Merimbula –Imlay The Old School Report Historical Society www.merimbulahistoricalsociety.webhive.com.au May 2018

Nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a Diary - man’s character, give him power. [Abraham Lincoln]  Mon 28 May 2pm - Thinking of today’s leaders!! M-HIS general meeting RSL  Mon 11 June 10am - From the Editor - Jazz at the Museum Here I am in beautiful Tasmania again! Launceston this time - luckily as Hobart was  Mon 25 June 2pm - washed out as you probably saw on the news. Actually we were in Hobart the weekend M-HIS general meeting before the deluge as we joined a protest against construction of a cable car on Kunanyi, RSL the now accepted Aboriginal name of Mt Wellington. Apart from scarring the natural  Sat 21 July 7,30pm - beauty of the mountain, a cable car would be considerably dangerous in the sudden mas- Trivia Fundraiser at sive winds that come rushing round the peak and would in all probability have to be closed Club Sapphire half the year!! Anyway we joined thousands of like-minded people and listened to  Mon 30 July 2pm - M- speeches by Richard Flanagan, Bob Brown, Andrew Wilkie and a couple of representa- HIS general meeting tives from the Aboriginal community. And speaking of Richard Flanagan, I am currently reading his new novel, First Person, which I can highly recommend.  Mon 27 August 2pm - In this issue you can read both of Andrew McManus’s transcripts of talks to the M-HIS M-HIS Annual General meetings so if you missed the meeting you can catch up here! Also I have included my Meeting contribution to the ‘My Culture, my Story’ display as first part of a series. Look out for our exciting coming events. As you are all aware the museum needs finances to continue running so on Queen’s Birthday public holiday Monday 11 June we are having Committee members - Jazz at the Museum including some of the musicians from the Jazz Festival, stalls - President - Don Bretherton books, cakes, plants, Chocolate Wheel and -anything else we might think of! This is a free V-P 1 - Garry Moorhead event however donations are always gratefully accepted! On Saturday 21 July there will be a Trivia Night at Club Sapphire with Quizmaster, Alan Brown, and lots of games and Secretary - Shirley Bazley fun. Tell your friends and make up a table of 8. We need lots of people to make the night a Treasurer - Gary Selman success so spread the word. Curator - Liz Bretherton You might notice I have added to the list of committee members others who have posi- tions in the organization but are not on the committee. I felt it was time they were acknowl- Committee members -Andrew edged for the work they do - especially as one of them is me! - so have added them to the McManus, Brigitte Kestermann, list. If I’ve left anybody out please let me know.Olwen Morris Geraldine McCann Curator’s Corner - Non-committee Positions Some photos of Liz Bretherton’s Asian cooking demo from Saturday 19 May. One of our Archivist - Colette Moorhead members described the event as “a lovely experience to sit in the sun and sample deli- Librarian - Anne Birgan cious food!” A highlight was Don setting fire to a roll of kitchen paper, after instructing Liz on how to operate the gas burner!! Publicity & Newsletter 14 people attended and there were requests for a replay in the future. Perhaps in the late editor - Olwen Morris Spring when weather will be warmer for the outside venue. The event raised $225. Well done, Liz!

