Letter from Aubrey Hall to his daughter Margaret, 1947-07-31
| Title: | Letter from Aubrey Hall to his daughter Margaret, 1947-07-31 |
|---|---|
| Identifier: | archives.org.au/Letter_from_Aubrey_Hall_to_his_daughter_Margaret,_1947-07-31 |
| Parent item: | |
| Storage location: | H.M. Wilson Archives/Folder 3 |
| Date: | |
| Authors: | |
| Source: | |
| Format and extent: | seven pages |
| License: |  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)It will enter the public domain in Australia on 1 January 2034. |
| Related people: | Harold Aubrey Hall · Helen Margaret Wilson (née Hall) · George Lazenby |
| Related places: | |
| Keywords: | H.M. Wilson Archives |
| Description: | A letter from Aubrey Hall to his daughter Margaret. |
[TODO – Transcribe 7 pages, hard to read but not as bad as some.]
This letter was partially transcribed by Helen Margaret Wilson (née Hall) in 1964, see Letter, Aubrey Hall to Margaret Hall, 1947-07-31.
https://archive.org/details/aubrey-hall-to-daughter-1947-07-31/mode/2up
https://app.transkribus.org/collection/2050948/doc/8733195/
Transcription
P.S. I am housed in the dwelling during shearing & am invited in to O'Neill's sitting room to sit by the fire to listen to the wireless which doesn't get much letter writing done.
Any news of Rae? I.S.H. No time to end[?] this.
My dear
I ? ? in to town today so I ? ? 28th today & can reply to ? ?. To ? your letter ?, you mention showing mother your future home in Swanbourne. Is there any probable date for the tenants to vacate in your favour?
Re Cyanithe[?] as a matter of ? I was rather ? up the track as I can only buy ? ? ? in Arrino, that doesn't mean that I am out ? ? but the hands are so much that I can't get used to any one, ? this week, I was ? The ? Soldier's wife is also a HC, she is a a .
Joan can't mean I ? ? apparently she is ? much better with people ?
Mother send me a ? here saying she is leaving on the 6th for Adelaide, but didn't say to what manner of ? I don't ?like her leaving alone and ? don't like her travelling 2nd class, but I can't do anything about it from here. Joan said she was offering Mother the ? for a 1st and ? her against the 2nd Class.
? in my later work? has a head-
You had not mentioned KO's question ?, but Joan in one of her letters said "how kind of Kathleen Osborn". Your little frills in the detail. Do you mind Berry will feel that he is getting to much of his in-laws, with Joan posted there for apparently an indefinite time?
about with Alan & ?quietly lighten her household duties. Mrs D? hi? was something more than a few "old ?," she must have had a strong affection for Gag to remember a daughter & a granddaughter in her giving. Thanks for news of the Innes, glad to know Mrs I seems ? ? ?, then she must have full ? no
Who did Gordon marry? What's Murray think ? of the new wife?
I didn't know there was a memorial to grandfather Lazenby in Wesley Church, he was deserving of some to as he was a foundation member of that sect, one of their lay preachers and presented their first meeting place with a the seating accommodation.
He was a ? ? architect from Yorkshire, when his father was young G G Grandfather was a school master,
He came here with a fair ammount of cash, bought land in what is now the hear of Perth, built 12 colleges & a large comfortable brick house for him- self in Murray St on a huge block of land ? if it ? to Wellington St (then wild bush) Begat 7 daughters & 2 sons, then sold up & bought Cardup (now Byford I think) opened a clay pit there, burnt bricks & built a two story home, dammed a brook & built a flour mill, had calico horses & pyes, had a gander, made ? &
cheese, opened up a slate quarry & had great slabs of it worked up into shelves for the dairy, played the cello (pronounced chello) himself & had all his children taught music, all the girls played the piano, one son the violin & the other the piano & violin. The family could produce such good music that an old retired army Captain who was under Wellington in the time of Water- loo & was Resident Magistrate of the Canning District (Capt Hester, grandfather of Nellie's Ted) who was also a ? used to ride or event walk across from the Canning to Cardup for the pleasure of making music with them. When the elder son John Lazenby was old enough to take charge & most of the daughters were married your G Grandfather moved back to his Perth house & was appointed Clerk of Works to the Town Trust (now the City Council) & had sole charge under the Government Architect of all the construction of the Town Hall, all those alcoves were then oc- cupied as market stalls, of which he had daily supervision. Every week day after breakfast he made a tour of inspection, always attired in grey ?pack coat & pants, ditto ? & a walking stick in one hand & yours truly trotting along- side holding the other hand.
