Mum/Shirley’s Life by Sue, Tony and Jenny
Shirley was always a Sydney girl at heart. She was born on the 23rdFebruary 1925 to parents, Winifred Hilliard and Harold White. She had an older brother, Norman (Uncle Knocker). As a child she lived in Longueville and went to Lane Cove Public School, moving to Manly in her teenage years. She fondly recalled days of playing in the creeks around Lane Cove, and in the rock pools of Manly and Fairy Bower - a love of the coast and beach that was with her for life. She loved school and especially remembered her final school years boarding at SCEGGS Darlinghurst of which she remained a life-long “old girl”.
We can only imagine the effects of WW2 on Shirley and her mother (Niney to her grandchildren). Both her father and brother were serving overseas. While at SCEGGS Darlinghurst, her father was killed in Tobruk in May 1941 and her brother (Knocker) who was in the Navy was reported missing after the sinking of HMAS Perth in the Sundra Strait Indonesia in 1942. It was only towards the end of the war that she and Niney were told he had been a Prisoner of War in Singapore for 3 years and had survived.
After leaving school Shirley trained as a physiotherapist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Camperdown/University of Sydney and graduated in 1947. She recalled lots of fun in “Physio” House making plaster bandages from powdered plaster of Paris, and “creating” caramel sauce from a tin of condensed milk boiled in the hospital’s centrifuge in the company of young resident doctors (I wonder who cleaned up afterwards?). After graduation Shirley stayed at Prince Alfred as a senior physiotherapist and it was at this time that she met our Dad, Peter who was good friends with a young man dating one of Mum’s physio friends, Lois. Shirley and Peter were married on 20thMay 1948 in Shore School Chapel where Dad had been to School.
They started their married life in Cammeray in the late 1940s where Susan and Tony were born. Jenny was born several years later in Canberra. Mum was a working mother when it was probably not fashionable to be so. She worked part time at the original Canberra Community Hospital from the mid 1950s till early 1960s and at home managed to overcome the challenges of an ancient version of an Aga for cooking and a wood fired copper and mangle for washing. The weekends were a treat ... Sue writes, “We had a Saturday sixpence to spend at Manuka shops on whatever we wanted. This was followed by the Sunday drive or picnic when Mum was in charge of the large block of Cadbury’s milk and/or the Dairy Whip ice cream”.Mum loved versions of these until her death. The drive was always her favourite as she could only just cope with Dad’s bush-wacking picnics. Sue again recalls: “Ambling along a sheep track at Coppin’s Crossing after a BBQ, Mum loudly directed me to stop and get off the path. Being an irritating under 10, I asked ”Why”? After which I was bodily picked up just in time to see a large tiger snake almost under my foot. Good lesson Mum ...I dragged a stick behind me from then on”.
I don’t think we have any record of when or how Mum gained her driving licence although she held it until well into her 80s. However, she must have held the record for how far you could go in second gear and how far to avoid a hill start. She is also famous for reversing into the guide rail in Cammeray and into the fire engine attending the chimney fire at our house in La Perouse St, Canberra, all of these many years ago. However, she never lost a point on her licence … as far as we know! And despite these early ‘apparent’ errors of judgment there was no doubt about Mum’s competence later in her driving career, particularly in engaging the reserve fuel tank of her British Racing Green VW Beetle, a very familiar car to those who regularly travelled Canberra’s roads at the time. The foot switch located adjacent to the clutch was ever so competently flicked with her flat driving shoes, a skill often deployed on the drive home from school, when time to refuel was at a premium.
Whilst Shirley’s perfume collection paled into insignificance when compared to her mother’s (that had to be seen to be believed), there was a lifelong association (perhaps a kind of affair) with bath soaps and gels, particularly the ‘Badedas’ range. After moving to Cologne, and while waiting for a permanent residence to be found, the family lived in a hotel for a number of weeks. There was a comprehensive range of the Badedas products which were replenished daily by the hotel staff (perhaps they knew), and that ever distinctive aroma and the benefits associated, became an essential (even compulsory) bathroom accessory for many years.
It took Mum (or Mother as she would have preferred) until the 1960s to step out of skirt and stockings and into trousers but there was nothing old fashioned about her support for the family. She worked as a physiotherapist at Canberra Community Hospital, at Cosgrove Park in Launceston, and then in private practice in Canberra while Dad was working in these places. She then spent three years in Europe (Cologne and Madrid) accompanying Dad when he was attached to the Australian Embassy.
After returning to Sydney in 1972 Shirley and Peter moved to Killara and then to Boundary Road, Wahroonga. Here they had a family home where they stayed for over 30 years, a welcome change after so many moves. Although their extended family was spread over Australia and the UK it was a mecca for us all.... humans, birds, dogs, cats, small furry creatures, whether domesticated, or wild. Mum loved having all her family together. She and Dad hosted great BBQs in their back garden and the family roast dinners were memorable. Jenny and Geoff had their wedding reception there and the Lambert children still talk of the secret recipe Mum had for seasoning a chicken using herbs she grew in her garden. Many anniversaries and other celebrations followed with the back garden at Boundary Road the centre. Mum was a talented and passionate gardener and a great lover and adopter of animals. Animal stories entered our history such as the young cat that helped himself to the icing on a cake Mum had just baked. The offending section was smoothed over, eaten and complimented upon by guests, and the cat gained the nickname of “Coffee Cake Kittles”. But to my knowledge no one has ever discovered what happened to the ham that went missing at Jenny and Geoff’s wedding? The prime suspect was a member of the Labrador family.
Shirley continued her physio career working at Montefiore Hunters Hill, Mt Wilga Rehabilitation Centre, Hornsby and then for Commonwealth Rehab until her “retirement”. She continued in a voluntary capacity as a consumer representative for the Continence Foundation, NSW Dental Board and Council of the Ageing (COTA) up until she found travelling on the train difficult (aged about 86!).
Throughout these years Shirley enjoyed a series of travels overseas. The 1986 trip to the UK with Sue was an eclectic tour by car for six weeks during which they visited one garden, one archaeological site and one other site /place by mutual consent per day; all recorded in aerogrammes home. After 1991 when Sue settled in Somerset, Shirley visited regularly and from there organised her own tours to the Alps, the Riviera, the Amalfi Coast and Scotland. She was in flight to Heathrow during the 9/11 attacks, only to find out the details on arriving. So, for someone who disliked flying, she had gained her wings!
Mum’s final move with Dad was to their flat in Wickham, Newcastle, where they lived for several years together, and where she continued to live after Dad died in 2012. At the flat, she maintained a very healthy potted garden and returned home to tend to her plants even after she had moved to Maroba. She loved to attend the 7.00am service in this Chapel particularly as it reminded her of the services she had at School. She attended Anglican Women and then Mother’s Union meetings up until she was no longer able to travel independently.
She will always be remembered for her love of her family, her dedication to Physiotherapy and her care for others, for animals and for gardens everywhere.
Rest in peace, Mum.
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