´óÏó´«Ã½

Life went on quietly and Jonathan had his fourth birthday party in May 1944. I made a large cake and hired a pony and trap for the children. It was almost mid winter, but the sunshine was wonderful. Then, one afternoon, the elder brother of one of my pupils, turned up on the doorstep which was wonderful — fresh out from ‘Home’ -. We by the fire and I gave him supper. Jonathan slept peacefully at the other end of the room. The next day he came along and we took Jonathan to the zoo, with the Aussies staring curiously at Archie’s unfamiliar uniform — tartan ‘trews’, a Glengarry of the KOSB. He had to go that evening ‘into the unknown’. As he was an expert in canoes, we reckoned there would be landings from submarines behind Jap lines fairly soon — very helpful to our morale!

We were well into 1944 and things were looking good in Europe. My cousin had been demobbed from the AIF in the Middle East and went home to help his elderly father with the sheep station. In the ‘topsy turvey’ seasons, we had yet another scorching summer day at Christmas and the news was exciting — huge American bombers spilling destruction on Jap cities and ships. We still had no idea where the prisoners were, or, if the Japs, seeing defeat, would kill all the remainder.

Winter turned to spring 1945, the most beautiful season in Australia, with all the wild flowers and wattle. Even the gum trees put on some pink colouring after the dull, blue grey. The news became exciting, with the fall of Hitler and Co. I had, by this time, obtained a small radio.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.