INTERVIEW NO.24				DATE OF INTERVIEW: 11/12/91

MRS IRIS HANNA
"The Oaks"
54 Hyatt Road
PLUMPTON

0.39	I am Iris Elizabeth Hanna. I live at 'The Oaks ', 54 Hyatt Road, Plumpton. I was born on the 30th November, 1914 at Lismore. I am married. I'm Australian of Irish parents and I have seven children.

1.14	Well first of all Ill just start by asking you a few background questions. What kind of work did your father do?

He was a dairy farmer at Lismore on the north coast or just out of Lismore.
       
       And your mother - did she work?
       
       Only helping with the dairy farming, as I did too.

       Did you. And did you have brothers and sisters?

       Yes, one sister and one brother.

       Right, so there were the three of you.
       
       Yes.

1.52	Right. And then when did you move to live in this area?

       Not until I was married?

       And what year would that have been?

       1944.

       And so you came to live here as a young married lady - with any children, or
       No.

       When you were first married?

       Yes.

       And did you move into this house?

       Yes.

       And it was already built was it?

       Oh, yes. It's about a hundred years old now.

       No, just bricks as far as I know.

2.32	And so in 1945 when you came to live here what was it like? What was the surrounding area like?

       Well one house on about 200 acres.

       That was your house?

       Yes. (Laughs)

       Wow!

Oh, there were neighbours on the other side of the road, and school about a couple of miles away.

       Only one other neighbour, was there?

Oh, no - one ... two ... three neighbours on the other side of the road, but no-one close like we are now.

3.18	And so did your husband run a farm?

       No he was a poultry farmer.

       Oh, was he.

Yes. This was a poultry farming area, but that went out in the early 1950's I'd say - by the middle 1950's at any rate - it was all out.

3.40	And why was that? Why did they go?

Well, I can only speak for ourselves I suppose. But we were working hard and all the money we got for the eggs went out in produce expenses and to the Egg Board for levy charges and so on. We had nothing left for ourselves.

       And so you were more or less forced to sell the land?

       Yes. And it was the same with all the other neighbours too.

       Were they all poultry farmers around here?

Yes. Oh, the odd one went to work or perhaps some of the younger people did, but it was a poultry farming area.

4.27	So when you first moved here you'd come from a country town so you were used to being fairly isolated?

       Yes. Not as isolated as this was though! (Laughs)

       You felt particularly isolated here did you?

Yes. But I wasn't frightened or, you know, lonely or anything. But to be so close to Sydney it did seem funny you know, to be so far away from your nearest neighbours and so on.

5.03	And did you have to travel far to the shop?

Well, there was no shops at Mt. Druitt or Emerton. There were a few shops of a sort at Blacktown, so Parramatta was our shopping centre really.

5.24	And how did you get around from here? Was there any public transport or anything?

There was a taxi cab. It picked you up - it was really cheap when you think on it now! It was two shillings - took you to Rooty Hill railway station. You caught a train from there. But at that stage we did have a car - my husband had a car - so we had no problems really.

       Youd need the car wouldnt you. There were no bus services?

No buses, apart ... oh, no that came later. I was going to say there was a bus on Rooty Hill Road North out there, but that came much later. There was no buses for many years.

6.15	And what was the - this house has got quite a few rooms by the look of it - how many bedrooms are there?

       There's three upstairs and one downstairs.

What was the house before you came to live here? Was it a guest house or just a residence?

No. My husband's father bought it in about 1920 - he came to live in about 1920, I think. But he had owned it for a few years before that, but he had to sell the place he already was on and 'cause the First World War was just ended, you know, he had to wait a while. But they had it - were living in it  from about 1920.

7.12	And its one of the - by the look of it - its one of the only original homes in the area now? All these modern houses are all around.

       Yes.

       What happened to the other houses in the area? They were demolished were they?

Yes. Just bulldozed over, sort of thing. There is an old house just on the top of the hill there, on the left, back behind some of the new ones, where Douglas Mawson lived. You know the Antarctic explorer? I don't know that it's the original house he lived in, but I understand it is, and it's still standing there behind some others.