He had charge of all Municipal Labor & any out of work could have a road making job at 1/- per diem.
{{centre|V}]
his house must have been quite large, there was a front verandah, where I used to gather hail stones, his dressing room where I used to watch him shave, top lip & chin, somewhat ala Paul Kruger, an old English fashion devised for partaking of Holy Communion. He and Grandma doubtless had a bedroom. Mother & we children ditto, & likewise two single daugh- ters Aunt Jinny (Mrs Sam Rowe, mother of Mrs Jack Durack and Mrs Victor Harwood, whose husband was an officer killed in the 14.18 War) & Aunt Ellen who died single. There was a big kitchen-dining room after the fashion of an old English farmhouse, a sitting room with many books & on a round table in the centre of the room, a China white swan, containing pens, nibs &c., then there was a big store room with a long shelf carrying bottles of home made jam & marmalade. In addition there was another big room at one end of the house where Grandma carried on a fairly large Dame's School which I & Uncle Ernest attended together with Annears and Ranfords and many others.
Grandma Lazenby was a Governess in England. Grandfather Lazenby was engaged to her when he left England, she followed after & was married in Perth from old Mr & Mrs Stone's house, the ancestors of Stone of Stone & Burt. I think Mrs. Stone was a cousin of Grandfather Lazenby's, through the
Johnstons or Johnsones of Guilford, they again are related to the old West Australian Hardy family not the de Grey and Katanning Hardies. Hampton late Under Secretary Crown Law Depart related to Governor Hampton married a Miss Hardy.
Grandmother Lazenby was a Miss Wells & her mother (your great great grandmother) was a Miss Boyd, a descendant of Boyd Earl of Kilmarnock in Scotland who was executed for being right hand man to Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Stuarts cause in 1745. So if tartans become fashionable again, you should wear the Clan Boyd tartan.
Sorry if I bore you, but old time memories I find have run away with my pen, however when I am gone Judith & Alan & possibly Murray might be interested.
One thing I forgot to mention was how Geo Lazenby came to choose W.A. to migrate to. He had a brother who was a Master Mariner & owned his own ship, he came a voyage here whaling & George came with him for a health trip by Doctor's advise & liked the climate so much he later came here to settle.
What Stewarts is {?} with, please give her my kindest regards & tell her I will write to her after shearing is done.
Some one said Bruce failed in his exams, did he miss by much & is he going on with it[illegible] I think Murray is wise in tackling accounting, as he will then be competent in all phases of the timber business.
We have a fairly good shearing team of 10 men, the same good old one legged cook, [illegible] time our one legged station cook is on holiday in Perth, we have had a few days fine weather, Grant's little lot are finished & about a thousand [illegible] . Several Richmond men in the team, one a POW at Changi & Burma, knows a lot about Rivett (pronounced Ri_vett) whose book Behind Bamboo I have read. Whilst Mother is away will post the N.T. to you, please show the article on the new drugs for combating thrombosis to Cousin Ernest in case he hasn't seen it.
Will you please complete the a/d on the letter ?? to Mrs Macguiness[?] , a belated apology for not calling to say good bye.
Having that [illegible] asking me to meet Sinle O'Reilly [illegible] this also my intention to ring [illegible] .
My writing this trip is particularly execrable, the pen fell point down on the floor & I haven't a spare at the moment. Your ever affectionate old
Dad.
