From Melbourne 10.12.85

From Melbourne

10.12.85

Dear Alan

                Communication with South Africa has been restored through the good graces of the Australian postal union and we received your Christmas card today.

                The ban was rather futile and seemed to hurt the wrong people. It was just an exercise in self-indulgence by the unionists – something they are quite expert at. The ban was a bit like the economic boycotts in that its main effect was to hurt innocent people. However having just read an article about South Africa’s mineral wealth and its importance to the West one would have to doubt the seriousness of any boycotts.

                News about South Africa has been less prominent in our media over the past few weeks although there is usually at least one item everyday.

                We have been getting quite     a bit about the rebel cricketers although it was supposed to be played down. There won’t be much on TV, it will mostly be newspaper reports.

                The interest in the matches in SA could be due to the poor performance of the Australian cricketers against the Kiwi’s. Fancy losing the series 2-1 and they have to face up to the Indians, commencing next Friday, in another tough encounter. This time there is a Victorian or two in the side so their performance might be better.

                Australians have been doing rather poorly in sport lately and the Aust tennis championships at Kooyong this week saw the final fought between two Swedes. Australians hardly got past the first few rounds.  Mentioning tennis, some news of former tennis team mates of yours at Sunshine Park. Ian M is back living in Melb. After some years in USA where I believe he got a Master’s Degree. David H with whom you also played, had the misfortune to have his father drip dead at a comparatively early age.

                At present we are in the throes of the usual pre-christmas rush. Business has been quite brisk lately (despite the antiquity of our plant) and your mother is very busy with the end of year activities at the kindergarten.

                This year has been going along in much the same pattern as usual with the exception of our trip to Tonga but next year could see some big changes.

                The plan for major re-development of Sunshine’s shopping centre is before the local council tonight and is expected to be adopted.  When out into effect it will have impact on our property and would mean closing down the business. The uncertain thing is the exact time so we have to continue until the council makes a move to acquire the property. We must of course have at least the façade of a business or we would not receive any compensation for good-will.

                Should the council’s plan come to fruition we will gracefully retire – provided the cheque is big enough.

                Your mother’s working life is also being affected by the council as they are going to build a new kindergarten. Not before time. Tenders have been called and the builders should commence early in the new year. That means she will work on next year to have the pleasure of being in a new building, then maybe retire at the end of the year.

                Although Christmas is only  a few weeks away this weather has been extremely wet and it has rained in the last nine days in Melb.

                There has been a great deal of humidity and thunderstorms almost every day, very tropical and, I guess, similar to Natal.

                The result of course is prolific growth of grass and the countryside looks very green at present but hot weather in January could see a danger time for bush-fires. We will be spending a few days at Trentham making sure the grass is well cut before the danger period.

                We haven’t any other special plans for the holidays but hope to have some days for relaxation.

                We received a letter from Pamela today and she is going to some of the Northern islands in Tonga for a few weeks holiday. Tonga is spread out over the Pacific and some of the islands are 200 k north of where she is on the main island.

                Travel will be by boat, which if I know the Tongans, will never leave on time. Just like the Victorian railways.

               

                I’m not sure of the academic year over there but I expect exams are now over. Would be interested in any results for yourself and Lorna .

                We do hope that yourself, Lorna and the girls have a happy and enjoyable Christmas.

                                                                                                                                                                Kindest regards Dad

               

                 

From Empangeni 12.85

From Empangeni

12.85

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am sending you copies of Melissa’s and Jolene’s reports and the list of books which you asked for.  Melissa and Jolene both made up the list. It was nice talking to you on the phone this morning but time always runs out so fast. Alan passed all his exams and I passed three subjects but not the fourth which consisted of four papers. I will be writing a supplementary exam in January and rewriting two papers next year. Fortunately the two I have to rewrite are not too much work. I have got a temporary job at the moment which will probably last me until I have the baby then I will give up because I will have to study as well as look after the baby. 

I have been making all my Christmas presents in my spare time. I have got the Bernina Bernette Overlock machine which I have been using to make t-shirts for my nephews and beach dresses for my nieces. I have also been making nighties and pyjamas for Melissa and Jolene. We also bought them a second hand singer sewing machine which I want to teach them to make simple things on. They are on holiday at the moment and unfortunately I don’t seem to have time to show them anything as we have been going camping every second weekend. When you are studying, everything you enjoy doing gets put off till the end of the year when exams are over, but there is not enough time to do everything.

Jolene is going to the same school as Melissa in the new year, but as Melissa is going to be going into Std 1 she will be finishing at 1:30 pm and Jolene will be finishing at 12:00.  The school is quite a distance from home and we have been in   a lift club since we stayed in this house which means that we only have to collect once in four weeks, so we thought that perhaps Jolene could stay at school and wait for Melissa as they have facilities for those children that cannot be picked up at 12:00.

