Farewell Darwin

Our time was rapidly coming to an end in Darwin.  We felt like we had been holed up there for quite long enough and it was time to get this family trip back on the road.
Before we left we looked through the amazing Darwin museum.  It took us 3 goes to see it all.

Saturday 23 June
Recipe seen at the museum from an old wartime women's weekly

Mock Sausages
1 cup of rolled oats
2 cups of salted water
boil these together for 15 minutes.
add 1 finely chopped onion
cool
add herbs to taste
add 1 cup of bread crumbs
shape into sausages
roll in flour
fry in hot oil.

I will have to try this on my elf children

Sarah and Evan after reading Eragon decided that they were going to become vegetarians like the Elves in the book.  I did try to make the sausages, and lets just say they sound far more tasty than they actually were.  Perhaps if we were starving with war time rations, they'd be ok, but they are no decent replacement for meat, that's for sure.

Sunday 24 June

We went to the beach - this will be the last time for a long time.
We visited the museum again.  Finally I feel like we have seen everything - it took 3 goes!
Good thing that it was free.
We did our grocery shopping to top up supplies.
Cooked seasoned chicken pieces and roast vegies in the camp oven on gas stove. Yummy.

Monday 25 June

Harry made a wonderful friend at the caravan park called Eddie.  They are travelling Oz for around 18 months while their house is built.

Bye Bye Darwin, we are off to Kakadu......

Canberra and dad's funeral

I was in Canberra for week.  In that time I was able to spend lots of time with mum, which was really special. We planned the funeral for dad and laid him to rest, just three months shy of his 80th birthday.  It was, as you'd expect, a hugely emotional time. But once it was passed I left wintry Canberra and jumped back on a plane and landed back in the tropical heat of Darwin. The trip had to go on.  I had to carry on. I think that I have said it before.  This was a trip of a life time, a family trip while the kids were still young, around our fantastic country.  I had to try and keep my head up and enjoy it.  And I did.  On many levels I did, but underneath it all was the seething emotions that were still there and could not be adequately dealt with.  And still the sibling squabbles continued, with lengthy phone calls about who did what to who and blah blah blah.  Everyone was emotionally wrought and this was fuelling the turmoil.  Before this I would have considered our sibling relationships as quite sound, I never would have predicted that we would all fall out.  It just goes to show what happens when a little bit of emotional stress is added to the mix.  For into the future we still had before us issues to deal with, such as mum's failing mental health as she gradually slipped into the ravages of old age dementia.  But that is another story for another time.....back to the funeral...

Dairy Entries for the days after the funeral:

June 20

Did some shopping with Shirley and mum.  Bought books for the children.
Had dinner at Lezah and Terry's.  Roast Pork, it was very nice.

June 21

Last day in Canberra.
I am very sad about leaving mum so soon after the funeral.
We walked to the Plaza to bank the money that mum gave me to pay for my flight.
We also paid the Hellenic Club for the wake.
Did some shopping, and then walked home for lunch.
Later we visited the cemetery to see dad's grave with all of the fresh flowers on top.  There was a family wreath of native flowers and a beautiful arrangement sent by Steve and the kids. Beautuful red roses, iris, gerbas and white carnations.

Had an early dinner.

Drove to the airport.  Gary brought Jaimi and the twins.  I drove the green machine (dad and mum's green Magna sedan, that Pa had dubbed the green machine as he was an avid Canberra Raiders Fan) with mum, Shirley and Bernie.
The twins (Chris and Nick) loved the planes.
I flew to Brisbane and then changed for Darwin.  The trip seemed to take a long time.  I feel very anxious to see Steve and the kids again, I have missed them so much.

June 22

Back in Darwin.
I caught a taxi to the tent, in the middle of the night.  Was worried about the bright headlights from the taxi waking up the entire campsite.
I woke up Harry to say hello.
Then had trouble falling asleep.  I felt smelly, so I got up and had a shower.  That improved things.

