Beverly's Childhood Years (0-18)

The transcription is about a conversation between the speaker and their mother, who is currently in Bali. The speaker is interviewing their mother about her childhood. The mother talks about growing up in Albany, having neighbors and friends, and her father working on the railways. She also mentions the family's home life, with her father cooking and her mother doing housework. The mother recalls spending time with extended family, going to their grandmother's house and attending family gatherings. She talks about her grandparents and their occupations, as well as her own personality as a child. The mother describes herself as shy but assertive, always standing up for others. She talks about her schooling experience, where she excelled in subjects like math. So how are you today mum? I'm very well, thank you. I'm in Bali with my son. That's good, that's good. I think just to set the scene here, it's the 26th of October. Mum and dad have just arrived in Bali last night and I've hit mum up to say can I interview you and find out a little bit more about your childhood? Mostly because I'm interested myself but also because I think it'll be good to have a bit of a rec look too. So maybe, yeah, I mean start us off. I think you were born in Albany. I was. 1949. Yes, January. Yeah, what are your earliest memories of childhood? I don't have a lot before I was at BAPS 3, from BAPS 3 I would. I just remember being part of a very child-oriented neighbourhood with lots of people around me. Yes. My brother was five years older than me, so Peter. So yes, he was eight when I first remember him. Yeah, so that was good. I had neighbours both sides. I was very good friends with the girl Margaret Harris, her name was, and she was the youngest of an elderly siblings. So same as you in a way. Yes, except she had four siblings, three sisters and a brother but they were significantly older than Peter. She was a real afterthought. And on the other side was the family. Those afterthoughts are quite dangerous. New child, busy child. It's a testament to that. Yes, so on the other side with the family called Wickens and they were a little bit different. So I was never really friendly with them although, you know, we used to be but they weren't like. And then we had a big family of 13 children down the road called the O'Connells and I was quite friendly with a couple of them around my age. Yeah, a girl and a boy around my age, Stephanie and Danny. But they, we spent quite a bit of time with them. Yeah. Well, that's good. That's great. And what about the home life? Like describe when you were a child what was, paint a picture of the Lant family and how that came together and what a day in the life of the Lant family. Okay. So my dad worked on the railways, he was a dad on the railways and so he worked shift work. So he was away and he used to go to the country on the railways. Okay. So he would sleep away? Yes, at times. Yes. So when he was home, he liked to sort of experiment and cook which was a bit of fun. And mum was a house mother but in those days when I was little, we didn't have washing machines and things so mum had to boil all the clothes in a copper. And then, you know, so we could build the bar underneath this big copper and she'd boil the clothes in there and you had to get them out with a scoop and put them into the sink and rinse them and then put them through a hand wringer. So everything in those days took so much longer, it's more labor intensive. So and the housework, everything was labor intensive. So mum spent most of her time, you know, just looking after the family until I was about 12, I guess, and then got part-time work. So we had coals in Albany at that time. So mum worked part-time in coals cafeteria for a while and then after that, she worked at part-time at Cyprian Jewelers who was the main jeweler in serving wool. So she did that from part-time. Went on to high school. Yeah, only ever part-time. She might have worked in coals earlier. She might have been back then. But yeah, so she worked part-time there. But by that time, we had a fridge then we had a washing machine and we had a car. So when you were young, you didn't have those things? No. And you got them as everyone grew up? So when I was little and even when I first started school, we used to go to mass which was about 2 or 3 K away. And I used to ride all the back of dad's bike. Bicycle. Bicycle, yeah. So we rode bikes. And to school, we caught buses. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. And so in terms of the home life, was it the case where like you obviously talked a little bit about your friends but did the family come over because you had those like nana's siblings and their kids. And I'm not sure about on granddad's side but what was the activity like in the home? Were they around your house or did you meet in the middle or at their house? So we saw a lot of our cousins and aunties. We were like one big family. Most of the time, we would meet at my nana's house. So you know, we would all go and get their afternoon tea after school 2 or 3 times a week. We all walked down from our respective schools and we'd meet up. So that was their congregation? That was, yes. And then that was Nana Sussex? Nana Sussex. So your mum's mum? Mum's mum. Yes. So that was our main, you know, that was what we did with our cousins. And then we used to, during the football season, we