As soon as Alan has got his camera back, we will take some photos of the children and send them to you. There is a little girl living across the road who has a swimming pool and her mother does not mind Melissa and Jolene swimming there as they are both good swimmers. Jolene could improve on her strokes, but she is quite a good diver and can even do a backward dive and a sort of half somersault. Melissa is more inclined to swim long distances although she is not very fast. When they have galas at school she always participates as she cannot participate in any of the other sports but she mostly comes last although she gets the most support from her peers.

It is only about three months now until the baby is due and I have been so fit and healthy that I have almost forgotten how sick I felt in the first three months. I try and go to the swimming pool every morning before work to get some exercise as it will not be possible to attend ante natal classes because I am working. It would be nice if you could come over and visit us again next year after the baby is born. The low exchange rate would hold some advantages for you and there is no trouble in this part of South Africa. If you could come, July would be the best time because it won’t be so hot and the children would be on holiday and Alan has got quite a lot of leave due to him.

Well, O hope you all enjoy your Christmas.

Love from Lorna

From Melbourne 11/85

From Melbourne

11/85

Dear Alan and Lorna,

                                The postal union have decided that they will now process letters to South Africa. Some of the unions here are running the country. On Cup Day we had no trains in Victoria. The railways union went for a strike the week before the cup for no good reason. They thought the government would give in to them but there are several strong ministers so they just put more trains and buses on for Cup Day. The workers went back later without getting what they wanted.

                The main hospitals in Melbourne are sending patients home because Hospital Employers unions won’t work with non-unionists and the government hasn’t given in to them. The woman’s hospital is just allowing mothers to have their babies and on the 2^nd day they have to go home.

                The builders laborers have put bans on Government buildings again but the Government is trying to deregister them. These are all State Government problems except the postal ban. Everyone criticizes SA and anyone who says we are not going the right way is howled down. A couple of weeks ago Formula 1 racing had a grand prix race in Adelaide. Almost all the cars and drivers came straight from South Africa but there was not one word of protest because of all the money involved.  There is an election next month in South Australia and the grand prix racing was looked on as a boost to the economy. There was just a small paragraph saying that the person writing thought they saw the drivers getting off a South African plane. He wondered where all the protestors were.

                It was easy enough for the postal workers to ban your mail it didn’t cost them anything but who they to bare the cost well that is a different matter.

                Well I have got that off my chest. There are other strikes by unionists but that is enough to show you who is really running this country. Just in case the mail gets stopped again could you please send the address of Lorna’s sister who lives in Swaziland (that is if she still does) so that we can send letters via her.

                I also had some articles about the cricketers but I seem to have lost them. Kim Hughes was speaking at a luncheon in a restaurant in Melbourne.  While he was speaking demonstrators outside burnt an effigy of Kim Hughes.

                Are all your exams over now Lorna? I hope you are feeling a lot better now. You can’t do much about the weather and the baby but when your exams are over then you can relax a little. Well a little! But you never do get over them until the results are out. The only person we have who is still doing exams is Beverley and she doesn’t live here and we don’t see her much so it is not like when everyone was home. I sometimes wonder whether it isn’t worse for parents than the children when they are doing exams.

                Are Melissa and Jolene still excited about the baby or are they tired of waiting.  It always seems a long time for children even though for us the time races. I don’t know where it goes but there just doesn’t seem enough hours in the day for all I would like to do. Night time is not much good for me I seem to be too tired to do much so I have to do everything during the day which isn’t long enough.

                The last three Saturday I have spent pushing a large motor mower over the grass at Trentham. Norm has to do the painting of all the new work and I can’t paint at all so I get the grass mowing to do.  It gets done but I am very slow just walking behind the mower. But this way I don’t get worn out and can keep young for a long time. Everything is beautiful and green we have had a very wet October and November.  The countryside looks good Aunty Grace and Win are coming with us this Saturday just to sit under the trees and enjoy the country. They invited themselves because they just like going and they don’t mind if we are both working. They can look after themselves although they have slowed down a bit now. They are both 86 now. Somehow I don’t think I will be as active as they are when I am that old if I ever get to that age. Some days my back and legs are all aches and pain and I can hardly move the next day I am as  fit as anything but I still go carefully that why I cut the grass slowly. I feel better afterwards than trying to hurry. This is not the best letter it has been done in bits and pieces as I found time but I wanted to send one over soon as we were able again.

