Judith’s expanding horizons in the 1950s

Judith received her “Leaving Certificate” at the end of 5^th Form (year 11) in 1951 from Camperdown High School in country Victoria, Australia.[i] 

After graduating, Judith got a job at one of the five banks in town. She swapped her school uniform for a bank uniform and began to ride her bicycle to work rather than school.

Photographer unknown, National Bank Employees Standing in front of the National Bank Camperdown, circa 1852, Victoria, Australia [T375]

Her evenings and weekends were a whirlwind of social activity. She attended local dances, including two debutant balls with her high school sweetheart, Patrick Mitchell. The first debutantes’ ball was the “High School Ex-Students Ball”, in August 1951, where Judith was one of sixteen debutantes.[ii] Propriety dictated that the girls were to be modest and have their shoulders covered, Judith, wondering where she would ever wear such a dress again, chose a shoestring strap gown that was more versatile  The gown was described in the papers as having a “Fitted bodice of broderie anglaise, with appliqued skirt, and appliqued shoulder cape of matching tulle”. The translucent cape enabled her to meet the requirement of covering her shoulders, even if it was a bit daring.

Photographer Frank Rhodes, Group photo of attendees at the Camperdown High School Ex-Students’ Association Debutante Ball Dress, Monday 9 August 1951, Theatre Royal, Camperdown, Victoria, Australia. (Judith is first on the right in the second row, her half-sister is the young girl in the front [T377]

Then came the Cobden Ball in September 1951, where she became the second runner up in the “Western district Belle of Debutantes”, from a field of 36 Debutants.[iii] She also played tennis at the St Andrew’s Church local Tennis club and rode horses as often as time would allow.

In a small country town, everyone knew your business. Not only were the dances reported in the newspapers but also her holidays:

“Miss Judith Todman, of the National Bank staff, Camperdown, is at present on annual leave.”[iv]

Then Judith’s stepfather, Stuart (Pop), passed away suddenly with no warning on 13 July 1952, just like her father had done when she was three. Pop was really the only father that she could remember and now he was gone. Once again everything changed as her brother was recalled from University, to which he would never return, to help his mother manage the farm.

After two years working at the bank, Judith wanted to see the wider world and so decided, almost a year after Pop’s passing, that nursing was the escape she was looking for. Judith moved to Melbourne in the middle of 1953 and began her nurse training, while living at the “Melbourne School of Nursing Student’s Hostel”, with other country and interstate nurse trainees.[v]

Photographer unknown, Graduating from Nurses School, 1956, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [T348] From left: Wendy Dolling, June Mark, Barbara Lancomb, Phyllis Walker, Judith Todman, Louise Hamilton.

Halfway through 1956, Judith graduated from Nursing and immediately moved on to the midwifery course, which she completed during the following year. Her friend bought a Vesper Scooter. Judith was fascinated and went out and bought her own. They realised the freedom that the Vespers gave them to travel and the idea of an adventure was formed. Having received her double certificate, she returned home to work at Camperdown District Hospital in 1958. It was during this return to her childhood home that she decided to go through with her plans to travel to New Zealand, even though her original fellow travellers had dropped out. With replacement travelling companions found, Judith saved earnestly and after four months back in Camperdown was ready to launch off on her new adventure.

Judith and her two new girlfriends rode their Vesper motorbikes from Melbourne to Sydney and caught a ship to New Zealand, taking their bikes with them.  In between earning money as a lab technician, Judith and her friends toured around New Zealand for eight months. They arrived in New Zealand on January 28^th 1959 with 390 other passengers on the SS Monawarri. Much had happened in the 4-day journey across the Tasman. Judith had met John, eleven years her senior, an engineer and crew member. He had been so charming and attentive, so unlike the boys back home, debonair in his uniform.

Photographer Unknown, Judith and friend travel via Vespers from to Sydney via New South Wales, 1857, Australia Sandra Williamson’s private photograph collection [T337] [Judith of the right]

After returning from New Zealand Judith got a position at the Freemason’s Hospital, where she worked for six months, living in a flat near the hospital. But by June 1959 she was feeling restless again. There hadn’t been the camaraderie that she experienced during her training and being back in a uniform on the bottom rung again wasn’t much fun. 

Unhappy at work Judith dreamt of alternative futures: of working on the snowfields, getting a job as an air hostess or maybe even running away with John and starting a new life.  She returned briefly to Camperdown to attend her brother’s wedding. He was marrying one of her nursing girlfriends she had introduced him to. This was her third stint as a bridesmaid in Camperdown as more of her friends were settling down and getting married, staying and living in the place where they had grown up, but Judith realized she was not part of this world anymore.

On 23 July 1959 Judith finished up at the Freemason’s and used all her savings to buy a caravan and together she and John took off on their new adventure to look for work and a place to live.