used to every Sunday, mum and dad were part of the ladies committee and made sandwiches. North Albany. North Albany and all of us kids used to go to the footy and you know, run riot and show up or whatever. And then after the footy, we used to congregate the Stirling Terrace and the oldies would all go to the session at the White Star Hotel. Yeah. And we were given, he said, for whatever, for a coke and a drink. That was a lot of money. It was, yeah. Or something like that. But chips and a, we'd have and then we just played in the street. Yeah. Right. So North Albany had their grounds on Merlin Road, right? Or just to be in Merlin Road. That was different. So we all, all three teams shared it. Later on, after I left Albany, they'd moved down to Merlin Road, Prebyshire. And so there was Nana Susset. Yeah. And then what about your granddad on Nana's side? So he died. I do remember him but he was quite damaged by the war because he'd been in France in the war and seen his brother killed. And he was very, very quiet man. He barely spoke and he liked to have a drink. So when we saw him, he'd probably asleep as 20 cents and then he'd go off to bed or something. We didn't see it. He was nice to us kids. And when we slept over, he was good. But he worked at the Premier Hotel to support, you know, General Doc's bodyguards. Yeah. Prior to that, when Nan was little, they lived on a property out in Torbay and they grew produce and animals. He was a farmer? He was, yeah. I think he might have worked on the railway as well. But yeah, he was basically a small hobby farmer because he died. What was his name? Walter. Walter Susset. Yes. And so when they came into Albany, Nana was about 15, they set up a boarding house. Yes. And that was where Nana met Grandad. Yeah. And that's where Aunty Pat met Uncle Bill. Oh, okay. Yes. So they had that boarding house. So it was called Kilmarnock. And they still lived there, I think, when I was born. But then Grandad died. Oh no, they were in the house in Taylor and I said, they must have sold it and he must have semi-retired and they lived in the house in Cupboard Street. And I can remember I was probably about four when Grandad died. And I could remember, yes. So obviously, he'd had a heart attack but he didn't die immediately. I don't think or maybe he did, I can't remember. I was four or five. And what do you remember about Nana Susset? Well, Nana Susset was the most beautiful, kind person. She was just gentle and lovely. And after Grandad died, when she got a bit older, still wasn't that much older, the daughters decided in their wisdom that we all needed to do a roster of staying with her every night. So poor Nana didn't get any respite. Yeah. But they did. So she just went along for that with her. So we used to go and stay one Monday night with Sunday night. And because she lived in a carriage, we could all walk to school. And how old were you when you were staying over? Well, right up to I was 16 or 17 even. Yes. Because Nana, Mel was born when Nana died. But soon after I left Albany, Aunty Pat built up on her house, she built a granny flat and Nana went to stay with her. So she was living there. And so what were you like as a child? So sort of up until high school when you were a child, how would you describe yourself? Pretty much as I am now, I think. I was pretty, in a way I was a bit shy. I was reticent to put myself out there for being center of attention. But by the same token, I was quite assertive. I didn't take any nonsense from anybody. I remember one time Peter was having a fight with Brian O'Connell at the front of our place. And I thought Peter was getting the worst of it. So we even got a broom and started whacking him to breath. One page of this year's history. I was very righteous, very stood up for, not self-righteous but righteous, stood up for people pretty much as I am now. Always looking out for the underdog and things. And I went through school like that because I went to a smaller school at St. Joe's. Was that Hall of Beryl's or Co-Ed? It was Co-Ed right through year four. And then the boys went to Christian Brothers was right in the same thing. You stayed on at St. Joe's? I stayed on at St. Joe's. So it changed when you were like nine years old at year four, it became a single step school. Yes. And what were you like? How did you feel about school? And also what were you good at and what were you like at school? School wasn't a problem for me. I never struggled with anything. Junior school, yeah. Yeah, both schools. Things were pretty, came fairly easily to me. Couple of years, I was chosen to go for these scholarships or whatever. I mean, I don't remember. Another school that was pretty bright and that was good. And yeah, so I didn't struggle. I loved maths. Okay. I was going to say, what was your best subject? Yeah, I really liked maths. In those days, the nuns were very limited in what they could teach. So we had to learn what they taught. Yes. And in fact, when we went, I went to my, it got into year 11 after junior actually. We taught at junior and senior again. But after it was now at year 11, some of us wanted to do biology leaving and the girls couldn't teach it. So we used to have to go, I think there were about four of us, used to have to walk up to the high school four times a week to get biology. But this school didn't allow us to go to some sort of arrangement. So we were quite limited in what we could