                                                                                                Love to you all Mum

From Tonga 10.11.85

From Tonga

10.11.85

Dear Alan,

                                Just got a letter yesterday from mum asking you to write back to me (or send any other letter to me and I’ll send it so it will be ‘Tongan’          not South African) and enclose Lorna’s sisters address in Swaziland so maybe they could write to you via her. The unions are refusing to handle South African mail.

                Of course in all probability the letter will have to go via Australia so will get caught up also, so mum’s grand solution will not come off and you will receive this note when it no longer matters.

                It’s Sunday here where nothing really happens although I went to the Remembrance Day service. It was nice to hear ‘Advanced Australian fair’ do you ever miss things like that? I don’t until you are reminded of it, then you get all patriotic.

                                                                                                Cheers Pam

From Empangeni 24.9.85

From Empangeni

24.9.85

Dear Mum Dad,

                                Today is a public holiday in Kwa Zulu so I have plenty of time. It’s Chaka’s Day. What price a leader like Chaka now. PW is just not up to it. After the Durban fiasco he has just appeared petty-minded & petulant.  Lots of people were embarrassed. Now the newspapers are saying how the National party faithful are calling for faster reforms. They are leaving their lack luster leader behind them.

                I remember one quote from an African politician north of the Limpopo. “There are two things we African politicians never do. That’s blush and resign.”  Pw is not going to resign.

                I glanced at the newspaper article by the two men in Woza Albert. I saw this play in Durban and I had exactly the same sinking feeling as after PW’s Durban speech. That play promised a lot. It promised hope but it didn’t deliver. In the end it descended into hate & stereotypes. Such rubbish is not art. It will die as soon as apartheid dies.  

                People think it easy to write about RSA but it is deceptively hard. The traps of black & white, simple slogans of right & wrong.  To write about RSA and not mention politics and race you get accused of being insensitive, philandering and fiddling. 

                They showed a debate on Tv between Louis Nel and Bill Hayden. I didn’t watch. I’m sure Hayden would have thrashed Nel. Louis Nel doesn’t speak English well has no experience of aggressive interviewers or TV. About ¾ weeks ago his wife was killed on her way to church (in a car accident). Since then he has thrown himself into his work going here & there in a strange kind of frenzy. I felt sorry for the lamb going to be slaughtered so didn’t watch.

                I am sick and tired of debate about sanctions. It doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong or work or don’t work. The fact is they are cumulative and irreversible. Only a black president with real powers will stop the flood. There main affect is psychologically in the minds of the whites and the threat is worse than the actuality. They are probable dividing the whites with swings to both the left and the right though it is difficult to say.

                This morning we walked up town to the library. There on the shelves was a copy of Newsweek that was banned from sale about a week ago. Somebody forgot to tell the librarian and as usual nobody cares. The government make a big noise about banning this magazine which loses it many political points in the USA and in the end for nothing. 

                                                                                                                              Regards Alan

                PS.  I am still waiting for a letter from Beverley.

               

From Melbourne 24.9.85

From Melbourne

24.9.85

To dear Alan,

                                All the best for your birthday. And believe me If I had the money to spare I would be over to visit you pronto.

Everyone is fairly well – though by all accounts Lois’s trip to Tonga was not a success.  Oh well!

                Anne and Ben are also well – he is such a bright and reckless (in the fun sense) boy.

                Life is bustling along for me. Money is so damn easy to spend!

                I sat another public service yesterday to “better myself”. I would like to get into Foreign Affairs. Whatever happens. And yet the media would be equally satisfying.

                                Love to you and the family

                                I would dearly like to hear from you

                                                                                                Bev

                 

From Melbourne 17.9.85

From Melbourne

17.9.85

Dear Melissa and Jolene,

                                The other day I was shopping and I saw some children playing with some pot-holders. They were having a wonderful game with them so I had a look at them. They were all different animals but two of them were a hippopotamus and a crocodile. You are getting a bit big to play with them but you are old enough to make up some plays about the animals and then you can put on a performance for your friends. I don’t think you had better put them on water but you could paint a picture of the river and make the puppets talk.

                You most likely can think of better ideas of what to do than I can.

                One day you will have a younger brother or sister to play with but that will be a little while. How do you like the idea? I know a little boy who got a little baby sister last week. He was always telling me he didn’t like girls and he wouldn’t play with them. Now he has a sister he has decided that girls are alright when they are in your own family.

                How are you getting on in school? I hope you are both doing well and have some good friends to play with. It’s good to have some friends even if you don’t always like the work you are doing at school. You ask your mum and dad I bet they didn’t like everything they had to do at school. But still everybody needs to go to school to learn and most of the time it is good fun.