They drove to the Grampians and lived in a caravan park. John managed to get some casual jobs close by in Stawell as a mechanic and some contract work in Mount Gambier.  Finally, he managed to secure a permanent position working for Frost Engineering in Hamilton, with a house as part of the employment contract.

Judith also managed to secure a position at the local Hamilton Hospital, however the job wasn’t the right fit for her and it didn’t work out. She then began working for a local photographer performing administrative support.

Photographer unknown, Judith Todman & John Williamson, 1959, Stawell, Victoria, Australia[T373]

John continued to look for better-paying work with a good house attached. Then, all of a sudden in the middle of 1960, he got an offer to work in Benalla and so they were on the move again.

Inspiration

This post was written in response to the writing prompt at Back to the 1950s  for more detail - see Elizabeth Swanay O'Neal, "The Genealogy Blog Party: Back to the 1950s," Heart of the Family™ (https://www.thefamilyheart.com/genealogy-blog-party-1950s/ : accessed April 28, 2022).

The story told here is but a partial telling of a much larger story as remembered by Judith herself and understood by her daughter Sandra and is based on continuing conversations that began a long time ago.

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The URL for this post is: https://ancestralresearchjournal.blogspot.com/2022/04/judiths-expanding-horizons-in-1950s.html originally published 29 April 2020

Author 2022, Sandra Williamson

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Sources

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[i] 1950 'HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP AND EXAMINATION RESULTS', Camperdown Chronicle (Vic. : 1877 - 1954), 10 March, p. 4. , viewed 28 Apr 2022, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23573857

[ii] 1951 'SIXTEEN DEBUTANTES AT H.S. EX-STUDENTS' BALL', Camperdown Chronicle (Vic. : 1877 - 1954), 17 August, p. 1. , viewed 28 Apr 2022, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28331337

[iii] 1951 'VICTORIAN DIARY Women lawyers have meeting', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), 26 September, p. 9. , viewed 28 Apr 2022, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23082188

[iv] 1952 'PERSONAL', Camperdown Chronicle (Vic. : 1877 - 1954), 5 February, p. 2. , viewed 28 Apr 2022, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24001922

[v] 1953 'PERSONAL', Camperdown Chronicle (Vic. : 1877 - 1954), 5 June, p. 4. , viewed 28 Apr 2022, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25114579

Road trips and cups of tea

In the days before fast food outlets, refreshments were packed to take on your journey. I can remember taking my grandmother, Myrtle, on a road trip with my two young children in tow. We were taking her to visit her sister in New South Wales, the year was 1997.

She bought with her a red picnic case that held two thermoses, a china tea set, tins full of sandwiches and fruit. My children were aged eight and ten, we would stop often. I would take the children for a walk while she stayed with the car, at 90 years of age she wasn’t too keen on going for long walks, no matter how short they were. By the time we returned she would have peeled and cut up fruit and arranged the afternoon tea, it was quite magical. It was something that she had been doing since she had been a young mother.

 

Photographer unknown, Traveller’s stopping at a Road side picnic; circa 1927, New South Wales, Australia [W009]

Her daughter Judy remembers travelling as a young girl going on holidays with her parent’s Lincoln & Myrtle and her brother Warrick. Judy remembered the last trip that they all took together.

They had started early in the morning before the sun had risen leaving their warm beds. Lincoln, their father ushered Judy, and her brother Warrick to the back door, the sound echoing as their feet scuffed across the linoleum floor. The air was brisk as they slid into the back of the car onto the cold seat. She pulled her teddy bear with its articulating arms closer to her body. Judy could see her mother, Myrtle's figure through the open kitchen door as she bustled around in her apron under the bright electric light packing the last of the contents of their red picnic case. It held tin boxes laden with fresh sandwiches, flasks of hot tea and a bottle of cold water for the kids.

Every few hours they stopped during their journey on the side of the road to take refreshments. Myrtle spreading a small cloth on whatever flat surface was available, often on top of a blanket on the ground. Myrtle carefully arranged the chosen refreshments in careful proportions for each person not wasting, spilling or dropping a morsel from the picnic set. Judy released from her cramped confinement in the rear seat ran off amongst roadside trees to stretch her legs. Sometimes Warrick followed her but mostly he liked to stay near the car. The paddocks were lush and green this time of the year in the middle of winter. There weren’t many trees other than those on the road verge or the occasional single file of pines that created windbreaks along the barbwire fence lines. Judy crouched down and fossicked in the rubble but was cautious not to disturb any bull ant nests.

“Judy. Judy. Judith. Where have you got too? Come back to the car this instance,” shouted Myrtle

Judy sprang to attention, dropping her stick and began to make her way back.

“Why can’t you be more like your brother? Come along now, have something to eat. Your father wants to leave in a few minutes," Myrtle continued as Judy got closer.

“Now Myrtle she’s just full of energy,” Lincoln said as he winked at Judy “After all you don’t want them both to be carsick, do you?”

