On the 21st of December 2012 we had our 56th wedding anniversary. On that day we went up to the highlands for a visit to Bowral. As I remember it, Peter and I had an excellent time up in Bowral on the day of our anniversary . Looking at these old photos brings back memories. So here they are:
Here we had our Lunch
These pictures were taken in a Bowral shopping centre .
Peter took this picture on the 21st December 2012, our Wedding Anniversary. The Corbett Gardens are in Bowral. This day in 2012 was the last time we went to see the Gardens. Over the years we did go a few times to have a look at the tulips there in spring time during the tulip festival. This year we missed out again on seeing the tulips there.
Two years ago in December we quite liked to walk through Corbett Gardens on a summer day. There were no tulips there, but the gardens looked lovely none the less.
On the way to the Gardens we had stopped at the Bradman Museum.
I just had a beautiful morning walk in Lakelands Park at the back of my house. There were hardly any clouds. I enjoyed walking on the track next to the very overgrown bush along Brooks Creek. Everything looks and smells so nice in the sunshine after we had quite a bit of rain over the past few days with some breaks in between the rain but hardly any sun.
In some areas close by there were often some thunderstorms during the afternoons. Maybe Dapto is going to get a bit of thunderstorm too this afternoon! Today I stayed in the park for one whole hour. During this hour, about a dozen people passed me with one or two dogs and talked to me for a bit. Also a couple of people with kids in strollers passed me! They all seemed to enjoy the sunshine very much. 🙂
Before I left the house this morning I had made a Tele appointment at the Dapto Medical Centre to talk to my GP about the result of my recent 24 hour blood pressure monitoring. I did get an appointment for tomorrow at 3 o’clock. I wonder, when my doctor wants to see me again now to do some more checking of my blood pressure! For a while it was often up to 200. But with some medication it has come down a lot now.
Exactly one week ago, Gerard did pay me a surprise visit coming down Maquarie Pass. He did bring sweet little Bentley along. Bentley is an especially beautiful dog and very calm! We took Bentley for a walk along the track in Lakelands Park before Gerard had to head home again to the Highlands. 🙂
Last Thursday Monika and Natasha did bring two of my great-grandkids along. It was wonderful that I could see them again after the long lockdown. We had a lovely vegetarian Thai take away lunch at my place. We had just finished our lunch, when the two electricians arrived who installed some new ceiling fans in my living room! 🙂
Aaron, the carpenter/builder and his apprentice Aidon did a lot of good work for me during the week. Next week they are coming back to put up a cover over my outside deck. This will be good to have when we want to have a party on the deck and it does rain! 🙂
Fridays I can join my friends again for the games afternoons. During Peter’s sickness I often did not join them for the games, and during the lockdown I did not join them at all for I did not want to enter any one’s house! It is really good, that I was able to see my friends again in their houses, and they can come to my house too.
We have been playing the same sort of games for over ten years! We always play one game of Scrabble and 7 games of Rummy Cub. In between we have some refreshments! 🙂
Following a copy of one of my blogs from 2014 with pictures from one of our games afternoons!
We play Rummy with these tiles.We are about to have a coffee break.
We like to have a game of Scrabble.
Here I repeat what I wrote already this morning in another post:
“Next Friday is going to be the 19th of December. On that day we are going to have a Body Corporate meeting in Wollongong. The following day, on the 20th, we are going to have a Christmas Party for the residents and some previous residents. And for Sunday, the 21st, Peter and I are being invited to a Christmas Luncheon in Sydney.
Christmas Eve we are going to have the family at our place as is traditional for us. Early the following morning on Christmas Day Caroline, Matthew, Peter and I are going to travel to Melbourne in a rented car.
Ah, and I forgot, this coming Sunday, which is the third Sunday of Advent, we are also going to be in Sydney to belatedly celebrate Caroline’s birthday. Last Sunday we went to see Monika for her birthday.”
Does this sound busy? Peter seems to think so. Both Peter and I have a few health issues at the moment. We just hope all will be well pretty soon despite our rather “busy” life.
Well, tomorrow is the last day of October – and then the day after, on Monday, we have the significant first of November when some more restrictions are going to be lifted for the people that are fully vaccinated!
