I've tried to make a faithful transcription, while only making minor corrections to punctuation and grammar.
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(Dated: 21 Oct. 03)
"I was born in my Grandmother and father Johnson's home in ____ (UK). We never used the UK until we came to Australia. We eventually moved a little way up the street to ____ and there my two younger sisters were born, Mary (Molly) and Margaret. I already had a brother James. My father worked as a baker on the other side of the City and as there had been riots and a curfew, he had to carry a pass for the night work. One night someone hit him over the head and relieved him of his pass so we moved across town much nearer to his work. . . .
We were there for a few years when a builder started to build a row of new houses. My mother met the builder in the local shop and asked if she could have one of these houses and he promptly said yes---this must have been about 1935---so we moved into ____ . We rented this house until mid 1965, a few months after my mother's death in Dec. 1964.
I had such a happy childhood that even the war couldn't spoil it. And school for me was a dream of good friends and good teachers. I often wonder what happened to all the other girls and boys especially from the school.
My special memories are hard to pick. I could walk past the bakery where my Dad worked and shout 'Andy' and he would come to the loft and give me a wave. One day I was asked to take a pair of Wellington boots (rain boots) home to someone who had left them behind but I joined in a skip rope and left them on a window sill. Well of course someone pinched then and my Dad had to pay for them which put me in the dog house with no pocket money for a very long time.
When I was 12 years old, war was declared which caused an upheaval in our home. My Dad joined the Queen's Irish Rifles and my mother went to work in munitions and we hired a housekeeper---a 19 year old girl from Dublin, Bridget Murphy. When I first heard her speak, I thought she was singing in the Irish. But she soon had us all speaking with 'the tongue.' She stayed with us for two or three years and then married a Belfast lad. She had an Irish country wedding and I was her flower girl. The wedding went on for four days and only finished when the drink ran out. In Ireland, burying the dead was the same. One time my Dad went to a 'wake' to pay his 'respects' and didn't come home for nearly a week.
The day of my 14th b/day my mother took me into the City and took me into a Gents Tailoring Shop where I found out I would be apprenticed to making suits and 'finishing' waist coats. I had started another phase of my life and I loved my mother for knowing me so well. For I loved sewing---especially hand sewing---and was able to get work any where in the world."
We were there for a few years when a builder started to build a row of new houses. My mother met the builder in the local shop and asked if she could have one of these houses and he promptly said yes---this must have been about 1935---so we moved into ____ . We rented this house until mid 1965, a few months after my mother's death in Dec. 1964.
I had such a happy childhood that even the war couldn't spoil it. And school for me was a dream of good friends and good teachers. I often wonder what happened to all the other girls and boys especially from the school.
My special memories are hard to pick. I could walk past the bakery where my Dad worked and shout 'Andy' and he would come to the loft and give me a wave. One day I was asked to take a pair of Wellington boots (rain boots) home to someone who had left them behind but I joined in a skip rope and left them on a window sill. Well of course someone pinched then and my Dad had to pay for them which put me in the dog house with no pocket money for a very long time.
When I was 12 years old, war was declared which caused an upheaval in our home. My Dad joined the Queen's Irish Rifles and my mother went to work in munitions and we hired a housekeeper---a 19 year old girl from Dublin, Bridget Murphy. When I first heard her speak, I thought she was singing in the Irish. But she soon had us all speaking with 'the tongue.' She stayed with us for two or three years and then married a Belfast lad. She had an Irish country wedding and I was her flower girl. The wedding went on for four days and only finished when the drink ran out. In Ireland, burying the dead was the same. One time my Dad went to a 'wake' to pay his 'respects' and didn't come home for nearly a week.
The day of my 14th b/day my mother took me into the City and took me into a Gents Tailoring Shop where I found out I would be apprenticed to making suits and 'finishing' waist coats. I had started another phase of my life and I loved my mother for knowing me so well. For I loved sewing---especially hand sewing---and was able to get work any where in the world."
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