Liz meticulously preparing her Looks delicious! I can almost smell Mouth watering! Noodles à la Liz! Members and visitors sampling the food on a ingredients for the feast! the wonderful flavours! lovely sunny afternoon! 1 When Smithy came to Bega - Sir Charles Kingsford Smith was one of Australia’s and the world’s great aviators. After serving gallantly in the Australian Flying Corps over the Western Front from 1916-1918, he came home determined to make a career for himself in aviation and to help Australian aviation develop to its potential. In June 1927, he became the first person to fly from the USA to Australia and in September of the same year, the first to fly from Australia to New Zealand. In 1930, he achieved the first east-west crossing of the Atlantic, against the prevailing winds of the Gulf Stream. “New York gave him a tumultuous welcome”, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography (to whom the author is indebted for the above information). By 1928, ‘Smithy’ was a national hero, acclaimed in songs such as “Hats Off to our Airmen” and “Kingsford Smith, Aussie is Proud of You.” In 1931, the Post Office released a range of postage stamps bearing his image (the first time a living person had been so commemorated) and in 1932, he was knighted. He even figured in advertisements. Yet, despite the fame generated by his remark- able achievements, by 1932, according to the Dictionary, “Kingsford Smith was almost back to where he had started, selling joy-flights at ten shillings a trip”. In 1931, Australian National Airlines, founded by Kingsford Smith and his co- pilot Charles Ulm, went bankrupt after the crash of two of its aircraft and in March 1932, he crashed the famous Southern Cross on landing after a night flight over Sydney to celebrate the opening of the new Harbour Bridge. As Peter Fitzsimmons puts it ‘....six weeks and £1500 later, he had no choice but to head back out again, through Wellington, Warren Narromine, Dubbo....’ and Bega. Smithy was no stranger to Bega. In 1929, he had been the best man at the wed- ding of his cousin Raymond Kingsford in Bega, where, so the Southern Recorder tells us, he ‘attracted almost as much public attention as the bride’ – a comment the bride must have treasured! Smithy generously lent the newly-weds his car, a 1928 Studebaker President Straight Eight, of 100 horsepower, valued at 1000 pounds. However, on their return journey from their honeymoon at Genoa, they drove through a bushfire and a tree collapsed across the front of the car, forcing them off the road towards a deep gully south of Eden. The tree crushed the front of the car and trapped the driver’s foot on the brake. They stopped at the edge of the gully. They were rescued by local people and were unhurt. The car was a write-off. In February 1932, Smithy, his wife and some friends spent two weeks on holiday in Merimbula during the course of which ‘he went out for ducks about Wallagoot but the birds, no doubt scenting a rival of the air, stepped on it in their best style, keeping well out of reach of the guns of the party. They returned with empty bags’, commented the Nowra Leader of March 11th 1932. In October 1932, however, he came down purely for business. On the 23rd, he landed at Bombala racecourse in the Southern Cross, accompanied by Captain Pat Hall in the Southern Cross Midget. The Bombala Times reported that, after a welcome by the mayor and the Returned Soldiers, “Sir Charles and his companions got to business, and bookings for seats and flights followed in quick succession”. Both aircraft flew from 10.30 am until after 1 pm. “It is estimated, roughly,” said the Times, “that the takings amounted to over £150. Sir Charles expressed himself as being highly delighted with the result. Out of 200 towns visited lately, it was said that Bombala showed the best financial result for a morning session.” And then it was on to Bega. “BEGA TAKES TO THE AIR”was the headline in the Bega District News of Monday October 24th. The paper went on to report that “close on 2000 people” attended the landing of Kingsford Smith’s two aircraft: “Long before the appointed time for their arrival, the roads from Bega and outlying towns were crowded with all kinds of traffic making for Mr B Gow- ing’s paddock to witness the landing.” Mr Gowing’s paddock was at Jellat Flat, about 7 km southeast of Bega and Kingsford Smith’s was possibly the first use of the paddock as an airstrip, as it was necessary to light a fire in paddock so that the pilots could determine wind direction from the smoke of the fire. The lack of a windsock, a basic landing aid since the early days of flight, suggests that the paddock had not played host to aircraft before, at least not on any regular basis. The District News takes up the tale: “At fifteen minutes past two the “Southern Cross Midget” was sighted coming along the Southern Cross in Bega sky from the west...... Captain Pat Hall landed his plane gracefully then came the “Southern Cross”, all eyes being turned skywards to see the grand old bus and her skilled pilot. She looked great up there in the sunlight, cutting her way through the air and with pride that large concourse of people must have watched for they all knew what Sir Charles and his companions in this plane had accomplished, battling through