Here are two pictures from 1958 and another two pictures from 1960

I could not resist publishing this older blog once more. It certainly does bring back memories!

This pictures was taken in Düsseldorf, Germany, in a park called ‘Hofgarten’, on 17th June 1958. Gaby was not quite nine months yet at the time.

This pictures was taken by Uta’s Mum on her balcony in Berlin in August 1958. Gaby was nearly one year old. We were for a visit in Berlin at the time.

Uta with Baby Martin, two months, Monika, eighteen months, and Gaby thirty-three months.

This pictures was taken near Fairy Meadow Beach, New South Wales, Australia, in June 1960.

Uta and Peter (25) with all three children

This is where the pioneer family ended up in Oak Flats, NSW, Australia, which was ‘the sticks’ at the time. This picture was taken on the 28th August 1960 which was Gaby’s birthday. We were building a garage at the time. One year later the children were stricken by polio; as it turned out, Gaby very severely.

I wrote the above in January 2013. I was looking for a photo from our Berlin visit in August 1958 and found one in this blog. I was pregnant at the time. In December our daughter Monika was born in Düsseldorf where we had one room in my father’s apartment. We thought being given the opportunity to go to Australia as migrants was the best thing that could have happened to us.

11 Responses to “The “Pioneer Family””

berlioz1935
January 23, 2013 at 4:47 pm Edit #
The beginning in Australia was tough and sometimes we felt like a “pioneer family”.. On the beach picture you can clearly see the Fairy Meadow Hostel were we lived for a while.

auntyuta
January 23, 2013 at 5:18 pm Edit #
You’re right, Peter, the beach was only a few steps away from the hostel. I thought it was great to have the beach so close. The picture you refer to was taken in June, in the middle of the Australian winter!

Robert M. WeissR
January 25, 2013 at 8:41 am Edit #
Great archival type photos, which reminds me it’s time to straighten up our family photos.

auntyuta
January 25, 2013 at 11:12 am Edit #
Thanks for commenting, Robert. I read your profile, which is very interesting. Do you do any writing? You seem to be a very contemplative person. If you’re writing, I’d like to hear more about it.
Cheerio, Uta.

backonmyown
January 26, 2013 at 12:00 pm Edit #
I love the old photos. Your family was beautiful. My youngest sister Gerry had polio when she was two years old. Fortunately she had no lingering effects, and recovered completely. I was ten at the time. I remember how scared we all were.

auntyuta
January 26, 2013 at 6:01 pm Edit #
Hi, Pam. We always love to look at all our old photos. Gaby was severely effected, She became a quadriplegic and needed an iron lung.
Monika had some lingering effects in one of her legs and Martin recovered completely. It was a very scary time for us when all three children suffered from the disease.

backonmyown
January 27, 2013 at 2:44 am Edit #
I can’t even imagine how terrified you and Peter must have been with all three children seriously ill at the same. My middle daughter is a public health lawyer. She has asked me lots of questions about the polio epidemics. I’ll tell her about your family’s story. Thanks for sharing it. Pat

Three Well Beings
January 26, 2013 at 4:56 pm Edit #
I really enjoyed seeing family photos, Uta. From what you’re sharing, the children were very young when they contracted polio. I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been! I do remember when that disease frightened families and changed lives forever!

auntyuta
January 26, 2013 at 6:07 pm Edit #
That’s right, Debra, they all contracted polio. Martin was 1, Monika 2 and Gaby was struck down with the disease on her fourth birthday. No vaccinations were available at the time. A bit later oral vaccinations were introduced. I think this stopped the spread of polio in Australia.

Three Well Beings
January 26, 2013 at 6:50 pm Edit #
I really can’t imagine, Uta! As a mom, this must have been devastating. They were just babies. I’m a little awed you can even talk about it. oxo

auntyuta
January 26, 2013 at 8:45 pm Edit #
It was a very emotional time for Peter too. All three children were admitted to Wollongong Hospital. Gaby went on to Intensive Care at Prince Henry Hospital in Sydney where she was in a coma. According to the specialist there was not much chance of her surviving. We had gone in the ambulance with her and stayed with her through the night. Early in the morning we went back to Wollongong on the milk-train. That morning after a lot of weeping we went to see Monika and Martin in Wollongong Hospital. Martin Baby soon became the darling of the nurses. He looked so cute. When we saw him he started throwing all the toys out of his cot the nurses had put in there for him. Monika was more sick than Martin and absolutely quiet. A few days later Martin was allowed to go back home. We were overwhelmed when we had him back home. Monika had to stay in hospital a bit longer. Once she was home she was referred to a specialist who treated her leg. Some muscles were weakened because of polio. She had to wear special boots and a splint on her left leg which she hated!

