INTERVIEW WITH EILEEN (ENIE) LOVE, (nee Love) TOWAMBA born 1918 -
DIED April, 2003
INTERVIEW DATE: September 1998


Enie Love gives a full and entertaining account of her early life growing up at Pericoe on a dairy farm. Her detailed memories of events and daily home life paint a vivid picture.
When their first child was one week old, Enie and her husband George lived in a sleeper cutter's camp. They slept in a tent and cooked and ate in a bark hut. Later they moved to a dairy farm and Enie milked cows while her husband was away working.
Enie has an impish sense of humour and laughing eyes. She was a joy to interview.

KATE. WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS WHAT THE WOMAN'S NORMAL DAY WAS LIKE. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOUR MOTHER DID IN HER EVERYDAY LIFE?
ENIE. Like when she was farming?
KATE. YES.
ENIE. We used to grow corn and potatoes and we would have to plough with a horse and we'd have to go along the furrow and plant the potatoes and then we used to...with the corn planter, the horse used to pull it, like and plant the corn and then when it'd have to be scuffled, Dad used to ... we used to chip it, Mum and I and Albie, he was reared with us, he was only about this high.
KATE. ALBIE LOVE? (COUSIN)
ENIE. He used to drive the mail.
KATE. OH, YES.
ENIE. We used to chip it... all this corn and then the potatoes when they were ready they would be dug, and Dad used to dig them and we used to pick them up.
KATE. DID HE DIG THEM WITH A FORK?
ENIE. Yes, and we used to pick them up and sort the big ones from the little ones. We'd keep the little ones to put in next year. And then we used to put them on the slide and the horse used to drove them over to the shed and then the corn, we had to pull it, bag it up and cart it home to the shed then Mum used to chip it through the week and us kids used to help her weekends. And Dad was away some of the time, he had a bullock team and he used to cart the stores from Bombala down to Eden to the boat.
KATE. DID THEY COME DOWN BIG JACK MOUNTAIN?
ENIE. No. They come down this way, out back of Pericoe way.
KATE. WAS THAT DOWN THE OLD IMLAY ROAD?
ENIE. No. This is a road...you go out to Letts Mountain and you keep on going past the old place (now Parada's) and it goes right out and meets up with the Imlay (road).
KATE. OH, YES.
ENIE. There was no Imlay (road) then, it was just one through the bush. It used to take a couple...three days with the bullock team to come... and then he used to take the loading off the boat back up to Bombala to the people there.
KATE. SO WHATEVER GOODS WERE DOWN THERE.....
ENIE. Yes. Stock feed and things like that... and he had eighteen bullocks in the team. Like two used to be yoked together ...right back...leaders... they were nearly as good as a well trained dog. They knew what to do. And he was away most of the time doing that and we used to do the chipping...
KATE. HOW MUCH DID HE EARN? DID HE GET IT IN PRODUCE OR CASH?
ENIE. Yes, I suppose he did but I couldn't just say how much then. It wouldn't be that much. And then he used to strip bark and he used to cart the bark.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE BROTHERS AND SISTERS?
ENIE. No. I only had one brother, that was Les. I'm eleven years older than him. He didn't get any of the hard work. (laughter)
KATE. YOU TRAINED HIM. YOU BEING THE ELDEST?
ENIE. Yes
KATE. THAT WAS LES LOVE, WHO MARRIED MOYNA? (Now Moyna Price.)
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE TO HELP YOUR MUM ON WASHING DAY?
ENIE. Yes. We used to have to... she used to go down and start the washing. I used to do the sweeping up and make the beds and put the clean sheets on and then I'd go down and help her hang out the clothes.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE A COPPER?
ENIE. Yes. On a stand. There was no 'Surf' and that sort of stuff in those times.
KATE. WHAT DID YOU USE? THE OLD 'SUNLIGHT' SOAP?
ENIE. Yes. 'Sunlight' soap.
KATE. AND THE RUBBING BOARD?
ENIE. Yes, we had one of them. Washing soda. You used to put that in the water when you boiled your sheets.
KATE. THAT WAS LIKE A BLEACH?
ENIE. That was like 'Surf' ....a cleaner.
KATE. YOU'D GET SOME SUDS FROM THAT, WOULD YOU?
ENIE. Yes. It would be sort of soapy. Then you'd put it through clean water then you'd put blue in it. It used to make the clothes bright and white.
KATE. AND YOU WERE SAYING EARLIER THAT THE COPPER USED TO BE DOWN BY THE CREEK?
ENIE. Yes. We used to have it down there, you know, when you didn't get much rain and the tanks got down.
KATE. SO YOU'D JUST BUCKET STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CREEK IN TO THE COPPER?
ENIE. Yes. And then cart it all up to the rinse water in the tubs to...slip on a rock, fall into the water and get out again.
KATE. ALL RIGHT ON A HOT DAY, I SUPPOSE.
ENIE. Yes. (laughter)
KATE. WAS THAT PERICOE CREEK?
ENIE. Yes. You know where Parada's are now? (On Pericoe road) That was our farm.
KATE. WHAT DID YOUR MUM WEAR? DID SHE STILL HAVE LONG SKIRTS?
ENIE. She had them for a while..... a blouse and an apron. Always wore an apron.