study. I can't imagine it doing anything like that with regards to chemistry. We were lucky. I know, I was talking about my chemistry. Oh, that's good. Okay. So the teachers were nuts. Yes. All the way through. All the way through. And the brothers were all brothers. There were no late people. There were no late people. That's interesting. But what about outside of school? What were your hobbies and interests like when you were on the weekend and you weren't with your cousins? What did you do? How did you? I played sport. I love sport. So in the summer, I played softball. And in the winter, I played netball. So I just played sport, trained and had taught. At school and tennis, we used to play tennis. We had tennis courts at school. So every lunchtime, we were there playing tennis. So yes, tennis was something I've done. Sports was something I loved all the way through all my life. Yeah. Well, that's great. And what did you, a lot of people have this idea of what they want to be when they grow up when they're a little kid. In your mind, when you were a little girl, what did you think you wanted to be? Well, I always thought I wanted to be a radio announcer. Okay. Here we go. I finally got you doing something. I think you still got enough time to have a good career. And the other thing that I thought I'd like to do was occupational therapy. Interesting. But to do occupational therapy- Okay, I'm going to try and remain calm and keep going. There's too many in-jokes on this. I'm going to keep going. Yeah. It was in those days quite prodigal to stumble away. So finally, and the radio announcing bit was a bit of a, you know, part of the spotlight. Because back then, because we think about TV stars and movie stars, but back then the radio was a much bigger part of society. Yes. So that was the equivalent of somebody saying, I want to be on TV, wasn't it? It was the- Yeah. So when I was up and 6BA was the local station and people- You would have been good at that by the way. Don't think you're a little far off. I think, you know, you look at things and you think, I could have done that and that. You could have. Yeah. I mean, really, you would have been good. Sort of a pie in the sky because most of the radio announcers were men. There weren't many women at all. In fact, Ian Cameron was at 6BA, he started there just after me, you know, the radio announcer. Right. Yeah. So then I decided that teaching would be a good one for me. But in those days, very few people went on to do leaving. Most people left after junior, which is sort of cool. But you stayed on? But I stayed on. Okay. I didn't want to go into a bank. A lot of people went to the bank after junior. I didn't want to do those sorts of things. I didn't want to do secretarial. I wanted to do a professional course, which I did. And what made you want to do teaching? Well, I thought that was another option. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was good. I was never unhappy about that career choice. Sure. No, it was an alien and not being a great choice. It was a great choice for me, yeah. So yeah. So that was the reason I did teaching. Yeah. That's great. So you did teaching because it was professional, you thought you might like it. It was basically the teaching and nursing were the true thing. Every now and again, I knew someone who became a pharmacist, but that was a bit out there. Few people did business, but I wasn't interested in doing straight business. I wanted something with a little bit more. I couldn't see myself sitting in an office. Yes. And tell me about what you remember most about your dad, my granddad. Tell me about him. Because what was he like? Because I sort of knew him at the certain stage of his life and I was still pretty young. But what was he actually like when you were growing up? Granddad was great. I really, yeah, I loved him to bits. Like he was thorough and he had such good sense of humor. He was very, very lively and talkative. Nana would always tell you that I take after dad and Peter took after her. Because Nana's always been quiet and restless medicine. Granddad was always out there talking to everybody, friends with everybody. And I loved that. And that was because I was probably more like him. So he was fun and I really enjoyed it. I had very few run-ins with my dad growing up, which is most unusual. That is true. That is true. He called me bub. Why? The very last time I saw my dad, Nana had run me and said, the doctors have said it's nearly time. And we were going down to Albany for Easter in two weeks time. And I said to your dad, I think I've got to go. And so he said, go. So I jumped on the plane and went down and I spent the whole weekend with him. And that whole time he called me bub. Yeah. It was very special. That's really good. And what about Nana? What are your memories of her from your childhood? My mom. Nana was always a tough cookie. She put a lot of pressure on herself and she put a lot of pressure on the people around her. Okay. Yes. In what way? How would she pressure the people around her? She's the best. Like competitive? Oh, very competitive. Yeah. At school or in what way? Oh, everything. Everything. She was very competitive. I'm not so sure she was the same for Peter, but she was very competitive for me. I had to be light and I really struggled to lift up because I was all bub. But I couldn't. I didn't. Do you mean competitive in terms of school results or in