Bev Story -

Bev was born in Dalby and moved to Brisbane when she was 8. She had polio at the age of 10 but recovered through swimming. She became a teacher and lived in different places with her husband and children. She also worked as a taxi driver and later went back to teaching. Bev enjoyed traveling around Australia, with her favorite place being the breakaways outside Coopabidi. She had memorable moments as a teacher, especially with a troubled student named Anthony. Bev is now living in Narangba and enjoys being active and participating in craft activities. She encourages other residents to participate and enjoy their time there. Bev, tell us where you were born. I was born in Dalby, started school in Dalby. Dad was an accountant at the local Myers type General's place and we moved to Brisbane. When you were 8? I was 8. I had polio when I was 10. Funnily enough, all those months, I was beginning of very early in the epidemic, but I was the only patient in that isolation ward for all the time I was there. They told me on Wednesdays we'd go home at the weekend and I developed pneumonia and had to stay two more weeks and that was two very long weeks. I was very fortunate, I had a full recovery through swimming and because I was at the pool every day, I signed me up with a swimming coach called Mabel Springfield, who was quite remarkable and I did competitive swimming, I got a few championships around, but I had to submit to Tom Fraser. Oh really? And you could never beat Tom Fraser, he was a genius, he was a special person. What's next? I took up teaching. What made you take up teaching? I have no idea. The things I wanted to do weren't female things and teaching was the easiest one. My mother wanted physiotherapy and physiotherapy was definitely out with me, so I did teaching. We married, soon after we married we went to Stanthorpe, we lived in Stanthorpe for four years. My son was born in Stanthorpe and we came back to Brisbane, my daughter was born in Brisbane. And the doctor who was my doctor when I had polio was the same doctor who did it with my daughter. Oh really? Four years later. And I have completely forgotten about polio because I had a complete recovery. Then we were transferred to Rockhampton and I hated Rockhampton. My daughter wasn't well and I think that's probably why I didn't like it. So I came back to Brisbane and raised the kids. Oh, my husband bought a cab. I think I was the sixth lady taxi driver in Queensland. I used to drive the kids to school, do a taxi run, pick the kids up, come home and ride the taxi car over to pay the damn taxi license off. How long were you in Rockhampton? Oh, a year, 15 months. Roderick resigned from the public service and we left there. My husband had car yards and I used to do his business papers. And then when I decided the kids were both just as high school, I went back and did my degree in early childhood education. Went back to teaching and stayed there until I retired. And then I did adult education and child tutoring for the Smith family until I came here. I miss it. Yeah, you would too. Do you any travel? Oh, gosh, yeah. We've been to America a few times, you know, had a short cruise. Not cruiser. We drive. We've driven almost all around Australia. Northern Territory, Adelaide, the southern and eastern states several times. And we bought a caravan to go and finish off during the western coast. And my husband took it off and our caravan didn't move an inch. So what was the favourite part of Australia? I hesitate to mention it because it's unknown and I like it when it's unknown. The breakaways outside Coopabidi. Have you ever heard of it? No. It's the edge of the old inland ocean. You walk through a cliff and it just drops down. And John, it is silent. You've never heard silence. You think things are quiet, but it was awe-inspiringly quiet. Couldn't see nothing to be seen. Not a tree. Nothing. And when you get down and walk on it, a lot of petrified shells. But the soil was like pom-poms. You know, when you're walking on it, it's like walking on a ball. Absolutely. And it's not on any tourist brochure. It's quite a bit spoiled if it was. Yeah, yeah. The other place was the oligars. Oh, and the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon. If you see the picture of the Grand Canyon, when you actually see the Grand Canyon, it's breathtaking, awe-inspiring. No words to describe it, is there? And the oligars too. We flew over the oligars in a helicopter, and it just looked fascinating. So we drove out there. And when you go in, you couldn't talk. You had to whisper. It was spiritual. Really, really spiritual place. Your teaching years, what was some of the exciting moments or memorable moments? Oh, there are so many. The last 10 years I was teaching, there was an arrangement with the Headmaster, and I ended up with, I had all the children with problems, repeaters or family problems. You know, I had a lot. So I had a whole lot of sadness in that. I suppose in 10 or 12 years I did that, there would have been 25, 30 cases of children's services. Too satisfactory. Very challenging, it sounds like. Oh, but it was lovely. Yeah. Rewarding for yourself. Oh, but heartbreaking too. I spoke my favours to it, but it makes me cry, but I'll tell you. There was a little boy called Anthony. He was absolutely brutal. He treated us at home, and he was angry. He was saying something, and I said, there's a bright light. And he just spit it out. And he was naughty. Oh God, he was naughty. I broke through with Anthony by about April. He used to come in every morning and throw himself on my shoulder and say, get up. And he was really bad. He treated children's services for coming in. Oh, I said, Anthony, there's a lady coming to your place tonight to try to make things get up. And the next morning he threw himself on my shoulder. That lady came last night. And I said, Anthony, was she nice, I suppose? And he said, did you talk to her and tell her you'd come? She said, nope. I said, why not, Anthony? You tell me. But all those years ago, it was children. Yeah, yeah. How old was Anthony at that stage of his life? Oh, the first year of school. Anyhow, his grandparents eventually came and got him from Adelaide. And I hope he was happiest. I used to come home from school, I'd say to everyone, if they do that to Anthony again, I'm bringing him home. That was my afternoon every night. No, I wrote no nothing to them. So how long have you been here at Narangba? July. Twelve months ago. We were coming up two years. At least I came when I was still fit enough to be active and be part of the community. And I enjoyed doing the craft things that I do here. I've made lots of new friends. I'm quite very happy here. There's Tom, there's Johnny. Things go wrong, but they always do, every week. What would you say to other residents at Narangba? Look towards, I suppose, their enjoyment here. I think participating. Sitting in your room is soul destroying. You may not be your form of entertainment, but at least it's company. It's a change of scenery. It's something to talk about, even if you want to moan about it. Alrighty, well thank you very much for that. Okay. I hope you enjoyed that. I did. You forget a few things, don't you? Yeah, yeah.