KATE. DID SHE EVER WEAR TROUSERS?
ENIE. No, No, No!
KATE. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH EASIER, TO PUT ON A PAIR OF TROUSERS...
ENIE. No. That was the men's wear. My Grandma, she used to have the long dresses and the big white apron.
KATE. AND THE WHALEBONE CORSETS?
ENIE. Yes, Mum had them.
KATE. OH! SHE DIDN'T WEAR THEM EVERY DAY, DID SHE?
ENIE. Yes. Only took them out to go to bed.
KATE. IT MUST HAVE BEEN SO HOT!
ENIE. I couldn't stand them.
KATE. I SUPPOSE IT WOULD HAVE ACTED LIKE A BRACE, WHEN SHE HAD TO LIFT THINGS.
ENIE. Yes... a support to the back they reckon.
KATE. DO YOU THINK THAT WAS WHY SHE WORE THEM?
ENIE. Yes...
KATE. NOT JUST TO LOOK GOOD BUT TO HELP YOUR BACK.
ENIE. In that age all the women wore them, I think.
KATE. AND SHE DIDN'T TRY TO MAKE YOU WEAR THEM?
ENIE. No. I only had the little light one for your stomach.
KATE. SO YOU COULD REMEMBER YOUR GRANDMA WEARING THE LONG DRESS?
ENIE. Yes. Long black, it always was. And the big white apron, like you put your arms through and tie it at the back.
KATE. DID YOUR GRANDMOTHER LIVE OUT THERE TOO?
ENIE. No. She lived at Burragate.
KATE. WHERE ABOUTS IN BURRAGATE? AND WHO WAS SHE?
ENIE. Sawers. Charlotte Sawers she was. Mrs Jack Sawers. That was Mum's mother and over past, you know where the fire shed is?
KATE. TOWAMBA?
ENIE. No. Burragate.
KATE. YES.
ENIE. The hall used to be there. Go past the hall and just over there, where Colin and them are, ( about 50 meters away) that's where she lived.
KATE. WAS THAT COMING BACK THIS WAY (TOWARDS TOWAMBA) WHERE THAT WET AREA IS?
ENIE. Yes, where that culvert is. Well, she used to live along in there.
KATE. LEO (FARRELL) SAID THEY LIVED IN A LITTLE HOUSE IN THERE.
ENIE. Yes. I went to school in there when they couldn't get a school teacher at Pericoe.
KATE. OH, YOU WENT TO BURRAGATE? THEY DIDN'T HAVE A SCHOOL HERE? (TOWAMBA)
ENIE. Yes, but I stopped with my Grandma. The teachers sometimes... when Burragate didn't have a school teacher, the Pericoe school teacher used to ride through and teach a couple of days at Burragate and the rest at Pericoe.
KATE. YES. I WAS READING IN THE TOWAMBA SCHOOL HISTORY THAT THE SCHOOL WAS ONLY PART-TIME FOR A WHILE AND THEN THE TEACHER WOULD RIDE TO SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR THE REST OF THE DAY, LIKE BURRAGATE.
ENIE. Yes, that's what they did at Pericoe. You'd have a teacher for a while and then they'd go and you'd have trouble getting in another one. I sat down in Towamba for my exam.
KATE. WHAT EXAM WAS THAT?
ENIE. Just the first...the sixth year. That's as far as they used to go.
KATE. AND WAS THERE ANY THOUGHT OF GOING FURTHER ON? I MEAN, WHERE WOULD YOU HAVE GONE TO SCHOOL IF YOU WANTED TO GO TO HIGH SCHOOL?
ENIE. Mum and Dad, they couldn't afford it. And there wasn't much those times, you know.
KATE. YOU WERE NEEDED MORE ON THE FARM.
ENIE. Yes. That was my education.
KATE. DID YOUR MUM HAVE TO MAKE HER OWN BREAD?
ENIE. Yes. She baked her own bread. Made her own butter. Grew her own vegetables.
KATE. AND SO THE GARDEN...THE VEGIE GARDEN, ALL THE COOKING AND THE HOUSEHOLD AND ALL THAT, WAS HERS.
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. SO DAD WOULD COME HOME, UNHITCH THE TEAM AND SIT DOWN TO DINNER?
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. HARD LIFE!
ENIE. Yes. Oh, yes. She was in the garden right up until she was eighty something, she still gardened up the top there. She was a real gardener. When she came from out at Peragreen? there when the house was getting built from up there, she brought all her flowers in and put them in Mark's? and spare part in my garden and when she shifted up there she took some and left some there.
KATE. SO YOUR DAD WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN HOME ALL THE TIME.
ENIE. No.
KATE. SO, HE'D HAVE TO STAY, FOR WHAT, THREE DAYS FROM....
ENIE. About two to three days from Bombala to our home and then another two from here to Eden.
KATE. AND DID HE GO DOWN THE SAME WAY AS THE TOWAMBA ROAD IS NOW?
ENIE. Yes. Yes.
KATE. WITH THE BULLOCK TEAM.
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. AND DID HE TRAIN THE BULLOCKS HIMSELF. HE RAISED THEM?
ENIE. Yes. He bought them and grew them. There was Jersey ones and baldy ones and all kinds.
