STATE LIBRARY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA J. D. SOMERVILLE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION OH 693 Full transcript of an interview with ANNA (NAN) MORRISON in April 2004 by Anna Pope Recording available on CD Access for research: Unrestricted Right to photocopy: Copies may be made for research and study Right to quote or publish: Publication only with written permission from the State Library OH 693 NAN MORRISON NOTES TO THE TRANSCRIPT This transcript was created by the J. D. Somerville Oral History Collection of the State Library. It conforms to the Somerville Collection's policies for transcription which are explained below. Readers of this oral history transcript should bear in mind that it is a record of the spoken word and reflects the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The State Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the interview, nor for the views expressed therein. As with any historical source, these are for the reader to judge. 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OH 693 Series of interviews with Nan Morrison recorded by Anna Pope on the 10th February, 18th March and 1st April 2004 for The State Library of South Australia Oral History Collection. TAPE 1 SIDE A (A baby, James Pope, is present in the room and vocalises frequently. There is distortion in speaking voices, which may be due to high recording volume or over- proximity to microphones.) Today is the 10th February 2004, this is tape one, an interview with Nan Morrison taken by Anna Pope, and Nan Morrison is particularly going to be talking about Harriet Stirling, Nan being one of her nieces, and we will talk more about the family relationships during this interview. Harriet Stirling was born in 1878 and died in 1943. She was the oldest of seven children of Edward Charles and Jane Stirling, née Gilbert. And Edward Charles Stirling himself was a great scholar, and a lot of this would have rubbed off on Harriet, as we will discuss further with Aunt Nan. (baby coughs) So firstly I’d like to ask my Aunt Nan what she remembers, that she knows about, of Harriet’s early life. Well, Aunt Harrie was very close to my mother, who was the second daughter of Edward and Jane Stirling, and so we used to hear all sorts of stories from both Aunt Harrie and my mother about their childhood. Aunt Harrie seems to have been a rather adventurous child, and I remember the story that she once, for some reason, ran away from home. And she left a note to say that she had – [ROBERT H MORRISON] Hello there. [INTERVIEWEE] – (laughs) shh! – run away from home for some reason, and she left a note to say ‘I have run away from home’. And she ran, and she got as far as the end of the drive and met a cow, so she ran home again and took the note and nobody ever found it. (laughs) So that was the extent of her departure from home, nobody knew she had run! Do you know how old she was at that time? 3 No, I imagine she must have been about eight, something like that. And she had a great friend, Ethel – two friends: Ethel Cooper and Emmie Carr. Emmie Carr was particularly close to Aunt Harrie. She and her sister spent a lot of time at St Vigean’s, because their parents had died when they were children and they were being brought up by their grandmother, and they spent many holidays with the Stirlings at St Vigean’s. They were almost like part of the family. And although Aunt Emmie, as I called her – she was my godmother – and Aunt Harrie were three years apart they were very, very close friends and always remained so. But when they were children, when they were old enough to go away from the property, they used to go into the tunnels of the railways and stand against the side of the tunnel while the trains went through and thought this was very exciting. But it scared the living daylights out of the train drivers and they complained, and grandfather was asked to deal with the matter so they didn’t do it again. As far as schooling was concerned, they had education at home with governesses, they had a big schoolroom and some of the neighbouring children used to join them. And while they had Fraulein Düring – she was really Baroness von Düring but she didn’t use her title – when Miss Düring was there they had very good teaching, but she left to be married – I’m not sure what year, it could have been when Mother and Aunt Harrie were about ten and eleven, or perhaps a little older – she left to be married and became Mrs Day. I still remember her. She used to live in those homes in Prescott Terrace – they’re still there, they’re little units for people who didn’t have much money, because when she was with us she didn’t have much – and she lived there. My family all kept in close touch with her. But after that the governesses were not of a very (pause) educational standard, shall we say, and Aunt Harrie, who was not interested in being taught, used to invent all sorts of games, one of which was that everyone should put their rubbers1 on the bustle of the governess, and the person whose rubber stayed there longest would win the game! (laughs) So this was a great distraction. Another was she got herself wrapped up as a parcel and put on top of a cupboard – I don’t know what age she was then – and the governess, who must have been short-sighted, went the next lesson without noticing this wriggling parcel on top 1 Rubbers = erasers. 4 of the cupboard (laughs) until finally she did notice and Aunt Harrie was unwrapped and brought down. But she was not interested in schooling at all. And when Aunt Anna Gilbert, Grandmother Stirling’s sister, who lived in England and had her other nieces at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, she was very aware of the difference of education that the Stirling family were having, and her other nieces, the Fergusons, and she wrote to Grandfather and said that she would like to educate one of her nieces at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, which was one of the leading schools at that time, that and I think it was the London Girls’ – I’ve forgotten what it was called, but Miss Beale and Miss Bus was the Headmistress of the one in London – they were very well-known in the education world, and Aunt Harrie was offered – as she was the eldest, she was offered the chance to go to Cheltenham Ladies’ College for three years, but she refused. She didn’t want to go, she wasn’t interested. And so Mother, being the second child – she was fourteen – she was asked whether she would like to go, and my mother said it was a terrible decision because it would mean being away three years from the family, but she was very aware of how lacking the education was and Grandfather wrote a letter accepting and gave it to my mother to post, and she could decide herself whether she would go or not.