localised in the Adelaide area, where in the late 50s and early 60s, there developed a division between the Adelaide Halifax street ecclesia and the new Suburban ecclesias under the influence of HP Mansfield and his disciples of which, at the time, I was one.)
In Sydney I stayed first at the Spencer’s home in Fairfield and joined in their lives and activities.
DIARY ENTRIES
19570514 Letter to Merrita Spencer – I am writing one week and one day after your letter to me. If I don’t write now I won’t have time to accept your invitation. I would like very much to stay at your place but only for two days. I would like to stay for Saturday 8, 9 and 10th June, 1957. Tell Barrie no letters will be forthcoming until after the Conference. There are 81 girls and 83 boys going to the conference, that gives us 41 ½ a piece. You can have the blue eyed blonds and I will have the rest. I will be keeping a diary while I’m there (I’m taking my typewriter). I went to Black Point on York Peninsula for Easter and I enjoyed myself very much. There were about 9 caravans full of a crazy crew of Christadelphians, one dog, 3 boats and lots of other paraphernalia. We had a car accident one day. All the young people drove down to Stansbury where another group of Christos were spending Easter. The boy driving our car was going too fast around a corner and we didn’t take it properly and ended up missing a tree by inches. Give my love to Lyn, Judy and Barrie and keep some for yourself.
19570604 Letter from Christadelphian Office Birmingham – On June 4, 1957, All Australian Recording Brothers received a letter from the Christadelphian Office in Birmingham which read:
“Dear Brothers, In April 1956, in response to an invitation from Australia, brethren Carter and Cooper sent a message to the Conference which was held in Adelaide. In it they offered comments on the divided state of ecclesias and ventured to make suggestions to help towards unity. The very hearty response of the Conference to this letter in deciding that copies should be circulated to all ecclesias in Australia, prompts us to address a further communication to all Australian ecclesias.
We appreciate that meetings for reunion in the State of Victoria have resulted in a basis of agreement, upon which fellowship may take place, and to which a number of ecclesias have subscribed, while there are Central ecclesias which have not so subscribed. The position in Australia, as also in Great Britain, thus suggests the need for considering whether any basis for reunion among all ecclesias in Australia is possible.
The basis which the ecclesias in Victoria agreed upon was published in the Christadelphian for May, 1956 (p. 1899). The basis upon which reunion in Great Britain has become effective is defined in the Final Statement, which was also published in the Christadelphian of June 1956 (p. 252 ).This Statement is particularly related to the difficulties which have arisen in the past in Great Britain, but which have not been the occasion of difficulty in Australia. For example, the existence in Great Britain of ecclesias whose separation from Central ecclesias goes back to the division on Resurrectional Responsibility about 1896- 1900, led to the inclusion of a Clause on that subject. Similarly, a Clause on Inspiration removes any lingering doubts on the issue which caused division 70 years ago. We believe that neither of these issues affects ecclesias in Australia. The particular issues with you have been caused by contentions concerning the subjects set out in Clauses 5 – 12 of the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith. It was for this reason that brethren Carter and Cooper included an addendum to their letter in which they set out (without the use of those cliches which have become war-worn shibboleths in this contention) what they believe was intended by these Clauses. We do not favour additions to the BASF nor are explanations and definitions very desirable. But when division exists a re-statement such as the Final Statement has its uses as a basis for Reunion.
We understand that most of the Shield Ecclesias already use the BASF. In this country, while some ecclesias have their own statements of faith, we have agreed in the first clause of the Final Statement that the first principles of the One Faith are set forth in the BASF. The fact that so many ecclesias in Australia of both fellowships already recognise this Statement of Faith as the basis of their fellowship should surely be of great help in promoting reunion in Australia.
It is not our province to suggest any formulation of doctrine which needs to be set out in Australia for the purpose of Reunion discussion. The brethren in Australia who know the problems naturally have the responsibility for drawing up any Statement which your ecclesias could adopt. We do, however, suggest on the basis of our experience in Great Britain that quiet examination of the difficulties and frank, brotherly discussion, will show that some of these are imaginary, and that others can be resolved. We certainly think that the particular issues that have troubled the ecclesias in Australia have been aggravated by the technical elaboration of Clauses 5 – 12. Such elaborations if pursued with great fervour and intense feeling provoke opposition; extremes beget extremes; and the ecclesial atmosphere can become fogged by technicalities beyond the range and interest of most brethren and sisters.