And now, after that interlude, it was back to the trip. Emotionally, fake it until you make it, because as I said before, life marches on, whether you are ready for it to or not......

June 19 - the funeral service

It was a bleak day, weather wise, as we prepared ourselves for dad's funeral.  Mum coped beautifully although she seemed a bit numb.  Understandable, really.

The service was held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pearce at 1pm.  The church was packed.  I was surprised at how many people turned up for the service, in the end it was standing room only.
Mum had her tennis ladies turn up for support, there were plenty of rellies form all over and of course the walking for pleasure group.

Dad was a bit of a funeral groupie and used to attend funerals for many of the far flung relatives.  I think he enjoyed the free tucker at the wake, or perhaps he was shoring up his bets for his own funeral.  I guess one of the worst thoughts would be if no one came to your funeral, it will be like you never really mattered.  He had some quirky ways.  Every morning he would check the obituaries in the newspaper, telling us that he always like to check that he wasn't in them.

Lezah and I shared the prayers of the faithful and read them out to the church.  The eulogy readers did a great job.  Murray, in particular, managed to tailor his eulogy to suit the varied audience that we had.

I was given the job of organising the wake.  I booked the Hellenic Club and organised food.  Way too much food in the end, as very few people from the church ended up coming to the wake.  I guess with the miserable weather, short days of mid-winter and lengthy distances to travel, people felt that they needed to get along home.

My dairy entry is as follows:

All went well.  Mum coped beautifully. Many people turned up. Church was almost full.  Was a foul day. weather wise so few came to the wake afterwards.  Still quite a good turn out, though.

When I later got back to my family in Darwin, I found out that they held their own special service for Pa at a park.  That was a nice touch for the kids.  It was sad that they couldn't come to say goodbye to their Pa, so they picked another meaningful way to do it.

A picture drawn by Sarah

June 13, 2007 RIP Dad, Pa, Ed.-

Wednesday the 13th June, unlucky number 13.
I was due to fly out to Canberra at 1am on 14th June.  Dad died at 1am 13th June.  Life is not like a movie script.  No death bed confessions, or rushing to just make it just in time for a loved one's last breath.  Life just marches on in it's mundane fashion and you are either there for the poignant moments or you're not.

Diary Entry:

We packed up and headed out of the Gorge.
Got a text message to ring mum as soon as possible......

I called as soon as I got to Katherine......Dad died at 1am this morning.

I missed seeing him by about 36 hours.

I will still head to Canberra for the funeral, which will probably be on Monday.

We had lunch at Katherine Hot Springs, there was no time for a swim.

We drove back to Darwin with a stop at Adelaide River for medicinal chocolate.

Set up camp at Lee Point Caravan Park again.

Steve drove me to the airport and I caught the 1am red eye flight to Canberra (via Melbourne).

From the beautiful warm tropics, long days, balmy nights and endless holidays to freezing cold Canberra.  Reality shock, a metaphoric as well as literal contrast.  From heaven into hell.  From a family who loved and supported me to one in utter turmoil at the loss of a loved parent and grandparent.  The ugly realities of life and death in stark contrast to the idyllic world that I had been inhabiting.

Thursday 14 June

Freezing cold at Canberra. Snow all around. Pete is stuck at Braidwood because of snow on the Kings Highway.
Cold Windy and Rainy.
Murray and Sharon picked me up from the airport.  They took me to Chifley.  Mum was very happy (teary) to see me.

Met with Julie the funeral director.  Murray, Gary, Lezah and Terry were there too - Peter via loud speaker on his phone.  I felt a quite cold reception from Lezah and Terry.

Mum and Gary are confirmed chocoholics.  Dark chocolate is their new vice.

Friday 15 June

Met with Father Laurie, the priest from Mum's church, to organise the service. We have decided to bury dad in a double plot - mum to go on top.
He is having a Roman Catholic service and being buried in the Roman Catholic section of Woden's Lawn cemetery- The Catholics got him in the end!

