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Ett Varley née Wellard. (1892-1987). Recorded 22nd May 1982. Part 1/2
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SummaryMRS ETT VARLEY
Recorded 22nd May 1982
Part 1/2
0:47
Hunting wallabies near Central Kitchener. There were no Aboriginal people around this area when she was a child.
1:24
Ett's mother's father was the first white baby born in Mulbring. They were of the Pioneer family - Andrews.
2:22
Mulbring was mainly sectioned off by cart tracks - unnamed.
3:04
Indian hawkers travelled around the area when she was a child. Ett thinks they came from Maitland. They walked and carried their goods on their heads. There were also the Chinamen with "the rod across his back and the big basket on". The Indians sold materials. Nobody had much money to spend, but they always bought something.
4:54
Bread was made up until she was 12 or 13 when they had their first "baker's bread" from Maitland. It was 3d a loaf. The baker was named Latter.
5:30
There was no bus service between Mulbring and Kurri. The mail came from Maitland carried by a pony and sulky driven by an old man called Blishin (sp?) arriving at about "dinner time". She often got a lift with him as far as where John Renshaw Drive comes to Buchanan and she'd walk to Kurri from there to see the pictures on Saturday. "We'd go up around the gullies and the mountains. We could go anywhere we liked as long as we had a dog with us with snakes, yes."
6:50
Slab huts. Stringy bark huts with shingles. A great big open fireplace which would smoulder till the following evening. The fireplace was generally tin or timber. There was a stone hearth with a big camp oven and a big boiler for water. There'd be meat in the camp oven. They hold the flavour much better than an electric stove. Cakes were cooked at Christmas time. Roly Poly puddings and Dampers were often cooked.
9:30
The children weren't allowed to dances but they had concerts at the School of Arts at Mulbring. After the concert they always sang God Save the King and their dog Lass would howl. Her parents would know by the dog's howl that the concert was finished and if the kids weren't back in 10 minutes they had to account for themselves. The dance went on after the concert. The music was played on a piano and violin. Jessie Andrews played the piano - she later married Mr Garland.
11:23
Bertie Andrews, her mother's younger brother was a singer with a beautiful voice. Sunday School picnics were held in the paddock once a year. Games and races and then a concert.
14:24
Nobody went to Cessnock - people travelled to Quorrobolong. They would play tennis there or visit friends such as the Carrs and the Lewis'. She remembers doing this in her early teens.
15:20
Ett was in her early teens when she would be playing tennis. Her father and some other men built a tennis court in Mulbring.
15:47
May Gilpen - was unknown to Ett. She came to Kurri in 1908.
16:45
Ett had friends out at Buttai - the Osborns, the Tackermans.
17:17
Ett played competition tennis after she was married - she played at a court called The Crown. The Methodist Church made a court in Anzac St - The Kearsleys and the Pendleburys. The Turners from Brunkerville. The Cessnock District Tennis Competition.
18:37
Clive Picton.
19:51
The Renshaws - Marjorie, Lennie, Dickie, Terry (married Madge Griffith)
20:55
Arthur Griffith played bowls.
21:20
Lindsay Yeomans
21:36
Rab Lewis and George Ryder.
22:12
Fred Blissett got the cramps whilst swimming in a creek and drowned. The kids never went swimming after that. In the summer they went to Balmoral.
22:48
In summer they went to Lake Macquarie every Easter for a week. They all bundled into a cart pulled by a draught horse and at Awaba they waited for the 5am Sydney train went through. There was a sawmill at Lake View owned by the Hawkins, they caught mullet for bait. The road around there used to be covered with logs because it was easy to get bogged there. She called it a "corduroy road" because it was bumpy.
25:54
They'd put up the tents and the men would fish at night. They fished off the point at Wangi. The government put a shed there for people but her family used their tents.
26:50
The Reynolds - Stewart and Cleve. Jim Reynolds.
30:06
The Wellards and the Andrews arrived on the same day. Her grandmother was cooking one day "when a man arrived on a beautiful horse" - she recognised the horse. She invited him to dinner but he took off when she said she'd go and call the men. He was Thunderbolt. The Wellards first lived in a slab hut. She was born there. The Wellards were butchers. Her grandfather had the first butcher shop in Mulbring. He rode on horseback taking meat through The Gap to Awaba and Doyles Creek.
34:17
When the corn was ripe the white cockatoos would come in and cover the fences and trees. The flying foxes used to come to get the peaches.
Tape duration: 35:40
Varley née Wellard, Ethel, 1892-1987PersonJack DelaneyDepicts or Relates ToArthur "Wongo" GriffithsRab LewisGeorge RyderCollectionVoices of the HunterLocation[1] Kurri Kurri, NSW[2] Kitchener, NSW[3] Mulbring, NSW[4] Kurri Kurri, NSWIdentifier293A
Recorded 22nd May 1982
Part 1/2
0:47
Hunting wallabies near Central Kitchener. There were no Aboriginal people around this area when she was a child.
