MacArthur River Station

AS I have searched my fathers diaries for mention of my mother on his visits to the station where her family had moved I have found nothing indicating his visits to my mother's family or his feelings for her...other than the earlier mentioned diary extract where my father said his favourite girl's name was Eileen (my mother's name). It is also unfortunate that I have no written records from my mother's early family life. But I am able to recall some of the memories she shared with me over the years about her life on MacArthur River STation.

My mother always spoke proudly of the manner in which her father treated the aboriginal workers on the station...that he respected their need to 'go walkabout', expected his family to treat the women well, they were housed and paid and fed well. As a result they all worked well and the women in particular became true friends of the family. My mother often mentioned Ivy, an aboriginal woman who worked in the house and appparently had a lot to do with my mother and her older sister Ann. One story that has always stuck in my mind tells of twin boys being born to one of the aboriginal women on the property and my mother and her sister Ann were asked to name them. At this time in the early 1930's there were many reports in the news pf the doings of Hitler and Mussolini. As a result the two sisters named the twin picaninnies...Hitler and Mussolini. I remember being horrified when I first heard this story but in later years could see the funny side. It was especially surprising as my mother was such a lady and not prone to making this sort of joke. But then I guess we can see it with the hindsight of all the tragedy that later came to pass, involving those two .....Hitler and Mussolini. As far as I can ascertain my mother was 17 or 18 years old when her family first moved from Charters Towers to Mac Arthur RIver Station and they were only there for a few years when my grandfather became sick and died. It was my father who assisted the family to move back to the coast of Queensland EXCEPT for my mother and her sister Ann. My father obtained a job for my mother as a housemaid at the Reilly's Hotel and I feel sure that her sister Ann remained with her as a chaperone. My parents were married in Camooweal in 1936.

I will continue to read the copious notes in my father's diaries in search of some reference to meeting or visiting my mother's family and maybe even a mention of his romantic interest as it grew.