Town Talk | Helen Bowie: From the trenches to the gallery

A story was sent to this newspaper and arrived in my inbox. It told me about Helen Bowie’s busy life. She certainly was an interesting woman. I’m always alert to women who have paved the way for the rest of us, so I’ll tell you more about her later on. However, when I got to the end of the article, with no local references, it said that her collection of paintings was left to the Shepparton Art Gallery and that some of her family lived in the Goulburn Valley.

Bowie was not a name I had come across previously, and I was curious; when you want to find something, you call a busy person. So, I called Carmel Johnson at SAM and, soon after, had a callback. Four paintings were bequeathed to the gallery by Ms Bowie in 1959. However, there was no indication of why.

With the assistance of Damian Quirk, the gentleman who had sent us this material, I was able to speak with Bruce Basket, who had written the story. And Bruce could not have been more helpful. He sent me the original — and extensive — material he had researched to write his piece. So, I have been reading, reading, reading.

William Symington Josef Bowie (Helen’s father) spent his last years living with Elizabeth Dryden (Helen’s sister) in Shepparton. He died in 1928 at 98 years of age. He was cremated after a funeral service at the Shepparton Cemetery.

Now, I wasn’t around in 1928; however, ‘Dryden’ is a familiar name — an ‘old Shepparton’ name — and I’m starting to put the pieces together. Perhaps Helen visited her father a number of times during his last years; perhaps, as a keen and talented golfer, she played a few games at the golf club; perhaps she visited the art gallery and, apparently, she liked us and mentioned the gallery in her will.

Helen ‘Nellie’ Bowie

Helen was born at Jackson’s Creek, Sunbury, in 1873. Her mother, Amelia, passed away when Helen, known as Nellie, was just 11 years old, and she was raised by her favourite aunt, Helen Hunt, and Dr Horne.

Nellie was a brilliant student at Hawthorn College, which became the Swinburne Technical College, and she enjoyed a privileged and comfortable lifestyle. Encouraged by Dr Horne, a leading Melbourne surgeon, she decided on a career as a bacteriologist, an unusual choice for a woman in those days.

And she took up golf, a hobby that would give her pleasure for many years. She joined the Metropolitan Golf Club at Oakleigh in 1910 and won the women’s club championship in 1911-12, setting a course record of 85. Her record stood for 11 years.

World War I

In February 1914, Dr and Mrs Horne, accompanied by Helen, set sail for a first-class holiday in Europe. There were plans for Helen to further her studies in bacteriology in Europe and also to test her golfing skills against the best of the British.

They visited Norway and southern Germany, departing from Hamburg for London just a few days before war was declared in early August. On the 17th of that month, Lady Rachel Dudley (wife of Australia’s fourth governor-general, William Ward) placed an advertisement in the London newspapers seeking doctors and nurses to set up a voluntary hospital at the front in France. As the military bureaucracy dismissed Lady Dudley as an “interfering woman”, she lobbied King George V and Lord Kitchener.

Dr Horne and Helen immediately offered their services to the Empire. Much to Helen’s delight, they established the first Australian field hospital in the clubhouse and surrounding area of the Wimereux Golf Club. Within 36 hours, it was transformed into a fully equipped hospital ready for patients.

Helen was inspired by Lady Dudley, as was poet Banjo Paterson, who spent time at the hospital. He wrote, “A wonderful woman. She should have been a general, for no doubts assailed her and no difficulties appalled her.” Lady Dudley and the very unpopular Lord Dudley had four sons and three daughters. One of their great-granddaughters is the actress Rachel Ward — married to Australian actor Bryan Brown. You might remember her performance in The Thorn Birds.

Helen worked around the clock at the hospital, taking the place of a theatre nurse who had fallen ill. They did more than 70 operations in the theatre in the first week. Eventually, she had time off and was free to work in her bacteriology laboratory in the golf house. From here, she had a clear view — across the rolling links — to the English Channel. On a clear day, the sun would hit the white cliffs of Dover.

And between waves of incoming wounded, Helen did get a chance to play golf on the Wimereux links. She instructed many of the hospital staff in the game as they grabbed an hour or two between their harrowing and strenuous time in the hospital.

Helen said the German soldiers were grateful for all that was done for them. Most of them could speak some English. However, the German officers displayed a hatred for the British. They demanded attention and would not speak English, she said.