I have an appointment for Specsavers for Monday morning, for I need new reading glasses. Specsavers is in the Dapto Shopping Centre. Summah is going to take me there at 10am and doing some shopping for me at Coles while I am at the optometrist.
Today I went across Fowlers Road to the Bowling Club to get some take away fish and chips with some vegies for lunch. This meal was the best! 🙂 Really, very, very good!
On this coming Thursday Monika is bringing Carter and Evie along around lunch time. I am very much looking forward to this. I haven’t seen the kids in ages. Dear little Carter said the other day that he wants to see great-grandma, that’s me! 🙂 I hope the weather is going to be nice: Then the kids can play outside on the deck! 🙂
Next Friday, early in the morning, I am going to see my two doctors again. I love to talk to them. It is so good, that they have some extra time for me. They make every effort to bring my blood pressure under control. But I still get exhausted very quickly and very often extremely tired – I have to do everything very, very slowly . . . . There is not much I can do in one day, but I can still do something. For instance I can still prepare my own meals and take showers by myself! 🙂 I can take walks with my rollator and enjoy nature. I love eating good, healthy meals. However, I cannot consume meals that are too large for me. I like very small meals, but I like to eat often. I always have a very good appetite! 🙂 I try never to throw away any food. I don’t mind eating left-overs. 🙂 I like to prepare vegies and fruit. What has to be cut off, goes into the council’s FOGO bin and gets recycled. These FOGO bins are a very good idea.
I really wanted to mention today my first love. I met him in the spring of 1952. We had to cut it short, but it was beautiful while it lasted! 🙂 One year later, in the spring of 1953, I did fall in love again. But for some reason he never loved me back the way I would have liked him to. Maybe he thought, he was not quite the right young man for me – I can still remember, what he used to humorously quote to me in a singing voice: ‘Der Mann, der vor mir war, der war so wunderbar!’
In the spring of 1955, when I was twenty and seven months I finally realized that it was no use waiting for Karl-Heinz to change his mind about a togetherness with me. I started going out with a girl-friend. The two of us were looking to meet nice, young men by out on dance floors! At the same time a colleague of mine introduced me to her older brother and for a few weeks we went boating together on one of Berlin’s lakes. This was the only time that I dated an ‘older’ man. He was already 30, and his girl friend had moved to West-Germany! When I met Peter, who was only 20, I preferred him, and we stayed together for over 65 years! 🙂
I know, last year, when Peter knew already that he had to leave me quite soon, he was not afraid of dying, but he did not like the idea, that I would be very lonely . . . .
Well, I do have my memories, don’t I?
My doctors tell me, I should socialize more. Maybe I should . . . .
How do I do this? Well, I can only keep an open mind. That bit of time, that perhaps is still left to me, might become more and more precious!
After looking up the two above posts, I did become a bit teary. I had no idea that there was something like a World Polio Day, but Mecca mentioned it this morning in his Regional ABC Morning Program!
I could not resist publishing this older blog once more. It certainly does bring back memories!
Peter with Gaby
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.
Uta and Peter with Gaby
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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Mother and Wife of German Descent I’ve lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com View all posts by auntyutaPublishedJanuary 21, 2019
3 thoughts on “Here are two pictures from 1958 and another two pictures from 1960”
DebraEditI see that I responded to the original post. I was then ‘Three Well Beings.” I love the photos of your sweet family, Uta.Reply
auntyutaEditThanks for commenting again, Debra. I find it very rewarding to look at some of the old photos again and again. Some of these photos just seem to stick to my memory. Time and time again I love to look at them again to strengthen my memory. Gee. was that really our family at the time? And how amazing is it how much time has elapsed since these photos were taken! Reply
doesitevenmatter3EditYour vintage photos are so special and lovely! I know they bring you smiles. And memories of wonderful and not-so-wonderful. Oh, that is so sad and challenging that all of your beautiful, precious babies got polio. I can’t imagine how difficult that was for you as their mama. I have an older friend who had polio as a child. From then on, he always had struggles with his legs and walked with difficulty.(((HUGS)))
Today, I talked to two complete strangers. One after another. Both had a beautiful dog on the lead: Archy, 7, and Leila, 5.