8.01	So you are lucky that this is still standing, I guess?
       (Laughs) Yes.

       And it wasn't bulldozed!

Well at first they talked about doing that. It was the Housing Commission in those days and they said they weren't sentimental about old houses and things, but then the Heritage Council stepped in and picked a few out that they said had to be saved.

       So this is under the Heritage Council now?

       Yes.
       
8.34	And how much land around here is yours now?

       About three-quarters of an acre I'd say.

       It still looks very big. I notice youve got a turkey running around out there!

       That's a Guinea-fowl! (Laughs)

       Oh, Im from the city obviously!

He's a stray that adopted us about Christmas Day six or seven years ago and I did ring different people that I thought perhaps might have bought him for Christmas dinner. But nobody owned him so he just stays here and we feed him.

       He's very attractive isn't he?

       Well he's unusual.
       
9.16	Yes. So when you first moved here when you were first married, what sort of electrical appliances did you have then? Did you have stoves and...

       Yes, we had a stove and the jug and the kettle and, you know...

       Did you? And a fridge?

Yes. It was one of the old Holstrom fridges, so it was on the way out then really, although most of the Holstrom fridges have endured the years very well, but that one didn't seem to.

       And did you have vacuum cleaners?

       No, not then.

10.05	And what about the bathroom? Was that inside? Was the toilet inside the house?

No. The toilet was away round there at Timbuctoo! (Laughs). And the bathroom was separate from the house too.

       You had to go outside did you?

Yes. And it's only since we had the sewerage on - I'd say about four years ago - that we've had an inside bathroom and a toilet.

       So you only got the sewerage four years ago?

       Yes. That was when ... well it might be perhaps four and a half or something.

       Yes. Very recent. And was that when all the...?

       ... houses came.

       Its a big housing estate isnt it?

       Yes.

10.54	How did you feel when the housing estate was all built up around you?

Well, I was glad to see it really, because in the first place we had forty-three acres which with the rates going up every year we couldn't have paid it very much longer, and the isolation of it and the various no-hopers getting around. Even first thing in the morning they'd be wandering about the back of the house and I'd ask them if I could help them. Oh, they didn't know anybody lived here! You see, that was always the excuse.

       And its not very nice is it to have people wandering about your land?

       No.

11.43	So with the houses all being built, that stopped that happening did it?

       Oh, yes.

And did that happen with the no-hopers hanging around earlier on in the, say the 40s, early 50s too?

No. In those times we didn't have ... never used a key to lock the place up if we went out and just closed the door. Nothing ever happened, nobody ever came in, you know. (Laughs). And the same at night, you just closed the door and went to bed and everything was all right.

       It's different these days isn't it?

       Yes. It came that we had to get keys and change locks and all this sort of thing.

12.32	Did your children did you have children fairly soon after you were married?

       Yes, yes.

       How many did you say?

       Seven.

       Seven children. That's a big number of children. Did you plan to have seven children?

       No, they just arrived. (Laughs)

12.53	So did they all go to school nearby?

Yes. In Plumpton, and the first three, when it came to high school time, they had to go to St. Marys High School. And then when the fourth one was ready to start I think she started the year Rooty Hill High School was opened, and the others went to Rooty Hill High School.

13.19	And how did they get to school from here? Did they walk?

       No, rode push bikes.

       Oh, did they.

       That was to high school they rode push bikes. In fact they did to Plumpton too.

13.36	And the roads were just dirt road were they then, or ?

Oh, they were metal roads. Perhaps you would call them dirt roads  the dust flow along them! But, no it wasn't until the mid 1970's that they bitumened the roads- Hyatt Road here was bitumened at that time.

And did you use the train service very much? Did you travel in to Parramatta or in to Sydney?

Yes. I did in later years. I can't remember when the bus started, but I used to have to walk out to Rooty Hill Road North - which is a while from here  to catch a bus to either Rooty Hill or Blacktown and get the train from there you see.