This letter is an appeal to all Central and Shield ecclesias to decide whether the proposals put forward in Victoria can be accepted elsewhere, or failing that, some other Statement be drawn up to which ecclesias could could subscribe. It may be that a simple endorsement of the BASF coupled with the addendum to the Carter-Cooper letter, or some equivalent, together with a clause defining fellowship (cf. Clause 2 of the Final Statement) would prove all-sufficient. Be that as it may, we hope that a positive approach will be made to the subject of reunion by which it might be possible to remove the difficulties arising from the partial action in Victoria which affects the whole of Australia, and also the uncertainties arising out of the developments in Great Britain.
Some steps have already been taken; and brethren in the Shield ecclesias of Sydney are actively considering the problem. Some Victorian ecclesias have already given effect to an arrangement, upon an agreed basis. The time, therefore, seems opportune for a fresh consideration of the issues so that a greater harmony might be established among Australian ecclesias.
In this connection we would mention a proposal which has come from more than one source in Australia, namely that Bro. John Carter should visit Australia on the occasion of the next Conference to be held in Melbourne. We believe that such a visit would be beneficial in promoting harmony and understanding not only among Australian ecclesias themselves, but also between ecclesias there and here. None-the-less, this is a matter which must be decided by Australian ecclesias generally, and it would manifestly add greatly to the value of such a visit if some at least of the outstanding differences could first be solved.
Sincerely your brethren in the Lord,
DE BENNETT
JOHN CARTER
C COOPER
I EVANS
LC JENNINGS
J MARSHALL
FE MITCHELL
NEW nEWMAN
J SMITH
TW STANDEVEN
FW TURNER
HA TWELVES
(Reunion Committee in Great Britain)
19570606 Thursday. – Today we were going to see over the Pineapple factory in the morning and go to Lone Pine in the afternoon. Barrie Spencer told me last night that he would be unable to come with us to the factory but asked me if I would come and see him off in the afternoon. He asked me to make sure I was at the station at least 20 minutes before the train left.
We all met in the Foyer of the Canberra before we went to the Pineapple factory, planning to move off together from there . I went up to Lyn Spencer’s room first but Lyn was running late and then we were told that we only had 5 minutes before the train let and here we were still dawdling in the “Canberra”. Lyn and I and another girl who was there as well all tore down to the station to the ticket office, but when we got there it dawned on us that we didn’t know which train we were to catch or how to get there. We all stared vacantly at each other and then at the ticket man. I said, “We want to go somewhere, and the train leaves in five minutes, but we don’t know where we want to go.” The ticket man looked at us blankly, as if we were nuts, then Lyn said, “It’s to the Pineapple factory.” Light dawned and the ticket man told us where we had to go and that we had to go downstairs to get the tickets. We ran downstairs and as we were going down the underground tunnel, Max Kennett and Des Manser and some others came tearing down from the opposite direction. We all arrived at the ticket box at the same time with about two minutes to spare. Did we all laugh, that is when we were safely in the train and had got our breath back.
We arrived at out destination at last and walked in the gates to the reception rooms where there was a sign up inviting us to help ourselves to free pineapple juice. We turned on the tap set in the wall and filled up the cups that were provided with the beautiful pineapple juice. I drank so much juice that I was feeling slightly bloated by he time we left the room. Then the first thing we were taken to before we started our inspection was to the canteen where we were told to be seated. Then…they brought out jugs and jugs of pineapple juice for us to drink. Wow, after drinking another 4 glasses on top of what I had already drunk, I was so full I could hardly walk. I was just lucky that juice did not contain alcohol! At last we started our inspection, We were divided up into groups with a hostess for each group and we then followed our hostess around the factory. It’s a massive old place and we seemed to walk for miles. It’s amazing the way they process the pineapples so that there’s no waste. The skins and cores are crushed up for pig food.