It was a beautiful, sunny morning. The soccer fields were not very damp, just right to walk on. I had all of them completely to myself! Quite a few large patches of clover had appeared all over the place and were a lovely sight, since they are in full bloom. However, the grass was pretty dense in some places for no lawn mowing tractor had touched the place for a while.
I managed to cross the fields in full sun and felt quite elated for I had taken my lovely light Jean jacket off, and was wearing only a skimpy top with no bra underneath! It felt so good to let the sun touch much of my skin! I went slowly, for it was not easy to get my rollator to make it through some of the rather high patches of grass. After a while I made it to the bench number two at the footpath. It was still in the shade. I actually set down on that bench rather than on the seat of my rollator. So I took my water bottle out to have a sip. I also thought of putting my nice jacket back on! Through some trees I could see some cars on the carpark where recently a test site had been established. They even had put a huge dome up as protection against wind and weather!
Sitting on that bench was very enjoyable! I contemplated that easily somebody else could be sitting there with me, for there seemed to be ample room for social distancing! For months on end though I had during my morning walks never ever seen anyone sitting on one of the benches!
Usually I put one of my masks on for my morning walks, even though never ever anybody does come at all close to me! But I tell myself, it is good to get used to wearing a mask in case I would go sometime somewhere where mask wearing is required by law. Maybe it is even required in that nearly totally deserted park! I mean, the few people that I do see crossing this park are never ever close to each other except perhaps for some family groups with a few children usually on the way to the playground in the distance. But it is seldom that any children are actually seen on the playground. The people, that walk their dogs, are usually single people that walk very briskly. Some people let their dogs run freely across the grass fields, but only for a little while, and then they are gone again.
So after I had relaxed on that park bench for some time, a mature, not exactly skinny man passed. He had a very skinny looking black poodle dog. on the lead. Some polite greetings were exchanged, but the man didn’t actually stop. Still I had the presence of mind to make him stop for a bit by asking some questions about the name and age of his dog. So, this poodle was 7 year old Archie.
Soon after the man had disappeared with Archie, another much younger and rather skinny man appeared with a female dog of good proportions. He was the owner of beautiful looking Leila. He said that Leila was getting old. I protested, saying that 5 years was not very old for a dog. I was allowed some patting of Leila! Then the man wished me a good day, and I wished him a good day too. I think Leila was black too but not quite as black as Archie.
I went back home all the way on that bumpy footpath, thinking that asking these questions about the two dogs, had made my day! 🙂
It is about life, as I experienced it, how I see it and how I imagine it..
Happy Birthday Aunty Uta
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Today is an important date. Not only is it the Equinox but also my lovely wife’s birthday. We had a lot to remember. Many of her birthdays we have celebrated together. The most memorable was her 21st. That is how she looked then.
Easy to fall in love with
On the day in question in 1955 we had agreed to meet at her place. Uta had rented the tiniest of rooms in a fourth floor apartment When I arrived at the agreed time and I wanted to climb up the stairs her land lady came down and told me that Uta had gone out to do some last minute shopping and there was no need to go up the full flight of stairs. But, she left it open that Fäulein Spickermann could have been come back unnoticed. I climbed the full flight of stairs and knocked on the door. Nothing happened. Another knock – still nothing. The land lady must have been right, Fäulein was still out.
I walked downstairs and waited in the cool entrance hall as it was a rather warm late summer’s day. I waited and waited. All sorts of ideas and theories went through my head. Has she dropped me in this rather cruel way. No, not my darling Uta. What was I to think? Has anything happened to her on her way to the shops? The shops were not that far and she should have been back a long time.
Young people today have no idea how life was in those day without a mobile. People were not easily contactable. Any misunderstanding can quickly be resolved nowadays by SMS or a phone call. We did not have that luxury then. The brain had a free reign to invent the most outrageous scenarios. After almost two hours of waiting I was close to call it quits when Uta suddenly appeared, with a beaming face, coming down the stairs. What a relief. We were both happy to see each other.
Uta had to to go a phone booth to call her aunt who wanted to see her too for her birthday. After the phone call we went to another suburb where we met her aunty and her cousin. All in all the day ended well. But sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had given up waiting. I could have rung her another day at work to clear things up or be disappointed and forget about this “unreliable” girl who stood me up.
Fourteen months later we got married and we are still together to tell the tale.