Pictures from January 2013

Last Friday was the 18th of January 2019. Facebook reminded Peter that six years ago was an extremely hot day and this was the day of Nell’s funeral. Apparently we had 47C on that day. Is that possible? I think this year our highest temperature so far was ‘only’ 37C.

AuntyUta

It seems we didn’t take many pictures in January. There aren’t any pictures from our visit with friends and the friends visiting us. But there are a few picture from the funeral of one of our friends, also a few pictures how things in the garden have grown.

One of the church windows.
It was an extremely hot day. Still a lot of people turned up for the Mass.

Peter always works hard to keep down the tree growth around our house.

This picture is taken from our front door.

It seems this elephant is guarding our front door.

Luscious growth in our little backyard garden.

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Andros Island, Greece

Uta’s Diary

Our house is pleasantly cool now after several very hot days and nights.

Last Sunday we had a very good time in Sydney celebrating with family and friends Yittah’s 75th birthday. This was a great occasionfor all of us!

dscn5030 — At this restaurant we had brunch to celebrate Yittah’s Birthday!

http://kazbah.com.au/balmain/

Peter and I are spending this weekend at home in Dapto. It is now already Sunday afternoon. It feels to me that yesterday and today were very normal days for us. Having done some shopping on Friday, we had plenty of food in the house. Since the great heat had left us, we felt like doing a bit more cooking over the weekend. On Saturday we also spent a bit of time doing some cleaning of the house. Peter did the vaccuming. I soon got tired of wiping the floor. I did get very, very tired and soon rested a bit, and then rested a bit more. Peter and I played some Rummicub Games. We also watched some great programs on RBB (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg). Yes, Peter has no problem getting these programs in from far, far away. This is really amazing technic!

After several nights when the room temperature did not go below 27C, last night the room temperature had gone down to 24C, and this felt really cool to us. The outside temperature went even further down during the night. This morning when we woke up, it was only 22C outside, inside it was still 24C despite our open window. Anyhow, we felt really refreshed and went for our usual morning walk, had our usual Sunday breakfast with soft boiled eggs, watched on TV the news (including a speech by President Trump!) and then at 9 am the news from Germany. After the German news we had a very pleasant morning tea. Before having to start cooking lunch, I had a bit over an hour left. I felt somehow quite energetic. I thought this was maybe a good time to spend the hour to investigate what sort of writing needed to be sorted out. So I took time out to look through a box of old stuff I had not been looking at for quite some time. It mostly contained papers from the early 2000s. But there was also some writing from August 1957. I was in hospital at the time, having delivered our first born child on the 28th of August 1957. In the hospital I seem to have had plenty of time for writing, since the hours when I was allowed to see my precious baby were few and far between. For some reason they seem to have thought that babies were best kept in the nursery under the care of the sisters. Only for a few very restricted times were the babies be brought to their mothers for breast feeding.

I said that on Saturday, after a bit of cleaning in the morning, I soon felt very, very tired. I had acually planned on visiting a couple of neighbouring properties that were open for inspection yesterdy at certain times during the morning and early afternoon. There are two villas that are for sale for about half a million Dollars each, and they belong to our complex of ten villas. I had been interested in finding out how well these properties had been renovated as compared to our villa that we have lived in for nearly 25 years now. I feel that our poor house has not been sufficiently renovated over the years. Let’s just say it looks ‘well lived in’. Well, yesterday was the first time that an open house was advertised. Most likely there are going to be other open days before suitable buyers are being found. So maybe next time I’ll feel up to it to have a look. After all, these houses are only a few steps from our house.

The Great Transformation

What am I?” is a short film realized by the winner of the first award at Germanwatch’s new script competition. Producers were asked to hand in script ideas along the lines of an ongoing NGO project called “Dialogue on Transformation”. The well-known guessing game “What am I?” is played by four friends all representing one of the multiple crises which could challenge the social-ecological equilibrium on earth: food crisis, climate crisis, depleting fossil fuel reserves and financial speculations. Soon, the four friends guess the roles they are representing – and the first easy going atmosphere darkens. They agree on a second round of the game – with changed signs: This time, they want to take positive solutions as their roles, and all of them unknowingly choose the same term: The Great Transformation. Script by Ben Toussaint Produced and directed by Boris Laaser More information on the issues mentioned above on http://www.germanwatch.org or http://www.dialogue-on-transformation.org

The Indian Pacific

https://www.greatsouthernrail.com.au/trains/the-indian-pacific

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Pacific

The Indian Pacific Train Trip Perth to Sydney takes now usually about 65 hours. The SBS showed today this same trip within close to 15 hours. Everything had been filmed life, but apparently these 65 hours had been cut to about 15 hours. We watched today only about half of these 15 hours. (The program apparently started today already very early in the morning!) Even watching only about half the program did give us a good impression what it is like to be on the Indian Pacific. Right now it is not quite finished yet. According to the timetable, provided by SBS, this program, that we have been watching for so many hours already, should be finished in about one hour. So I go back now to watch how the train that has just left the Blue Mountains is approaching Sydney. I am looking forward to see how it arrives at Sydney Central!