KATE. I SAW ONE OF THE SKULLS UP AT TOWAMBA HOMESTEAD AND THERE WAS ALSO AN ORDINARY COW'S SKULL BUT THE BULLOCK'S SKULL WAS TWICE AS BIG! BIG BROAD HEAD AND HORNS, THEY MUST HAVE BEEN MASSIVE!
ENIE. Yes, Albie and I we used to... the two leaders as he'd call them, that's the ones out in front, they were real quiet, and we used to put the yoke on them. They used to have a yoke go across their neck and the bows come up like this and the keys go in the thing, and we used to, both of us to get up the yoke and lift it on their necks and then shove the bows on. And Dad used to shoe them. The little piece like this.
KATE. THEY WERE TWO SEPARATE PIECES WEREN'T THEY.
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. YES. I FOUND ONE OF THOSE UP AT TOWAMBA HOMESTEAD.
ENIE. Yes. There should be some out round where Parada's is. Dad had a crush thing made there where we used to put the bullock in and then there was a stump thing like that for the front foot to put it up on and strap it on so it couldn't pull it away and then the hind one was put back on to a long one across like that, with a strap and then he used to tap the shoes on. I wouldn't want them kicking, would you?
KATE. NO! NOT WITH ALL THAT MEAT ON THEM. THEY MUST HAVE BEEN STRONG.
ENIE. Or put the nail in the wrong place! (laughter)
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER ANY BAD FIRES IN YOUR TIME?
ENIE. Oh, yes! We had one out there just after I was married. And they were working at it up towards Maria's Creek, going that way.
KATE. WHAT YEAR WAS THAT?
ENIE. Oh. I got married in 1929.
KATE. THERE WERE BAD FIRES IN 1926 AND IN 1929.
ENIE. Yeah. That's when I got married.
KATE. WERE YOU MARRIED IN WINTER?
ENIE. No. I was married on the 29th of December.
KATE. SO IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THAT SUMMER, THEN.
ENIE. Yes that was it and they were all out... working out there and they'd sort of come home.... We had a fire bug out there and he came in and lit it inside of their trail and they couldn't do anything... it was a hot northerly blowing.....
KATE. DID THEY KNOW WHO IT WAS?
ENIE. Yes, we knew who it was but he never used to do anything, only ride a horse around. He had to do something, I suppose...strike a match and drop it. So they all came back in and we had to fill up tins and whatever we could get... with water and things. There was no hoses those days... and run the tanks empty and anyhow there was neighbours lived just where the Pericoe hall used to be .....you don't know?
KATE. ANYWHERE NEAR PERICOE STATION?
ENIE. No, other side of Ron McPaul's... there used to be a house there on the side of the road, so they came up in their truck and said you'd better leave the house... Mum was running... tell you how close the fire was. We was running down the hill and Les was only young and he had a straw hat on and it came off his head and it just went into flames and poor old Mum lost a shoe and got her feet all full of them dikies, cathearts? (prickles) and we got in the truck and went over to where it was safe and watched it go past. It ended up down there
in Towamba and then on to Eden, I think.
KATE. DID YOU LOSE YOUR HOUSE?
ENIE. Soon as it passed the house we went back and we saved the house. Just little bits here and there. In the boy's room there was like a hole in the window and the spark must have went in there and there was little a hole burnt in the pillow but it went out. That was lucky, and then we had water but we had to get it from the creek and it tasted like ti-tree and the butter... it was just oil, it was that hot. Poor old Dad he'd been working out there for weeks and he ended up collapsing in the finish into a tub of water and so we had to make him sit down.
KATE. WHAT WAS YOUR DAD'S NAME?
ENIE. He was William Love.
KATE. I WAS READING ABOUT THE LOVE FAMILY REUNION IN THE LOCAL PAPER, ABOUT THE ANCESTORS AND THE ORIGINAL LOVE, HE MARRIED AND HIS WIFE HAD ELEVEN CHILDREN. SHE DIED AND HE REMARRIED AND HIS WIFE HAD THIRTEEN CHILDREN!
ENIE. And the last one, he didn't have any! I suppose he'd seen enough.
KATE. IT MUST HAVE BEEN HARD ENOUGH FOR YOUR MUM TOO.
ENIE. Oh, yes. And there was no...washing the nappies...no disposable nappies. And on a wet day you had to get them in and dry them by the fire.
KATE. AND WOULD SHE HAVE MADE THE NAPPIES HERSELF?
ENIE. Yes. Most of the flannelette nappies. She made them and a fair amount of our clothes. I know she used to make my pants out of flour bags. You know you used to get the flour bags and take the writing off.
KATE. BLEACH IT OFF?
ENIE. Petticoats. We used to wear petticoats in those times and pants out of the flour bags and she used to have them mostly for tea towels.
KATE. THEY'D BE NICE AND FINE.
ENIE. And they'd make a nice tea towel about that square.
KATE. SO SHE'D BE GARDENER, SHE'D BE COOK AND SHE'D DO ALL THE SEWING. WHAT WAS THE PILLOW MADE OF? INSIDE THE PILLOW?
ENIE. Kapok.
KATE. OH YES. THE KAPOK MATTRESS.
