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Famous relatives |
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Henry Kevin Dundon and Janet Eveline Scott. |
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My father Henry Kevin was the fifth child of John and Elizabeth, born and raised in Drummoyne. It was when he was in his late teens that the family encountered some type of financial crisis, and the children of working age were asked to seek alternative accommodation so he left home and went to Auckland New Zealand and gained employment as a presser. He had accommodation in the suburb of Newton where he met his wife to be Janet Scott, a shop girl from Ponsonby. She was the daughter of John Scott, a truck driver and Janet Naysmith. They married in Auckland All Saints Church on 18th January 1911, and had 9 surviving children, Alma, married John Nupier, Kevin died at an early age, Sydney Newton, married Dulcie Fraser, Joyce, married Reg Cuff, Erica (Billy) married Eric Johnson, Christopher (Dick) married Betty Bright, Shirley married Ray Butler, Colin married Shirley Mackie, Janet(Laurie) married Alan Fleck. |
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We lived in many houses in our early days. My first recollection of a house was in Hamilton Street Allawah, and then No 13 Willington Street Arncliffe. There were others in Hurstville in Dora Street and several houses in Carrington Avenue including No 103 where we lived on two occasions. |
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It was whilst we were living in a house at Carrington Avenue that Dad arrived home from work one day to find the house empty, but all was well, his wife and kids were firmly entrenched in the house across the road which had become vacant earlier in the day and at a lower rent. This was a practice often carried out in those hard times. |
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The family moved to King George's Road Penshurst where the last of the family married and moved into their own homes. My Mother lived there until her death in 1965, cared for by her youngest daughter Laurie and her son in law Alan Fleck. |
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In her declining years my mother would sit on the front verandah enjoying the sun, and all the truck drivers from BMG quarries would wave and call out to her as they passed by. |
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This was the last family home we shared, opposite Beverley Hills School on the corner of Young Street. There were two enormous pine trees in the front corner of the block which were used as landmarks by the early aviators. A photograph of the area prior to 1892 clearly shows the trees as being tall in those days. Unfortunately a developer got hold of the property and despite fierce objections from the neighbours and also an official ban by Hurstville Council the trees were felled overnight in the late eighties without penalties. |
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The house was owned by William and Kathleen Nupier who raised their family there. Later we moved into the house with the proviso that one bedroom was to be given to Kathleen?s two surviving sisters Emma and May. They were a great pair of ladies, every pension day they would do their shopping and always came home a little worse for wear. It was funny to watch them prepare their evening meal, always about 4.30, pretending to be abstainers and wobbling all over the kitchen. They would never use cutlery if there was a storm, as they were terrified of lightning. |
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On pension days they would always buy a bottle of Port (for medicinal purposes only) and then drink and argue all night or until they could no longer speak. |
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During our time at 109 Dumbleton Road, later to be renamed King George's Road, a lodger named Joe Koder, who was employed by the Housing Commission, joined our family. He and his young son Vivyenne aged about 7 years occupied one room in the house which meant that the rest of us had to share or double up. Vivyenne who was a very bright boy was not allowed in the kitchen in the morning until all the lunches were cut and Mum had finished her cup of tea. He would peek around the door to see if Mum had finished and then would ask for his breakfast, "a cup of tea please and two slices of nut brown toast". His Dad was very strict with him regarding courtesy, manners and study, and we all felt sorry for him as our parents were not as strict. My sister Shirley remembers Young Vivyenne very well. When she was well advanced in her first pregnancy she was walking down the hallway of the house when Vivyenne jumped out from behind a door and shouted"BOO " and frightened the living daylights out of her. Joe who was nearby delivered a swift smack over the ears and a look that would kill, it never happened again. In later years when he was about eighteen Vivyenne called at Shirley's house to renew the friendship and he greeted her with a big hug. |
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We often talked about Joe and Vivyenne over the years and often wondered how they fared after leaving our home. It was not until an article in our local newspaper relating to a local resident Michael Koder who was awarded an Order of Australia for services to education in the honours list for January 1992 that I realised that the recipient was in fact Vivyenne who had changed his name by deed poll. A couple of phone calls later I discovered that he was Vice Chancellor of Sydney University, and that his Dad was alive and residing at Peakhurst. Well done Joe your persistence paid off ! |
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