One hour later: Yes,we have been watching now how the train moved towards Sydney Central along a train line that we are very familar with. They said, all in all the trip fom Perth lasted this time 66 hours.

Uta’s Diary

https://theaimn.com/the-flaw-in-the-glass/

The Uncultured Rhymer To His Cultured Critics

Fight through ignorance, want, and care —
Through the griefs that crush the spirit;
Push your way to a fortune fair,
And the smiles of the world you’ll merit.
Long, as a boy, for the chance to learn —
For the chance that Fate denies you;
Win degrees where the Life-lights burn,
And scores will teach and advise you.

My cultured friends! you have come too late
With your bypath nicely graded;
I’ve fought thus far on my track of Fate,
And I’ll follow the rest unaided.
Must I be stopped by a college gate
On the track of Life encroaching?
Be dumb to Love, and be dumb to Hate,
For the lack of a college coaching?

You grope for Truth in a language dead —
In the dust ’neath tower and steeple!
What know you of the tracks we tread?
And what know you of our people?
‘I must read this, and that, and the rest,’
And write as the cult expects me? —
I’ll read the book that may please me best,
And write as my heart directs me!

You were quick to pick on a faulty line
That I strove to put my soul in:
Your eyes were keen for a ‘dash’ of mine
In the place of a semi-colon —
And blind to the rest. And is it for such
As you I must brook restriction?
‘I was taught too little?’ I learnt too much
To care for a pedant’s diction!

Must I turn aside from my destined way
For a task your Joss would find me?
I come with strength of the living day,
And with half the world behind me;
I leave you alone in your cultured halls
To drivel and croak and cavil:
Till your voice goes further than college walls,
Keep out of the tracks we travel!

(Henry Lawson)

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lawson-henry-7118

One Day ago Josef Carli published ‘the flaw in the glass’ in the AIMNetwork. In the comments to this blog, Joe was very much criticized for attacking the ‘educated’ middle class. The above poem by Henry Lawson was included in Carli’s blog. As far as I can tell, nobody objects to what Henry Lawson, Continue reading “Uta’s Diary” →

Uta’s Diary January 2019

Summer in Australia

The apricots and cherries were very good this summer! We had plenty of fruit for Christmas.

We are in Dapto, New South Wales, in the Illawarra of Australia. So far we had a very warm, but not too warm summer, whereas in lots of places of Australia the temperature went well over 40C for days on end this. Where we are, I think the highest temperature so far has been about 37C, and then going quickly down to maybe 35C so that the temperature in our house never went above 30C. When it is very humid, this sometimes feels quite hot. Then we have the ceiling fans going all the time.

With a very balmy temperature and no wind it is very pleasant to romp around in our beautiful Dapto Public Pool! Our Council provides a lot of Public Pools. You can see it here: http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/facilities/beachespools/pages/pools.aspx#gref

For extreme heat days we do have an air conditioning set that is portable. We can set it up in any room that we like to cool. Usually we do not need to set this thing up. Only when the outside temperature goes above 40C we resort to it, for then the inside temperature might go well above 30C and a respite is very welcome! Sometimes the nights are quite hot too. Then of course we cover ourselves only with a sheet. Luckily, the last couple of nights were very much cooler after we have had some extremely hot nights. So we could use our blankets again! To have only 20C feels rather cool!

These are the surrounds of the Dapto solar heated Pool

Favorite Children’s Books

Please go to my other site here to read about my favorite children’s books:

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/favorite-childrens-books-part-three/

China: Misunderstood and often Misrepresented

This is a very thought provoking account about conditions in China. I found it very interesting reading, and this is why I reblog it here:

The Real Intel Report

Today, I will talk about China.

(original broadcast can be found at BlogTalkRadio and Podbean)

China_relief_map People’s Republic of China

For centuries China lead the world in arts and sciences. In the 19th and early 20th centuries that changed as the country encountered civil unrest, famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After WWII, Mao Zedong rose to power as a communist establishing an autocratic socialist system – this ensured China’s sovereignty, but imposed strict controls over everyday life and ended up costing tens of millions of lives. After 1978, Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping and other leaders focused on a more market-oriented economy and by the year 2000 economic output had quadrupled. This resulted in much of the population seeing much improved living standards, along with relaxed governmental controls over personal choice – as a note, even though more freedoms exist, political controls are still very tight today. Since the early…

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