40 years ago

It was 40 years ago when I had not long moved into the Methodist Manse in Mullewa, WA, when on a hot morning, there was a knock on my door and I was handed a telegram. It read, "Your father died today. Letter following. Uncle Clive." Dad was National Bank Manager at West Wyalong, NSW and had just gone through the Decimal Currency changoever barely a few days before. He, his 2nd wife, and 5 children ranging in age from teenage to two had been staying in the Metropolitan Hotel prior to moving back to SA because of his chronic asthma aggravated by his smoking. His heart had given out overnight.

I was shattered that I would never see him again, nor ever have the opportunity to actually know him, for we had separated in early 1943 when he joined the RAAF and Mum took me home to Eudunda, SA.

I had last seen Dad in January 1955, eleven years before in SA, when he had flown over from NSW for his mother's funeral and I met his wife and his eldest 2 children. Up until then, I was 15, I had heard about his starting a 2nd family but was not sufficiently mature to accept the fact, so I had spent that time in some shock, partly because my paternal grandmother had died and my father had a new family. I was unusually quiet, I think, for the meeting and the farewell. I sailed from SA about a week later to join Mum and my stepfather in WA.