what other ways? Everything. Yeah. What would some others? Well, just the way I look, the way I dress. Behavior like character? Behavior, everything. Yes. And then put the pressure on herself. Yeah. That was how she viewed herself. Yes. And that's how she wanted me to be. But of course, I did rebel against that at the time. Yes. So we did have our moments, but I think all mothers and daughters do, of course. Of course. Children. Yes. But basically, she was very kind and she was always loving and great, cool, always there for me if I needed her. Yes. Yeah. And if anything went wrong at school, she would be up then. Oh, yes. She would be standing by me. Spirit. She was quite protective in that way. Yeah. But she was very young when she had picked nine. So she was only just nearly 19 when Peter was born and she was 24 when I was born. So yeah, she was pretty young at the end. And what about Peter? Because it was an interesting age gap quite, I guess. Yeah. What was your relationship with him when you were growing up? Yes. Obviously, it probably evolved when you're an adult, just like my relationship with Mel and Jed. But what about when you were young? Peter was so much older than me. He didn't have a lot of options with me because I was their annoying little sister. I think that. And so we were that typical miles apart, brother and sister, where we lived in the same house. And he used to be a bit of a bully to me as well. Like if he babysat me while I was growing up and the other cousins, he'd be quite... I always thought he was a little bit of a bully to me. But then he was also very, very kind. In lots of ways. I think he just more wanted to have to tax flexibility for this annoying little sister. So we had a pretty good relationship, even though I wouldn't say we were really, really close growing up. But we looked out for each other. As I say, if somebody was built into him, I went and got a broom and built it into the person doing it. So we did look out for each other. And how did that change when you got older? Obviously, we synchronized in the time of your children. So yeah, there was a connection. Yeah. So Petty left home when I was 12 to come to study. But I remember we dropped him off at the house where he was going to board and I felt very sad. So I did feel sad that he wasn't going to be a hero anymore. So when he came home for holidays, it was good. It was really nice. And then he met Nita. And I got on really well with Nita. So when I did my first year of teaching, I was in Cabinia in Catania. And the next year I came to Perth. And while I was waiting that I was going to get married in May, I needed somewhere to live. And I lived with Peter and Nita for a while until I found something. But that was quite nice. It was a bit different. But yeah, it was nice living with them. So yeah, we had a pretty good relationship after. And then when they had children, you know, you just all got all really well together. But of course, Peter changed. Yeah, later. Yeah. After the kids were born really, life became very stressful for him. And he didn't cope. I remember for whatever reason, Peter could make me laugh hysterically to the point where I couldn't control. It wasn't often. He didn't joke that much. But when him and Gav were bantering, I would cry laughing. I don't even know if that was just me. It could be very funny when- It could be very quick, particularly when- Yeah, he had that timing. That's one of the very kind person. Yeah. No, that's great. But what about, so you stayed at the same school, but now you're becoming a teenager. So it's more like you're in high school. What do you remember most about your teenage years? That was pretty fun. Yeah. We used to get around with a whole group of people, like the boys and the girls all together. We were always a big group. We used to go to the beach. We used to hang out. I used to hang out with my friends, all the kids around my age. Because in Albany, you could just like walk or walk to bed or catch buses or catch up. We used to go to the movies on Saturday morning. Later on, we were just driving. Very social. And then I ran up with people that they used to let me go. It was a pretty safe place. They gave you the freedom. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And so you were very attractive. You became very attractive. I wouldn't have said that. Yeah, no, no. I've heard it from your weddings to help you see. I was never made to be an attractor. Oh, so you weren't starting to get interest from boys? Yeah. Well, I think they're the judge of whether you're attractive or not. Yeah. I had several very little casual boyfriends through high school. And then just before I came to Perth, I had a boyfriend by the name of John Hardy. And he was nice, really nice. Yeah. Wasn't meant to be, but he was really nice. He was far more attached to me than I was to him. But he was a very nice young man. But he ended up going to the same college as me, teaching. So before we went, I sort of broke it off with him and I said, look, we're both going to the city. We need to explore our options. We can't just go out with each other. And he didn't like it very much. So the first six months of college, he wouldn't speak to me. But unfortunately, he was friends with the guys I wanted to know. So I stood with goose a bit there. That was fun. Yeah. So I went out with a number of casual relationships in Albany. Yeah. And what about, did