After a quick bite, it was back in the car and off again. The long drive was punctuated with storytelling and singing. Judy’s favourite song was “There's a hole in my bucket” but she also liked “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. There seemed to be a never-ending list of ditties and songs. Lincoln told stories as he drove, and they’d play ‘Eye Spy’, it broke the monotony of the journey.

Many years later Judy would repeat the whole process herself with her young children.

Photographer Christine Filiamundi, Judy setting up family picnic during a road trip, c.1962, on the road between Bateman’s Bay, New & Benalla, Victoria, Australia. [W038] From Left Judith Todman, Sandra Williamson, Mark Williamson, John Palmer Williamson

Sandra also carried on the tradition during her own car trips.

Photographer Jessica, picnic on the way to Opera in the Outback, 1997, South Australia

The red picnic case in the foreground is the one that Sandra’s grandmother used when she travelled. Sandra’s friend Yumiko is holding one of the matching thermoses that were part of the original contents of the case.

Nothing like a bit of refinement for an afternoon tea break while travelling.

Sepia Saturday: Using Old Images As Prompt for New Reflections – Prompt 526

Friendships forged by Training Together

They all met for the first time at the Melbourne School of Nursing in 1953.

Photographer unknown, Student Nurses, circa 1954, Melbourne School of Nursing, Mayfield Ave, Toorak, Victoria, Australia.[T346]  From Left: Back Row Barbara Lancombe, Louise Hamilton; Front Row: Judy Todman, Wendy Dolling, June Mar, Phyllis Walker.

In 1956 after three years of study, they successfully graduated together from The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Associated Hospitals School of Nursing after successfully sitting their final exam on the 29 & 30 June.

Photographer unknown, Graduating Nursing Students from Melbourne School of Nursing, August 1956, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [T348] From the Left: Wendy Dolling, June Mark, Barbara Lancombe, Phyllis Walker, Judy Todman, Louise Hamilton

After three years of training together, they had forged friendships that would last a lifetime. Their first get together was soon after training before Judy travelled to New Zealand for an eight-month working holiday.

Photographer unknown, Catching up with Nursing friends, 1957, Hotel Elizabeth, 321 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Victoria Australia (From left to right: July Todman, June Mark, Barbara Lancomb, Louise Hamilton, Wendy Dolling and Phyllis Walker.) [T316]

Over time they have shared their life journeys with each other. Indelible bonds were formed during those early years of intensive nurse training, that has lasted a lifetime.

Photographer unknown, 50th-year Anniversary lunch at Barb's place, 2003 (From left to right: Barb, Louise, Phyl, Wendy, & Judy) [T344]

There are not many people who can claim to have maintained 50 years of friendship and shared memories based on their early work experiences.

This Blogpost is an expansion of an early one I wrote entitled A Dinner Party Reunion

The Importance of Pets

Streak

Judy loved all types of animals in contrast to her mother. On a farm, animals had chores just like everyone else, chooks provided eggs, horses provided transport and dogs helped to herd the cows and keep the foxes away from the chickens. But Streak was special, rather than herding cows, he herded the children and followed them everywhere.

Photographer unknown, Judy & Diana with Streak standing on top of Leura Hill in Camperdown, Victoria, Australia [T351]

Bluey

Bluey was a good steadfast type of horse, reliable and gentle and when he not working around the farm Judy loved to ride him. Judy loved Bluey much more than her boyfriend’s motorbike.

Photographer unknown, Judy can’t remember the name of her old boyfriend but the horse’s name was Bluey, 1952, Victoria, Australia[ T333]

Digger

When Judy first went nursing and travelling, she couldn’t responsibly keep a pet. However, as soon as she started a family, she acquired a pet dog named Digger.

Photographer unknown, Digger the dog in the front yard, 1962, 8 Hope Street Benalla, Victoria, Australia [T352]

Digger joined the family sometime in 1962. He was a wonderful companion even though he was a bit naughty. During the day he would escape through the fence in search of toys for his young companions. After each escapade Digger would return with a different toy. The neighbours were very understanding and tolerant, they would visit and retrieve their children's toys at the end of each day. Some claimed that Judy had trained Digger to collect the toys, but when I spoke to Judy, she assured me this was not true. Digger eventually moved to live with Judy’s cousin Graham in Queensland, a much better match for such a lively canine.

Mrs Sabatini’s Cat

It’s often said that you never really own a cat, it just chooses who it will spend time with. Mrs Sabatini’s cat lived next door to Judy in Benalla.

Photographer Unknown, Sandra playing with the cat, 1962, Benalla, Victoria, Australia [T359]

The cat would visit daily to play with the children. Judy was delighted.

Butty Judy’s riding companion

Then there was Butty, a Stafford Bull Terrier who Judy trained to go riding with her. Butty would run alongside Judy as she rode.  He wasn’t afraid of the horse’s hooves and neither were the horses afraid of him. Butty would come back exhausted by the end of the day.