the elements time and again on their long flights and winning out to make a name for Australia that thrilled its people and the world.” (continued next page) 2 (continued from p 2) Smithy brought the Southern Cross down for a perfect landing, says the District News. “Thecrowd thronged around to obtain a close view of the airman and the plane was inspected from propellers to tail shaft. Shortly afterward, Inspector McIntosh, Trooper Abbott and Constable Pockett escorted the crowd back to a safety zone and the passenger flights commenced.” The Bombala Times informed its readers that the charge for a ride in the Southern Cross Midget was 5 shillings for adults and 2 shillings and sixpence for children. In the Southern Cross, adults paid 10 shillings and children 5 shillings. The av- erage weekly wage for males in 1932, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, was £5 and for females, £2. The sum of 10 shillings, then, was a considerable outlay, representing a quarter of a woman’s weekly earnings and a tenth of a man’s. The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Average Weekly Earnings survey of 2016 gave a figure of $1592, which would give a figure of $159 for a flight with Smithy today – though no doubt, most of us would pay much more for the privilege, if it was available. (Interestingly, joy flights from Merimbula air- port today range from $55 to $85 – but without Smithy at the controls!) Those who flew with Smithy received souvenir tickets which featured a photographic portrait of Charles Kingsford-Smith, and a drawing of the Southern Cross with the words “Souvenir Flight in 'Southern Cross’ piloted by C.E. Kingsford- Smith.” (Federation University Australia Historical Collection - Geoffrey Blainey Research Centre). The Bombala Times no- ticed that “WhenNo. 13 flight was due to begin, thetickets did not bear the supposed unlucky number '13', but were mark- ed12a” and asked “Is 'Smithy' superstitious, or was he consid- ering his passengers?” The Times concluded: “The next ticket was marked 14so everything went merrily on.” The Bombala Times remarked that “The fares, considering the big expense incurred, were very reasonable”. Commenting on the “big expense”, the Times explained that ...... “ With a staff of nine, it costs about £60 a day (says the Bega District News) before a passenger is taken on the big 'ship.' Should you puncture a tyre — and that happens with the Southern Cross on an average once a month — all you have to do is to dip 'down south,' bring to light £80, and you get a new one. Then there is benzine, oil, repairs, and a few etceteras to take care of. There would seem to be quite too much 'dipping' about the job for most of us.” (Bombala Times 28 October 1932 p1). Despite the cost, there was no shortage of passengers. The Bega District News reported that.....”Right up till 6 o’clock, both planes were kept hard at it to cope with the large number who wished to fly; it seemed that everyone had gone air- minded and wanted to experience the thrill of riding in this famous ‘plane with the gallant airman at the controls.” “Bega and surroundings from the air was certainly a pretty sight,” said the News. Interestingly, according to the News, “There were more ladies and girls than men and boys in every flight.....” Mr Peter Rogers of Bega told the author that his mother and her sister had been passengers and that his mother had been “very scared” but had made the flight anyway. Mr Rogers’ uncle, who was unmarried and therefore, presumably, had more sur- plus cash, paid for the tickets. When Mr Rogers’ mother arrived home in the evening, her mother asked: “Who let you up in that contraption?” the reply was: “Uncle Clem”, who then “got the rounds of the kitchen from Gran”. The News suggested that if the planes had arrived in the morning, they would have had passengers all day and in fact, further flights were arranged for the next day, Monday. The News reported also that a number of people had travelled down from Cooma to Bombala, from where they flew to Bega in the Southern Cross. The Bombala Times reported on Friday October 28th that the flights in Bega made £200 and the Bega District News claimed that this figure was “an Australasian record in takings in one day” and added “so that puts Bega and Bombala on the map”. The amount raised suggests that, at 10 shillings per flight, at least 400 people took the opportunity to fly. How- ever, since flights in the Southern Cross Midget cost 5 shillings and children could fly for as little as 2 shillings and six- pence, the number of people who flew with either Smithy or Captain Hall was probably much higher. Bega did, indeed, take to the air. After lunch on Monday, the planes took off for Gundagai. So Smithy flew out of Bega and out of the lives of the locals, who had flown with an Australian legend. Smithy flew on into history: He made the first commercial flight from Australia to New Zealand in 1933 and in 1934, he made the first eastward crossing of the Pacific to the US. Sadly, he disappeared over the Andaman Sea in 1935, attempting to break the England-Australia speed record. The people of Bega and Bombala had had memorable experiences and most had flown for the first time. It is perhaps a coincidence that in 1937, Ad Astra airways built the Shire’s first airfield at Frog’s Hollow and began commercial flights to Sydney.The Bombala Times remarked that “Many (especially, the young people) will remember for many a long day their morning's outing with Kingsford Smith.” The fact that the story of Smithy’s visit still survives in local oral history suggests that they did. Andrew McManus [Taken from various internet sources including Australian Dictionary of Biography and Charles Kingsford Smith and those Marvellous Men, Peter FitzSimons (2009)