14.34	So you'd think nothing of walking a mile?

       No I didn't then, but I would now!! (Laughs).

       Have you got a good bus service out here now?

       Yes. It's half-hourly in peak times and hourly during the day.

       So do you go - where do you do your shopping now?

       Mt. Druitt, mainly.

       Is that the shopping centre on Carlisle Road there?

       Yes. Market Town, I think they call it.
       
15.10	Did you have to travel that sort of distance in the 40s to the shop too?

       We had a local shop at Plumpton just ... I don't know whether you noticed the Post Office?

       Yes. I did.

Well there was a local shop there and while I'm in the supermarkets now I often wish it was still there because I could send the order in on the Monday or Tuesday and they delivered it on the Wednesday, and I didn't have to walk up and down all those aisles looking for things (laughs) and stand in queues at the check-out.

       And elbow your way through the crowds!

       Yes.

15.59	Did your children go on to tertiary education?

No. They finished at high school. The two boys did do ... oh, what would you call it? ... Technical College courses when they started work.

16.26	So what did you ... did you have much contact with your neighbours, even though there weren't many?

Yes, more contact then than I think we have now, because ... I don't know what it is! Most of the neighbours now go to work you see and we don't see much of them at all. We know they're there if we need them, but we don't have much contact.

16.52	In the old days you had quite a bit to do with your neighbours did you?

       Yes. We really visited each other then.

       Did you?

       And it was nice too, to have cups of tea together - meals together, and so on.

       And that doesnt happen with the neighbours now?

       No.

       How do you feel about that? Do you miss the old...?

No. I have my own family now and they visit and all that sort of thing, so you sort of don't miss the neighbours when it comes to that. But it's nice to meet some of them occasionally just the same.

       And have they all moved out of the area?

       Yes.

17.50	So what would your daily routine have been when your children were small, what would you have done every day?

Oh, dear! Get up in the morning and milk the house cow - or house cows, as the.... (laughs) Well, look after the children. At one stage I had four under school age so they all had to be dressed and fed, and when it came to them going to school, well, of course that was getting out to school, getting lunches and all that sort of thing, and washing and ironing was never-ending, and - oh, just general housework, cleaning, cooking - there always seemed to be plenty of that to do.

18.50	And did you sew? Did you make clothes for your children?

For the children, yes. I made all their clothes and in fact at one stage I was better able to make them out of old clothes than I could have out of new material, because I just got used to doing those sort of things.

       Yes.

Yes. I did gather the eggs and pack them, and that's some packing when you've got hundreds of dozens of eggs to pack.

       It was a big poultry farm was it?

About two thousand fowls, I think, but as I said before, all the money we got went back into feeding the fowls and paying Egg Board levies, till we were forced out.
And did you have any market gardens around the area too?

Not just then. They came probably in the 1960's - Italian people usually  on Cook Road, down there. They all took to market gardening.

20.14	And they were the migrants that came out after the War?

       Yes.

       And you still had the poultry then?

No. We were out of poultry by the mid 1950's. In fact we were about the last ones to go out of it.

Oh, were you. And before you did go out of that, did you sell your poultry manure to the market gardeners or to anyone?

No. Not to those market gardeners. There were other foreigners from Blacktown and so on. They used to come out and take it but not to the local... well we didn't have fowls when the local ones started.

21.00	And so what else would you have done during the day? Were you involved in anything at the school like the Mothers Club?

No. I did go to a few meetings in the early stages but I couldn't follow that up and then they started having their meetings at night so I had to stay at home with the children. My husband joined the P & C and he went to them. But I don't think there were any local organisations (laughs) and if there had been I wouldn't had time to go much at any rate.

21.42	And were there churches around here?

Yes, there were ... the Presbyterian which I was a member of in Plumpton, and also the Church of England down on the main road - Rooty Hill Road. But I think that was all. The Catholic Church was at Rooty Hill and the Methodist Church was at Rooty Hill.