                Have a good time using the puppets and next time you write tell me some of the games you play at school and home. I think they might be the same as the children play here.

                                                                                Love from Grandma

Don’t forget to give Alan a kiss for his birthday.

You should get this before it.

                 

From Melbourne 17.9.85

From Melbourne

17.9.85

Dear Alan,

                Just a letter to wish you happy birthday. I didn’t even look for a card this year after the results of the last few years I decided not even to bother looking. I am enclosing           football notes from last weekend. Dad went to the Saturday match so he didn’t see Footscray play but we heard it all Sunday afternoon. The week before they were beaten miserably but hey were a different team this week. What they will do next week is another matter again.

                Lois has just come back from visiting Pamela for the school holidays.  Things didn’t go quite as smoothly as they did we were there. You would know better than we do living and working with people whose culture is quite different is not easily. And Pamela lives right in the middle. There are very few white and some who are there shouldn’t be there. They are just the wrong type. Some are very good and do understand the way Tongans live. I think Lois had a holiday she won’t forget easily. Some of the time Pamela and Lois were actually living on different islands. I think they each went their own way. Lois at least learn what it is like to live in a third world country.

                The more Pamela writes about what happens there and what the people want the bigger the problem seems. And they are such a small country. Total population less than the city of Sunshine. Total budget much less than the city of Sunshine.

                Would you believe that we have been hearing and reading about South Africa that it is becoming a little boring. But last week I saw a very interesting interview. On a current affairs program of the ABC. Mr Tr… the leader of the Conservatives in South Africa was interviewed in Sydney. A lot of people who know South Africa well have been saying that Mr Botha is a radical and very enlightened to many other South African politicians but I don’t think  a  lot of people believed it. After seeing and hearing Mr Tr… they would realise that Mr Botha is a very reasonable man compared to him. Later tonight our foreign minister Mr Bill Hayden and your foreign minister are going to have a debate on the TV. I am going to watch it. Everyday we hear something more from South Africa.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Love from Mum

From Empangeni 10.9.85

From Empangeni

10.9.85

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am feeling much better now and as it is very hot here the children and I go swimming every afternoon and I think it is all the exercise that has made me better.

Melissa and Jolene are very excited about having a baby in the family and are already fighting about who is going to push the pram.  On Saturday they went with me to visit the doctor and he allowed them in while I was having an ultra-sound scan and he was explaining what everything was and although they said they could see what he was showing them I don’t think they could see very much because it was even difficult for me to work out what was what. After the scan he used another machine to detect the baby’s heart beat which they could definitely understand. Jolene is always me to feel her heart is thumping after she has been running around, something that she picked up from TV.

It is just as well that I am feeling better because it is now just over a month until I start writing exams. The first is on 15 October and I have eleven exam papers to write which will take me through to the 6 November and Alan is writing four exams in the same period and so we are both trying to do as much revision as we can. I am not working at the moment so I have the mornings and evenings to study.  The afternoons    are reserved for the children. I was hoping to get another job in November and to work as long as possible, but I am not sure it will be easy getting temporary employment.

The economy in this country is getting worse every day. The rand was trading as low as 35 cents to the American dollar when the financial rand was introduced and the minister of Finance declaring that no foreign loans will be repaid before the end of December. Although we find it difficult to believe that there is so much trouble going on in this country because we are so far from any of the trouble spots, we can see what it is doing to the economy. Our fuel prices are very high and there is talk the price is going to be increased in the near future. The last increase was about a 44% increase so although I don’t know exactly what it is , you can guess how much it is  as Alan said when he first came to SA it was about twice as much as in Australia.

Alan was very surprised when he phoned you because he got through straight away. I thought you may have been at Trentham for the weekend. Do you often spend your weekends at Trentham or do you only go in summer. Your winter sounds pretty miserable compared with us. Our house has a fire place but I don’t think it is ever used. We had a very mild winter and already it is very hot during the day and we are sleeping with the air-conditioner at night. It is so warm in the winter that we still have thousands of mosquitoes even in the winter and it is almost impossible to go out at night without getting eaten alive.

Melissa has joined the Brownies and she is really enjoying it. On Saturday night they had a 75^th birthday celebration and all the Guides and Brownies in the region had a get together and put on a concert and each pack baked a cake which was judged in a competition. The Brownies came home to sleep the night and then on Sunday morning they had to attend a church service. She is also going on a pack holiday in 2 weeks’ time to Windy Ridge game park for the weekend where they will also be doing a bit of hiking. She is quite excited about it but Jolene isn’t very happy and it will be the first time that they are separated.

                                                                That’s all for now.