Did you know? - Up until the Victorian era brides wore a dress that could be re-worn and in any colour of their choice. When Queen Victoria married Albert she chose white, to match the lace on her dress. White was usually the colour to wear at funerals in those days. However it didn’t take long for brides to follow the Queen’s lead, claiming the colour as a sign of purity. Also, since Queen Victoria, every royal wedding has served fruit cake as the wedding cake, symbolising wealth and prosperity and the vastness of the British Empire. The newly minted Duke and Duchess of Sussex changed tradition by celebrating with a lemon & elderflower cake with buttercream and no fruit cake! OM

3 The Liberation Plate - Background The plate celebrates the liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945 with the statement that after 5 years of tyranny, the orange tree blooms on its home ground. The Dutch royal family is known as the house of Orange, which was a principality in the county of Provence in France. The principality was inherited by William of Nas- sau in 1544 who became William the First of the House of Orange-Nassau. He became the first leader of the war for independence from the Spanish, which lasted eighty years and resulted in a Dutch victory. The colour orange and the orange tree have been symbols of The Netherlands since that time. Five Years of Tyranny Defeat and Surrender. Despite a guarantee of Dutch neu- trality issued by the Nazi government of Germany in 1939, German forces invaded The Netherlands on May 10th 1940. The Dutch resisted heroically but were outnumbered by a far better equipped army. On May 14th, the German Luftwaffe bombed the undefended city of Rotterdam,

killing over 800 people and doing great damage, which in- cluded the destruction of the medieval city centre. Dutch and British sources claimed that 30,000 had been killed, an inaccu- rate but effective statement which turned much neutral opinion against the Germans. When threats of aerial bombardment were made against Utrecht and Amsterdam, the Dutch gov- ernment capitulated. However, the government and the royal family escaped to England and set up a government in exile. Occupation. While France and Belgium were governed by the German army, The Netherlands came under the control of a nominally civilian government. However, the real power in the government was the SS (Schutzstaffel). This organisation was the private army of Heinrich Himmler and was far more com- mitted to Nazi doctrine than was the army. Under the occupa- tion government, The Netherlands had the highest per-capita civilian loss rate of any country in Nazi-occupied Western Europe: over 205,000 men, women and children died as a re- Rotterdam after the bombing, May 1940. The historic sult of Nazi actions. Laurenskerk is on the left. The Holocaust. The Nazis immediately introduced anti-Jewish legislation and began compiling records of religious affiliation. This was made easier by the fact that Dutch records in- cluded religion. In February 1941, the Nazis shipped a small group of Dutch Jews to Mauthausen concentration camp. The Dutch responded with a nation-wide general strike, the only such action to take place in Occupied Europe. It was a gallant but ineffective gesture. The strike leaders were executed and the deportation of Jews continued. Of 140,000 Jews in The Netherlands in 1939, only 38,000 survived the war, a survival rate of 27%, much lower than that of Belgium (60%) and France (75%). Collaboration. There had been a small Dutch Nazi Party in The Netherlands before the war led by Anton Mussert and it supported the occupation government, although the Nazis did not give Mussert the power he hoped for. Some Dutch people, often in the police and civil service, actively assisted the Nazis in rounding up the Jews and in other aspects of Nazi policy. The Henneicke Column, for example, hunted down Jews in hiding and delivered them to the Nazis for a price. They betrayed between 8 and 9,000 Jews. Some Dutch people informed on members of the Resistance and on those in hiding. Between 20-25,000 joined the Waffen SS and fought against the USSR on the Eastern Front. Resistance. Unlike mountainous and heavily-forested Yugoslavia, the Netherlands is flat, relatively free of forests and densely populated. So while the Yugoslav partisans fought a virtual war with the Nazis (and with each other), Dutch resis- tance was far more limited in scale. The penalty for being a member of a resistance group was death, frequently pre- ceded by torture so joining was not a decision to be taken lightly. There were a number of small groups, many with no links to any other groups. One of the largest numbered 550 members and other were much smaller. By 1942, the groups were beginning to coalesce and thus become more effective