And did the churches play a big role in the community in the early days do you think, more so than they do today?
No. Not really. It was nice to meet there for the services and meet some of your neighbours and so on, but no, I wouldn't say they played a big role.

22.40	And what did you do, if you had any spare time, what did you do for recreation?

Nothing! (Laughs). You always found - or I always found - plenty of recreation without looking for it!

23.00	Yes. Did you go on picnics or anything like that?

Oh, when the children were little we often took them out, or occasionally in the summer time, we took them out to Windsor there, you know. There was swimming holes and so on there that they enjoyed, you know, having a splash in in the summer time.

       And did you ever go away in school holidays?

Only up to see my parents at Lismore, and that didn't happen too often either because of having, you know, young children and everything. It was sometimes seven years between visits.

       Really. Did your parents ever come here to visit?

       Yes. They did. Not that often. Perhaps two or three times a year.
       
24.00	And was your husbands family in the area?

They moved to Wentworthville. I don't know - perhaps I forced them out of the house or something. (Laughs) No. When we got married they went to live at Wentworthville.

       Oh, but they were living here were they? I see, you all lived together for a while?

No we didn't live together. They moved out - they had the house down there - and they moved out the day I arrived.

24.26	And so you didnt have family around then to help you with the children when they were little or anything like that?

       No.

       So you just had to manage did you?

       Yes.

       Did you have any help from neighbours in times of illness or anything like that?

Yes. At one stage I had a rough spin having pleurisy fairly often for about 15 or 18 months and I know the neighbours were good then coming and taking the children for a day, you know, and keeping them there and so on like that.

25.07	So, its not easy when youre in an isolated spot, you know, with a lot of children and no family around you?

       No. They had plenty of room, I suppose, to play and so on like that.

25.23	What sort of things did the children do in their school holidays? What sort of things did they do entertain themselves?

Well, when they got older I used to take them to the Zoo perhaps one day in the holidays and Luna Park another day, and as the older ones got up to high school they could go into the pictures at Blacktown occasionally. Other than that, you see, the neighbour's children were here and they'd have a day here and then our children would have a day at their place and that sort of thing.

26.06	And did you keep animals at all, apart from the cow?

       (Laughs) The cow! No, that was all the animals we had I think, except a couple of dogs.

       And the chooks, of course!

Yes, oh yes. Chooks laid on. Even after we finished with the poultry farming we still kept, say twenty fowls - around twenty - you know, just for our own use.

       So you always had fresh eggs?

       Yes.

       Did you grow vegetables as well?

Just a little garden. In fact I haven't tasted a decent pumpkin since we haven't been growing our own. (Laughs).

26.49	Theres nothing like a home grown one is there? And did you make jams and do preserves?

Yes. I've done all that because there was an orchard here when I came first and I preserved peaches and pears and plums and quinces as well as made the jam.

       And what happened to the orchard?

Well it was a bit old, I suppose, and then it just sort of ... the trees got too old and they weren't replaced with new ones. But then when the Housing Commission resumed in 1962 they told us not to do any improvements or make any alterations - we wouldn't be compensated for it. So everything was sort of just left.

27.42	And how much did you sell off at that stage to the?

Land? Well they resumed the whole 43 acres, but about 1967 they gave us back the house and the block of land which is about three-quarters of an acre.

       Oh, right. They resumed the whole of your land including the house?

       Yes.

       And you were still able to live in it though?

Yes. We could live here. But it wasn't only ours. They took the whole district from Jersey Road right through, and about 400 acres out towards St. Marys where Whalan and Blackett and Lethbridge Park - all that area out there was built up at that time. But they didn't look towards doing anything here till 1983. It was from '62 to '83.

       They actually paid you, did they, for the land?
My husband's mother owned it at that time. His father had died before that and she owned it at that time. She got...

       They paid her and then she helped you buy it back?

Yes. But they hadn't paid anything for it in 1967, or well they may have paid a few hundreds as a down payment or something, but there was no payment made until after 1967 and they just took the price of the house, and I can't remember now even what it was. But they took the price of the house and the bit of land out of it.

