Format: Audio

Linked To

Interviewee

Cathy (Hutchby) Long

Place Recorded

Coffs Harbour-NSW

Interviewer

Sheridah Melvin

Collection

Agency

Yarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)

Related Person or Organisation

Sunnyside Maternity Hospital

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

We support the open release of content. Text and images on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, so please state "Courtesy of the City of Coffs Harbour" where you use them. If your intended use is commercial, please let us know.

Tools

Download Add to My Collection Contact us about this Citation for this item

Cathy Long Interview

Details

IntervieweeCathy (Hutchby) LongInterview Date15 September 1986Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration1h22m03sAccession NumberLS2020.1.26Credit LineCoffs Harbour City Council, 1988.

More Information

InterviewerSheridah MelvinCollectionYAM Museum CollectionVoice of Time oral history projectAgencyYarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)SummaryStandard disclaimer. Visit the 'Voice of Time' web site to read or listen to the disclaimer. Born 1915 at Woolgoolga -- Father worked as a carpenter on the Woolgoolga Hotel -- Mrs Long's younger brother Albert Bernie Hutchby -- Memories of Grafton when she was six -- Bernie got pneumonia and went to hospital. "... next thing she's got a couple of ports and she's gone" -- They lived in a boarding house in South Grafton run by Mrs Quinn. Cathy took over the mother role at six -- Her duties at the boarding house -- The move to Cowper Convent Home -- The Home separated the children -- Cathy's mother's visit -- They moved to Orara sawmill, into the house attached -- Cathy was 11, her brother eight -- They stayed six to eight months, then moved to Woolgoolga. Cathy rode a pushbike all the way from Orara -- Her jobs at the aunt's house -- They stayed eight or nine months, then Cathy's father sent her to a farm in Coramba to work. It was 1928 and she was 13 years old -- The effect of the family break up on Cathy and her education -- The teacher at the Woolgoolga school was very good -- His way of making Cathy important -- His motivation system -- The speller -- "It was the most important day of my childhood" -- Her father left her at the farm -- All the various duties. She worked like this for 2.5 years without any payment -- Cathy's father did not listen to her when she told him about her life -- Whippings and physical abuse -- Neighbours reported to police at Coramba -- She was still left vulnerable to attack -- "I finally ended up desperate". Cathy was 16 -- Searching for a bullet, she found a lettercard -- Her ultimatum to her father -- His arrival with the police -- The bruises proved her story -- Cathy's last conversation with the woman. She was verging on a nervous breakdown -- Life at Boambee with her father -- Cathy got a job in Coffs in 1931 -- Sister Sue employed Cathy at the Sunnyside Maternity home when it first started -- Her duties at the hospital for 10/- a week and her keep -- Dismissal because of her absence -- Childcare and housework in her second job in Coffs -- Work for Mrs Deeks at the Jetty. Washing by hand -- Her long working day as a domestic servant -- Payment was 10/- a week -- The absence of any education concerning the body and sexual issues -- Her aunt's reply to the question about babies -- "I was like a pup left off the chain" -- Cathy was 16 in 1931 when she found she was pregnant -- "It would be something that was mine, all mine". Her father's response -- Chamberlain pills -- Cathy worked until she was seven months pregnant -- Her Father applied for the dole on her behalf -- She came in every Thursday -- The nature of the dole then -- Standing pregnant in the queue. The baby was born at Nurse McGurran's Maternity Hospital -- The priest's visit -- Her post-natal state -- Later health and conception problems -- Life in the bark hut with her baby -- Mrs King's help with feeding -- The worry of having to bring up the baby on her own. Working again for Mrs Deeks -- "That meant I had 8 kids to look after" -- Thoughts of a better life -- The move to Sydney -- "I had to give in and agree to adoption" -- The experience in the adoption office -- The acute sense of loss. Seeing the baby in the street -- The return to Coffs Harbour in 1934 -- Work for the Bray family -- The constant grief over the loss of her baby -- Meeting her husband -- He was an offsider for a bullock driver, Mr Freddy Gardiner. "I could not have a big wedding" -- Cathy's sense of what was appropriate to wear -- Married life at Boambee -- How their six pounds was spent -- Unemployment -- The rented room for 3/- a week -- Furniture out of boxes -- Surgery to increase fertility. The birth of her second baby at Sunnyside -- "I never felt that I fitted into society" -- The importance of the gift from Mr Ruthning, the jeweller -- Arthur Loader's truck; country-dances. Standard disclaimer. Visit the 'Voice of Time' web site to read or listen to the disclaimer (Internet link is below). The resignation to never seeing her first child again -- "Out of the blue ..." -- The meeting approaches -- Peggy was 50 when she rang her mother -- "Well you were my baby" -- Suddenly Cathy had 10 grandchildren. Her brother Bernie -- Last together in 1928 -- The visit in 1939, at the birth of Cathy's son, Brian -- "A man can't look after children, it's impossible" -- Bernie's attitude to his mother -- His memory of Cathy as mother. The effect on Cathy's life of men going to War -- Economic management during the war years -- Housework for Mrs Simmons -- Saving for land and a home. The returning soldiers -- Bernie's refusal to be sent to New Guinea -- Mr Long's service in Water Transport -- VE Day in Brisbane. Their way of life after the war -- Cathy's role in getting her husband a job -- His wage was seven pounds a week -- Post-war scarcity of goods -- Gratuity money -- Looking back on her life.