Got to come up with hymns and organise eulogies. I am a bit worried that Peter might go on a bit, he does like to talk! The Priest was looking worried too, as if he thought that the service might get out of hand.
We have decided to have eulogies from Murray, Pete and Terry, and a joint one from Emily, Leona, Jamie and Lou.

Saturday 16 June

Organising Order of Service.
I wrote out Prayer of the Faithful.

Everyone seemed pleased with the outcome.
Had a look around Woden Cemetery and picked a plot in the bit that we liked the best.  Mum and Pete came too.  We picked a spot under a gum tree with a 'view' towards the Football grounds.  Pretty sure Dad would like his final resting place.

Sunday 17 June

I had another look through the cemetery, this time with Gary, Murray, Sharon and mum.

It is a busy household at mum's with so many people coming and going.  We all just seem to keep eating, drinking tea and consuming chocolate.  I will be very cuddly by the time I get back to Darwin.

Monday 18 June

We picked the plot for dad's grave, and had our final meeting with Father Laurie and Julie.  The order of service has been finalised and dad's clothes organised.  We are burying him in nice warm clothes, must be something to do with it being winter here, and he was always complaining about how cold he felt in his last weeks of life.

Sarah, one of Pa's Grand kids, wearing the fishing hat

We will place a copy of Some Came Free (the first published book that he wrote), his walking for pleasure medals (though I think in retrospect, we decided against putting these in and left them out in case the grand kids wanted them.  I believe we currently have them hanging up in mum's nursing home bedroom), and his fishing hat on the coffin.  Apparently Pa was very proud that he had a picture of every grandchild wearing that fishing hat.  Here's one with Sarah, so he certainly got her.  The current hat is looking a bit more battered and has more badges on it than this photo, so the photo was taken a little while ago.

Shirley and Bernie (dad's cousin) turned up today from their home in Grafton, NSW.

Tomorrow is the funeral, and the subject on another post..........

Katherine Gorge

Monday June 11

WE got to Katherine Gorge last night after attending the Barunga Aboriginal Festival.  We are still hanging out with Steve's Parents, Pat and Eric.

It took a while to get organised and started today.
I rang Gary again.  Dad is still out of his coma and he had a big hug with Leona when she got back from Vanuatu.  Leona is dad's oldest (first) grandchild.  I got to talk to dad via Gary's mobile.  He put it on speaker phone for me.  Evan and Sarah said hello too.

We had a look at Nitmaluk visitor's centre and at the prices of the boat cruises and canoe hire.  We decided that they were very expensive and too commercial for us.  Therefore we have decided not to go on anything.

We had lunch at the campsite and then decided to go to Cutta Cutta Caves. (Cutta Cutta means starry)
It was a quick tour and a look around before we come back to the campsite for a nice hot shower and dinner.

Tuesday 12 June

Today we walked up the gorge. Sarah and Evan walked to Butterfly Gorge with Pat and Eric.  Harry walked with Steve and I to Pat's Lookout.  At times the going was frustratingly slow - Harry is not too keen of a walker.

The view out over the gorge was pretty - it involved a lot of walking to see it though.
We came back via the lookout and climbed down to the bottom of the gorge to wet our feet in the river.

It was nice to get back and have afternoon tea.

I rang home about Dad.  He has slipped back into his coma.  They say that it is unlikely that he will wake again...........

Still rambling about in Darwin and a side trip to the Barunga Aboriginal Festival

The next few dates in the diary are a bit sparse on detail.  I guess when I decided that I needed a stress break it included diary writing. June 4 through to 7 have only the following entries...
June 4
library
waterpark
museum
June 5
Territory Wildlife park
Wharf for dinner
June 6
Library
Water Park @ Leanyer

June 7
Dad's Hospise Clair Holland House main desk 02 62730336
Booked flight for next Thursday - 1am Virgin Blue
Friday, June 8 and things got back on track, it seems once the decision was made and enacted I could get back on with things.  The diary entries for the next few days are quite comprhensive.
Pack up Darwin.
Rang Dad @ hospise and spoke to him for a while. Sarah and Harry also spoke to him.
Met Pat and Eric

Barunga Aboriginal Festival

Able to camp with the community for only $5 per adult for the entire weekend.