but only after D-Day in 1944 did they come under any cen- tral authority. Direct action against the Nazis was punished by reprisals against the civil population. In 1943, for example, the leader of the campaign to recruit Dutch volunteers for the SS was shot by members of the resistance. In retaliation, the Nazis exe- cuted 50 Dutch hostages. In 1944, the resistance attacked German troops near the village of Putten in Gelderland. The Nazis responded by deporting most of the male population of the village (660) to concentration camps from which only 48 returned. The most successful forms of resistance were far less confrontational. Despite the fact that the Nazis confiscated all ra- dios in 1940, many Dutch people hid their radios and listened to the BBC in secret. Many underground newspapers were (continued next page) 4 (continued from previous page) set up, three of which survive as national dailies today. Many Dutch people hid Jews and men avoiding conscription for forced labour in Germany, at considerable risk to them- selves. The most famous of those in hiding was Anne Frank, whose family hid at her father’s workplace from 1942 to their betrayal and capture in 1944. The Hunger Winter. The winter of 1944–1945 was very harsh, which led to 'hunger journeys' and many cases of star- vation (about 30,000 casualties), exhaustion, cold and disease. This winter is known as the Hongerwinter (literally, "hunger winter") or the Dutch famine of 1944. In response to a general railway strike ordered by the Dutch government- in-exile in expectation of a general German collapse near the end of 1944, the Germans cut off all food and fuel ship- ments to the western provinces in which 4.5 million people lived. Severe malnutrition was common and 18,000 people starved to death. Relief came at the beginning of May 1945. Liberation. Most of The Netherlands was liberated by Canadian forces in early 1945 but the western provinces had to wait until the German surrender on May 5th, now celebrated as Liberation Day After the War. Some people took the law into their own hands and collaborators were beaten up and sometimes killed. Dutch women who had fraternised with Germans had their heads shaved and painted orange. Anton Mussert and Wim Henniecke were tried and executed but most others were released. It was realised that many had had no choice but to cooperate with the Nazis. Andrew McManus [Thank you for submitting your consistently interesting articles, Andrew! Keep them coming please!!]

Society News -  It was with great sadness that we heard of the deaths of three members of the M-HIS last month. Paul Gorney, who spent time helping Colette with cataloguing died suddenly following a short illness. Beloved Betty Frauenfelder, who contributed so much to People of the Lake also passed away suddenly, and Barbara McCam- mon, much loved wife of John McCammon, died at Sanananda Aged Care facility after a long illness.  Melanie Sykes and husband, Rod, have left town having sold their house in Tura Beach and have moved to Sale. We will miss your energy and ideas, Melanie, and I and Brenda miss your company during duty days!!  Great to see Jenny and Graham Greenwood back as members; your input will be welcome! Jenny and Graham rejoined during the launch of ‘My Culture, My Story’.  Colette and Garry Moorhead gave a presentation, using the newly acquired projector, of part of the Bridges pro- ject to the recent SEHGI meeting. Colette needs to be congratulated for curating this collection of new and old bridge photographs to which she has devoted many long hours of painstaking research.  The next meeting of the Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society will have a distinctly oriental flavour. The intrepid travelling Moorheads, Garry and Colette, will show photos of their recent trip to India and give a commentary on some of the interesting places they visited. In addition they are bringing some Indian items of interest for show and tell. And there’s more! Liz Bretherton is creating some delicious Indian tit-bits for afternoon tea and you are also invited to bring along some Indian snacks. Plus if you have anything Indian at home such as saris, kurtas, dhotis, cholis or ebony elephants please bring them along! The meeting will take place on Monday 28 May 2pm at Merimbula RSL. You are all welcome to take part in the Indian experience  You still have time to visit the Old School Museum’s latest display, ‘My Culture, My Story’; a collection of stories and photos illustrating the variety of cultures within the museum membership. OM