                                                                                Love from Lorna

From Melbourne 21.8.85

From Melbourne

21.8.85

Dear Alan

                It’s not hard to think of you and events in South Africa for over the past few weeks there has been an enormous coverage in our newspapers on happenings over there.  Almost every day South Africa has appeared on the front page of one of the newspapers and it’s hard to think of one radio bulletin in recent weeks that didn’t mention South Africa. Bishop Tutu’s voice is now familiar to Australians and this week we even had Trevor Huddleston (Anglican anti-apartheid campaigner) in Melbourne on holiday and naturally he got wide coverage.  Not to mention of course the proposed cricket tour.

                Whether all this means that Australians are better informed is problematical. Most people, as you know, are pretty emotional about South Africa and the views are often mixed-up. I think you have received some newspaper cuttings and I have enclosed some more to show the amount of coverage and the divergence of views.

                I do think that the much awaited speech by Mr Botha was a disappointment. He had the chance to kick a goal but fumbled the ball. South Africa missed the chance for some reforms just after the war when it appeared that the whites were receptive to change. Smuts was too   complacent and the result was the coming to power of the Nationals in 1948 – downhill ever since.

                I hope that the present situation is not a re-run for I do not think that changes can be long delayed. From this distance it appears that unless some reforms are commenced the outlook is rather grim.

                However the changes will have to come from within, and the grand standing by Australian politicians is pretty meaningless.

                At least you have plenty to occupy your mind for things are certainly lively over there, although the violence is certainly something you could do without.   

                In Australia politics is pretty dull at present. Last night was budget night and it was a big yawn. The economy is in fairly good shape but inflation is starting to edge up again and there has been only minimal change to unemployment. The Australian dollar of course has slumped badly this year but not to the same extent as the Rand. 

                However we still manage to eat three times a day and live a reasonable life.

                Biggest blow this week was the thrashing the Australian cricket team got in the fifth test. Serves them right for having only one Victorian in the team!

                We have just about reached the finals in the football season and with two games to go Footscray are sitting in second place. Essendon seem clear favorites but it should be an interesting final series. We have tickets again and I suppose I shall front up but I don’t know for how many more years.

                When the finals are over we have plenty of work to do at the house at Trentham as we have had a carpenter replace all the windows and do other renovations. Means that we have to repaint – mostly inside so we can take our time. Unfortunately coincides with grass cutting season.

                 Lois leaves on Sunday to spend the school holidays with Pam in Tonga. Will be her first trip overseas. She will be going via New Zealand both ways and calling at Fiji.

                The school holidays are not the same in Tonga and the school will be operating for one week while Lois is there. That will give her the chance to see the workings of a school in a third –world country and she will possibly take a class or two.

                She intends to take an interest in the Home Economics section but will get a shock at the facilities – two stoves in a school of almost 1000 girls. And people in the western suburbs of Melbourne think they are deprived. It’s all a matter of relativity.

                Our own business future has been placed in some jeopardy as the Sunshine Council has adopted a plan to re-model the central business area. The plan (if carried out) would mean the demolition of our factory and other adjacent buildings. We mightn’t mind that if the compensation cheque was large enough and we could then retire. The difficulty is that the timing is uncertain so until then we have to carry on.         

             Love to Lorna and the girls.

                                          Dad

               

               

From Melbourne 9.8.85

From Melbourne

9.8.85

Dear Melissa and Jolene

                I have put in two books. Everybody in Australia has heard of the Zulu wars and the Boer wars. You have had other battles in your history but in Australia we have only had one battle and it was very small. One of the books is about that battle. We don’t live very far from Ballarat. In the old cemetery in Ballarat is a monument to the soldiers that died. One day a couple of years ago Pamela and myself looked all over the cemetery looking for the graves of some of our relatives and we came on the large stone in memory of the soldiers and miners who died. That is our only battle. We haven’t got much history when you think how big our country is.

                The other book is about an old suburb of Melbourne. It looks like Collingwood which is a very poor part.

                Melissa might be able to read parts of the books herself but they are too hard for Jolene. I thought when reading the story of ‘The boy who painted the sun’ that the pictures and stories didn’t quite match. See what you think. Anyhow it was a good idea.

                How are you getting on at school? I hope you are both doing all your work well. How is the swimming going. Is your weather hot now or is it too cold to go swimming now. I don’t know whether Alan told you but just around the corner from our place there is a heated swimming pool where you can swim all the year and not have to worry about the weather.

                The children at the kindergarten haven’t been very good the last few days because they have been inside for too many days. Do you get annoyed when you can’t go outside? Maybe your weather doesn’t get as cold and as wet as ours.

