Anne – and Mollie Hill
I mentioned last week that I had received an email from Anne — in reply to my query about the wellbeing of her mum, Sue. The first part of her note was regarding Sue but the rest of it is something I can publish.
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We both still love reading your column and enjoyed seeing the poem by Mollie Hill. Did you know that she was the granddaughter of Sir Rowland Hill? Sir Rowland’s proposals to reform the British postal system in the 1830s led to (among other things) the introduction of the postage stamp. As I think I’ve said before, Mollie was also a talented artist and we have several of her paintings. Many are of the poplars at Wandiligong where she settled after her retirement but I have this still life which belonged to my grandparents.
Looking forward to your next column, Anne
Now, for some reason, I have confused Mollie Hill (writer and artist) with Mabel Down (musician and lyricist). Mollie wrote a poem for our centenary entitled Progress Through Courage (which helped me understand, to some degree, the importance of two white men camping nearby). Mabel was, I believe, a musician who wrote the lyrics for Blossom Town — a song composed by Ray West for the centenary.
I have since wondered if there was a connection between Mabel and the gentleman who was principal of Shepparton High School for many years. I only knew him as Mr Down. Can anyone help?
I have included the still life that Anne kindly sent. And, a repeat of Mollie’s poem. It is a gentle piece of work — lauding our pioneers and looking to the future. Well worth reading again.
To assist with my confusion, Geoff Allemand has sent me a heap of information about Mollie Hill, which I’ll include soon.
Our memories
Once I asked Anne’s mother, Sue, if I could tell her life story. She had made many contributions to Town Talk — as she has more than 90 years of memories. Her reply (God bless her) was that she’d prefer to maintain the mystery.
But now, I’m asking for her earliest memories — and yours. If they happened in our city, good. However, if Shepparton has adopted you, I’d love to hear your first impressions of our town/city. What made you stay — or return?
This request came about during the week, when my husband was singing I Remember It Well — except he didn’t! He had forgotten the lyric and where the song originated. Discussions took place; First Son arrived and said that, although he knew parts of the song, it wasn’t in any of the stage musicals he knew well. Eventually, frustrated, I asked Mr Google — who said the song came from the film musical Gigi.
That settled, my husband and I started talking about early memories; and I started thinking about yours. (I have several people in mind here, so share!)
I have a very early memory, which is dubious and can no longer be authenticated. I might share it next week — we’ll see! However, there is one — when I was, I reckon, almost four years old. I estimate the age because we were still in Corio St and moved into our new home, in south Shepp, where we celebrated my fourth birthday.
Our front verandah had one of those red brick ‘fences’ across it; they were meant to be decorative. Ours was also very high, if you were very little. And I had trouble climbing it. Standing on top of it, the lawn seemed a long way away. But that was okay because I was going to turn a somersault in the air before landing on my feet. You see, we had been to a circus the night before; we never missed one because my dad loved them. I had seen girls doing much more difficult things and this was something I could manage; I was sure.
I jumped high, turning my body into a half somersault — and landed flat on my back, hard. Some might think I landed on my head and the result is plain today; however, it was my back I hurt. I stayed where I landed for some time. Eventually somebody called me and I went inside, with scratches on my knees from climbing the bricks. I admitted to climbing the bricks but never told anyone about my acrobatic endeavour. Perhaps circus performers should warn, ‘Children, don’t try these tricks at home’ (for stupid four-year-olds!).
I bet your memories are more interesting — perhaps of your first day at school or the arrival of a baby sister or brother (I always wanted one of those). And, to our welcome adoptees, your first impressions of our city. Please send them to me, via whatever email or phone number you use.
Shepparton and Mooroopna – the rivalry.
I have written previously about my grandfather explaining the rivalry between the two towns. He said Mooroopna was established first and old Mooroopna folk resented Shepparton for growing quicker. But that is definitely debatable!
According to Ray West, the first part of Shepparton was surveyed in 1855. The site for Mooroopna was gazetted in 1874. It was 300 acres, from the Mooroopna hospital grounds to within half a mile of the Goulburn. Mr West has written that, unless the government was intending to build a second Venice, this was a remarkably damp place for a town. In 1860, Mr Archer (who keeps turning up in our records) went from Shepp to Mooroopna and built the first house. If my memory is holding up, he also built the first hotel, the first butcher shop and ran the first post office (Presumably after a few more houses had been built!). He was unhappy with Shepparton when he left. He had been tricked into selling his hotel and the punt — to a competitor. Perhaps he was the source of the rivalry! And that is a possibility, you know! He virtually established Mooroopna and he certainly left Shepp, with a great deal of anger. He could have started the competitiveness.
Mr West gleefully states that a hundred years later, Shepp’s population was 13,200 and Mooroopna’s 1950.
Today, who cares! We live in one and work in the other — or whatever. We are sister towns within Greater Shepparton, which could have a more suitable name. How is Sheppoopna? Oh! Okay.
Last week
I have said, on many occasions, that the people who read Town Talk are the nicest I have ever encountered. And last week proved it once again when I ‘fessed-up’ to a complicated spiritual life. Nothing I’ve received this week was for publication — but it was filled with warmth, gentleness and Christian love. In reply to one of my correspondents, I said her letter was something I could imagine Jesus writing — in similar circumstances.
However, I’ve pinched a line from her second email, because it made me smile.
There’s a saying, ‘Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car.’
For those of you who want to hear the whole story, I’m sorry, I can’t. It would be book length and bore the pants off most of our readers. And, we can’t have Town Talk readers running around like that, can we?
May it be easy, my friends
Marnie.
Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au
Letter: Town Talk. Shepparton News. P.O. Box 204. Shepparton 3631.
Phone: Send a text on 0418 962 507. (Note: text only. I will call you back, if you wish)
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