By the time we had finished looking over the place and tasting samples, I was feeling slightly sick and then with a packet of potato crisps on top of that, well……! We left at last and tottered back to the station where we sank thankfully into our seats and relaxed. Brisbane trains are the filthy, absolutely disgusting. Lyn had put on a clean blouse and by the time we got back to the Canberra, it had changed colour. I went upstairs to Lyn’s room while she got things ready for the evening. She started to wash her hair and I helped her. Then I returned to the Oxford House to get ready. I had a shower then got my white dress with the pink flowers and took it to the Canberra to wash because we weren’t allowed to use the Oxford House laundry until the afternoon. It was afternoon, but I like the Laundry in the Canberra better than the one in Oxford House. I went up to the 9th floor by the stairs because I kept missing the lift. Then I went into the laundry and washed the dress and left it hanging up there. I went to Lyn’s room and asked her to keep an eye on my dress while it dried. I then returned to Oxford House and went down to the iron with Jan and talked to her for a while. Then I went up to the Canberra to see if the dress had dry and then brought it back to Lyn’s room. By this time we were running late and we only had a quarter of an hour before Barrie’s train was due to leave. I shot back to the Oxford House to grab my purse and dump the dress, then back up to Lyn’s room in the Canberra. By the time I got there I wasn’t sure if I was in the Canberra or Oxford House, I’d dashed in and out of the two places so many times.
Lyn and I and the other girl caught a taxi and zoomed off to the station. All the way we lamented that we would be too late and Barrie would shoot us when we saw him in Sydney. We got to the station with about three minutes to spare. We threw our money into the box and got our platform tickets and then ran through the gates and onto the platform. The ran as fast as we could to the end of the platform to where a sedate group of Christadelphians were standing. Barrie emerged from among them and caught me before I plowed into the middle of the group looking for him. “Where were you? What happened,” he yelled. “ Everyoe said that the last place they had seen you was teaaring around the Canberra with a dress over your arm. Fay O’Connor, you’re hopeless!” Barry said in despair. All I could do was laugh helplessly. I was too exhausted to do anything else. Barry kissed me goodbye and then all the other boys in his carriage kissed me goodbye. Then we waved to them all as the the train moved off. What a rush!
When the train was out of sight Lyn Spencer and Val Dawson and I got a ride back to the Canberra with Brother Mogg. He came into the Canberra with us and was asking at the desk for a Miss Randell. It didn’t occur to me that it might be Jan Randell he was looking for until the fellow at the desk had been through the list about 6 times and hadn’t found her name on it. Then I brightly said, “Oh, she’s in my room at Oxford House.” Everyone turned and looked at me and chorused, “Why didn’t you say so before?” I felt rather small and silly and said that I didn’t realise the “Randell” they were looking for was the “Randell” who was sharing my room. I went up to Lyn’s room for a while and then went and ironed my dress for the social tonight. I had dinner at Oxford House and when I returned to the Canberra, everyone was in the Foyer, leaving for the social. Val Dawson said she was going with Ray Tuttici and Lyn Spencer to the Social and that I was to come with them too. Ray Tutticci arrived at last and I stood talking to him while Lyn and Val had their dinner. Lyn and Val took so long that Tut told me to go in and see what was holding them up. I went in and asked them to hurry up, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves with a young couple at the same table. I went out and told Tut that they’d be a few hours yet because the boy at the table with them was holding their attention. Tut made faces at them through the glass and eventually they came. We started out at last and made our way to the social. I don’t know where it was, but it was in a very large hall. The social had started when we arrived. I sat near the door at first and then moved around a bit and sat next to Ray someone or other on the opposite side of the room.
The first game was the game where each corner of the room represents a song. We had to walk around the room to ordinary music and when we heard the music change into one of the songs we had to dash to the corner where that song belonged. Malcolm Hill’s girlfriend, Margaret Frederickson had gone home to Townsville, so Malcolm and I teamed up for the night and he was my partner for that game. And what a game it turned out to be! Everyone milled around the hall and then when the music changed they raced to the song’s corner. It was a real scramble. Malcolm and I won it and all I got out of it was a pair of white shoes turned black and numerous bruises. Malcolm and I sat down togethere and panted for a while, then got up again for the next game – more bruises. The chairs were in the middle of the room facing each other and the boys sat on them. Then the girls had to walk around on the outside and when the music stopped they had to go down in between the chairs and sit on a boy’s lap. Ray Tutticci was on the end and for three rounds I always ended up on his lap. Then finally I got out . I went over and sat next to Lyn Spencer and Tut and sat with them. Ray and Lyn enjoyed themselves telling me they would report to Barrie about this evening. How that as soon as he’s safely out of the way, I make up for lost time. The next game was winks which was fun. It’s not really a good game for a large number because the boys only wink at the same few girls so that a lot of the girls just sit there, which is not fair. There were about 9 of us who were winked at most of the time and we were up and down all the time. I started off in front of Malcolm Hill but then it started. I tore madly across to the boy who had winked at me, then on to the next one etc. Once, Sylvia Pearce (yes, Walter Pearce’s sister whom he bored me to death talking about all the time when he was in Adelaide) ended up sitting next to me.