                Yesterday we were up at Trentham and Benjamin came up too. When we went for a walk on our place he followed the tracks of kangaroos which were easy to see because the ground was so soft and the kangaroos must have been big. It was easy to follow the tracks.

                Love from Grandma

From Melbourne 9.8.85

From Melbourne

9.8.85

Dear Alan and family,

                                                We are certainly hearing about South Africa now. If anything I think most people are tired of all the talk although it does divide people. Most people have very passionate views about what should be done even if they know almost nothing about it. There has been a lot in the paper and on the radio and TV. I have cut out just a few examples so you can have an idea of what is being said here. I have tried to give examples of all the different points of view which cover a very wide range.

                Today in the news we heard for the first time of trouble near Durban and blacks and Indians fighting which is a little nearer to you than the previous trouble.

                Are many of the workers in the hospital that you work in black? Do they ever let you know what they feel about the present trouble or do they keep their thoughts to themselves. Do you a have a black lady at your place as you did in Pietermaritzburg. The lady who lived at the back of the house there said so little that you really wouldn’t know what was going on in her mind.

                Are there any black areas on the edges of the town you live in? It does seem a pity that years ago as some blacks earnt more money and became more educated they were not allowed to live in the towns if they wanted too then at least there would be some mixing if they wanted it. Most of them would have still wanted to live together but at least it was their own choice.

                We have just been having a very wet and cold winter.  The children have been inside for about three weeks now and some of them are a bit hard to handle. I will be glad when the sun comes out. We haven’t   been up to Trentham for about a month because it has been so cold and wet and also to give the man making the alterations time to finish. He is rather slow he started before the May holidays and he hasn’t asked for more money so he can’t be finished yet.

                I have bought three different types of raspberries which I am going to try up there. I just got 2 of each kind. We will watch then and see if one is better than the others. That is if we can keep the birds from eating the berries.

                I even found a kind of guava that is resistant to frost. It has a smaller fruit that the South African one but a similar flavour. We got to like the juice when we were over there and then when we went to Tonga they grow them too. They market a local fruit juice and jam. We bought home a jar of guava jam. Haven’t tried it yet.

                Lois is going to see Pamela in the Sept holidays. Pamela has sent a long list of things she wants. Mostly for the library and food for Pamela to eat. She doesn’t eat much of the purely Tongan food. It’s too different except for the tropical fruits which are very nice.

                Sunday, this weekend the papers were full of South Africa. Don’t try and read everything at once or you will get “indigestion”.

                I have tried to put all the news of the papers from left to right just so you can see the sort of news we are getting here.

                Just at the moment South Africa is the scapegoat for everyone who wants to protest. There are some who can’t say one good word but not everyone agrees with them. About 60 or 70% say that the cricketers can go to SA if they wanted too.

                I have put a bit about the football too Footscray is doing very well.

                                                                                                Love from mum

                                                                                               

               

From Empangeni 25.7.85

From Empangeni

25.7.85

Dear Mum & Dad,

                                Thank you for the birth certificate. I need it for my new passport. My old one expired in January.

                As for “Sons of Zulu’s” I don’t know this book. I’m sure there are plenty of Zulus living as they did 100 years ago. (ie witchdoctors, polygamy, ritual circumcision, subsistence farming) I’m sure it’s changing especially amongst the young children who go to school. I’m also sure that there are lots of blacks in the big cities at the other end of the spectrum. It’s a big country and there are lots of blacks.

                As for the comrades it’s been run every year between Pietermaritzburg & Durban for the last 60 years. This year it was up. During the first half you climb a lot of hills. The course varies in length. This year it was 88.8 km. This year about 10000 people entered and about 8000 finished in 11 hours. People from all over the world came. There were Australian flags there so I’m sure people came over just to run this race. It really is a very famous race and plenty of people in Australia would give a lot for the opportunity to run in it.

                The atmosphere in Durban & Pietermaritzburg at the time is incredible. There was more media hype than Grand Final day or Melbourne Cup day. The whole route was lined by spectators. You enter the stadium in maritzburg which was full. It was chaos. I finished and was walking around in a daze when this lady grabbed me and said she wanted phots of people from Empangeni. She had been standing watching the people come in, looking out for rhinos. I’m sure if I have the time for training I’ll do it next year (which is down from Pmb to Durban).

                The big news at the moment is the Sate of Emergency.   None of Natal is involved because of Chief Buthelezi and the power he has. In the last 12 months there has definitely been an increase in pessimism (amongst whites) and a swing to the right. I can’t think of the last time there was any cause for celebration. I’ve always been pessimistic so nothing changes.

                As for Wimbledon I really enjoyed watching the tennis. More than for years. What talent from Boris Becker.