ENIE. It was a wonder it didn't burn but I suppose it sort of smothered out. Yeah, she used to...another thing we used to do...corn husks. She used to strip that into strips and use that for under the bed. She used to make the mattress cover and put that in ...we all had those for underbed. Then we had ....
KATE. DO YOU MEAN UNDERNEATH THE MATTRESS OR....
ENIE. Underneath the top bed.
KATE. WHAT FOR?
ENIE. Oh, she'd used to reckon it would make it thicker and warmer.
KATE. SO YOU'D HAVE YOUR MATTRESS AND THEN YOU'D HAVE THAT ON TOP OF YOUR MATTRESS.
ENIE. Yes. And then the Kapok one on top of that.
KATE. SO YOU'D HAVE TWO MATTRESSES?
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. SO THEY'D ONLY BE THIN.
ENIE. About that thick. (about 10 cms)
KATE. SO YOU'D HAVE ONE ON THE BOTTOM...
ENIE. The corn husk one...
KATE. SO SHE STRIPPED THAT OFF THE ACTUAL HUSK?
ENIE. Yes
KATE. THE WOODY PART OF THE CORN.
ENIE. And the husk used to turn back and you'd take the discoloured one off the outside ...
KATE. OH, SO YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THE LEAVES.
ENIE. Yes. That used to cover the cob. She used to sit up of a night teasing this.
KATE. SO IT WOULD END UP A BIT LIKE HAIR?
ENIE. Yes. Long bits and thin. A lot of people used to have hay too. Mum said she didn't fancy that because the corn husk, there was nothing to come off it.
KATE. DO YOU MEAN DUST?
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. SO THAT WOULD STOP THE COLD COMING UP THROUGH THE MATTRESS?
ENIE. Yes. And she used to have the homemade Waggas, like blankets that used to get thin, they used to cover them with Cretonne material and use them for Waggas, like we use the doona. We used to all have one of them for the winter, on top of our blankets.
KATE. SO SHE'D HAVE A THIN BLANKET AND COVER IT WITH SOMETHING.?
ENIE. Yes, with material.
KATE. WOULD SHE MAKE A CASE FOR IT OR STITCH THE MATERIAL OVER THE BARE PATCH?
ENIE. No. She used to make the case for it ... like the doonas have cases.
KATE. AND WOULD SHE CUT THE BLANKET UP OR WOULD SHE LEAVE IT AS IT WAS?
ENIE. No, just leave the blanket as it was. She made.. oh, I had, one, two, three or four I had up on the farm, she'd made.
KATE. DID SHE KNIT?
ENIE. No. She used to fancywork. Embroidery. She was great at that! I've got a piece, I'll show you after. And also when Dad was in the team he went in a raffle and he won this lovely big cushion. I was only about seven years old when he won that and I've still got it.
KATE. AND WHAT DID YOU DO FOR XMAS... LIKE XMAS DINNER? DID YOU HAVE CHOOKS?
ENIE. Yes. We had a stack of fowls and ducks and geese, turkeys and guinea fowl and used them and we used to kill our own meat...mostly had corned meat because you couldn't keep fresh meat because you had no fridge. And Mum used to grow all her vegetables, potatoes and we always had a feast on Xmas.
KATE. SO SHE'D KEEP ALL HER OWN SEEDS TOO FROM THE VEGETABLES.
ENIE. Yes. She'd grow parsnips and she'd let a couple go to seed and carrots and so on. Beans the same.
KATE. SHE MUST HAVE BEEN WELL ORGANISED.
ENIE. Yeah. We worked alright!
KATE. AND DID SHE GO TO SCHOOL?
ENIE. She went to school at Burragate. She lived up around Burragate all her life. And she worked hard...there they were on dairies. How many there was in the family...there was Aunty Jill, Aunty Mag, Aunty Jen, Aunty Elsie, Austy and Peter...there were seven in the family. Oh and James...he died with whooping cough, or something, and that was eight, (including her mother).
KATE. AND I SUPPOSE THE ELDEST WOULD HELP WITH THE YOUNGER ONES.
ENIE. Yes. And poor old Granny, she was sort of like a nurse, she used to bring babies into the world and anybody who was sick she was always there. She was a Beasley before she was married. She'd be Laurie's (Beasely) aunty.
KATE. SO THEY WOULD CALL HER....I SUPPOSE YOU WOULDN'T GET TO HOSPITAL, WOULD YOU? IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RISKY THEN...
ENIE. Yeah, because you'd have to go by sulky, or horse.
KATE. DID ANYBODY GO TO HOSPITAL?
ENIE. Some used to, I think, but ...
KATE. THEY'D WANT TO GO BEFORE THEY HAD LABOUR PAINS, WOULDN'T THEY?
ENIE. Yes. And another one used to live out Pericoe way...Mrs. Elton. She was another one. She used to deliver babies.
KATE. SO SHE WOULDN'T BE A PROPER MIDWIFE...
ENIE. No. It didn't matter those days. Long as you knew what you were doing, I think. And anything, like if they thought the baby needed more treatment they'd go on to a doctor then.
KATE. AND HOPEFULLY MAKE IT IN TIME.