you have any jobs when you were young? Did you do any work? Yeah. So I think I was 14 and I worked for Middleton Beach. Oh, yeah. Oh, the one right on the corner. Yeah. So I worked there a couple of summers. I also had a, that was hard work because they also had the restaurant. So you were either serving kids with lollies and drinks and ice cream or you were waiting on the table within the restaurant. So that was pretty hard work. And also prior to that, I had some Italian school friends and they had a kiosk, milk bar. So one summer I worked in there as well. And then I can remember also, I think this is the year before I came away, I worked as a doctor's receptionist that time as well. Yeah. So that's some good experience. I did. Yeah. Yes. Well, that's really good. And you seem to have even to this day a very special relationship with that group of cousins. And I know Nan and her siblings are very close. What do you remember about their role in your childhood and what it was like for you as an extended family? It was amazing. Both of Nan's sisters, her younger sister, Aunty June and I had just such the best relationship. We were more like friends. You sounded like a real sweet. She was lovely and she was the gargantuan. She was just lovely. Aunty Pat was a tyrant. She used to chase us around the house with a cord. We did something, roll or whatever. We took it for what it was. Yeah. That was their time. Yeah. Aunty Pat, she also played Phaedra as well. Okay. And Coronie- And you weren't what? No, no, no. A group of three children. Oh, okay. So Biddy was the number one boy. And Ronnie was the baby and she was the winger. So she got everything she wanted. Coronie was stuck in the middle. And to this day, Coronie will tell you, her mother was really hard. And she was. And I used to see it. It used to annoy me. But that's possibly why Coronie and I are so close because we had that bond. Yeah. And so the group of the cousins were very close. We were all close. You mentioned it before, you spent those up. So Nana Sussex is another weekend of football. Yeah. And we used to go because Uncle Bill and Uncle Jack were professional fishermen. So they lived out at their respective beaches for three months of the year or more because of the salmon and herring season. And we used to go out there all the time just for weekends and things because they had these sprawling shacks of things. It was amazing. And the whole family would gather at Shane Beach and we'd be playing darts on the front veranda and swimming and going around the rocks fishing. And it was just what you would call an idyllic childhood, really. And Aunty used to run a little shop on her front veranda because you couldn't get stuff in those days. So she used to stock it up and sell it. And Louise used to help her out the shop where we were down there. And that was amazing. And we'd go out to Cullenup too. And that was similar, but we didn't grow there as much because it was a lot further to go. But we could go there a lot too. So that was like our childhood. We'd spend our summers and going for a weekend, doing saps of the beaches. And of course, all the kids could be there. We just kind of freak out on the beach in the morning. Yeah. So we just grew up like one big family, which was great for me because I was nearly an only child. So it's just nice to have those cousins. And then Nick came along 16 years after me. And so I used to go in and show how to do with that. And quite often, go after school, we'll grab her, put her in a pram and take her down the street for a walk, downhill street. So Downy G could have a rest and things like that. Yeah, that's lovely. And do you remember, putting you a little bit on the spot here, but do you remember any particularly funny moments or the things that happened in your childhood or just a funny story? Or we can circle back to that if that's a bit hard to recall. Yeah, that's okay. We can circle back. Well, I was going to ask in terms of your childhood and my Nana and Grandad, your parents, what were the lessons you learned or what were the values you think or lessons that were sort of passed on to you? What did you sort of take away from that childhood experience? Absolutely. But family is everything and the children come first and everything. And yes, it didn't matter how much money you have. You have love, that was good. Because we didn't have a lot of money. Dad was a blue collar worker and just worked part-time as opposed to both the other families where they made a lot of money out of fishing. And then Uncle Bill, in particular, used to drive a wheat truck all through the off season and Uncle Jack had a cray fishing boat. He used to go out to do it. So they were never short of money. We weren't short, but we didn't have a lot of excess money either, if you know what I mean. Yes. So not that they had anything more than me, but yeah, no. But look, just that we never went without. We always felt very loved and it was good. Yeah, that's it. So the main lesson was just the accordance with family and love and that's the way. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think that's a really nice note to end that off on. What better way than that sentiment? Right. Sorry, I can't remember a funny story. That's all right. You need to know it. We can get that. We can add some of you. All right. Thank you so much, Mum. That was super interesting. I appreciate your time. Loved it.