When one of the boys winked at Sylvia, Alan Cheek clutched her madly to stand the form collapsed, on my back, just where I hurt it at the Conference in that “dumper.” He did that about three times, so I was glad when someone winked at me and I could move over to someone else.We had supper then and I went around talking to some of the young people. I got talking to Ron Rock again. He’s very nice and very sincere. When it was time to go, I kissed a number of girls and boys “goodbye.” Malcolm Hill came up and said he’d like to take me home. At the same time another boy, Ray (not Ray Tutticci) wanted to take me home as well. They were both very determined. In the end they compromised and decided that both of them would see me home. Crazy! They were so busy acting the fool and telling each other to go home that they didn’t stop to think HOW we were getting home, but they just kept walking. We walked through a park and passed some of the Young People who whistled at us and laughed at me because I was walking along in the middle of two boys who both had their arms around me. We kept walking for ages until at last I just stopped dead, and told them that I didn’t know about them, but I was sick of walking and I was going home by taxi, and they could come with me or walk if they liked. We went to the next phone box and went in it to ring up, but then it occurred to us that we had no idea where we were. We laughed for ages at the thought, then we went in search of sign posts. We couldn’t find any and so we just kept walking. At last we came onto a road that had a sign post “Coronation Road,” which looked like a main road, so we started walking along that. They began fooling around again, each one fighting to keep his arm around me and get the other’s arm off. Once again, I just stood still, and told them to get a taxi or else!
At long last, when I was weak with laughing, a taxi came by and we hailed it and clambered in. We told the taxi drive where we wanted to go and then burst out laughing when we noticed that the taxi turned around and went in the direction that we had just come from. We’d been walking for miles in the wrong direction! We got to Oxford House at last and poured ourselves out of the taxi onto the footpath. Then they began to argue about who was going to say goodnight to me. Then they decided they wanted to have a cup of coffee, but I said that since it was about 1 am in the morning and that I had to pack before eight in the morning, then there would simply be no cup of coffee tonight. I kissed them both goodnight, twice, then got my key and went upstairs to my room. Jan had gone to sleep with the light on so I packed my luggage and at about 2 am I fell into bed and went to sleep. What a mad night.
19570607 Friday – I woke up fairly early next day and asked Jan what the time was. She was still half asleep but got out to look out of the window before she realised that I could have done that just as easily as she could, s she glared at me and told me off for being lazy. We both got dressed and finished off our packing. Jan went downstairs after a while and rang a taxi and then went up to tell Lee Woods to hurry up and get ready. We checked out at the counter and got into the taxi but then Lee took ages to come and we both sat looking at the meter waiting for him to come. Eventually, he came, and we were on our way to the bus at North Key. We were the first to arrive so we checked in our luggage and waited around for the others.
Soon the place was swarming with Young People tripping over each other’s luggage and generally getting in everyone’s way. All the Sydneyites and the Adelaideites were in the same bus, except for Max Kennett, Rob Stokes and Ian Topham. We were a bit disappointed about that but it couldn’t be helped. When we were all in the bus we hung out the windows saying “Goodbye” to those who had come to see us off. Ray Tutticci was saying goodbye to Lyn Spender out of my window, so I was leaning out of the next window. Ray leaned over and kissed me goodbye as well. I looked at Lyn and said “I thought for a minute you might be going to clout me.” She looked at me and said, “Yes, I was. But I thought better of it.” At last we were off and we all settled down in our seats. Everyone was hushed for a while, thinking of the friends they had just left behind. You could tell Lyn was thinking about Tut, because she started talking about him! How wonderful he was etc. I didn’t disagree with her, because I too thought that Tut was the nicest boy out of those I had met so far.
I was tired out and so was everyone else in the bus. Lyn lay on me and went to sleep. She slept off and on for most of the day. They had the wireless on for most of the time. After a while everyone began to change seats. Frank Peden sat with Ruth Eakins and all the other girls with boyfriends who were in the bus sat with them, except for Brian Manser and Joan Boardman. Joan’s original seat had been with Alan Cheek and Alan wouldn’t move. I’ve never seen anyone look so green with envy as Brian was of Alan sitting next to Joan Boardman. Every now and then he’d turn around and look at the two of them. Of course, Joan was making the most of it and was playing the two off against each other. She was looking up at Alan and smiling and cooing. Lyn and I had to laugh. They sat together all day, but in the evening everyone changed around and Brian got to sit next to Joan at last.
