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Mary Smith, née Johns (1890-1984). Recorded 22 June 1983. Part 1/2.

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SummaryMARY SMITH
Recorded 22 June 1983
Part 1 of 2

Cousin of Aubrey Johns who is in the interview with niece, Norma Johns.

0:32
Born at Copeland in 1890 Came to Kurri when she was 12 – previously lived in Monkerai and Bulahdelah. She is connected to the Gilberts.

1:09
Came to Kurri in 1905 by a covered wagon drawn by horses. She came to Edward Street first. Dot Avison. The family shop in Edward Street.

3:55
Mary’s father worked at Stanford Merthyr first and then Pelaw Main pit top – he was in the Kearsley Shire Council as President when George Brown died. Then President of the Hospital which he started - the first Cottage Hospital. Mary went to school at Pelaw Main – they rented the churches till the school was built. 1904. Mr Dobie was the head teacher.

6:41
After school she stayed at home till she married. She married Henry Davidson Smith – a Stanford Merthyr man. He worked with his father at the Stockton mine. The Sea Pit. Then to Rix’s Creek. Coke mined. Then they had the Post Office and then to East Greta when he was 16.

8:34
At Stanford he worked as a wheeler for his father. They married in 1908 and had 3 children – Mary Evelyn married Len Jones, a Kurri school teacher. Then Henry William Leslie married Nellie Bigmore. The third child was Norman Thomas married Daphne May Butler.

10:54
She worked as a dressmaker in Cessnock in a family owned dress factory when Stanford closed down. Len Jones used to take orders for dresses. They were carried around in two suitcases. Harry Bragg.

11:23
Their shop used to be Harry Parker’s photography shop. Merle Haines, Nola and Verna Thompson, Nola Parkinson, the Mitchell girls (Eva), the Turner girls, Agnes Reynard, Madge Phillips, Betty and Colleen Johns, worked in the dress factory.

15:59
Henry, Norman and Len worked in the factory too. Mary’s mother was Emma Elizabeth Gilbert married Tom Johns.

21:44
Tommy Johns – Alf Johns’ son. He was the postman and then worked in the Council as a clerk. Harold Johns – Coal carter but not related.

23:30
Picture shows – Lambert has an open air place near the Post Office behind the Chelmsford. There was another picture theatre next to the Kings Theatre. Skating, ballroom dancing and fights took place there.

26:26
Mary didn’t go to dances because she went to the Congregational Church and her husband was a Baptist – they were the first couple married at that Baptist Church. They went to church in morning, then Sunday School at 3pm and church again at night. They had lay preachers who used to walk from Maitland using a lantern along the track at night.

28:17
Mr King, Mr Fletcher were lay preachers. Mr Denning was the first minister who married Mary and Henry. The Baptists used to have church in a hall next to the Empire Hotel which they rented. Her father’s house was the first house “with iron” in Kurri. The rest were tents and little houses that were papered and made from bags.

30:34
Rodericks of Pelaw Main were the first bakers in Kurri. When they were first married they lived in Lonsdale’s house he was a reporter for the Newcastle Herald.

31:54
Pike’s sawmill was the first before Schultz owned one. Heddon Greta pit was next door. The school at Stanford was shifted to Heddon Greta.

33:34
The brick works was near the Empire Hotel. “The brick kilns were all lit up at night near the railway line”. The Bakers had a brick works “over the back of Kurri” near where the Chinese garden was. Charley Christiansen’s shop – “he made lovely sodas and beautiful fish bowls. He was spotlessly clean”. Miss Vi Pilger worked for him from 1916. Her father German and the librarian.

38:08
Christiansen’s early bus service. Charley Hampton had the first horse bus service to East Greta Junction to meet the trains and to Maitland. Hampton had a few horses and hired them for weddings too. There was a back tracks road from Mulbring to Heddon Greta and East Greta into Maitland. When it was flooded they came out near Green Hills.

43:39
End (Tape 408/Side A) Part 1 of 2 Last edited by: Dave Trimble

SubjectKurri Kurri (N.S.W.)Cessnock (N.S.W.)DressmakersSmith née Johns, Mary Leah, 1890-1984 Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

Stanford Merthyr Colliery (N.S.W.) Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

PersonJack Delaney Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

Depicts or Relates ToAub Johns Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

Dot Avison Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

CreatorSmith née Johns, Mary Leah, 1890-1984Delaney, Jack, 1919-2010CollectionVoices of the Hunter Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

PlaceCessnock, NSW Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

Date Created22nd June 1983Location^[1]Pelaw Main, NSW Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

^[2]Stanford Merthyr Colliery, NSW Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

^[3]Copeland, NSW Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

^[4]Cessnock, NSW Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

^[5]Kurri Kurri, NSW Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

Identifier408A Last edited by: lyn.keily@newcastle.edu.au

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