ENIE. Out here on the other side of 'Elmgrove', you know where there was two dairy farms there and another house and Albie's mother, that's my father's sister, lived in there and Albie was only a little fellow and she got pneumonia and Dad had to take her in the horse and sulky all the way from out there to Pambula.
KATE. HOW LONG WOULD THAT HAVE TAKEN?
ENIE. Oh, hours. And of course she was left too long and she didn't recover and Albie was only a little fellow like that and Mum reared him then.
KATE. SO THAT WAS WHEN HE CAME TO LIVE WITH YOU?
ENIE. Yes. We went to school together and... we used to come home from school and he'd have to get the wood in and I used to have to milk the cows.
KATE. WAS THAT THE DAIRY HERD?
ENIE. No, that was just the house cows, when I was at home. But then after I got married....
KATE. SO THERE WERE A LOT OF DAIRIES AROUND THEN?
ENIE. Yes. About six out at Pericoe altogether. And they used to send milk to the..... like before my time I think they used to have a butter factory, they used to have a churner and pack it in things and send it that way. But after, like.... when we were out there, the milk used to go to the Pambula factory.
KATE. SO WAS THERE A FELLOW WHO 'S JOB IT WAS TO COME OUT AND PICK UP ALL THE CHURNS?
ENIE. Yes. Come and pick up the milk, yes.
KATE. WAS THAT IN A HORSE AND CART?
ENIE. No. When we .....I suppose he did when I was younger, but there was a track, when we was on the dairy out there...Pericoe Station? just up on the hill there? We were on a dairy there. That's where we milked the fifty by hand. These shorthorns and they'd have a bucket and a half and some of them would have two buckets of milk ..
KATE. AND HOW LONG WOULD THAT TAKE YOU?
ENIE. Well, we used to start just on daylight and it would be ten or eleven o'clock by the time we got over to the house to have our breakfast. By the time you milked the cows and separated and then you had calves to feed and pigs to feed.
KATE. SO THERE WERE DAIRIES OUT THERE WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP?
ENIE. A couple then. There was one up at 'Hayfield' back there and I used to go up and milk them while they went to town.
KATE. SO FIFTY COWS, WAS THAT A LOT? WERE THERE DAIRIES WITH MORE COWS?
ENIE. No. That was round about the limit then. They have about two hundred with the machines now. We were around that when I got married first when Edna was born, she was only a week old when I went out into the camp, and that was just in a tent. And a sort of thing built...what would you call it... like a hollow thing done all around with bark and over the top was waterproof.
KATE. LIKE A HUMPY?
ENIE. Yes. That's where you would eat and that, and we used to sleep in a tent and I used to cook in a camp oven and make rice puddings and baked potatoes and used to put the kerosene can on the fire and get the hot water to do the baby's washing.
KATE. SO WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THIS CAMP?
ENIE. We was cutting sleepers. That was before we were on the dairy. That was on the road towards the chip mill.
KATE. GEE, THAT WAS ROUGH, ENIE! WITH A BABY.
ENIE. Yes, she was only a week old.
KATE. DID YOU WONDER WHAT ON EARTH YOU WERE DOING THERE?
ENIE. I don't know. You had to make the best of things.
KATE. I THINK IT'S INTERESTING, WITH YOUNG WOMEN TODAY, IF THEY FOUND THEMSELVES IN THAT SITUATION, MORE THAN LIKELY THEY'D JUST SAY, 'BLOW THIS, I'M OFF! DID YOU EVER THINK LIKE THAT?
ENIE. No. I was sort of reared up hard and tough and when we left down there that was when we were out here up past Parada's there on the creek there for a while, cutting sleepers and then we went on to the dairy at Pericoe there and then we went down on to where we are now and George bought the farm there then. And we milked there by hand for a good while and then we put machines on.
KATE. WHEN DID THE DAIRYING FINISH? WHEN DID THEY FOLD UP AROUND HERE. DID IT COME AT THE SAME TIME AS THE RABBITS CAME IN OR DID THE PASTURE GO...?
ENIE. Oh, I think it was to do with getting the milk down to Pambula, was the trouble. The carters wasn't getting enough pay or something.
KATE. SO THEY DIDN'T WANT TO COME ALL THE WAY OUT HERE?
ENIE. No.
KATE. SO THAT MUST HAVE BEEN HARD IF YOU WERE ALMOST FORCED TO STOP MILKING. DIDN'T YOU HAVE MUCH CHOICE. WAS THAT IT?
ENIE. We just... down there on the farm we just ... my husband thought, Oh, we've done enough dairying we'll go into cattle, cattle and sheep. I didn't say no!
KATE. I BET YOU DIDN'T! DID YOUR CHILDREN HELP TO MILK WHEN
YOU HAD MACHINES.
ENIE. No. They were only small then. Edna, she used to. She could milk a cow when she was four years old. When we went down on to Mr.(Edmund) Clements' ('Tyrone') she said, 'Can I milk a cow, Mr Clements.' 'No you're too small.' and his daughter said, 'Oh, let her have a go.' So they put the cow up and she milked it just as fast as he did and he was amazed at her, but the others, (Enie's other children) they couldn't milk a cow. Ray (Enie's son) reckoned he got enough out through his porridge.
KATE. WAS THAT MR. CLEMENTS...
ENIE. Eddy (Edmund) Clements. No not Arthur.
