Mum was a Balmain girl who worked at Lanham’s laundry at Rushcutters Bay. It was here she met my dad, David, who was from Paddington. They fell in love and married. David was only seventeen. I was born in July 1937 and he turned eighteen in the following September.
This was a love affair that lasted for fifty-three years. They died within three months of each other.
We lived in the upstairs of a terrace house in Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst. It was a very seedy area. My father told me he saw a person kicked to death one night, but no one got involved in those days, especially in that area.
All I remember about that time of my life is a friend called Diana, a swing that I had hanging in a doorway and a dinky to ride on.
We soon made the big move to Balmain. Mum was back and I was the new Balmain girl. We lived in a little house in Phillip street and dad started work at Colgate Palmolive, where he was to stay for the rest of his working life.We only stayed there for three years as my sister Eileen was born and we needed a larger house.
This house was at number __ Rowntree Street, Balmain. It was a two storey terrace semi. Mum and dad lived there for the rest of their lives.
We rented for many years. When I was 18, we had a chance to pay it off. My dad said he could not afford it so we all helped to pay off the mortgage. It cost a full 1000 pounds. Thirty-two years later we sold it for $210,000 dollars.
It was a great house with a verandah and a balcony upstairs, and a good view of the Sydney Harbour and The Bridge. There was a large empty block of land across the road where we could play. It had trees to climb, a mulberry tree, a blackberry bush and chokos we could pick.
It was a great place until it was sold and two houses were built on it. We only had a small back yard with a lane running up the side to other houses at the back. We always managed to have a good time making gardens, mini golf courses and building cubby houses.