Photographer unknown, Judy riding with her Dog, 1982, Victoria, Australia [T360]

Sharing her passion for animals with her mother

Judy was mother was never keep on animals but when she came to live with Judy, her distain of pets began to soften. Myrtle who had disapproved of dogs inside in her younger years was happy to have her favourite friend in at night to watch TV. Perhaps it was because she didn’t have to tidy up after anyone anymore, she felt more comfortable to have a canine companion.

Photographer Judith Williamson, Myrtle playing with Judy’s 3 dogs and a duck [T354]

Sepia Saturday: Using Old Images As Prompt for New Reflections – Prompt 525

Leaning out windows

Queensland was a long drive but it was here that the family settled in 1965. John took on a new position at Comet Windmills after being dismissed from Reynold Chains in Victoria. It was time for a new start.

Everything was different, even the weather. Morning play outside for the children required beanies to guard against the crisp cool air. By lunch, Judy was swapping beanies for sun hats as the air began to warm and the humidity rose.

It was in the days before air-conditioning. The houses stood on stilts designed to catch a cool breeze during the hot and humid days. Windows were often left open to facilitate a "through breeze", to ventilate and cool the rooms within.

Judy made friends with the other wives, learning to play squash, meeting them at the gym and sharing the occasional lunch together. The kids were always with her except perhaps on the weekend when a few stolen hours could be spent alone at the shops. Life revolved mostly around meal and nap times for the children, creating a daily rhythm for life. 

One day after putting Paul down for his midday nap Judy went out to the shops leaving John in charge. Returning home, she parked the car in front of the open carport. As she got out of the car she looked up to see her baby boy leaning precariously out of the bedroom window.  He held his bottle in one hand and waved with the other. Milk dripped onto the car roof below. Oblivious to the danger he smiled delightedly.

Judy recalls keeping Paul in conversation as she moved carefully and slowly up the front stairs trying not to show too much alarm as her heart raced. Containing her panic, she made her way to his room. She chatted constantly with him, in an even voice willing him not to lean any further out the window. As soon as she was close enough, she put her arms around his chest and pulled him off the window sill.  The relief that followed was almost overwhelming.

Sepia Saturday: Using Old Images As Prompt for New Reflections – Prompt 523

Looking for property in the late 60s

Her dreams shattered; Judy returned with the children to Victoria in 1967.  Myrtle, her mother, found her a flat in Huntingdale behind a local chemist in the same street as the local primary school, not far from where Myrtle lived.

“[I] returned to Melbourne to live in a rental flat. It was unsatisfactory as there was little play room for the children who were 3,4, & 5 at that time.”

Figure 1 Photographer unknown, Front view of house, circa 1968, 27 Fourth Avenue, Chelsea Heights, Victoria, Australia, Sandra Williamson’s Private Photo Collection [JW001]

Searching for a better future, Judy purchased a new home for her family in Chelsea Heights. The cost of the house was $10,600 and she obtained a mortgage of $7000. She raised the deposit with a loan from her mother. The house was fairly new but without paving, a garage or front fence.  The new suburb had not long been developed and was surrounded by wet lands and farms.

Then… “I bought a house in an outer suburb where I was able to provide a home & playing area for the children it was also near state schools for them”

Figure 2 Photographer unknown, Three children working in the back yard, circa 1968, 27 Fourth Avenue, Chelsea Heights, Victoria, Australia, Sandra Williamson’s Private Photo Collection [JW002]

Over the next few years, Judy and a few select friends and family spent their weekends working on the property. A garage was built, and a brick front fence and a gate were installed across the driveway to enclose the backyard. Judy sewed what seemed like miles of curtaining fabric for the interior, including elaborate pinch pleated drapes for the lounge room.

Figure 3 Photographer unknown, Judy digging in the front yard, circa 1968, 27 Fourth Avenue, Chelsea Heights, Victoria, Australia, Sandra Williamson’s Private Photo Collection [JW003]

During this time Judy remarried. Her new husband, Russell manicured the front lawn to create a perfectly flat surface, and he regularly trimmed and rolled the grass, as though he were an actual greenkeeper rather than a security guard at a local university. Occasionally he would play also grass bowls on it. 

Figure 4 Photographer unknown, House for Sale, circa 1973, 27 Fourth Avenue, Chelsea Heights, Victoria, Australia, Sandra Williamson’s Private Photo Collection [JW004]

“[B]ut Russell couldn’t adjust to the young children and eventually continually found fault with them. This caused friction between us and [we] eventually agreed to separate.”

Judy decided it was time to sell her Chelsea Heights home, as her eldest child was finishing her last year in primary school and there was no high school close by. She bought a new place in a good area within walking distance of both a high and a primary school, and not too far from her work.

Inspiration for the Post - 

Sepia Saturday: Using Old Images As Prompt for New Reflections - Prompt 522

Trophies are Reminders of feats

Photographer Sandra Williamson, Judith Williamson's horse-riding trophies & ribbons, 7 January 2016, Patterson Lakes, Victoria, Australia [JudithKS0002]

As Judy held the bucket, she watched the horse shake its head from side to side, throwing the chaff off that was tickling its nose. Horses and riding had been a passion for her as long as she could remember. In her teens, she borrowed a horse to compete in the local Camperdown Country Show, but when she left home to do her nurse training there hadn't been any time or place to ride. Then her kids were born and she didn’t have the time nor the freedom to do as she pleased.

Photographer unknown, Judith Todman after riding at the Camperdown show, 1948, Camperdown, Victoria, Australia [b138]

Occasionally as the kids got older, she’d take them to a country rodeo. They never really shared her passion. Where she saw the musculature beauty of a finely tuned horse, they saw blowflies. Where she smelled the sweet scent of saddles warmed by horse’s sweat, they smelled horse dung and damp hay. She could feel the energy in the air as beast fought to dismount man. But all the children heard was the course language, the yelling and the cheering.  They couldn’t see over the jostling crowds of spectators.

Judy met Jenny through work. Like Judy she as an Occupation Health & Safety nurse, and also a single working mum with an interest in horses. But Jenny had a benefactor who supported her interest and she spent her weekends at her benefactor’s farm, often inviting Judy to join her so that they could train and ride the horses together.

Ironically it was Judy’s eldest child that truly rekindled her passion for horses and paved the way for new possibilities. Sandra had enrolled herself in a cross-country riding course with the “Council of Adult Education” in 1981 but had to relinquish her participation halfway through after being thrown from the stallion she had been riding. With Sandra recuperating and unable to ride, Judy stepped into the breach. 

The weekly ride was through the natural untamed beauty of the Strzelecki Ranges on unmade roads and through the bush. It was fast and furious both up and down the hillside. It was stuff that had made the movie “Man from Snowy River” famous. Scenes of mountain ponies galloping down steep ravines, riders leaning back in their saddles their backs almost touching the horse’s rump as their legs stretched forward stiffly in the stirrups to balance.

Judy was exhilarated. The course finished but Judy had rekindled a passion that she had almost forgotten. Inspired, she returned to the horse farm and negotiated to buy the horse she had ridden. As her children began to have their own families Judy became preoccupied with her new hobby, working fulltime during the week and spending her weekends riding. She joined the local horse-riding club and began training in dressage, winning her first trophy in 1984 for ‘most improved’.

Photographer Sandra Williamson, Judith Williamson’s Trophy For Most Improved Rider 1984, 7 Jan 2016, Patterson Lakes, Victoria, Australia [JudithKS0001-3]

Dressage seemed so confining after her experience in the Strzeleckis. Meg, her new horse, was not really well adapted for such rigor. Meg was a bit too stiff and not able to lead on the inside leg as required by this style of riding. It was then that Judy met Gay. Gay offered her the use of her own big handsome trotter “Santa”. Judy began riding with Gay and eventually sold Meg and purchased Santa from her. Together Gay and Judy joined a new riding club “Harkaway Riding Club” that focused on bush and navigational riding. Some rides took all day, others required camping for several nights. In 1993, Judy won her second trophy, for dressage, a very proud moment.

Photographer Sandra Williamson, Judith Williamson’s The Cattle Persons Cup Trophy 1995, 7 Jan 2016, Patterson Lakes, Victoria, Australia [JudithKS0001-4]

“I was the first lady rider to win the Cattleman s cup, so they had to change the title to Cattlepersons cup after that”

Judy has a slew of ribbons that speak to her enjoyment of horse riding and many happy shared memories.

Photographer unknown, Judy riding at the beach, circa 1988, Mordialloc, Victoria, Australia [T349]

Sepia Saturday: Using Old Images As Prompt for New Reflections - Prompt 521

Memory & Story

My mother recently moved into a nursing home, or, as we like to refer to it, “the most expensive serviced apartment she could afford”. She purchased the room by selling her independent living apartment in a retirement village, where independence had been translated into “we won’t intrude other than once a week to send in a cleaner as long as you follow the rules”. 

In her new place meals were prepaid and served in a common dining area with an optional glass of wine. Residents were careful not to ‘visit’ each other too often and cross the line of being intrusive. During the day residents were out and about leaving the village and doing what most people do in retirement enjoy life. Liberated from the worries of property maintenance and utility bills, life was grand.

Over time, however, things began to change for Judy. Subtly at first, the nights seemed to get longer. The hip pain that she’d ignored for so long seemed to escalate. Ambulances were called several times in the wee hours of the morning for tummy pain, and each time an uncomfortable night was spent in Emergency on an ambulance trolley for observation. The nurses were racing round tending injuries and the illnesses of others while popping their heads around the makeshift curtain every so often to check that she was okay.

After each episode, Judy would return to the Village, with a new normal just slightly altered in an almost imperceptible way but enough that the world seemed to be slowly shrinking around her. Words began to slip out of sight or not leave the tongue quite so easily as they had before.