1:24
Ett's mother's father was the first white baby born in Mulbring. They were of the Pioneer family - Andrews.
2:22
Mulbring was mainly sectioned off by cart tracks - unnamed.
3:04
Indian hawkers travelled around the area when she was a child. Ett thinks they came from Maitland. They walked and carried their goods on their heads. There were also the Chinamen with "the rod across his back and the big basket on". The Indians sold materials. Nobody had much money to spend, but they always bought something.
4:54
Bread was made up until she was 12 or 13 when they had their first "baker's bread" from Maitland. It was 3d a loaf. The baker was named Latter.
5:30
There was no bus service between Mulbring and Kurri. The mail came from Maitland carried by a pony and sulky driven by an old man called Blishin (sp?) arriving at about "dinner time". She often got a lift with him as far as where John Renshaw Drive comes to Buchanan and she'd walk to Kurri from there to see the pictures on Saturday. "We'd go up around the gullies and the mountains. We could go anywhere we liked as long as we had a dog with us with snakes, yes."
6:50
Slab huts. Stringy bark huts with shingles. A great big open fireplace which would smoulder till the following evening. The fireplace was generally tin or timber. There was a stone hearth with a big camp oven and a big boiler for water. There'd be meat in the camp oven. They hold the flavour much better than an electric stove. Cakes were cooked at Christmas time. Roly Poly puddings and Dampers were often cooked.
9:30
The children weren't allowed to dances but they had concerts at the School of Arts at Mulbring. After the concert they always sang God Save the King and their dog Lass would howl. Her parents would know by the dog's howl that the concert was finished and if the kids weren't back in 10 minutes they had to account for themselves. The dance went on after the concert. The music was played on a piano and violin. Jessie Andrews played the piano - she later married Mr Garland.
11:23
Bertie Andrews, her mother's younger brother was a singer with a beautiful voice. Sunday School picnics were held in the paddock once a year. Games and races and then a concert.
14:24
Nobody went to Cessnock - people travelled to Quorrobolong. They would play tennis there or visit friends such as the Carrs and the Lewis'. She remembers doing this in her early teens.
15:20
Ett was in her early teens when she would be playing tennis. Her father and some other men built a tennis court in Mulbring.
15:47
May Gilpen - was unknown to Ett. She came to Kurri in 1908.
16:45
Ett had friends out at Buttai - the Osborns, the Tackermans.
17:17
Ett played competition tennis after she was married - she played at a court called The Crown. The Methodist Church made a court in Anzac St - The Kearsleys and the Pendleburys. The Turners from Brunkerville. The Cessnock District Tennis Competition.
18:37
Clive Picton.
19:51
The Renshaws - Marjorie, Lennie, Dickie, Terry (married Madge Griffith)
20:55
Arthur Griffith played bowls.
21:20
Lindsay Yeomans
21:36
Rab Lewis and George Ryder.
22:12
Fred Blissett got the cramps whilst swimming in a creek and drowned. The kids never went swimming after that. In the summer they went to Balmoral.
22:48
In summer they went to Lake Macquarie every Easter for a week. They all bundled into a cart pulled by a draught horse and at Awaba they waited for the 5am Sydney train went through. There was a sawmill at Lake View owned by the Hawkins, they caught mullet for bait. The road around there used to be covered with logs because it was easy to get bogged there. She called it a "corduroy road" because it was bumpy.
25:54
They'd put up the tents and the men would fish at night. They fished off the point at Wangi. The government put a shed there for people but her family used their tents.
26:50
The Reynolds - Stewart and Cleve. Jim Reynolds.
30:06
The Wellards and the Andrews arrived on the same day. Her grandmother was cooking one day "when a man arrived on a beautiful horse" - she recognised the horse. She invited him to dinner but he took off when she said she'd go and call the men. He was Thunderbolt. The Wellards first lived in a slab hut. She was born there. The Wellards were butchers. Her grandfather had the first butcher shop in Mulbring. He rode on horseback taking meat through The Gap to Awaba and Doyles Creek.
34:17
When the corn was ripe the white cockatoos would come in and cover the fences and trees. The flying foxes used to come to get the peaches.
Tape duration: 35:40
Varley née Wellard, Ethel, 1892-1987PersonJack DelaneyDepicts or Relates ToArthur "Wongo" GriffithsRab LewisGeorge RyderCollectionVoices of the HunterLocation[1] Kurri Kurri, NSW[2] Kitchener, NSW[3] Mulbring, NSW[4] Kurri Kurri, NSWIdentifier293Aloading google map....
Delaney, Jack, 1919-2010, Ett Varley née Wellard. (1892-1987). Recorded 22nd May 1982. Part 1/2, [293A]. Living Histories, accessed 10/06/2023, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/55973