Back home

Dr Horne and Helen returned to Melbourne in late 1915. She was now 42 years of age and, joyfully, one presumes, resumed playing golf at both Metropolitan and Flinders golf clubs.

Dr Horne passed away in 1927 — after being nursed by Helen for four years. Helen also retired from her work as a bacteriologist, and surely, it would be around this time that she began visiting Shepparton to see her father.

In 1933, she was made a life member of Flinders Golf Club and in 1934 became president of the club — the first female president in Victoria. She died in 1959, a wealthy woman, having inherited firstly half of Dr Horne’s estate and the balance from Aunt Helen.

Dr Horne, with other surgeons, developed a building on Collins St named Lister House. And now I’m wondering if that had any possible connection with Shepparton’s Lister House.

But I think it’s better if I leave that question unanswered. Enough is enough!

Cheating in the kitchen

When I visited the supermarket last week, I hadn’t been there for some time. Usually, I work from my list, order online and have everything delivered. As a result, I was quite startled by the number of prepared and packaged meals — cabinet after cabinet.

Several times over the last few years, I have been reminded of a conversation I had with the boss at the photocopier, I reckon, in 1996. He was inquiring about a trip we had made to the UK and asked if I’d noticed the value-adding that was happening in their supermarkets. He suggested that value-adding would be coming our way — and he was right — slowly but surely, cheating has been made easier and easier.

I most certainly had noticed because, by 1996, I’d been cheating in the kitchen at every opportunity. In London, I was particularly aware of the array of sweets ready for the customer to take home. There was everything from fruit and custard to trifles to bread and butter pudding. Talk about cheating! How hard is it to open a can of fruit and a small carton of custard? And you can make a bread and butter pudding in the microwave. But there they all were, particularly profitable for the wholesalers, I guess.

Way, way back, in the early days of our marriage, I used to cook a dish entitled ‘Chicken in mushroom sauce’, which my husband particularly liked. More accurately, it should have been called ‘Chicken in mushroom soup’, but bacon and toasted almonds were involved, and it was quite tasty. It necessitated buying a whole chicken because that’s the only way it was sold. It took me about three hours to prepare and cook.

Today, I can make the same dish in 20 minutes; cheating, of course, largely because I can buy the right quantity of chicken — cooked and diced. And because the bacon and soup can be prepared in the microwave. Then, all I have to do is mix them together, pour them into a casserole dish, top with fresh breadcrumbs and almonds — and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. I keep some diced chicken in the freezer and a can of mushroom soup in the pantry — it has become an emergency meal when I’ve talked too long over coffee.

I cheat with pastry and batter, birthday cakes and, sometimes, with pancakes. And I’ve cheated with frozen vegetables since I heard a dietician on ABC radio say that they are every bit as good for you as fresh — because they are frozen the day that they are picked and don’t take days to get to you. I started using frozen foods during the COVID-19 period and found that if I cooked them for a shorter than recommended time, they were crisp and nice — and prevented a lot of wastage.

Of recent times, I figured I should be able to avoid cooking — one night a week — because I’m not enjoying the kitchen as much as I used to. So, over the past two years, I have tried everything and my husband hasn’t liked anything. I’ve ordered from Shepparton’s best restaurants, but “no”. His comment was, “Don’t add that one to the menu”.

So, I looked at this array of ready meals at the supermarket and knew he wouldn’t enjoy any of them. Then I visited the butcher’s and found three dishes I thought he’d enjoy. This is the ultimate in cheating; he didn’t even realise that it wasn’t my cottage pie or my chicken carbonara. I’ve had two nights off and am looking forward to the third.

Shepparton Access

Thank you to those who enjoyed last week’s story. Here is an example:

Hi, Marnie; thank you so much for this week’s article on Shepparton Access. The Eco café is a great place for a coffee. It’s friendly, the staff wonderful and cheery. The coffee is delicious, and the food is great. Well worth calling in.

And thank you to those who’ve ‘hung in’ for the story of Helen Bowie.

Spring is here, everyone; let’s hope for a pleasant one.

May it be easy, my friends.

Marnie

Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au

Letter: Town Talk. The News. P.O. Box 204. Shepparton 3631.

Phone: Text or call 0409 317187.