Well then, oh the people were coming to the camp and some of them, the men were invited to go and work for the Hydro. Some of them come from the City Council. And well, Mr [name deleted] he was a Dr of Economy. He was [name deleted] Consul and he wanted a housemaid and they liked me and my husband I suppose, and they took us there and I was part of the family. They didn't treat me as a housemaid.
But you did the housework there?
Oh yes, yes, but Mrs [name deleted] did the cooking because I didn't know how to cook [laughing]
and they already had a dishwashing machine and a Bendix to wash, to do the washing.
Oh amazing!
Yes, that washing machine come from America.
So how old were you?
Twenty-three; so they have six children and we have fun because I behaved like a child too I suppose. But the children they are all grown up but they still haven't forgot me. And then they took me and my husband. They fed us. We had a little room and a bathroom separately done and they been extremely kind and they paid me and then my husband worked for City Council. The poor bloke didn't know how to hold a shovel or a pick, come home with blisters and he laughed and said they told me, [name deleted], you don't know how to hold your pick and shovel [laughing]. After that Dr [name deleted]
went to Holland with his family and left the baby with me, [name deleted], she was two months old. And of course I stayed in that house and her brother come to live in the house too so that I wouldn't be alone in such a house by myself and my husband. Any way they were kind to me. They were good to me and [name deleted] was my baby and when my daughter was born I kept calling her [name deleted]
and my husband would say it's [name deleted] not [name deleted] [laughing]. And we still keep in touch with them. So with the money we earned we bought that block of land.
So you saved.
And the Commonwealth Bank give us a loan. My husband went and applied for it and they give us 1,500 pound, as a loan. Well with that we started building the house. So it was all for fun. We never complained. We never rebelled. We just took it in our stride. And before that when we left there I went to work to [name deleted] Hospital and they were good to me. Matron was especially good to me. So I can't complain; can't complain at all. And then when I had my daughter of course we were short of money, moved in that house, it was cold, it was big. Well it wasn't big but of course living in a shack in the hut there and we didn‟t have enough blankets but we survived somehow, bit by bit, we had it and
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my daughter was three years old I went back to the hospital to work part time at night time only, from six till ten, to earn a little bit of money.
So how long did you do that for?
For ten years [laughing]. And after that one I went to work for a private doctor. So my husband finished work, he come home when I had to leave, so she was never alone.
Then you had another daughter after that or you only had the one daughter?
No I had only one, yes. I have two grand children but only one daughter. So that's my life story here and most of the people have been very kind to us. When we were in Brighton Camp there was a family that adopted us, [name deleted]. Did you hear about [name deleted]? Before your time? These people had a shop there in the house and they invited us every Sunday for lunch and it was baked dinner ofcourse and they had horses and they took us to horse racing in Hobart, in the city here. She looked and said to me; don't bet on my husband's horse, it never comes first anyway.
So they had like a farm near Brighton.
It was [name deleted]. [Name deleted] is next to Brighton. So they took us to Church and fed us every Sunday with a lovely dinner and it was the first time, baked dinner with leg of lamb.
An Australian baked dinner.
Yes, but being hungry for so many years to me it was something absolutely delicious. Still is; leg of lamb to me is something special.
And what do you like about living here?
My dear, I've been here before you were born.
[Deleted.]
Well it's my home. I consider myself more Australian than anything else. Though I speak four languages, but it's my home.
And you helped to build it.
Well, what I could, yes, yes. It was a lot of work. It is solid plaster and to put solid plaster in you put the little, little ...
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Yes lathes. Can you imagine me being pregnant and nailing it in?
Oh, you were doing that too?
I was doing that too and you couldn't put the floor on before, the plaster has to go first before the floor is in. I help it, a little bit. It was easy just to nail it in. I could do that [laughing]. The rest I couldn't. No it's, I've been brought up, didn't know how to cook, I didn't know how to do lots of things. I come here, my husband had to cook because I didn't know how to but I learned, I learned, so ...
What don't you like about living here?
Nothing.
So the big tree, that doesn't worry you?
That is an oak tree. We planted it like the Queen of England does it; every time a child is born they plant a tree.
So it's a symbolic tree?
That is a symbolic tree. That tree was planted when my daughter was born.
So you don't want to get rid of it?
No way. I get rid of the house but not of the tree [laughing]. No I'm just joking but I will never get rid of that tree.
But it's costly to have it pruned?
It's costs a lot, yes.
And you don't want it growing over the house because I suppose the leaves get in the gutters?
Oh they go everywhere. The neighbours complain about the leaves when it's windy because it blows across.
So how old is your daughter?
Fifty. Last year she was 50. So the tree is 50 years old. Most of the neighbours, if we discuss it, if I get rid of the tree ...
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No. The lady up the top she says when my father comes here he sits on the verandah and always looks at your tree. And that one in the front that's a silver birch. That's a European tree.
That's very nice too. It makes the house look nice. So when you first moved in you must have had lots of expectations about what it was going to be like, living here in this house? Is it as you expected? Is it better than you expected?
When we come from Europe here?
Yeah, and when you bought this land and built this house?
Both of us didn't know anything about building or housing or whatever. In Europe it's always there. As you know, you were in Denmark. It's there. It was built, but Australia and Tasmania has got so much land and new comers coming in and they start building, building because there were no houses to buy.
So that was the case when you came here, there were no houses to buy?
Well there were some, but not many.
And they would have been expensive I suppose. Was it cheaper to build yourself?
Yes, yes, it was cheaper to build ourselves than to buy a house, yes. So that was it. It was my husband's choice and I didn't object to it.
So you were happy with the house, even though at the back it's fairly level, this is a steep hill that you're on and there are quite a lot of steps at the front aren't there?
There are not many steps. It doesn't bother me, as long as I don't have a second storey where I have the bedroom up the top.
And it's level at the back isn't it?
Well it's not quite steep. It's steep to come up the hill but that is gradually straightening out more or less.
But you mostly drive when you go to and from. You don't walk, I suppose?
I do for exercise. Sometimes if I have a meeting in town, I know I have two meetings, so I leave the car at home and I walk and catch the bus and come home, oh yes.
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That's it, very much so, yes, yes.
And are you planning to make any changes to your housing?
No. I can't afford to make any changes [laughing]. The only changes will be, I have to have, is to have it painted inside and repaired because the house is old, it needs constant bits and pieces to do. Not inside but downstairs, the rubbish downstairs; lots of things rubbish, for so many years. I have to get rid of it all, far too much. I am not the only one. I heard from other people that it is the same thing.
That when you're somewhere a long time you just get things, things build up?
Yes.
So why would you need to get rid of them? So you can manage the house better?
No, just to make it tidy my dear, underneath the house is a disaster. It's a second hand shop.
And so with the painting of the house, are you able to afford that?
I worked a few years back with an old gentleman. I cooked for him and looked after him and he paid me. But that was between two of us.
So you've got some money put away?
And with that money I got the house painted?
So it has been recently painted?
Outside.
But not inside?
No. Inside I did it myself a few years.
How old were you when you did that?
Oh goodness gracious girl. How old? I was 65.
How old are you now?
I won't tell you [laughing in a teasing way]. Go on, tell me.