Gallery 4 : 1930 - 1939

Jennie (as Constance Jane was always known) was born in thr New England part of NSW, in the hamlet of Attunga, which is where her mother is buried. Her mother died when Jennie was 11, not in childbirth, as I'd imagined, but of inflammation of the lungs. Admittedly, she had a child in 1898, she died in 1899, and the child died in 1900. But, suffice to say, Jennie's father sired 15 children from two wives, overwhelmingly male. Quite a few died as infants. This is important to know to work out who is being referred to in some of the letters.

This was not in Wendy's collection, but I included it for a particular reason. I was shocked to realise that her collection did not include one image of Cyril, her grandfather. This is Cyril, aged about 50, with his sister Vera who was 13 years his junior (1885 cf 1898). It was taken in the garden of 133 Thompson Street, Drummoyne, in Sydney, the family home of their parents from c. 1915. Cyril, by which time was married with a young daughter, so he stayed in Manilla when Charles and Sarah made the shift down to Sydney.

Ross Cole, late '30s. He was a very athletic looking young man with a great affinity for the water.

This is one of my favourite images from Wendy's collection. Usually, Jennie gives the appearance of being such a self-contained, restrained woman.

Ross Cole on the right. Once again, country pursuits. The reverse of this photograp has a list of initials: PJ, an, PW, LS. I am not able to decode this yet, but many of the letters in Wendy's collection, are to and from Ross' friends.

This and the next image go together. Here Ross is hanging off the end of a boat, presumably fishing.

Ross (second from left) and a bunch of mates on a boat.

Although Irene had been living in Sydney (sometimes with her paternal grandparents in Drummoyne), shge returned to Brisbane to give birth to her daughter. Dalkeith Private Hospital was in Rose St, Eagle Junction, extremely close to Cyril and Jennie.

I am going to presume this image was taken in Sydney. It is of George Leaver, and Irene Cole who were married in Brisbane in 1935. Wendy was born in November 1937, so this could be early in 1939.

Ross joined the Royal Australian Navy 0n 3rd October 1939, and underwent training at HMAS Penguin on Middle-Head, in Sydney for 8 days before travelling to Flinders Island in Victoria. This photo is from HMAS Cerberus with Westernort in the background.

After his enlistment in the Navy in Sydney, Ross trained down to Melbourne, and underwent a course at HMAS Cerberus (a land facility) at Crib Point on Westerport Bay.