1937 Marriage of Reg Charles ADAMS and Adelaide Ena McROBERT

The Life Story of Adelaide Ena Adams (affectionately known as Pat). I was born on December 28th 1906. I was a prem baby as my mother had German measles. I was very lucky as my mother had a midwife that knew what to do with me. She rubbed me with olive oil and wrapped me in cotton wool and told Mum to let me howl as much as I liked to stretch my lungs.

They sent my brother Bill who was 9, down to Grandma in Barnard St opposite the paddling pool. The Aunts asked “What was I like” and he said “Like a little German sausage”. Then on Sunday Grandpa (Mum's father) said I've heard enough from you women about this baby. I am going up to see her. He was about half way up the street, from our house, when he could hear me screaming. He came inside and said to Mum “That child will live”. So, here I am. I've outlived them all. I was a McRobert and am known as 'Pat' to everyone. I will be 97 next birthday and I'm the last one of my family alive. My brother Bill was born in 1897 and my sister Barbara was born in 1912.

Well, Bendigo was a lot different then, no made roads except for the main ones macadamised, no electricity or gas. Everyone had kerosene lights or candles. It soon changed, by the time I was five years old. The Gas works were working. Before that the lamplighters came and lit the lights on the corners of the streets, in the middle of the roads. All traffic was by horses and trams. The trams used to run from Eaglehawk to the cemetery and the Lake Weeroona to Golden Square on the main roads. We shifted to our new house when I was five. We had gas lights in some of the rooms, and a gas ring to heat the kettle and cook food. It was used at night, instead of keeping the oven alight.

When I was about 14 we got electric lights. Of course, there were mines all around us then and we could hear them working beneath us. There were hotels by the dozen that closed at 11pm. The police used to be around to shift the rowdy home go'ers on their way. All our food was delivered to us. The baker, butcher, grocer, and greengrocer all called. The greengrocer was a chinaman. They had their gardens all along the creek at Golden Square.

I don't know what my father did when I was small, but later he was a land valuer for the State Government and later for the Federal Government. He used to be away from us a lot valuing properties. I went to the Violet St State School till I got my Merit Certificate, then to the Domestic Arts school for 1 year, then the High school for 3 years where I got my Intermediate exam, then I did Commercial typing, shorthand and book-keeping. I left school and worked for Tatchell Dunlop Smalley and Balmer solicitors until I got married.

When we were young, Barbara and I, Nancy Hamilton, Bish. Maggie Leggo, and Ethel Henderson used to hike all over Bendigo and the surrounding bush. We would visit each other, play games or just talk. We would have parties at our home and other friends. We would go to dances, movies and other events that were on in town at night. When we were home at night we knitted or did sewing and embroidery. We sometimes took it in turns of reading books out loud.

I married Reg on Aug 5th 1937. He worked at the Bendigo mines as a surveyor with Bill Morns. I worked as a typist at the mine offices. The mines closed down in 1937. We went to Brokon Hill to the Zinc Corp mine just before Christmas. We got there and had a beautiful Christmas, made a lot of new friends. Our first child Morris was born in 1938. We went back to Bendigo for Barbara's wedding and returned to Broken Hill in Jan 1939 through the back roads to avoid the bushfires. It was 105 when we left Wentworth. There was a small halfway house at Pooncarie where we got water, food and petrol. We arrived at night at Mr and Mrs Nutts house where we were boarding. It was still over 100. Mr and Mrs Nutts had to go to Adelaide. Mr Nutt had a mining accident and had to have skin grafts from his thigh to his face. There was a letter for us saying to go to Kalgoorlie WA. Before we left we cleaned up the house, locked it and left the key with the Estate Agent. We never saw the Nutts again.

At Kalgoorlie we met the mines boss and he booked us into the best hotel there. On Saturday he took us to Norseman, got ourselves a place to live. We had a great time there. Reg was working as a surveyor at Central Norseman mines. The second world war began in 1939 and some men were joining up. The miners weren't as they had to keep the mines going as the gold and metals were used for the planes, ships, rifles and bullets etc.

In 1941 I was pregnant with Russell. Before Russell was born I went by train to Newport. I went to see Mum in Bendigo. The traveling had upset me and I was confined to bed. He eventually arrived ok. Reg arrived from Norseman. By this time Grandpa Adams, Ern + Harold Harbour were working in Melbourne. We went back to Newport. Reg got a job at the ammunition factory in Droop St Footscray. Reg's brother Frank joined the Air Force and Reg joined in 1943. Frank was ground staff and Reg was flying Liberators. He worked as a navigator and bomb aimer. They flew around Australia, across to Papua and down the South of Australia looking for planes and subs. They never went overseas.

After the war we went to Taradale to a farm to raise pigs and cattle. The property had a beautiful house and was called Castle Hill named after an Edinburgh city. My daughter Lynnette was born in 1946 and the last child Kathryn was born in 1948. In 1950 Dad had a bad car accident and we had to give up the farm. The next few years we lived at Mt Evelyn, and Brunswick where Reg found jobs. We moved to Strathewen where Reg chopped wood and raised animals + poultry.

A few years later we moved to Hurstbridge where the girls finished school and got jobs. Reg worked in Melbourne for 9 years. When Reg was 54 he got thrombosis in his leg and that was the end of work for him. By that time all the family were married and we moved to St Andrews. We had chooks and a few cows. Reg suffered a heart attack, appendicitis, peritonitis and finally memory loss from a blod clot in his brain over the next few years. We sold the farm and moved back to Bendigo, but he passed away a year later from pneumonia. I lived there on my own for a few years and I got jack of that and bought myself a unit at Strathaven Home when it opened. I had a wonderful time there travelling, running the Art + craft classes, helping with the chores and arranging the annual fair to sell our creations to raise money for the home.

In 2002 I had to leave Stathaven and take a place at Golden Oaks nursing home in Golden Square. I now have 15 grandchildren, 21 great grand children, 1 great great grandchild.

Stories about Mum and Dad

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