KATE. NOT GLORIA AND CLIVE CLEMENTS?
ENIE. No. Their father was Arthur Clements. (Clive, Verner and brothers from 'Model Farm'. Towamba.) They all reckoned they got enough in their porridge. George (Enie's husband) used to go playing cricket and I used to milk the cows down here myself. See, you had to milk them ...with the machines. Someone would come and start the engine for me and you only had to put the cups on and take them off and strip a bit out of them.
KATE. WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP ON YOUR FARM AT PERICOE ..........
WHAT ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT. WAS THERE A DANCE EVERY SO OFTEN?
ENIE. Oh, yes. Used to go to Burragate to dances.
KATE. TO BURRAGATE?
ENIE. My grandfather, he had a buggy and horses and he used to be stripping bark out there and he used to take me in of a weekend.
KATE. SO YOU WOULD STAY OVER?
ENIE. Stay over and then come back out. And then we used to play tennis and all the people around there used to come over and have a day's cricket on the flat.
KATE. SO YOU'D HAVE A DANCE. WHO'D PLAY. WAS IT LOCALS?
ENIE. Well, we used the hall out at Pericoe. We used to have a lot of dances there. The McLeods they were great ones, you know, they'd play by ear. Oh, beautiful. Jean Beasley that used to live there where Lola (Enie's daughter who lives on the east side of St.Pauls church in Towamba) is, she was a good pianist. She was Jean Dickie before she was married. She used to play too but there used to be Maud and Jack, that's brother and sister, used to play. Maud played the piano and he (Jack) used to play violin or the drums ...
KATE. AND ALL BY EAR? AND YOU'D HAVE A GOOD TIME.
ENIE. Oh, yeah. Mum used to.... that's how I learned to beat sponge cakes. Mum used to bake them...this stack of sponge cakes to take down to this dance. We used to walk and carry the food, right from there down. Three mile.
KATE. AND YOU'D MAKE YOUR OWN SPECIAL DRESSES TO WEAR?
ENIE. Yes, we used to make some. We used to get them cheap then for about 2/6! I know my first long evening dress, you'd call it, was only about five shillings and sixpence. And my Aunty Jill, she was a good dress maker. She made me a couple.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE YOUR USUAL FIGHTS AT THE DANCES?
ENIE. Oh, yes. Somebody would get too much beer and they'd be a bore. But pretty good, it was. There wasn't that many.
KATE. AND WITH THE HALL OUT AT PERICOE, YOU WENT MORE TO ENTERTAINMENT OUT THERE THAN IN HERE? (TOWAMBA)
ENIE. Oh, when there was a dance on in here, I used to come in too. I always went to the one at Burragate. Used to have dances fairly often. There'd be one nearly every week, either here or Burragate or Pericoe.
KATE. SO YOU'D HAVE NO ELECTRICITY THEN WOULD YOU?
ENIE. No. No. There'd just be the candles and the kerosene light.
KATE. IN THE DANCE HALL?
ENIE. Yes. The ones that used to hang up there and fill them up with kerosene and they'd burn away all night.
KATE. THAT WOULD'VE BEEN NICE.
ENIE. And then in the ladies dressing room they had candles.
KATE. I SUPPOSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A DISASTER AREA FOR FIRES WITH ALL THOSE CANDLES AROUND.
ENIE. Everyone was careful. You had to be careful. I'd often think, you'd have to do your homework by candle light and I used to think after we'd been married, God, how did I manage to do that by candlelight.
KATE. AND OF COURSE, YOUR MUM WOULD HAVE DONE ALL THE SEWING AND EVERYTHING BY CANDLE LIGHT.
ENIE. Yes, fancy-working...
KATE. IT MUST HAVE BEEN A STRAIN ON HER EYES.
ENIE. We never had a bathroom. Just the big old tub. We used to have a couple of baths a week, that's all we used to have.
KATE. AND WHAT ABOUT CHURCH?
ENIE. Yes. We used to have church in the hall every month. We used to walk down. The Minister used to come to the school and then you'd have church that night. Somebody would go to somebody's house... like, Mrs Alexander at Pericoe Station, that's where they lived, and go there and have tea with them. He was coming home from church and he was stopping out the night, I think and he was coming up there and he got too far over the bank and he slipped over the bank and the ones that was walking behind, like he had this little old car, and they had to push him out of it. He was lucky there was ones walking behind him.
KATE. WHAT WAS HIS NAME?
ENIE. Oh, there was, there was only the one Presbyterian, oh, its slipped my memory now. Forbes, I think. Something like that.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE THE OTHER DENOMINATIONS COMING OUT TOO? DID THE CATHOLICS COME OUT AND HAVE IT ALL IN ONE HALL?
ENIE. I can't remember the Catholics. It was only mostly Presbyterian. They used to have it down here (Towamba) but the Presbyterians always used to come out there.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER MY PLACE AT ALL?
ENIE. Yes. I remember when it was a shop. Yes, Mr. Hartneady had it. Oh yes, we used to come in there, and he was a great old fellow. We'd end up with a handful of lollies for us all. Yes, they had the shop in one lot and the bedrooms and that in the other.
KATE. JACK BEASLEY TOLD ME MY HOUSE CAME FROM YAMBULLA.