There are lots of Aboriginal rock bands, and heaps of Aboriginal people. It's pretty cool really to be in such a cultural minority in your own country. It is great to see them all out celebrating, and without alcohol.

Tonight was freezing. After our balmy nights in Darwin the weather is quite a shock. We had to get into all of our winter stuff.  The children were keen to get to bed, being finally able to enjoy snuggling up to get warm.  It is even too cold for mosquitoes.

We met Steve's parents and decided to go to the Barunga Aboriginal festival with them.  It was a bit of culture shock for all of us.  Where Steve and I loved seeing the culture and the people in action, we were surprised that the thing most noticed and commented on by his parents was the rubbish and mess and untidiness.  Funny, Steve and I didn't really notice those things, festivals of any persuasion get messy....

Saturday June 9

Had a better look at the festival today. A lot more whiteys are here today, but we are still well in the minority!

There are lots of stalls set up to educate the Aboriginal people to eat healthy, Centrelink and other government services.  Most stalls give out free fruit to entice the people to come and have a look and take some information.  The children got free hats, t-shirts, sweat bands and a bag and bottle with autographs from Nova Kneebone, Tony Blackwood and a touch football star.

They danced to Yamba the Honey Ant which they really enjoyed.  We had never heard of yamba before but he is big in the Aboriginal community and on their TV station.

 

Tonight we went to a concert which had amazing decorations of massive fish made out of tissue paper and lit up like Chinese lanterns.  We were glad that we were able to have a fire to keep warm.

Sunday 10 June

Today is more of the same.  Lots of sport to watch and music to listen to.
We packed up after lunch to leave.  Unfortunately that means that we miss the bush tucker, spear throwing and masks of didge.  But as "community time" is a loose concept like "Island time" there is no guarantee that those things will be on.

Travelled to Katherine Gorge after Barunga and set up camp in the camping ground.  I phoned home to see how things are going.  Dad has gone into a coma, but woke briefly while I was on the phone talking to Gary.

More travels about Darwin

I am getting myself in a bit of a mess here, crisscrossing backwards and forwards in time.  I was going to try to attack things chronologically as per my diary entries, but somehow I have gotten off track and have drafts relating to a much later time pending to be posted.

Following on from the next blog (good original name there) we spent the day at East Point reserve and Lake Alexander on June 2.

East Point Reserve

East Point Reserve

The kids Played at the playground and swam in the lake.  We had a BBQ lunch.
I took lengthy phone calls from Peter and Gary.  Each pressuring me in opposite directions about coming back to Canberra.

Peter was laying on the heavy guilt trip and urging me to make it back to Canberra before it was too late.  Insisting that I would forever carry regrets if I didn't manage to see dad before he died.
Gary, on the other hand, was insisting that I not come back as there was nothing I could do it it was a major waste.

Murray called too with a more moderate view.
Steve called his parents.
Steve's dad, Eric, had very strong views against me going.

I felt incredibly torn.

Tongue in cheek it was suggested a 1900 number be set up with voting lines, so the people of Australia could vote on whether I should go or stay.  It seemed everyone had an opinion and were not afraid to voice it.

Naturally I feel quite stressed about the whole situation.  I need a few days break to stew over it all.  It is surprisingly exhausting, all of this tension.

Sunday June 3

East Point Military Museum

We watched an interesting video about the bombing of Darwin.  They endured 64 air raid attacks over 21 months.  More bombs were dropped on Darwin on the first sortee, 10am on 19 February 1942 then were dropped on the first Pearl Harbour attack.

It's amazing that people count this stuff.  How hard would it be to count how many bombs are dropped in a sortee, or do they rely on records from the attacking forces?

We walked around the reserve looking at ammo magazines and gun emplacements.