Judy has always been a person of decisive action; she knew something had to be done and now. Within a week of her suddenly reaching this inexplicable decision she booked herself into hospital for a hip operation. The X-rays had revealed her hip joint had died, possibly from a fall from a horse around 20 years ago. Instead of the X-rays showing calcification of the joint, there was a black patch where the joint should have been. “Delirium” or, as laypeople would call it, “confusion” postoperatively was to be expected but it should settle within a couple of weeks. Judy decided it was worth the risk, better than having someone “wipe your arse” in later life because you couldn’t move around.

Judy came through with flying colours although rehab was proving a little difficult. Wasn’t there a pill for that? Judy returned to her former self but it became evident that perhaps something else was happening that had been masked by her belief that somehow everything would be okay. Support was put in place to allow her continued independence, and she won the hearts of those assisting her, everyone loved her winning smile and gracious attitude. Only those one or two who were in her inner circle realised that something wasn’t quite right.

Finally, the General Practitioner agreed to write a referral for Judy to access the local memory clinic. Working the system again and accessing something for “free” appealed to Judy. After extensive tests and follow-up, the results showed that Judy was in the very beginning phase of Alzheimers.

That was eighteen months ago. When I visit now, she talks with wonder about the luxury she now lives in, being able to stay in bed until lunchtime and only getting up after breakfast to go to the dining room. During one of my weekly visits, she tells me she wants for nothing. She can’t understand how for the first time in her life she doesn’t have to rush or worry, and how everything has now been taken care of. She is safe from the COVID 19 plague.

Sometimes she forgets that this is her new home although it is not with displeasure. The frame that hangs on the wall in her room depicts a potted history of her nursing career. It reminds her of her accomplishments during her life, evoking memories and topics of conversation.  It “Thanks her for her Service” during a time when health care workers mostly women were unseen. It reminds those around her that she too was as busy as they are now. It enshrines her nursing badges and her nursing diploma that were at risk of being separated and misunderstood. The frame gives context to her accomplishments and reveals aspects of her professional life that might have become lost in time and broken into fragments of her larger story.

Generations of Water Play

Growing up water play was a big part of our lives and learning to swim was considered essential. I attended lessons at school and privately, as my children did, and now my grandchildren do. Swimming lessons were part of the school curriculum.

Holiday programs such as VICSWIM were also popular and which was offered as an intensive Christmas Holiday swimming Program. In 1990 the “Summer Vacation Learn to Swim Campaign attracts 32,500 children at 266 venues and involved 792 teachers”[i]

1963

Out first childhood holiday was Batesman Bay which is near Merimbula, a coastal town on the Princes Highway in southeast New South Wales, Australia.

Photographer Christine Filiamundi, Caravan Park, 1963, Batesman Bay, NSW, Australia. [W126] From the Left in the foreground, John Williamson leaning over Mark Williamson, Sandra Williamson & Judy Williamson

The caravan park is to the left of the picture, where we hired a caravan and slept during the nights.

Photographer Christine Filiamundi, Family on the beach, 1963, Batesman Bay, NSW, Australia [W161] From the left Judy  walking towards John who has Mark on his knee,  John Williamson Snr, Sandra Williamson and Margaret Williamson

While on holidays our paternal Grandparents came down to visit from Sydney in New South Wales.

Photographer Christine Filiamundi, Sandra sitting on the beach with her paternal grandparents, 1963, Batesman Bay, NSW, Australia [W118]

1968

As we got older we continued to go to the beach often.

Photographer unknown, A picnic on the beach, 6 October 1968, Chelsea, Victoria, Australia. [W165]

Photographer unknown, Paddleboarding at the beach, 6 October 1968, Chelsea, Victoria, Australia. [W166] From the back: Judy, Paul, Mark & Sandra

2019

And so the tradition continues

Trying to escape the 43-degree heat (109F for my US friends), 30 December 2019, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

At the beach with friends, 2 October 2019, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

Beautiful day for the beach, 2 October 2019, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

Beach Swimming in Australia – background notes

“Shark Patrols”

As a child, I remember small flying overhead as we played and swam at the beach which preformed “Shark Patrols”.  A horn would sound and we would have to get out of the water where we’d wait until eventually an announcement or another siren would ring or perhaps a megaphone announcement from the plane and we would be allowed to venture back into the water. I don’t ever remember scared, just excited. Some years the popular AM Radio Station 3UZ funded the operation of the shark spotting plane.

“Swimming between the Flags, and the Surf Life Saving Clubs” 

As child when possible we needed to swim between the flags.

Best, Alleyn & Surf Life Saving Victoria 2002, 50 years and more : a history of Surf Life Saving Victoria, Surf Life Saving Victoria, St. Kilda, Vic 

“The painful stings of Blue Bottle Jelly Fish”

Marine Stingers – “Australia’s waters are home to many interesting and fascinating creatures, including jellyfish, some of which can be the cause of painful stings!” 

