Me on the back of Ed CORNIELIUSSEN'S 'XA'
Falcon Panel Van at Nelson's Bay NSW
at a little after daybreak on Easter Saturday
1971. The girl is Ann WOJAK.
I was born at Guildford NSW (Australia) on
June 14th, 1952 and christened Rodney Albert
James JEFFERY.
My parents were first cousins (their fathers
were brothers) Donald Clarence JEFFERY (b.25/9/1917-d.20/5/1992)
and Emma Lillian JEFFERY (b.21/2/1921-d.7/10/1979).
Mum also had two children out of wedlock
- a 'stillborn' when she was around sixteen
resulting from a rape and a daughter, Miriam
Rose JEFFERY, by my father on July 15th,
1944.
I was never informed about my sister and
only found out when I received a phone call
from her eldest son, Brett while setting
up the gear for a gig at Gearins on June
29th, 1991. By that time she was known as
Nola HOLLOWOOD and lived in Newport (Melbourne)
VIC with her (then) husband, John and two
youngest daughters Naomi and Samantha.
Nola was adopted out at birth, for whatever
reason, and tracked us down after the rules
were changed in the early nineteen-nineties
so that adoptees could seek out their birth
parents.
She died in a Melbourne hospital on January
1st, 2000. She'd had cancer for at least
two to three years at the time. I must say,
it was great to find a sister after so many
years. Sad to lose her so soon after!
When I was born my parents were living at
a boarding house in Calliope Street, Guildford
owned by a family named Bickley whom I don't
remember a whole lot about. However, the
house was right next door to the home of
my Uncle Charley & Aunty Maudie CLUFF.
Maudie was the younger sister of dad's mother
Alma May FITZSIMMONS (later RODGERS). Maudie
had been Maude RODGERS prior to marriage
to Charley. Her father, Thomas Luke RODGERS
had married Mary Ann FITZSIMMONS shortly
after the birth of Alma May in late 1883
and it is debateable as to whether he is
also the father of Alma May, or not.
Dad DID like a drink (or two) and, for that
reason, I spent a considerable part of my
earliest years being dragged off to mum's
parent's home in Wellington NSW. And an even
more considerable part of it being guarded
by 'TARZAN', my maternal grandmother's dog
whom I remained close to for the rest of
his life. There were times that bloody old
dog wouldn't even let my mother near the
pram!
Eventually we moved from Bickley's and moved
in with mum's sister, Beryl MORGAN and her
husband, Bert at the Grove in Fairfield and
were there for a good couple of years before
getting a place of our own, if it could be
called that, at the Merryland's Housing Settlement.
Dad's mother moved in with us at this time!
The Housing Settlement was a set of disused
army huts situated in the middle of what
is now Granville Park on Woodville Road between
both Granville and Merrylands in Sydney's
West.
Apparently, I used to spend most of my days
sitting on a bed staring out the window which
led a couple of our neighbours to believe
that I was either demented or crippled. Well,
I definitely wasn't crippled! I made a few
very good friends during that time that have
drifted into memory with the years.
In either 1955, or 1956 we finally got a
three bedroom house through the Housing Commission.
It was the second that we had been offered
(the first had been at Dundas valley and
had far too many stairs for my grandmother
to climb) and was located at 33 Patterson
Street, Rydalmere (later rezoned as part
of Ermington) and stood on the corner of
Dennis and Patterson Streets.
It was one of only about three or four in
that part of the street at the time and stood
opposite a huge open paddock.
- Most Recent Update: Tuesday, March 08, 2005
-