29.42	So did you feel threatened at any time that you might have to move out or...?

Well I expected to at one stage until the Heritage Council stepped in and said, you know, there were certain houses to be kept.

       And you didn't initiate that - they just came along did they?

       Yes. Through the Council I think it was worked.

30.13	So what did you do for shopping for clothes? Did you shop locally for clothes and shoes?

       Parramatta.

       You had to go to Parramatta.

       Parramatta. yes.

30.25	And what about the health services?

Well my first three ... four children ... five children were born in Parramatta and Westmead and I went to the doctor at Parramatta.

       Was that because there was no doctor here?

There was a doctor at St. Marys but there was no doctor between here and Penrith and we were used going to Parramatta for shopping and everything so it just seemed the natural thing to do to go there. But that was ... no, I had six of the children that way, but the youngest child - and he is thirty-five now - and he was born in the old Penrith Hospital where Cambridge Park is and - Lemongrove perhaps they call it - and I had a doctor for a number of years then Dr. Eglitski at St. Marys, and when he left there I didn't know what I was going to do for a doctor. (Laughs). Dr. Monahan had come to Mt. Druitt then - he's still there - and he's been our doctor ever since and that would be from about 1960 onwards I'd say.

32.03	So what about in an emergency, if any of the children had an emergency that needed treatment?

Luckily I don't think we had any emergencies in that time except the second girl swallowed - what did she swallow - something one day and we couldn't get it ... you know, she couldn't breathe or anything. My husband ran to the nearest phone. It was about a mile away, or well over half a mile away at any rate, to ring for the ambulance and I turned her upside down and slapped her back and she started breathing after that. When the ambulance came we decided it was better to take her on to Parramatta...
END OF SIDE A.

SIDE B
0.04	... and they could see them in her stomach. They did suggest to me to bring her back the next day for another X-ray but it was such a problem with so many young children and so on, and she was all right, so I never went back. In fact the ambulance man said to me not to worry about it because she would pass them eventually.

So, you didnt have the phone on either? And was that public phone at a shop or something? The one that your husband ran to?

       No. It was at a private house over there.

       So that was the nearest telephone.

       Yes.

0.55	And what about when your children were growing up - did you have dental services in the area for them?

No we went to Parramatta to a dentist there, but eventually I think some of them did go to a dentist at St. Marys.
1.13	And so your children grew up when there was none of this modern housing around here, so they must have had a lovely area to play in?

       Oh, yes. (Laughs) They had plenty of room.

       Did they play outdoors a lot?

       Yes. they did?

       Did they have a horse?

No. We were ... well, not so much me, I rode a horse as a child right up until I got married, but my husband was a bit frightened of horses as far as the children riding was concerned so we never a horse.

1.55	And to get on to the subject of finances, did you have joint finances or who managed the household accounts?

Oh. No, the money just was there and we just done whatever we found necessary or needed to do with it.

       You just shared it? Who paid all the bills?

Well we paid for everything as we bought it, sort of thing, like when we went shopping everything was paid cash. If we didn't have the cash, we didn't get it? (Laughs).

       Thats changed too, hasn't it, with all the plastic money?

       Yes but I still...

       Not in your experience?

No. I still go in for that. I prefer to just - I've got used to it - and I just prefer to pay for things as I get them.

2.48	It's the best too I think - the best way! And what about after the War, when immigrants moved in from Europe? You did mention the Italian market gardeners - were there any other European people who came here after the War living around this area that you were aware of?

       Yes. There was a Maltese family just up the road here. In fact they're still there.

       Oh, are they?

       Yes. The parents are still there. The younger ones have perhaps moved away a bit.

       And when did they come? That was after the War was it?