                                                                                Alan

PS. What is Beverley doing this year?

From Melbourne : 22.7.85

From Melbourne

22.7.85

Dear Alan,

                I thought it was about time I wrote to you again. I hope life is treating you well in RSA.

                I’ve just spent the past 2 months doing a locum up here in the Pilbra. I’m in Pannavomca which is a small iron mining town about 100 km from Karratha. I did a weeks work in the surgery in Karratha that Neville Corbett used to own. It has since been sold to a young graduate who knows fuck-all about running a dental practice….& he’s got 4 of them to run!

                Anyway I’ve had a bloody good time here & the weathers been a damn sight better than that I would have had to endure in Melb. At this time of year.

                I’m oft to London on Wed next week (31^st) and am looking forward to it (at last).

                I’ve managed to save a few $ now & will  only work if I really have to or if I feel inclined … right now I don’t feel inclined.

                I’ve no fucking idea how long I’ll spend in the UK. It will depend on how I enjoy it.  I’ll keep in touch with you as there is a good chance that I will visit RSA +/- Zimbabwe sometime in the near future.

                                                Wishing you well you old barstard,

                                                                                                                                CJ

From Melbourne : 7.85

From Melbourne

Dear Alan and Lorna,

                                That was a good photo of you in the paper did you know the photographer or were you just lucky. Do you think you could get a copy of the photo from the paper. It would be good to have one. I have been trying to make a frame with photos of everyone. I have got two excellent photos of the girls. The ones beside the swimming pool. Everyone said how good they looked.  The only one we have of Lorna is not a very good one and we have got two of you one putting your socks on and the other one all we can see is the top of your head because you are pulling a tooth out. So we could do with a couple of photos of you and Lorna. At least I did have one of you but I couldn’t find one photo of Beverley taken recently. I have taken them but she took them all because she didn’t like them. The only one I had many photos of was Lois and also Pamela while we were in Tonga.

                Nowhere in the paper did it say how long the race was. It must have been long I just don’t know how you can do it. I know you need to do some exercise but the race must have been very long. I don’t think you would get as many people here running so far. Lots run marathons but not much further.

                Your birth certificate is enclosed. We only got it Friday It takes 3 weeks to find and send it to us. I suppose it stops you getting out of the country in a hurry.

                Also I am enclosing and article from Saturdays’ paper. It doesn’t tell you there but even though most people can’t see why Sportsmen shouldn’t t go there is no-one who argues with apartheid. No-one here even tries to find an argument for it but what most people feel is that if we are still doing business with south Africa why should the sportsmen be told they can’t go. It is just that they feel Sportsmen are bring the only ones being used to change the South African government.

                I have just finished reading a book called ‘Sons of Zulu’ by Aubrey Elliot published by Collins. I didn’t like the way he writes – he seemed very condescending about the Zulus but the photos were beautiful. But what percentage of Zulus live as he shows I would be interested to know. Are there many who live as they have lived for the last 100 years or so. Maybe there are still a lot of Zulus living like they are in the book but I wonder. The book was published in 1978 so it is fairly up to date.

                Guess what! We are losing this week a part of the family or sort of.

                Beverly is getting a car for herself and she is using the Mini as a trade-in. I have been using it mostly this year because it wasn’t good enough for her to get to Monash or back. She has been looking for a while and on Saturday she fell in love with a car as soon as she saw it so this week the Mini goes.

                In a way I will be sorry to see it go it has been a good car and still pleasant to drive even though it was going through oil as well as petrol and the clutch had nearly gone and the brakes were not as good as they should be. But I have just been going to the kinder & back each day. It won’t be quite the same without the Mini. At least we will have the Commodore all the time now and Beverley will have to look after her own car herself.

Tell Melissa and Jolene that I will write to them soon but I thought I better get this letter off as soon as possible so that you will have your birth certificate. I hope that by now you have fully recovered from the long race which we all thought you did very well. I think anybody who finished it was remarkable. But I hope you have found an easier way of exercising.

                                                                                                Love from Mum

photos : comrades marathon

From Melbourne 18.6.85

From Melbourne

18.6.85

Dear Alan, Lorna and Melissa and Jolene,

                                                                                I am enclosing a couple of things we got in Tonga. There were a lot of things there that reminded us of Natal. The basketweaving that the people do there reminded me very much of the Zulus. As you can see from the bag some of the same patterns. I think the work we saw at Eshowe would be stronger and last longer because it is made of a stronger material. The Tongans use a small sort of palm tree which is free and they do it quickly so it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t last forever. The necklace reminded me of the bead work of the Zulu’s also. I think it is coral but I am not sure.  I thought that Melissa would look nice with the necklace and Jolene with the bag but if you like them the other way around it doesn’t matter.

