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Interviewee

Rose (Sherwood) Boultwood

Place Recorded

Coffs Harbour-NSW

Interviewer

Kerri Moss

Collection

Agency

Yarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)

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Rose Boultwood Interview

Details

IntervieweeRose (Sherwood) BoultwoodInterview Date22 July 1986Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration43m49sAccession NumberLS2020.1.124Credit LineCoffs Harbour City Council, 1988

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Description

Mrs Boultwood's family came to Nana Glen from Cundletown in the late 1800s.

InterviewerKerri MossCollectionYAM 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. Rose was born at Nana Glen in 1893 -- The family came from the Manning River by boat to Grafton -- They moved to Sharpes Place at Nana Glen -- Her mother had the Post Office and was paid five pounds per year (1900s) -- Her father was a farmer but died at 54 -- She had 3 brothers and 3 sisters -- Rose's mother was a dressmaker. The girls used to mind the P.O -- "We got on quite well during the Depression. We used to sell butter for 8 pence a pound. We had chooks and grew vegetables" -- They killed their own meat. Four families often shared a beast. Religion. They were Methodist churchgoers. They had Sunday school at home before there was a church. The minister used to come from Grafton once a month -- The Minister used to drive back to Grafton in horse and sulky -- Her father was very interested in politics. He read 'The Examiner' which came from Grafton -- "Politics in those days not as serious as it is today" -- The newspapers and mail came from Grafton on the mail coach (horse-drawn) -- Mrs Boultwood married in 1915. They used to drive the horse and sulky to Coffs Harbour from Upper Orara to do shopping -- Rose was 23 years when she married. Her husband was 29 -- Rose kept the telephone office at Arainia (Upper Orara) for 35 years -- Her husband was a dairy farmer -- Rose's parents liked her future husband very much. During their courtship they only saw each other once a fortnight - "Didn't have much time to go around" -- They met at age 17, were engaged at 19 and married at 23 -- Glory-box - "Fancy work", sheets etc -- Their first child born in 1916. They had a girl and 2 boys -- They were born in Coffs Nursing Home -- Early motherhood -- "Buggy and a pair of ponies" -- "It only took about an hour and a half to go to Nana Glen from Orara" -- Used to catch the mail coach from Karangi to Nana Glen. School days. Rose started school at 6 years old -- Bagawa School at Nana Glen. They had to walk for two miles through bush and across creek -- They went to and from school without playing around -- It was a one-teacher school. The teacher was Harry Masters. "Good teacher but a very hard man" -- A ditty about the schoolteacher -- Her favourite subjects at school -- "Children often didn't have to be naughty to get the cane from Harry, any children he thought needed it, got it" -- Playground games -- Boys and girls played together -- Rose left school at 15 years. Her first home -- Water from the river -- She cooked on a woodstove. The power from Aladdin lamps -- They had to do the washing in a copper - "My husband always helped me do the washing" -- Music from a gramophone -- Neighbours across the river -- Often visited for a cuppa and a chat -- There were no telephones -- The lounge room and kitchen were the main rooms. The furniture was bought from Coffs -- The sideboard type cupboard was restored -- Typical weekday -- The butcher used to come to the door and deliver meat by horse and cart -- The baker delivered the bread -- Conversations over dinner. Household economy -- "I used to have a girl to help me" -- Decisions made by "Both of us together". Clothes bought from Maloufs in Coffs (around 1915) -- Used to go to town every week to shop -- Her nephew was away for 6 years during World War II. "Wasn't all this bloodshed like nowadays" -- You knew everybody then -- Christmas Day -- Empire Day -- They went to Park Beach nearly every Sunday with their children by car (1920s) -- Manners and behaviour -- "My aunty was the first teacher at Upper Orara Public School". "My brother was a carpenter another brother was a policeman and one worked at the shop" -- Grandparents came over when there was a new baby in the house -- "I never went to a doctor until after I was married" -- The trip to Bucca as a child to get a tooth pulled -- The doctors that delivered the children -- Grafton was the closest doctor in childhood days -- Late 1930s -- Nothing would be stolen -- The population has grown bigger - a lot more honesty years ago.