Dutton Park

We moved from Yeerongpilly  to Dutton Park before my first birthday. I have only some very vague "feelings" and no clear memory of the actual house. One of those vague memories is sitting at a table watching my father and Alan with a shiny brass model steam engine. Perhaps it was Alan's birthday. Another memory comes to mind of being excited because I had just grasped how to spell. It was the word MAXAM which was the name of the cheese we ate. Such an easy word to recognise and fascinating that it didn't matter from which end I started!
I cannot visualise the front exterior but these photos give a small indication of the style it may have been.

Grandmother Tarbit, Auntie Agnes, Alan and Hilary
(Note: Grandmother brought the tamo'shanter Alan is wearing and I believe this was the only time it was ever worn!)



Not a clear photo but shows Alan and Hilary in the same spot several years later.

Another of my vague memories is of the room just inside the door at the top of the steps.  Alan must have been doing his chores and chopping kindling -for the woodstove I guess- and I passed him a piece of wood just as the axe, or more likely a tomahawk came down. It hit the back of my hand and my memory is of sitting in that room with a bandage and Alan bring me a crust of bread with jam on it. Now you have to understand that the crust was the favourite part of the loaf ( we had a very canny mother!) and jam was only for treats. No wonder I remember that rather than the actual accident.  I do still have the scar to prove it though. Every little girl should have a big brother and mine has always filled that role very well. Not many brothers would have looked as happy as this at their little sister's "tea party with the doll."


Here are some other photos of us playing.



I do remember those cannas growing at the back fence. I know I wouldn't go into them but do not know if that was actually disallowed. 

Most of the time I must have enjoyed having my photo taken but compare these next two!



I vaguely remember being near the front gate one day when a motorbike pulled up and a man asked if this was where Mrs Tarbit lived. I said yes, and he asked if I would tell her that he was there. It turned out that he was my Uncle Roy, one of Mum's younger brothers. I dont remember much about contact with her family so this was very exciting. I know, but dont remember, that a couple of Mum's nieces stayed with us while studying . I think this is Estelle Harper my cousin in this photo:

The doll's pram reminds me of Mum telling me when I was older that Auntie Agnes brought me a doll when we were at Dutton Park and within minutes I had stripped it, given it a bath and washed all its clothes. I'm guessing that this would have happened about the time my baby sister entered the family

Grandfather Tarbit, Dad,Alan. Mary, Hilary, Lois Mary

Hilary, Lois, Alan

The three big events in my life at Dutton Park were 1.starting dancing lessons, 2.starting school and 3. the arrival of baby Lois.
I'll talk about school next time.

Houses I've lived in

It is coming closer to the time when we will have to decide when to move out of our present home. I've lived in quite a number of houses so here's today's trip down memory lane.
My first home was in Yeerongpilly, Brisbane ( the following to *are in Brisbane unless noted otherwise)
Sometime late in 1931 or early 1932  the family moved to Dutton Park
Then when I was either 7 or 8 we moved to Annerley
when I was 10 we went to Amiens ( which is 17k NW of Stanthorpe in SW Qld.)
A couple of years later back to Annerely ( same house as before)
 Next move was to Clayfield
I'm not sure of the order of the next few moves  but I think it went like this:
Petrie ( just outside the Brisbane boundary)
South Brisbane
Wavell Heights
Bald Hills
somewhere in that time was a brief stay at Hamilton Heights
I started my secondary ( high) schooling while at Clayfield and ended it at Wavell Height so in the space of 4 years I had lived in 6 places.
In  1953 my parents moved to Melbourne and Alan and I stayed in Brisbane and lived in  a flat at Chelmer*
Bill and I were married in 1955 and went to Cloncurry; in NW Queensland; we lived in 2 different houses in our 3 years there
Next home was in Mackay where again we had 2 homes
From there it was back to Cloncurry where we lived in another 2 different houses
Finally we arrived in Toowoomba  a nd have lived in 2 houses here ( so far!)
If you add that up you will find that covers 19 houses ( counting Annerley as one)

If my calculations are correct I lived longer in the house in Dutton Park than in any other house until I came to Toowoomba in 1966. Unfortunately I have no real memories of that house just a few vague impressions. I will share some memories of life there next time.