                We did have a good time because Pamela was able to show us around.  She has made some very good friends with a few of the teachers who are Tongans. We were able to spend several days just in their homes and at their bush block. Every family is supposed to have a few acres which they can live off. If they use it properly it is enough but because of too many people not everyone has a block now. We spent a day at Mele T’s place while they prepared food for a feast. For the conference of their church that was being held at the school Pamela teaches at. They killed seven young pigs. All the family and relatives help. Not many of them have got jobs. After the pigs are cooked they put out the fire and put yams and other food on the hot stones cover with dirt and leave about 1 hour to cook.

 We went to several of the feasts at the conference but I didn’t eat any pig because I was frightened they might have tape worm in them.

                In the market photo you can see all the baskets they make from coconut leaves they are very common. Nobody here ever carries anything on their head. Also we saw no babies, no prams or pushers. The babies and toddlers are always left at home with another relative. 

                The main street of Nuka-alofa reminded me a little of Butterworth. Usually more people than in the photo. Everyone moves slowly. Shabby and not much in good condition. Nobody worries very much. I don’t think anyone there has high blood pressure unless it is because they are too fat. They do like to eat.

                We did like the photos of Jolene and Melissa in the swimming pool.  We will most likely come over again and I think I would be quite happy to spend all our time in Natal. It is a lovely place. Fiji reminded us a lot of Natal.  Sugar cane, green plants everywhere and lots of Indians, lots of Fijians and very few white people. The white people are a very small percent.  Indians seem to run all the businesses and the Fijians have all the “lower” jobs.  By now Alan should have finished running for a while. Maybe gardening would be easier. You said you grew lots of brinjals.  But I didn’t know what it is. My tomatoes for a couple of years were so bad that I didn’t even plant this year. I’ve got some very good silver beet growing but it is easier to grow in our climate. While we were in Tonga I didn’t have a cardigan or stockings on the whole time. Most people just wear thongs or have bare feet. No one wore a hat. Some use umbrellas but mostly they keep out of the sun.

                Everybody is spoken to by their first name so we do not even know Mele T’s other name.  To distinguish Mele T from Mele F. Mele is Mary and is a very common name. The principal of the school is only known by her Christian name even by the girls.

                Almost every day there is something in the newspaper about South Africa you could say the flavor for the moment to criticise South Africa. There is a lot of argument going on how we should treat SA. There is a wide range of ideas from the left to the right. You could not say there is a common policy. Mention SA and you are liable into a discussion whether you want to or not. I am sure that Bob Hawke wishes he had never heard of SA. Most people have very definite ideas of what is happening in SA even if they really know nothing about the place.

                About the only thing that people get worked up about in Australia is whether the government is taking too much tax. We really are rather selfish but there isn’t much else too debate.

                You should see our house at Trentham, Alan, we have just had all the windows replaced. It isn’t finished yet but he place looks so much better. Now we can open all the windows.

                Melissa – I have a boy at the kindergarten who has a leg like yours. In the holidays he got a new leg because he had grown so much.  The other children were fascinated because he was so pleased with his new leg that he took it off to show them. This time his foot looks almost real with toes marked but the leg is still hard. He is just like you he does everything the other children do. Sometimes he can’t do it as well but he just tries again I think he will get on. He’s an optimist.

                Jolene – Next time you write what about drawing a picture of your house and the garden around it so we can see what it is like. You both look good in your bathers.

                Love from Mom and Grandma

               

               

                 

From Empangeni : Photos of the Comrades 1985

From Empangeni 16.6.85

From Empangeni

16.6.85

Dear Mom and Dad,

We received your letter about your holiday and it sounds as if you had an enjoyable time. It will be nice to see some of your photos.

I am sending you a page out of the local newspaper about the comrades marathon. Alan did very well as there was +- 10000 entrants and +- 8000 runners who completed and he came 2827^th. The winner, Bruce Fordyce, has won the race 5 times running and completing it in +- 5 ½ hours which is a record. After the race , Alan was totally exhausted and lost several toe nails and has a blister covering most of one foot because he wore shoes that were slightly too large for him. It took him about two weeks to recover and even now he still is not running as much as before he started training. It was quite a boost to get his picture in the newspaper living in a small town, everybody reads the paper so everytime we see somebody they mention it.

The schools here are breaking up next week for 3 weeks and Melissa’s school is putting on a concert for the parents called “around the world”. They will both get spots, so I will let you know how they are doing.

                Love from Lorna

PS Alan asks for a full birth certificate and not an extract. He needs to renew his passport before August.

Photos : Tonga 1985