“Slip! Slop! Slap!” cancer prevention program

One of the most successful health campaigns in Australia's history was launched in 1981, when a cheerful seagull in board shorts, t-shirt and hat danced his way across our TV screens singing the jingle.

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[i] https://cdn.revolutionise.com.au/site/ip4lxwyteek1efsy.pdf

A Dinner Party Reunion

They all met for the first time at the Melbourne School of Nursing in 1953. In 1956 after three years of study, they successfully graduated together from The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Associated Hospitals School of Nursing after successfully sitting their final exam on the 29 & 30 June.

Photographer unknown, Catching up with Nursing friends, 1957, Hotel Elizabeth, 321 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Victoria Australia (From left to right: July Todman, June Mark, Barbara Lancomb, Louise Hamilton, Wendy Dolling and Phyllis Walker.) [T316]

Over time they have shared their life journeys with each other. Indelible bonds were formed during those early years of intensive nurse training, that has lasted a lifetime.

Photographer unknown, 50th-year Anniversary lunch at Barb's place, 2003 (From left to right: Barb, Louise, Phyl, Wendy, & Judy) [T344]

There are not many people who can claim to have maintained 50 years of friendship and shared memories based on their early work experiences.

This post is part of the Sepia Saturday 507 : 15th February 2020 visit their site to learn more.

A thoroughly modern woman Judy and her Vespa

After graduating her midwifery course in the middle of 1958, Judy returned home to Camperdown to work in the local hospital.  Things had changed many of her old friends were now married and some even had children, she no longer felt part of their lives, she was an outsider.

Photographer Unknown, Judy shows off her new Vespa, circa 1957, Camperdown [T338]

Judy was just beginning her adventures, she dreamed of excitement and discovering other worlds, Camperdown couldn’t contain her and after 3½ months she was on her way overseas with her beloved Vespa, feeling like a movie star.

Photographer Unknown, Judy shows off her new Vespa to a Nursing Colleague, circa 1957, Camperdown [T339]

Judy and two friends rode from Melbourne to Sydney to meet the cruise ship. It was a long ride. It was also an opportunity to do a little sightseeing. Judy travelled on her own bike, while the two others share a bike between them.

Photographer Unknown, Stopping for a Break on the Way to Sydney, circa 1957, at Hume Highway, Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia [T341]

Once in Sydney, the bikes were loaded onto the SS Monowai to be offloaded when they all arrived in New Zealand.

Photographer Unknown, Vespas loaded and ready to leave, circa 1987, at Hume Highway,  Gundagai, Wellington, New Zealand [T337]

The trio spent the first month travelling around New Zealand, using their Vespas to get around, before settling into the routine of work and weekend excursions.
On her return back to Australia Judy knew that she would have to eventually sell her travel-weary bike “About your scooter …. Some time in the future you are going to have to spend quite a lot of money on it. The trick is to decide when this will be & sell at a time when you have got the most out of it without cutting it too fine. I can’t say exactly when this would be without a close study of the scooter but it can’t be too far off considering the mileage.”

A thoroughly modern woman – background notes

“Featured in the 1953 Hollywood film Roman Holiday in which Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck zipped past the sights of Rome on the back of a Vespa.” [(Colin Bissett, The world's most stylish motor scooter published Tuesday 5 November 2013 8:58AM, https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/bydesign/5067620  accessed 9 February 2020]

Trailer screenshot Licencing Cropped screenshot of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck from the trailer for the film Roman Holiday, released in 1853. Audrey_Hepburn_and_Gregory_Peck_on_Vespa_in_Roman_Holiday_trailer_(cropped).jpg   [Public domain] accessed 10 February 2020)

1956 'Advertising', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), 26 March, p. 10. , viewed 09 Feb 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71794186 

This post is part of the Sepia Saturday 506 : 8th February 2020 visit their site to learn more.

When Judy met John

Judy arrived on January 28th with 390 other passengers on the SS Monawarri. So much had happened in the 4-day journey across the Tasman from Australia to New Zealand. She had met John, eleven years her senior, an engineer and crew member. He had been so charming and attentive, so unlike the boys back home, debonair in his uniform.

Her work visa to New Zealand would allow her to work and travel freely during the year.

Photographer unknown, Together, 2 March 1858, New Zealand, [T336]

This is the beginning of their story told in their words.

John’s words are taken from letters that he wrote to Judy. His first letter to Judy was written on 1st February 1958. During this period, John was working on ships as a junior engineer, first for the Union Steamship Company on the Monowai, and then for the Adelaide Steamship Company on the Baroota. John returned to New Zealand only three times during the course of their correspondence, but on one of those occasions, they failed to meet.

Judy’s words are from her travel diary during the same period, her first entry on 28 February 1858, the last entry on the 8 March that same year.