My Culture, My Story - I grew up with singing in my heart and speaking Cymraeg (Welsh). I still cry when I hear the Welsh National Anthem, Hen Wlad fy Nhadau. Land of my Fathers, the green, mountainous land surrounded on three sides by sea; the country where the original Brythons, short, dark haired and black eyed, fiercely held out against successive invasions into Britain by Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Wales was a nation so proud and heroic that the Normans had to build a line of fortified castles along the boundary between England and Wales to contain the Welsh marauding forces. Eventually the death of Llewellyn ap Gruffydd in 1282 led to the conquest of the Principality of Wales by Edward I and in 1707 the country be- came officially part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. It is a source of chagrin for many Welsh people that the Prince of Wales is in fact a member of the Royal family on the throne of England. Rivalry contin- ues even today when the two nations clash during Rugby Union matches and the Red Dragon flies above the crowds. My father came from mining stock although his great grand- father was a farmer near Llandybie in Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen). My grandfather worked at the Emlyn Colliery in Penygroes where conditions were so horrendous he de- termined that none of his children would follow him into the mines. At that time miners were paid by the ton of coal pro- duced, not by the hour, and the wage was less than 2s per ton. The strike of 1910 – 11 re- sulted in a deep hatred of Churchill when he sent troops down to help local police break the strike. My grandfather later died of silicosis but not before he managed to save enough to send two of his three sons to University to become teachers, one of whom was my father, Harry Morris. My father, a pacifist, was a conscientious objector in WWII, choosing to save lives by driving ambulances in London during the blitz. When the war was over he married my mother and they both left Britain to teach in Jamaica, where I was born two years later. OM

5 Future of Volunteering - I’ve been reading a few articles on the future of volunteering recently and thought I’d share some interesting findings with you. As we are all only too aware, many not-for-profit organisations, including ours, are crying out for more volunteers. The most regularly cited reasons given for not volunteering are ill health, lack of time, and lack of interest. The ways people choose to volunteer have changed over the past two decades. People are less willing to commit to the ongoing volunteer roles that characterise traditional volunteer organisations. Instead, they are more likely to seek varied and short-term roles. These enable them to do different activities for different organisations, and they are looking for specific benefits from their volunteer activities. The kinds of activities volunteers can do have also changed. People can now volunteer for short, occasional episodes. They can volunteer in groups, with their families or online. And corporate volunteering through workplaces is popular. The Australian Museum has been experimenting with online volunteering where volunteers do all their volunteering ac- tivities on the internet, which means they can work from home. [See australianmuseum.net.au/online-volunteering] Friends with a shared interest can volunteer as a group on a specific project which can make a volunteering task more fun. [See parkweb.vic.gov.au/get-involved/volunteer/friends-groups] Family volunteering is a great way for families to enjoy quality time with each other and can be a practical way to ex- press values to children. People who volunteer when they are young are more likely to continue to volunteer throughout their adult life. [See volunteeringqld.org.au/volunteers/families-children] Businesses around the world are creating volunteering programmes for their staff, offering experiences outside work to help build stronger, healthier communities. [See www.volunteer.vic.gov.au/about-volunteering/corporate- volunteering] It seems many people who do not volunteer think that volunteering is not “cool”. They imagine a volunteer in a stereo- typical manner, as an older woman or man who volunteers every week for the Old School Museum or similar. When shown photos of one-off volunteering, online volunteering and corporate volunteering, many non-volunteers were sur- prised and agreed this is something they could actually do. Australian volunteer-involving organisations wishing to bolster their numbers need to be clear about the benefits they can offer to potential volunteers. They also need to offer a variety of flexible volunteering opportunities. This will allow people the option of multi-tasking their volunteering together with other life commitments. Spontaneous event-driven vol- unteering has proved hugely successful, especially in the face of disasters such as the recent bush-fire in Tathra. In this case an emotional response to the disaster brought people together but it can also work at the museum, for instance, a large event could attract a one-off team of volunteers from the community if managed effectively. Lastly, when members of the community do offer their services as volunteers, their efforts need to be appreciated. They may even stay on and become regular volunteers once they see the benefits to themselves and the community. How- ever role overload, competing work and family pressures and inter-volunteer conflicts are the most prominent sources of volunteer stress resulting in people leaving. And remember, many people are never going to volunteer however much they are cajoled, encouraged or persuaded! Olwen Morris

SEHGI excursion to Marine Rescue with Unit Commander Bill Blakeman & Deputy Unit Commander Sonya Teston.

Don & granddaughter, Chloe, laying a SEHGI meeting at Pambula Courthouse with Colette & Garry’s presentation of the wreath on Anzac Day. Chloe is wearing Bridges Project. her great-grandfather’s medals. 6 7 8