Site where the first bomb landed

When I got back to Coffs I dug out a speech that I produced in High school circa 1985 about the bombing of Darwin.  I remember at the time be absolutely flabbergasted at what I found out, as I had previously had no idea that Australia was attacked during World War II.  Here it is:

With the attack of Pearl Harbour, Japan and the US were now in the war. An urgent consultation took place in Washington in December 1941 between the British and American leaders. A decision then reached to beat Germany first.  This decision was not communicated to the Australian Government for some months.

The US undertook the main responsibility for prosecuting the war against Japan and for aiding Australia and New Zealand to defend themselves against Japanese invasion.

Australian Chiefs of Staff warned of the possible invasion of Australia if the Japanese captured Malaya, Rabaul, Port Moresby and Noumea.  They also warned of the possible Japanese drive on Australia, particularly Darwin, Port Moresby and the Eastern coast. 

Prime Minister Curtin was becoming concerned and announced that "Australia was a nation stripped for war" and he added that "our minds are set on attack rather than defense".  So it was then decided that the so called "Battle for Australia" be fought in New Guinea.

Mr Curtin approved the directive with reservation that Australian forces should not be moved outside Australian territory without agreement by the Australian Government.

In January 1942, there were 168800 troops training in Australia and there were only 27 RAAF squadrons.  These were  470 Wirraways and 92 Hudson bombers.  39 of these were not yet armed and a few hundred training planes.

The war cabinet decided to call up 114000 men to bring the infantry to full strength and increase the air strength to 60 squadrons.

On 16 February 1942 the fear of invasion by the Japanese was increased when Japanese aircraft were reported over Darwin. Two days later Japanese aircraft were reported over Bathurst Island.  On the 19th February Darwin Suffered its first air raid.........the first direct attack on the Australian Mainland.

The harbour was dangerously congested with ships whose cargoes had not yet been unloaded, and by a Timor bound convoy that was forced to turn back.

The Japanese attacking force comprised of 54 single engine bombers, 18 zero fighters and 27 twin engine heavy bombers.  The air fields the crowded harbour and the hospital at Berrima were attacked.

The US destroyer "peary", two US transports, a British Tanker and the Australian transport "Zealandia" were sunk. The "Neptuna" loaded with explosives blew up at the wharf.

An hour later, a second raid was made on Darwin by 56 twin engine bombers. In this raid the hospital ship "Manunda" was badly damaged> In the two raids, 243 people were killed, including 53 civilians and 350 people were wounded. Troops and townspeople were steady during the raids, but a panic evacuation of some sections of the community followed.

Many of the Northern Aboriginal tribes migrated inland as a result of the raids.

During the invasion 24 allied aircraft and 5 Japanese planes were certainly destroyed and possibly five more.

Darwin was not the only Australian town to be bombed by the Japanese.  Along with constant raids on Darwin, the Japanese frequently attacked the towns of Wyndham, Broome, Derby, Port Hedland and Exmouth Gulf.  These raids were varied only by one unsuccessful bombing of Townsville on 26th July 1942.

The Japanese did not only confine their raids on the northern part of Australia. Japanese submarines advanced down the eastern coast. In mid-May, 5 Japanese submarines carrying 3 midget submarines and an aircraft set out for Sydney.  On the 31st of May the aircraft flew unobserved over Sydney.  On the same day, three midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour.  One became entangled in the harbour boom and her crew blew her up. A second one successfully entered the harbour and fired a torpedo at the USS Chicago, but it missed and hit the barracks ship "Kuttabul" , a converted ferry,instead, killing 19 men.  A third submarine was destroyed by depth charges before it has fired any torpedoes.

On the night of the 7th and 8th of June, one of the large submarines which was operating with some success against the shipping off the east coast, fired 7 shells into the Sydney suburbs of Rose Bay and Bellevue Hill.  Most of the shells were duds.Another submarine fired shell into Newcastle, no serious damage was caused.........