Photographer Unknown, A romantic interlude, 2 March 1858, New Zealand [T331]

Over to Judy & John

Place: SS Monowai 1.2.1958 voice of John “I still can't figure whether it was all a dream or whether you are actually real. Either way, how wonderful. … I have to proceed very carefully now that I have run out of news else I'll make a complete fool of myself. You see my recollections of you are so vivid as to be almost painful. All of a sudden I am lonely, the future becomes important & frightening, my past crowds me & threatens me. Have you ever heard such rot? … Going around & around in my head is your comment "When we meet again it will be the same Judy & the same John" & I’m wishing for that with all my heart / till then, yours John”

Place: Lake Taupo. Date: 11-2-58 voice of Judy “It was my big moment I received a much awaited letter from John that wasn’t disappointing in any way…”

Place: Auckland. Date: 16-2-58 “News fash [sic] I think the Monowai may be due in Auckland this week – maybe today!! … [In a different pen:] No Monowai not due in till Wednesday shall just miss it.”

SS Monowai  16.2.1958 voice of John “… Very wonderful of you to write. It was just what the doctor ordered to lift up my flagging spirits. ... I’m hoping (but shouldn’t) that none of those N.Z. he men steal your heart away though I couldn’t blame them for trying. … we don’t sail until Monday. I plan to try to get Saturday afternoon & Sunday off. I would like to get away from the ship for a while & thought maybe I could hire a car. Perhaps camp or hotel at some picturesque country place. … There are two things uppermost in my mind at the moment, one is to get clear of the ship & the other is to steal as much of your company as possible but don’t let me make a nuisance of myself.

Place: Wellington Date: 1-3-58  voice of Judy “Thought I should meet John at noon. Packed & left my quarters feeling good. Missed John at noon. Tried to ring the Monowai – failed. Finnally rang 2pm from Harbour trust office. John not on board. What despair. Wandered the streets hopefully. Really at wits end when I accidently bumped into the girls – What joy & relief –  … Decided to visit Monowai … John was relieved, delighted and amazed to see us. He had spent £2.10 in taxi fees trying to get in touch with me. He had almost given up hope. Having both calmed down somewhat we set out with the girls, hired a car and set out for Paraparaumu [?]. It was great to be altogether again. So pleasant, so satisfying. There was such a lot of news to exchange. Our cabin was small but comfortable. We have china cups & teapot once again….”

Place: Paraparaumu Date: 2-3-58 voice of Judy “... The girls prepared a salad lunch & later John & I went driving into the hills. Saw a magnificent view from a summit 2467 feet up. It was sun set & I cannot do justice to the magnificent shades [?] that were reflected in the hills. So wide, so expansive & so peacefull [sic] was the view with the sun in the background. Regrettfully [sic] we had to return. … Everything was running to schedule when we had a flat tyre just inside Wellington what a quick change. John had to be back by 8am. I am so sad to see him go. ... Walked round Wellington the rest of the day in a trance.”

Place: Wellington. Date: 3 Mar 1958 voice of John - “Just a note in case you’re feeling as I am. … I’ve been running around the shopping centre since 1 o’clock, then down to the Ferry to Nelson at 1.45. Watched it sail at 2.30. No sign of Judy. Ugh. Better run now for Monowai”

Place: S.S. Monowai. Date: 8 March 1958 voice of John - “Well, how about that? You were still in Wellington while I was down on the Ferry wharf trying to catch a glimpse of you. …Long to see you again, John.”

Place: S.S. Monowai. Date: 13 March 1958 voice of John - “This writing letters to you when you are not receiving them is a frustrating business. I feel that I’m talking to the stars you’re so remote.  … How many eons is it since you said “I’d love to”, when I asked you for a dance. Nothing half-hearted about that! And I was a gonner [sic] from that point on. …

“I’m feeling rather crushed at the moment. I have been fired from the Monowai, can there be a greater insult than this? … Somehow it was most necessary for me to see you again, to make sure that I hadn't changed your mind about me. …  There was no letter waiting for me in Sydney, I wonder? … You are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, Judy, & your memory is about my sole asset right now. …

There I go again, you see how difficult it is? Every time I sit down to write to you I forget the present & can think only of my first real view of Wellington and the exhilarating ride on a blue motor scooter that went before. Just we two alone in a restaurant with soft lights, soft music, and a pocket handkerchief sized dance floor. Sitting with you on the very top of the world, a world that was hazy and full of hidden places but all so remote. Then there was the “joint” at Lower Hutt with the record covers stuck on the wall, & the crazy music & you so gay & laughing. A rainy night, a small car, & you saying “It’s not what I expected!!! …

You see, a man can’t experience these things & expect to ever be quite the same again. And so every time I sit still these are the thoughts that come flooding in & it is a big effort to think of news that would interest you.”

Photographer unknown, Beginning their life together, 1859, Stawell, Victoria, Australia, [B092]

This was just the beginning. A spark ignited that would fuel decisions with lifelong ramifications.