Yes. It was well after it I'd say. Oh, yes, we had a Polish man living in a room out the back. It was a billiard room originally belonging to this house, but the billiard table had been sold out of it and so on, and this man was living in ... what do you call it? Up at St. Marys, you know  community thing they have there for migrants - but he couldn't save any money there and a friend of his asked us if he could come and live here. So my husband made that billiard room, as we called it then, into three rooms and he came  him and his wife and little boy - came and lived there for about a couple of years, I suppose. And then there were other people came even after they left that could get work in the district but couldn't get accommodation, and they rented it. It was only two pound ten a week and that included their electricity too, so...

       And what other nationalities did you have?

Oh, we had Estonian people for a while too. In fact the last people we had were Estonian, and Mrs. Samoya, she lived there and done cleaning at the Plumpton school to support herself. And her son lived there with her for a number of years, and he moved to New Guinea to work over there and was killed in an accident in New Guinea.

5.27	And how did you find these migrant people? Were they friendly and well accepted in the neighbourhood?

Yes. Oh, yes. They were ... I think we all sort of felt sorry they had to leave their own countries and come here.

       So you really helped them get on their feet?

       Well I don't know about so much help, but we accepted them all right.
       And you provided them with accommodation.

5.59	So when you think about your life and what life was like in the late '40s and in the early '50s, what do you think about the changes that have taken place here? Particularly, you know, in the landscape here  what was it like? How would you describe the landscape here before all these new houses were built?

Well, just a country I suppose. That's the only way I could think of it. There was hundreds and hundreds of trees. There's not very many now! (Laughs). And...

       The first thing they do is cut down the trees!

       Well I suppose they have to. I do think they could have left a few more than they did... but...

       You have quite a few trees in your front garden.

Yes. Up there we have. Oh, well they were there and they've left them there. That's a reserve up there.

       And so now it's quite different?

Yes. Oh there were two dams on the place, you know, and of course they've been filled in. I think there's a house on top of one dam! (Laughs)

       I hope it was filled in well!

       Yes. I hope it doesn't sink! (Laughs)

       They were dams for your ?

       Cattle, yes.

7.33	So you had more than two cows, did you?

Well, we only had one cow when I came, but I don't know whether it was because I was such a good worker or good milker - we had four cows eventually. But you see, in the War years you had to have coupons for everything, including butter. So as well as milking the cows I had to separate the milk and churn the cream into butter and so on.

       Oh, did you? No wonder you were fairly busy during your day then!

       Yes. (Laughs)

8.05	You wouldn't have had much spare time at all! And your husband worked on the poultry farm up until it was sold?

       Yes. Up until the 1950's.

8.22	And did he find it difficult changing his work?

Well, now he doesn't think it was difficult, but at that time he didn't like the idea of it - although when he left school first he was working at a produce place in Sydney called Prescotts - and the first job he got was at Playfair's Meat Works. That was in about 1957 I think it was, or '56 perhaps  about that. And then they closed a number years after that and he worked in Dandy's then until he retired in 1975.

       And so what does he do now to fill in his day?

Oh, he still gets around. For the first few years he used to go, as I called it 'walkabout'. (Laughs). Him and an old mate used to go off, you know, for a few weeks at a time to Bourke or somewhere or other, you know. He's been all over Australia sort of thing since then.

Doing bits of work?

       No. No, just looking.

9.45	And have you any desire to travel?

No. I don't have itchy feet. Although we both done a trip to Ireland, England and Scotland in 1979.

       Oh, did you?

       Yes. I think we were away about seven weeks.

       Did you enjoy that?

Yes. I did. I was quite ready to come home though. I met all my mother's people - what was left of them - and my father's people and saw their old homes and all the places they talked about and so on.

       It must have been interesting to see.

       Yes. It was - very.

10.31	So what do think about when you think about the changes that have taken place here? What things do you like or not like about it now? What do you think was better then than it is now?

Well, apart from the shop at Plumpton which saved me having to go to supermarkets, (laughs) I think everything else is better than, you know, it was because I like it built up as it is. And you might have noticed, we are lucky, we've got all that reserve out at the north of us and I don't expect that'll ever be built on, because...

       No.

And in the morning I can sit out there and listen to the news on the radio and watch the world go by, sort of thing. (Laughs). And there are two owls out there which are quite busy at the weekends.