ENIE. Yes, probably did too. He'd know. Yes, my mother used to work at the Yambulla Pub. Used to go out there and fill in for somebody.
KATE. SO, YOU HAD BEEN INTO MY PLACE WHEN IT WAS A SHOP, WHAT DID THEY SELL?
ENIE. Oh, everything. Flour, sugar...something like a supermarket, you'd get bags of
flour......used to buy it in bags, biscuits and lollies and butter, no margarine then just butter. I
can't remember if they had milk or not. Probably not because everybody had a cow. They had a bit of a store in where Peter and Heather (Matthews, in Barney Street, Towamba) was, too.
KATE. WAS THAT THE GRAIN STORE?
ENIE. No. Teddy Butcher, he was driving the mail and he started a store but you see, there was where you are, and the one across the river so he didn't do much trade. Then he turned it into a billiard room. So he got a few more there.
KATE. WAS HARTNEADY THE LAST PERSON TO HAVE THE SHOP WHERE I LIVE?
ENIE. Yes. He sold it out then. I think, like...he died and then his wife died I think, and they had one daughter and she married the McLeod ... and they moved down to Cann River. She could play the piano too, her name was Thelma, no, Thelda I think it was and she only had one daughter, Kitty, and she was a good little player too.
KATE. AND WHO MOVED IN AFTER THAT?
ENIE. Mr.and Mrs. McLeod, two old people were in there for a while and then Deserei? bought it. He was there for a while and he bought where Lola is.
KATE. AND THE CHURCH, WAS THAT ALWAYS THERE?
ENIE. It was as long as I can remember.
KATE. THEY MOVED THE MEMORIAL TO THE SPORTS GROUND.
ENIE. Yes. It was where Rose (Winnell) is. We used to have picnics there, the school picnics there.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER THE RIVER BEING A LOT DEEPER?
ENIE. Yes.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FLOODS? WOULD THEY BE AS BAD FOR YOU AS FIRES?
ENIE. Yes. They used to get over our flats up there. One 1919, I think it was, was up in the store.
KATE. YES. THAT WAS WHEN THE BRIDGE WENT, IN 1919.
ENIE. You know the bridge up at Rocky Hall? That used to be here in Towamba and they took it up there and they built a wooden one there.
KATE. SO WOULD YOU BE BLOCKED OFF ALL THE WAY INTO TOWN, IN A FLOOD, WITH ALL THE CREEKS...
ENIE. From out Pericoe?
KATE. YES.
ENIE. Yes. There'd be the Two Mile one, the One Mile one, they'd all be up a bit.
KATE. WAS PERICOE STATION A BIG PLACE WHEN YOU WERE OUT THERE?
ENIE. Yes. Mr. Alexander that owned it, he owned a lot of Pericoe. There was him and his brother Beau, I don't know what his other name was, they called him Beau. He had 'Hayfield' and Alf Alexander, he had the Station there and then he had the dairy that we were dairying for him, and they had the Post Office.
KATE. SO IN THE SOCIETY AROUND HERE, WERE THEY THE RICH PEOPLE?
ENIE. Well, Alexander's, they were classed as having money. He had a dairy and he had a lot of land and a big house and he had the house we lived in.
KATE. SO YOU RAN THE DAIRY FOR HIM. IT WASN'T YOUR DAD'S PLACE?
ENIE. No. We didn't own it. We just went on and dairied.
KATE. SO YOU WOULD HAVE GOT SOMEWHERE TO LIVE AND YOU COULD GROW YOUR OWN. WAS THAT YOUR WAGE? DID YOUR DAD GET PAID?
ENIE. Oh, yes, we were paid. And we used to grow crops and things for the cows and anything else.
KATE. SO YOU WOULD HAVE TO GROW CROPS TO FEED HIS COWS. WOULD
HE GIVE YOU THE SEED?
ENIE. Yes, he'd get you the seed and you would plough and put it in. Then the cows used to eat it.
KATE. SO YOU WOULD HAVE TO LOOK AFTER THE COWS?
ENIE. Yes. You'd have to make sure they had plenty to eat. Should have starved them and then there wouldn't have been so much milk to pull out of them then! (laughter) And rabbits! Gosh! talk about rabbits when we went there.
KATE. SO THEY HAD ARRIVED WHEN YOU WERE THERE.
ENIE. We used to go ferreting between milking. I used to put Edna on the horse and we'd go until half past two, or something, and then we'd go and milk all these cows.
KATE. AND DID YOU EAT THE RABBITS?
ENIE. Oh, we used to roast a rabbit occasionally and the pigs used to have them and the dogs.
KATE. DID YOU USE THE SKINS?
ENIE. Yeah. We used to skin them and put them on a wire. We used to do that when we were out home there. We used to trap them and Mum used to boil the rabbits too for the chooks. Boil them in a pot and they thought it was great.
KATE. AND SO YOU SOLD THE SKINS?
ENIE. Yes. Sold the skins. There was skin buyers used to come around. I never forget, I got a fox in my trap and I was skinning it and I didn't cut it down the tail properly and when I went to pull it off, the tail came off and I sewed the tail on with black cotton....(laughter) and the old skin buyer, he was good, he would always give us kids ...you know, if you had the kitten rabbits, he'd give us money for that but the other fellow wouldn't... and he said, 'Yeah, you ...I found out you'd sewed that on with cotton and I said ' I had to get something out of you.' He took it as a joke and I did, so...