During the day we stopped at various places for meals and afternoon tea and morning tea. We had morning tea at a little place with a brush roof. The food was lovely. We had tea at Coffs Harbour in the hotel there. The service was terribly slow and it took ages to get anything to eat. My tea was cold so I asked the girl to change it. Lyn disappeared for a while and changed into some slacks. I didn’t have any but wished I did because for most of the night my legs simply froze. Later on in the afternoon, Alan Cheek started a concert over the mike in the bus. “Everyone has to do something,” so he said, but only a few did. Lyn sang something which sounded terrible. Skeet recited, I mean sung a thing. There’s no other name for it, it was a “thing.” Whenever she stopped singing, we had to come in with,
Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
Woman stood at the Churchyard gate,
Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
Saw three corpses carried in.
Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
Corpses they were long and thin.
Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
Woman to the Corpses said.
Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
I’ll be like that when I’m dead
Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
Corpses to the woman said.
(and just as we were going to do the last Oll-oooo-ooohh Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaaah!
Skeet Spencer let out an ear piercing shriek. It just about frightented the daylights out of us al because we hadn’t expected it.
Of course, it caught on and then after that everyone was singing it.
One of the things I used to say when ever someone told me off in fun was, “Nobody loves me and I’ve got no friends.”
Then Lyn taught me a poem that said it even bettr, and it became my theme song for the day.
Nobody loves me,
Everybody hates me,
Think I’ll go and eat worms.
Long thin skinny ones,
Big fat juicy ones
See how they wriggle and squirm.
The big fat juicy ones
Stick in your chest,
And the long thin skinny ones,
Slirp down the best.
When everyone was too tired to continue talking they started wrapping themselves in rugs and getting ready for the night. Lyn made herself comfortable – on me! and slept soundly for some time. I didn’t sleep at all. So when she woke up again, I got out and with my blanket and my little air cushion and made a bed for myself on the floor. The heating system was on either side of me and so I was one of the rare ones who was able to keep warm. Sometime later, Lyn told me she couldn’t get comfortable without someone there to lean on, so I had to relinquish my comfortable position for an extremely uncomfortable one with her head on my shoulder, jamming me into the corner. I didn’t complain. It was nice that she wanted me to be there.
At about 2 am in th morning the bus stopped and we were told to get out for 40 minutes to stretch our legs and have something to eat if we wanted to. We all got up and piled out to the cafe that was there. By that time I had borrowed a boy’s dressing gown and had that on. I wrapped two rugs around my legs and walked into the cafeteria. Everyone else was sitting down when I got in, and they all looked frowzy and sleepy, but they managed to raise a laugh when they saw me. I ordered two pies in a bag and then went out the front of the cafe and sat on the steps with the pies on my lap and a bottle of tomato sauce beside me. Sylvia Pearce came out and saw me and started to laugh. She said I looked like some poor waif, lost and lonely, and she felt like tossing me a penny! I felt thirsty but my money was back in the bus so I went round and borrowed a penny from everyone until I had eightpence. Of course no one wanted to have the penny back, so I got my cool drink for free.
When the 40 minutes was up, we all got back onto the bus and resumed our former positions. Lyn went to sleep after a while, so I climbed out while she was asleep and fixed up my bed on the floor again. The heating system seemed to have get hotter and hotter and I was sure I could smell my clothes burning. They weren’t though, so I lay down again. I dozed off for a while but suddenly my foot touched the heater and I just about jumped through the ceiling. I picked myself up from the floor and tottered down to the driver. I asked him to put the heater off because I was being burned alive. He put it off, but very shortly, it went to the other extreme and I started to freeze again and everyone in the bus was starting to yell for the heaters to be switched on again. Once again I tottered down to the front and asked the drive to switch it on again, only not full on. He did so, but the switch didn’t seem to work. I went and lay down again. Later Fay Wigzell told me that she had stood for about 10 minutes with her finger on the heater button until it eventually started up again. Of course, it wasn’t long before I was boiling again, so I sat up in disgust and tried to think what to do. Eventually I gathered up my gear and staggered to the back of the bus. I stood up on the side of one of the seats and just about decapitated Faith Joseph. Then I climbed up into the luggage rack. It took some maneuvering to get in, but I managed it. I could have been quite comfortable there if I hadn’t been so cold.
