Stinker’s History: Memories of home at Bobs Farm (part two)

IDA Lena Collard OAM was born on 8 September 1920 to Henry and Selina Upton.

Below are her memories of growing up as the fifth of seven children on a dairy farm in Bobs Farm.

To read part one, visit the News Of The Area website or pick up a copy of last week’s paper.

WHEN it came to Christmas, we made our own decorations from coloured crepe paper and hung them around the room.

Mum would make the Christmas cakes; there were several and very good too.

Mum used to make our own bread and it was yummy.

Every Easter she made fruit buns and we always enjoyed them immensely.

A sugar and water glaze went on the top of them.

I had mum’s recipe and I used to make them for a number of years but never as good as our mother’s.

Then the little one ounce blocks of yeast became hard to get, so that ended my bun making.

Mother was a very good cook.

We would go out in the bush and gather dry honeysuckle cobs for the fuel stove as they kept an even temperature.

These cakes were mixed by hand or a spoon as there were no mixmasters in those days.

The Christmas pudding was made some weeks before Christmas.

Threepenny pieces were cooked in it, it was boiled in a calico cloth for hours, then hung ‘til Christmas.

The smell was tantalising.

We always ate more than we needed just to try to get a threepence.

Dad was told to help himself to oysters from leases in Tilligerry Creek by one of the oyster growers, so he would go down occasionally over the mud flats and bring back a bag of oysters.
These were enjoyed after much hard work opening them.

We also fished in the drain down by the flood gate and we caught nice fish too.

No fishing rods, just a string on a stick.

We learned to swim in the big drain just across the road when there would be very high tides – that was good fun on hot days.

Some Sunday afternoons we would go for a walk to the beach.

It was a long walk over the sandhills ‘til we got to the water and we had to make sure we knew where to come off the beach to find the track home.

We would gather pippies to bring home and mum would steam them open then make a pippi stew in white sauce.

A daily bus service operated between Nelson Bay and Newcastle operated by Frank Motum.

Horse and sulky was our means of transport until dad bought his first car from Nic Diemar.

I think it was a green Buick.

Before the electricity was available a drip safe was used to keep food cool.

This was a wooden framed cupboard with shelves and hessian sides which were kept damp from a tray on the top filled with water and strips of wet flannel hung over the sides to keep the hessian wet.

It was sometimes hard to set jellies even with added gelatine.

It was wonderful when we were able to purchase a refrigerator, a Silent Knight, which was run on kerosene and so then we were able to make ice cream and that was very popular.

Recipes were exchanged throughout the neighbourhood.

Arthur Upton and his wife Effie operated a grocery store at Bobs Farm where purchases were made.

Arthur drove a red Fargo truck and drove around to the homes to get the orders and they would be delivered another day.

Before the advent of aerosol cans of insect sprays came on the market, and in the evenings when the mosquitoes were bad, we would get a can of dried cow manure and light it outside and the smoke helped keep the mosquitoes away.

How times have changed.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE