Against The Flow: A True Story Beginning in 1930s Outback Australia

By Ruth Ann Jellett

Life growing up in outback Queensland was tough in the 1930's. Ruth Ann Jellet should know, she lived it. In Against The Flow she recalls the hardship and memories of a Queensland long gone. She recalls a life lived on the river, of rabbit fences and Model Ts. Of a family that survived against the odds. Against the Flow is her first book, an improbable family history captured before her 80th Birthday.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruth Ann Jellett
• Release date: Sep 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310644979

Ruth Ann Jellett

Ruth Ann Jellett is a retired school teacher in her youthful ‘80’s who spent a difficult but challenging childhood during a time of hardship and impaired family life in the 1930’s and 40’s. Ruth is an avid reader, still doesn’t own a television, and keeps fit dancing at the local Rock ‘n’ Roll club.

Book preview

AGAINST

THE

FLOW

Ruth Ann Jellett

Published by madhouseMEDIA

Ruth Ann Jellett

Published by madhouseMEDIA

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Ruth Ann Jellett

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents

Chapter 1. Arthur

Chapter 2. Stick Houses

Chapter 3. Ashes and Crystal Clear Water

Chapter 4. All Saints

Chapter 5. Put a Brick in With the Brolga

Chapter 6. Arabella

Chapter 7. The Governor

Chapter 8. Epidemics

Chapter 9. Goats and Model T’s

Chapter 10. Lake Bindegolly

Chapter 11. Ghost Town

Chapter 12. Wooden Floors and Corrugated Walls

Chapter 13. Cunnumulla

Chapter 14. Elsie in Charge

Chapter 15. Mother Returns

Chapter 16. Rabbit Fences

Chapter 17. Grenfell 1950

Chapter 18. Sir Laurence Olivier

Chapter 19. The Randolf Bedford Bursary

Chapter 20. Quarantine

Chapter 21. Pro Prefect

Chapter 22. Goodbye to St Aidans

Chapter 23. Teachers College

Chapter 24. Queen Elizabeth Waves

About The Author.

Book dedications are usually meant to recognise a person or persons whom you wish to most read the book.  I therefore dedicate this journal to my children, Bruce, George and Naomi - this book is for you and for generations of children to come.  Thank you especially to my daughter Naomi for your encouragement and assistance to have my words heard and published.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.

―George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession

one

Arthur

The distance from Mildura in Victoria, down the Murray to Wentworth at the confluence of the Murray and the Darling and then up to Menindee is approximately three hundred and twenty-five kilometres by road. They say that river-distance is three times that, but even allowing a conservative estimate of twice the road distance, the journey by river is seven hundred and fifty kilometres - not a short trip!

In the early 1930's my mother and father took it upon themselves to make that trip. With them went my stepbrother Arthur and my eldest sister Adoree, then about eighteen months old. The reason for the journey is unknown to me but two possibilities do come to mind - the first being the fact that during the Depression of the thirties, work was scarce and times were difficult for everyone. The second possibility, and probably the most likely, was that both my parents had left families behind them and they wished to avoid detection by their previous spouses.

They started from Mildura in a wooden rowboat, travelling down the Murray, past Merbein and through the loch to Wentworth. From Wentworth they began the long slow voyage up the Darling, against the current. It took them six long gruelling months to reach their destination, an epic journey for that era.

My father was born in the 1880's so at the time of this venture he was already in his fifties, surely a massive undertaking even for a much younger man. However, James Phillip Jellett was a person of great determination and stamina, having worked hard all his life at a variety of jobs since leaving home at the age of thirteen. I know that he drove bullock teams, bagged wheat, picked grapes in Mildura and steered barges pulled by paddle steamers down the Murray to name a few. In my time, I saw him make furniture out of wooden boxes, build a house using only a plumb line as a level, build miles of fencing in outback New South Wales and shoot kangaroos for their skins. As a child I always hoped that the 'roos would escape, I still do, but realize now that desperate times engendered desperate measures. In the wooden boat that was their means of transport they carried a tent, camp oven, rabbit traps, fishing lines, a few clothes and a small supply of basics such as tea flour and sugar. An essential item was a blackened billy, used every night when they made camp on the riverbank.

My father rowed with his back towards the current - or facing downstream for better leverage on the oars. There were fallen branches and snags in the river and it was my step-brothers job to sit up front and look out for them. Failure to do so resulted in a cuff across the ears - many of which he earned.

Although Arthur was only seven at the time his memory clearly recalls a country full of wildlife, green and lush. Not yet wary of humans, the animals came to drink and stayed to watch the intruders, so Arthur's attention was often diverted from the job at hand. To him it was an adventure of a different kind. No doubt my mother was occupied looking after Adoree and making sure she didn't fall overboard.

Food was a constant source of worry. During the day a line railed behind the boat in an effort to catch a fish - cod were large and plentiful in the early days. I believe that since European carp have been introduced into the river systems the Murray cod has become less prevalent. When camp was set up at night on the bank, my father would set rabbit traps and prepare a damper if there was enough flour, while Arthur would be sent off to any nearby property to ask if any food could be spared. Suitable food for Adoree was a problem and, unhygienic as it may have been, my father had to chew the food lightly to make it digestible for the toddler.

Progress up the river was very slow. At times they came to patches of dry river bed and then the boat had to be unpacked and carried to the next waterhole, a time consuming operation. Because the river has many twists and turns the distance travelled every day was unrewarding when compared with the effort required to achieve it.

As they neared Menindee they were concerned about Adoree's health. They had no milk with them and due to the unsuitable diet or a germ picked up from their living conditions Adoree suffered from gastro-enteritis. Immediately on reaching Menindee my parents contacted the resident bush nurse who did her best to combat the problem with whatever resources were available at the time. However the condition did not improve and Adoree had to be taken to the hospital in Broken Hill. There she failed to survive and was buried in the local cemetery.

Sadly I never knew this sister of mine but I have a photo of her grave, a little old-fashioned rubber doll, the top part of her dummy and some little blue beads which were part of a bangle belonging to her. My father kept them and passed them on to me when I was a teenager.

Arthur had been left in the care of people in Menindee so my parents returned there and shortly afterwards my older sister Beverley was born, the year being 1933. Menindee, which straddles the Darling, is of historical importance, being the starting point for many expeditions into the interior of Australia by the early explorers. From here my parents returned to Broken Hill where they were to stay for the next two years.

In Broken Hill I was born in 1934 and my brother James in 1935. The cottage we lived in still stands and is typical of many of the older homes there and made of corrugated iron.

Since another means of transport was needed my father was able to purchase a horse and cart from a travelling circus. The only problem with this new conveyance was a performing horse which didn’t settle down to the job until he had been galloped round the block several times. Only then it was safe for the family to climb aboard. I believe that horse never did take kindly to pulling the cart and was eventually sold, along with the cart, and replaced by a T model 1 Ford at the cost of ten pounds -(twenty dollars)- which was to carry us around Victoria, New South Wales and into Queensland. It lasted many years in Queensland but much water flowed under the bridge before that stage was reached.

We were to remain in the southern states for several more years constantly moving about as Dad looked for work, but the story of those years is a chapter in itself.

two

Stick houses

My sister Julie was born at Ivanhoe in 1936 and I believe that it was not an easy birth and consequently my mother was unable to have any more children. We were to return