At last, dawn came and everyone started to stir and to sit up. After a while I decided to move from the luggage rack but I found I was stuck and couldn’t move. I twisted and turned until at last I tumbled out, once again, just about knocking Faith flying. Then everyone started groaning about how they hadn’t had a wink of sleep. Sylvia Pearce accused Des Manser of taking up all the room and just about shoving her through the side of the bus. Everyone was stiff and sore. The crowd also discussed the steer we had hit early in the morning around 4 o’clock. Although I heard the thump and knew we had stopped I didn’t know we had hit a steer. Apparently it charged out onto the road and the bus hit it. The steer charged off again and left the bus with a nice dent in the door. We arrived at the place we were to have breakfast and the bus driver did a bit of panel beating and got rid of the dent. Each year the bus drivers are given 50 points and if they have a smash or anything at all damaged, they lose 25 points, but if they can go through the whole year without losing a point they can go into one of the shops and by 10 pound of goods. The drive of our bus would have got away with it, but someone from the other bus yelled out, “Done a bit of panel beating have you?”
After a breakfast of terrible coffee and toast, I went out to the bus driver and asked how long before we left. He told me we had to give him our tickets before we could leave so I went and collected all the tickets for him. When we were all seated in the bus again the drive was out talking to a man. I went out to him, not knowing the other man was the State manager and said, “The crew votes that it’s about time we got moving.” He laughed and said, “Do they now? Well tell the “crew” that we are not leaving for 10 minutes.” “That’s a pity I said, because the crew also says that if you don’t come now they will leave without you.” He laughed and I went back into the bus. He came in a couple of minutes and he said to me, “Do you know who that was I was talking to? It was the State Manager.” I just about died on the spot!
19570608 Saturday – It’s rather hard to know when today started and last night ended. When you come by bus from Brisbane to Sydney there’s no difference between them. I think I’ll take if from when I disentangled myself from the luggage in the luggage rack and resumed a normal position in the seat next to Lyn Spencer. We began gathering our luggage around us in readiness for our arrival in Sydney. As we passed through the suburbs of Sydney, everyone began to stir and the Sydneyites pointed out the sights to us. At last we arrived at our destination. I haven’t a clue where it was, except it was near the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The first person I saw was Bruce Philp holding Victor on his shoulders. Then everyone was crowding around the bus calling out greetings to us. It’s a wonder they recognised us because we were certainly in a different state to when they last saw us. I got out with my luggage and dumped it on the footpath. I shook hands with Bruce and he said, “You’ll be coming home with me.” I looked at him in surprise and told him that I had arranged to stay with the Spencers for a few days and then I had arranged to stay with the Deversons. Bruce said that he thought I was staying at the Deversons straight away and they had asked him to meet me. I asked him if the .Deverson’s hadn’t received my letter and he said, “Probably not.” I got out my letter file and gave him the copy of the letter I had sent to the Deversons for him to take to them and show them if they had not received it. Then Barrie Spencer came up with Judy, Lyn’s twin, and “Skeet” and Colin plus a couple of next door neighbors, called Doug and Herbie. I distributed my luggage between them and we started off to the station.
In the train we started the Conference talk and between us all and we were all in fits of laughter all the way. When we arrived at Fairfield, Colin and Barry carried the cases and the others carried typewriter and other stuff. When we arrived at the Spencers, Sister Spencer was waiting and she introduced me to Bro Spencer. Of course, having heard that he didn’t like Charles or Graham, I was on my best behavior, hoping that he might like at least one member of our family. I knew that he wouldn’t have liked Charlie because he was too “know-it-all and bossy” or maybe Charlie had disagreed with him on some “point of doctrine,” and Graham? Who knows what Graham would have got up to whilst he was in Sydney. It could be anything for all I knew, but I really wanted him to like me so I was on my very best behavior.
After all my luggage had been deposited in the bedroom, Barrie and I went outside and he showed me around. The river Barrie had told me about which is just over the back fence of their house, is not what I had hoped it would be. It is a muddy tidal stream and you couldn’t hope to swim in it until high tide and then I doubt whether you’d want to anyway. Barrie said that if we had time we could go for a ride in their motor boat. Evidently the water is deep enough for that. Barrie and I walked up to a fountain near their house and sat there for a while and it was beautiful there. The sun was warm and it almost lulled me to sleep. I probably would have fallen into the fountain if Barrie hadn’t had his arm around me. This afternoon Judy showed us around the Nurses’ home where she works. Judy and Lyn are identical twins and they once were featured in one of those “Which twin has the Tony” ads. They are both very pretty girls.
