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Interviewee

Place Recorded

Coffs Harbour-NSW

Interviewer

Kerri Moss

Collection

Agency

Yarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)

Related item

Keilawarra Porthole, 1878

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Holly Nelson & Voluney Nelson Interview

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IntervieweeHolly (Morris) NelsonVoluney NelsonInterview Date26 August 19861987-02-05Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration48m20sAccession NumberLS2020.1.160Credit LineCoffs Harbour City Council, 1988.

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The interview was never completed as Mrs Nelson died some months later. Mrs Nelson's son has kindly helped to finish the tape. Mrs Nelson was born at Ulmarra on 25 July 1901. Her father was a butcher, drover and a dairy farmer. They moved firstly to Dorrigo and later to Coffs Harbour. Mr. Nelson was born in Coffs Harbour in 1928. He talks to us about some of his early memories of living with his mother Holly (and family) and also his later life.

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. 1."Had a little pony I used to ride" -- Holly collected meat orders on the pony -- Holly had three brothers and two sisters -- Her mother played the organ at Church and sometimes gave lessons. Ulmarra school -- Hopscotch and jacks -- Swan Creek school -- "None of us was bright spellers or anything you know". The teacher used to throw a book at the pupils if they couldn't spell the words -- Girls and boys both got the cane -- Empire Day picnics. "We used to do the maypole". There was no electricity -- The washing was done in the copper -- "Used to make our own bread" -- Holly took cream into town in the horse and cart before school -- Her father was away droving -- When her father came home he would crack the whip 3 times at the front gate so his meal would be ready when he got to the house -- They were self-sufficient on the farm. Her father was a 'roamer' -- One day her father went to Dorrigo and came home and told the family he had bought a Boarding House -- Holly's mother was happy to go. "Whatever he (father) said was right" -- Holly's fight with a Catholic girl at school -- Her Grandmother at South Grafton. Holly used to help her around the house -- Her grandmother sewed hat elastic on Holly's hat so it wouldn't blow off but she made her put the elastic under her plaits, not under her chin. Holly went to Dorrigo by horse and buggy -- Her father opened another butcher's shop. The tiny township was called Jackijumpup -- The building of the Dorrigo to Glenreigh railway line -- Sometimes the drovers would come home drunk to the Boarding House and yell "get out of me way you so and so" -- A lot of the men lived in tents and used to come and get their lunches from the Boarding House. "We were living in Coffs during the Depression" -- Holly's daughter Maree had to stand in a line for food coupons -- "If you ran out of that within the fortnight well you had to starve" -- Her father had a timber carting business when Holly first moved to Coffs Harbour at about the age of 15 -- Her husband was a taxi driver -- She met her husband in High Street. "He kept pulling up along side of me". When Holly and her husband-to-be were courting he wanted her to get her hair cut. He said "I believe in going with a woman, not a kid" -- "I loved dancing and he hated dancing so I used to go dancing with his brother" -- They used to go to the pictures nearly every week -- They were married in Coffs Harbour. The wedding reception was held at the banana plantation at Halls Road -- They lived with mum and dad at first -- Her husband bought land in Korff Street for 300 pounds -- Most of their children were born at home with the help of a midwife -- The doctor advised Holly to have her children at home. After her last son was born she had to go to Grafton hospital to have an operation. There was no electricity then, just candles for lighting and a copper for washing -- There were Service cars that ran from here to Grafton before the train line went through -- Her husband joined the militia during the Second World War -- He suffered badly with dermatitis. The send off for the soldiers at the Pier Hotel -- Mrs Nelson's interview closes here. Voluney's memories of living on a banana plantation at the top of Combine Street in the late 1920's -- "Hard work", all the clearing was done by hand -- "Tin on the roof and wooden sides, we had fertilizer bags for petitions in the shed as we called it. Half of it was dirt floor" -- "The fowl house was right along side it because there was foxes in them days" -- Voluney started Primary School in Coffs Harbour at about the age of 6 -- "So many things I liked doing better than going to school". His first job was banana farming with his father -- He didn't go to the pictures in the afternoon because they would still be working -- His mum's cooking, "fantastic cook" -- The shop at the Jetty, the corner store. The Jetty area, the Sunday trains, the Pier Hotel, "very few women because it was a man's world" -- Mr. Nelson and his family lived at the shop -- They moved from the shop into tents at Park Beach for six to eight months. Tent life in those times -- The Korff Street house, "it was a dream" -- The fuel stove on the verandah. The rain blew in and wet you -- Mackays Road banana farm. Voluney walked from Korff Street -- "It was pretty hard for mum" -- "You just made enough money to live on" -- Banana farming techniques. Snakes, "we had a pet one" -- Building work. Banana work with Cliff Bowden earned Voluney 3 pounds per week -- At Christmas time there was no tree. They made a lot of the presents; the billy cart was his favourite. How Voluney met his future wife -- Dances -- "There was always a party at Nello's". The wedding took place at the Church of England -- Holly did all the catering for the reception. Jean Morris made the cake -- They went to Brisbane by plane for their honeymoon. It was their first plane trip -- They lived at Middle Boambee on a banana farm -- The prices of bananas improved. They had one son named Ronald -- The rearing of children with regards to discipline etc. -- "It's a growing problem".