Found buried beneath miscellaneous items in an archival bin were the above three typed from the original handwritten diaries of Bertha Martha Andrew, spanning l922 to l953 , providing detailed information of life in South Australia and Central Australia ,including the first news of the outbreak of WWll, Aboriginal corroborees , donkey and camel teams, heatwaves , billions of flies , Lasseter's lost gold reef .
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| Alice Springs grave. |
.Born in Koolunga, South Australia, nee Cook, she married Abraham Andrew at Broken Hill, New South Wales, on April 9,1903. The diaries , in which her husband is listed as Abram , start in 1922, in South Australia , where they lived near Port Lincoln , with children .
Into sewing , lace and dress making , she makes entries about playing the violin, mandolin and a harp on the day before Christmas, 1922 , later mention of a tenor horn, a real sing along with "Foo Foo bands. "
It seems the family had vessels, talk of work starting on a second ketch ; boys tarred boat ; boat to Wallaroo, fishing at Brothers Island .One vessel named Marie another Moon .
A dog died from snake bite . Whooping cough ,sore throats .There was a circus in Port Lincoln at the end of l924 in which Abram got a job-"first night under lights."
At Sleaford a lovely time was had bathing near the wreck of Mary Ellis . Visitor from Thistle Island .Repairs to horse drawn vehicles, wood cutting ,rounding up goats, horses, pigs, hay making , wheat crop.
In April l935 Mr and Mrs Andrew and members of the family left Port Lincoln overland bound for the Northern Territory with two donkey drawn wagons ,one by 27, the other eight.
There were three versions of the epic overland trip , some pages torn, missing, water logged , part illegible , the final revised one written in 1952.
It appears there was a truck and a caravan in the party .They met Aborigines along the way and at the opal mining town of Coober Pedy they were entertained inside dugouts that people lived in ,there being details of the facilities in them.
One of the locals was a Mrs Absalom, perhaps related to painter, author and television personality Jack Absalom. There was an Hawaiian musical evening in Coober Pedy - a steel guitar, accordian and ukelele contributed to the entertainment.
They then set out for the Northern Territory with three 100 gallon water tanks on a wagon , not sure what the water supply would be ahead. A " native tongue " expression- Ingamah- meaning Linger and Starve , apparently applicable to bad country with little water and poor feed for animals , was adopted .
The grave of a young man who got lost and perished while sightseeing , against advice, near Ayer's Rock, was found , a few stones added to it . The remains of an old pub with a cemetery nearby was recorded .
There was a terrible event during the long journey when one of the daughters , Maisie, a hard worker, took ill, died , leaving two children aged 10 and 12. A coffin was made , a grave dug , Dr Townsend and police arrived for a post- mortem and to take statements. She was buried in the outback .
They passed through Territory pastoral properties , the Ernabella mission station , did work along the way , like well sinking, dam building , timber gathering . They set up camps in various places , Henbury, Tempe Downs , one in a cave at Reedy Hole , and took up a small grazing lease ,Andaloo.
On September 15,l939 a wireles, radio, was installed and they heard the news for the first time . just before tea, it was thrilling.Two days later they were still avidly lisening to war news - at various times of the day ,including Russia in deal with Germany over Polish oilfields. September 28: Germans bombed Warsaw ,killed 1000, women and children.
Abram and a son built the lime concrete Glen Helen homestead which later became a tourist chalet . Mrs Andrew read aloud parts of Lasseter's Last Ride by Ion L. Idriess,
In the 1940s, Abram leased Mount Conroy which had been taken up in the l930s by Paddy DeConlay as a sheep station. Abram renamed it Curtin Springs after John Curtin , the ALP wartime prime minister of Australia . Adam may have been a strong unionist as there is mention of him having attended a watersider workers meeting in South Australia. And he had married Bertha in Broken Hill, which was a mining town with a strong union influence.
Curtin Springs, 416,400 hectares, with a roadhouse is now situated on the Lasseter Highway ,85kilometres east of Yulara .
The diaries seem to indicate that in the l950s the Andrews catered for tourists arriving by plane, car and bus to see Ayer's Rock .
The interest in music and religion is noted . Listened to regularly on the radio was the Amateur Hour , hillbillies . There was much reading of Seventh Day Adventist Voice of Prophecy , hymns from Christ In Song sung.
Mrs Andrew lived in Darwin for 14 years and died in the Oldtimers Home , Alice Springs , at the age of 81.
NOTE : Nearly 50 years ago ,the writer of this post was given the diaries by an American journalist who had come across them in Alice Springs and did not know what to do with them