The Nurses home is a beautiful place. The nurses have got lovely rooms, quite small but airy, each with a big wardrobe, in fact everything. The common room has a beautiful table-tennis table in the middle and I went over to try it, but hurriedly pulled back. Evidently there was a meeting going on somewhere and if we made a noise we’d be shot. We left. In the evening it was Regent Hall’s Anniversary, so Barrie, Skeet, Sister Spencer, Judy and Lyn took me to that. We caught a train there and it had started when we arrived. That’s us, late for everything. Barrie and I sat in a row near the centre of the hall next to Basil McClure and Nancy. Basil told me that Charles and Beth would probably be coming to Sydney in about four weeks time. He said he has a flat for Charlie and he either has to occupy it within 4 weeks or pay the rent to keep it vacant.
During supper, I left Barrie and went the rounds of the hall saying, “Hello” to people I knew from my last visit to Sydney and getting myself introduced to some of the people I hadn’t met before. It seems that Barry has quite a following of girls. I am not surprised, a boy as good looking as he is would not go unnoticed. After I had moved away from him I had noticed that the girls had quickly gathered around him. It was so obvious that Barry could have almost any of the Sydney girls and quite a few of the Adelaide ones by the looks of it as well. And me, well, I like him a lot and who wouldn’t he is such a nice boy, but somehow, I’m not really sure how I feel about him. After supper, everyone sat down for the meeting. It was given by Brother Rosser from Lakemba, but I was terribly tired and could hardly stay awake and Barry was the same. After the meeting there was a break of about 10 minutes and then Bro Brown was going to show his slides. I told Barrie I doubted if I could stay awake through a slide show and as he felt the same we decided we’d leave. We stayed for a short while but then Judy and Sister Spencer and Barrie and I left. Skeet and Lyn stayed on. It was frigid outside and we were so glad when we arrived home. We had some supper, toast and a cup of coffee, and then Barry said goodnight and went to bed and Skeet and I did the same. The rest had already gone to bed.
19570609 Sunday – This morning I woke up at about 6.30, hopped out of bed and got in with Lyn and Judy. Skeet came in later and there were four of us in the double bed. We talked for a while and then decided that we’d go pull the boys out of bed. We crept into the boys’ room, but Colin was already dressed. We pulled Barrie out though and landed him on the floor. Then we all made a hurried exit. Once again we had our breakfast like brown’s cows. Standing up and eating with our plates in our hands. After the dishes we started a rush for the bathroom, all tearing in various directions, trying to get ready for Sunday School on time. Colin went outside and seated himself on a brick and started cleaning his shoes. Of course, we couldn’t miss an opportunity like that, so we brought our shoes out too, and got him to clean them. Lyn and I were just in the process of shining his shoes (which were on his feet) when Skeet took a photo.
When at last we were ready we went to Jack’s place, “the boy next door,” and he drove us to Sunday School in his car. Colin didn’t come to Sunday School, he went to meet his girlfriend, that is, his Sydney girlfriend, Nancy someone or other who has just returned from Paris. She’s an expert cook and went over there to study, “Cordon Bleu” cooking. We went to Granville for Sunday School and there the set up seems to be different to ours. There are very few older ones that attend and the Sunday School seems mostly designed for younger children. The teacher of the senior class was a very intelligent man but he gave the class as if he was giving a lecture and it didn’t allow for interaction with the students which I didn’t like much. I hate the lecture atmosphere and like the study group way of doing things.
Jimmy Green came up and talked for a while and then Barrie Spencer joined in. Barry said we would miss the train because it would be leaving in about 5 minutes. I turned to Jim and asked him if he would give us a ride to the station. He did and Skeet seeing us get into the car, ran over and got in too and we sped off to the station. We caught the train to Town Hall and walked from there to Hyd Park where we were supposed to meet a crowd of the Young People for lunch. We met a few of them at a bus stop and we all walked on from there. Then a whole crowd arrived, some on foot and others in cars. Colin arrived with his Sydney girl and we were introduced. I asked Colin if he was lonely and he said yes, so I took his other arm and said “Are you lonely now?” He said that he wasn’t. Then I turned to Nancy and said, “You will have to watch this guy, because this is how he’s been behaving at the conference.” She laughed, because she knew I was joking. At last our lunch arrived. That is Judy Spencer arrived and our lunch with her. You could tell which I was more interested in, I even offered to carry her bag. We all spread out on the grass in the Gardens and then Barry, Colin and Nancy and I went down to the Kiosk to get some cool drinks. We linked arms and walked along and every time we saw any Young People coming towards us we “stormed” them and carried them along with us.