11.33	So even though you have neighbours much more concentrated around you now, they're not too close as to be encroaching on you?

       No.

       And as far as you're concerned security is different now to what it was?

       Yes.

       Do you think that's better?
       Oh, I think it's much better.

       Even though you do have to lock your doors now?

       Yes.

12.00	And so for young people buying up in the area now, do you think it's better for them than it was? For young mothers bringing up children do you think it's better now than it was when you were bringing up your children?

Well I'd imagine it would be because they've only got their inside work and their children to look after, whereas I had to help on the farm by packing eggs and milking the house cows and, you know, that sort of thing. And when you go out of the house, well there's nobody to carry on while you are out.

12.44	And did you feel you were hardly done by when you were doing all that hard work?
       
No. I didn't think about it at the time. I wonder now how I done it! Or how I got so much done in my day! But of course I didn't go to bed I suppose till midnight or after.

       And you were up early again 

       In the morning, yes.

13.11	And when you think of the old buildings that have gone from the area - the ones that were bulldozed, and some of the old familiar landmarks that have gone or have changed - how does that make you feel?

       Oh, there is better buildings in the place so I don't feel badly about it.

       You don't feel sad that they've gone?

       No, not really.

       You think progress is all right?

Yes. I suppose there was one or two. In fact the other day I just mentioned about a Mr. Webber's house that was over there - it was a nice home, a nice country style of home - and a month after he died it was demolished and taken away. But I understood why because vandals would have got into it and taken windows and doors and, you know, whatever they could. And it was probably in the way of where they were going to build new houses at any rate.

14.19	And what about the traffic? Does the traffic around here worry you at all?

       No.

       You are far enough back from the road not to hear it?

Yes. Although anytime you wake up at night there's always traffic around somewhere! (Laughs) But it doesn't worry me?

14.38	So you drive yourself?

       No.

       Your husband drives me to the shops?

Yes. Oh, well I used to be lucky enough to have daughters to drive too, but Alison has lost her hearing in the last few years, so she can't drive now. Oh, yes, at one time there wasn't a car that went up or down Hyatt Road that was strange - we knew them all you know! (Laughs)

       Did you?

       Yes.

       By the sound of their engines?

Oh, well by looking at them, yes. 'There's Tom Cook's car!' 'There's Joe Cross's car!' 'There's so-and-so's car!' You know.

       And now you wouldn't know them?

       Oh. I wouldn't know any of them.
15.35	And do you find that at the shops also, that you used to see a familiar face or two and now you don't?

       Yes. You always found a few to talk to. Now you very rarely do. It's all strangers.

15.49	And how does that make you feel? Does it worry you?

       Oh, it doesn't worry me. It's just what you expect (laughs) sort of thing.

16.02	Well I think weve just about covered everything now, unless you can think of anything else you'd particularly like to tell me about?

No. Not really. I think we've covered just about everything. We started back in the 1940's and we've come right along!

16.24	You've certainly seen a lot of changes in this area haven't you!

       Oh. Yes. We have. It has... I think, it has been for the better.

       Do you? You're a progressive sort of person, you like progress?

       I don't know about that!

You're still in your home and it probably hasn't changed very much, and you've still got the land around you and the outlook over the reserve. You may not have felt so happy about it if you had houses very close to you here?

Well perhaps not. I'd have to experience that I suppose. I have asked at different times if we couldn't move into a smaller house, you know - not to get away or anything, but just for a smaller house which would be easier kept clean and not so much work. But you know, my husband won't leave until he's carried out, sort of thing.

17.31	Its a lovely old house. When was it built, do you know?

       I understand in 1895.

       So, its very special, but its very big to keep clean.
Yes, and it needs a terrible lot of repair which he doesn't want to hire anybody to do  thinks he can do it himself. But at over 80 years of age I cant see him getting up on the roof and doing all these things.

       Well thank you very much - I think thats about it. Thanks very much for your time.

END OF TAPE