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU USED TO GET FOR A SKIN?
ENIE. Oh, we used to get sixpence a pound or they'd go up to two and six and you'd get five shillings for a fox skin.
KATE. WERE THERE ANY ABORIGINES AROUND WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG?
ENIE. Only swaggies used to come around, you know, they didn't have work and they'd call in for some hot water and something to eat. But other than that...Mr. Alexander had one fellow on working there for a while. No there wasn't many around then at all.
KATE. SO DID EDNA, RAY AND ALL YOUR CHILDREN GO TO TOWAMBA SCHOOL?
ENIE. Yes. They went to school and they went to Eden High. Edna didn't go to high school but Ronnie and Lola they went by bus, things were running then. Before, there was no bus and it was pretty hard to get places for them to stop over.
KATE. I SUPPOSE IT WAS A BIG CHANGE FROM WHEN YOUR KIDS GREW UP TO WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP.
ENIE. Yes. You had to get to school...you had to walk or ride a horse or something, there was no buses.
KATE. DID THEY HAVE A HORSE AND CART? SOMETHING TO PICK THE KIDS UP IN?
ENIE. Not when I was going to school.
KATE. WAS THERE A CHURCH AT BURRAGATE?
ENIE. No. They used to have their church service in the hall. I know Edna, she was christened in the Burragate hall.
KATE. AND THE SHOP, WAS IT A BUSY PLACE? DO YOU REMEMBER THE BLACKSMITH SHOP BEING THERE? IT WAS NEAR EDE'S FRONT GATE.
ENIE. There was one there and there was a pub up above Connie and Butch's place (the old wine saloon. previously 'ALLAWAH' guest house.) You know where... I don't know whether they've still got it, that little place...they used to have chooks in there, well, at the back of that. Mum said there was a pub there and there used to be a blacksmiths there too.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER THE WINE SHOP? DID A DOCTOR USED TO COME OUT AND USE ONE OF THE ROOMS FOR CONSULTATIONS?
ENIE. Yes. Dr. Bloomfield. He used to be in Pambula. He used to come out. I went there when I was expecting Edna. He only said to me here, oh a few years back, he said, I come for a drive out to Towamba but I couldn't find it. You see, there was no trees and the road used to nearly go on to the veranda at Connie's there. See, they built it up and if a car came down there and decided they wasn't going to take the turn, they could end up on the veranda. And I said, 'Yes, it's still in the same place but there's a lot of shrubs grew there and the road's out a lot further.' I can remember when it was in full swing there. They used to have meals and people used to stop and board there. The Parkers ...old Mrs. Parker had it and then Gaits', they had it there too.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER THE ELECTRICITY COMING TO TOWN AND THE TELEPHONE?
ENIE. Yes. I can remember it but I can't just remember the dates.
KATE. SO WAS IT A BIG THING TO SEE WHO WAS THE FIRST IN TOWN TO HAVE A TELEPHONE AND THE FIRST TO HAVE THE LIGHTS TURNED ON?
ENIE. I wasn't! It come on when we still had kerosene lights and candles when we come to the farm up there. ('Tyrone').
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER THE DIFFERENCE WHEN IT CAME ON? DID YOU THINK THINGS WOULD BE BETTER OR EASIER?
ENIE. Well when I switched it on, I said to George, I said, 'Gosh! It's glarey, isn't it?' (laughter) It had a bit more power in it than kerosene.
KATE. MY LOUNGE-ROOM WAS PAPERED AND AS THE HOUSE SUNK, IT BECAME VERY WRINKLY. IT WAS PAPERED IN 1952 ACCORDING TO THE NEWSPAPER UNDERNEATH.
ENIE. Yes, all the houses were papered out with newspaper. You could have a read.
KATE. LUCKILY IT WAS PUT ON WITH A GLUE THAT WASHED OFF EASILY WITH HOT WATER.
ENIE. Thank God, the house up there didn't. It was only painted. But out when we were on the dairy it was about that thickness (1 cm.) of paper. They'd put this lot on for Christmas and another lot on for something else.
KATE. SO THERE'D BE NO FANCY PAPER OVER IT?
ENIE. No, just newspaper. You could have a read any old time.
KATE. SO WHAT WAS UNDER THERE?
ENIE. Just the boards.
KATE. TONGUE AND GROVE?
ENIE. No. Just boards lapped over. There was no lining. The paper was the lining!
KATE. I SUPPOSE THE COMING OF THE SEPTIC ... THE DUNNIES COMING INSIDE INSTEAD OF OUTSIDE, WAS THAT A BIT OF EXCITEMENT?
ENIE. Yeah, that was much better. Big improvement that. The kids used to... you'd tell them to wash up, and they'd say, 'Oh, I've got to go to the toilet'...way down the hill they'd go.

AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS.


LOVE

Eileen Love's grandfather: Jack Sawers
Grandmother: Charlotte Beasley
Father: William Love
Mother: Lizzie Sawers

William Love and Lizzie Sawers' children: Eileen and Les.