I had a bit of everyone’s lunch including a bottle of milk that was handed to me. Everyone was taking photos. I hope I get to see some of them when they get them printed. We left the gardens after a while and decided to go on the Manley ferry. We split into two groups and each group professed that they knew a short cut to the Ferry. Our group were proved right in their directional choices becasue we got their in a quarter of the time that it took the others to get there. The group we ended up in was mainly the Hurstville mob with the Adelaideites as hangers on. A bit later, Barry and I walked back and joined the other group. We all watched the Showboat start out then we walked to the Manly Ferry. We went through the barriers where you have to pay about 1/9 each way and for it you get a silver disc the size of 6d. Barry handed me mine and I thought it was 6d. I put it in the slot as I went in, but nothing happened and I still found myself on the outside. I told the attendant that the 6d I had put in hadn’t worked. He started at me outraged. “What do you mean by putting sixpence in there?” I stared back at him, thinking he was mad.”Well you have to don’t you?” I asked. “You do not, you pay 1/9 at the entrance and put the disc you are given into the slot.” Barrie came and rescued me then and told the man that it was the disc I had put in but that I must have thought it was 6d. I got in eventually and Barrie killed himself laughing at me until we go onto the ferry. The trip was really good. Just before we left we saw Colin Hill, Merrita and Lyn Spencer and Nancy, Collin’s girlfriend on another boat, evidently going on a different tour. They saw us and waved. And I yelled out, “Colin, I’m lonely,” and he yelled back, “I’m lonely too, don’t leave me!” Everyone laughed and we waved to them until they were out of sight. We all lined up on the edge of the boat and watched the scenery. It was quite cold on the water and the wind was blowing fairly strongly. Barry stood behind me with his arms around me and his hands on the side of the boat so he became a good wind break.
When we arrived at Manley, it certainly brought back memories of the last time I was here, and I how mad I had felt because I couldn’t swim because I had broken my arm. There was a great crowd waiting on the wharf and everywhere motor boats were careering around. It’s a pretty wealthy spot by the looks of it. After the boat had emptied of passengers and then reloaded with a fresh lot of passengers we started back to the city. We arrived just in time for the others to meet us, that is Colin, Nancy (not Nancy king) , Skeet, Lyn. Skeet was going home so we asked her to get her mother to bring our coats to the meeting so we wouldn’t freeze. Then Barry and I walked with some others who were going to a cafe for tea. We decided to leave them to it and we went to the nearest park (that is if you could call the little patch of grass with the earth showing through that we went to a park) and sat down on a bench to talk. We talked for a fair while. We had things to sort out about if there was any “future” for us. I wasn’t too happy though. We seemed to talk on two different planes. I couldn’t seem to get Barrie to understand the things I meant without having to explain them in full or in another way, and that’s no fun. I think there’s nothing better than to be with someone who anticipates what you are going to say so that you can cut explanations to the minimum and still have a good conversation. I think it’s a bit like “chemistry,” you either have it together with someone or you don’t, and I think that Barry and I may not have it. He is so good looking and such a nice guy and yet that “Chemistry” just doesn’t seem to be there. We shall see.
At 6.00 pm we left and caught a train to Granville. We continued our conversation but still there was something missing, and there was another thing. I wasn’t really sure that Barry really loved “the Truth,” as I do. Maybe I’m expecting too much from him, perhaps in a few years time I will find him easier to talk to about the things that are important to me. In every other way, Barrie is just lovely. He is a real gentleman. He’s kind and thoughtful towards me, he comes from a lovely family and I have the best relationship with them, but I can’t get away from the fact that we are just “not clicking.” Time will tell. Barrie and I sat up the back together in the meeting and altogether there were only about 25 people there. We talked to Jim Green afterward and then Sis Spencer took us home in the car. When we arrived home we went into the lounge and had some supper while we were waiting for Ruth Eakins to come. Ruth and Frank Peden arrived eventually and we talked to them for ages. Then Frank left and Barrie went to bed and then Lyn, Merrita, Ruth and I went to bed too.
Fay O ‘Connor, Ruth Eakins
Mary Eakins, Malcolm Kirwood, Palmer
Fay O’Connor and Barry Spencer.
Rob Wallace, Des Manser, Colin Provis
Continue Reading . . . Volume 1 – Chapter 35