The young couple February 1957
I’m still in love with Uta and would still wait any number of hours for her as the reward is in the being together.
Last Monday we, my wife Uta (also known as Aunty Uta) and I, went to Bulli Beach for a cup of coffee. We had to kill some time as we waited for the doctor to start work. We were early.
Uta wanted to relax with a book she brought along. She loves books written by Andrew M. Greeley and this one, “The Bishop in the West Wing” seemed especially of interest to her. Greeley is called ‘author and priest’ but I can tell you, he is not your common garden variety priest. His novels are always political, as seems to be right for a man with an Irish background. While Uta was delving into her book I decided on a little stroll as I can’t sit for long. Movement is the best for my ageing and aching legs.
The above picture does not show Bulli Beach (on the Illawarra Coast of NSW) but the neighbouring Sandon Point Beach. Along the shoreline runs Blackall Street. New, modern houses have sprung up there over the years and replaced many of the old houses that I remember from more than fifty years ago; many have disappeared or were altered beyond recognition.
During the sixties, I worked with another German from Berlin beautifying the old houses there. This kind of work brought us in contact with so many people of different walks of life. For instance, migrants who still had to come to grips with the cultural shock they had suffered after coming to Australia. Australian men did not like us “New-Australians” but the women did. Meeting us those women found out, that men actually were able to talk and converse with women as that. We often had great conversations with them during our lunch breaks. They always supplied us with cups of tea and ‘bikkies’ as is the Australian way.
Here at Sandon Point’s Blackall Street, we struck migrants who had made Australia their home after World War Two and all the destruction and replacement that went with it. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean surely must have been a kind of paradise for them.
First, we worked on a cottage that belonged to a Dutch family. They were older than we were and could have been our parents. They were from a region in the Netherlands that was close to the border to Germany and they were able to talk in German to us. They preferred that to speaking English.
We were able to establish an instant rapport with them, even though, we were on opposite sites during the war. They were so friendly that they provided coffee and cake every afternoon. We were sitting and talking about the war and Australia. We dubbed the place “The Dutch Cafe”. We learned, during our conversations with them, that the husband of the Dutch couple used to be a truck driver during the war and was on tour to Berlin on many occasions. He also worked for the Dutch resistance and had to spy and report on what he saw in Germany. It was a dangerous mission.
They put us in contact with another lady who lived down the road from them. We were able to do the same work on her house as well. The lady was from Russia but was of German descent. She was much older than the Dutch people but they had taken an interest in her and her wellbeing.
While working on her house she was telling us about her life in Russia and the Soviet Union. She had experienced the Russian Revolution and had no good word about it. Her German family were decried as capitalists as they were in the habit of painting their fences. The old lady cried a little as she told us her family history. On a table, I saw a photo of her husband, as a young man, standing in the Red Square of Moscow. The view of the Kremlin was in stark contrast to the view from her tiny upstairs window towards the ocean. We nicknamed her home “Russia House”.
This is the view from Russia House today
When we left her premises, she gave us a piece of advice, probably born out of her own bitter experience, never to trust a Russian. Some of my followers will know, from reading some of my previous posts, that I had to trust Russians to survive.
Walking along Blackall Street I could not help noticing the changes and gentrification of the street. Where would the families of the former Dutch and Russian families be today? We all have moved on, some of us have gone back to eternity and we ourselves are waiting to move there.
But, I’m not in a hurry yet, despite dreaming last night that on a visit to my doctor he informed me, that he had bad news for me; the government would like to let me know that I would depart to the hereafter soon.
I still want to write a few more posts for this blog.
So, while I was cooking my brunch today, I was mainly thinking about the future. I was contemplating what might be possible for me to undertake as far as travelling within Australia is concerned. Of course, as soon as possible I would like to visit my son again, who lives in Victoria. It would be nice if I could go to Benalla in Victoria sometime next month. My birthday is coming up towards the end of next month. To be honest, it does not look like travelling like this will be possible for me some time soon. Well, when then? Maybe towards the end of December? This is just a maybe. However, there is a little bit of hope. When I am in a hopeful mood, I imagine I could catch a train to Benalla. Now wouldn’t that be nice? I could catch the train in the Highlands at Moss Vale. Before catching the train, I might be able to spend a couple of nights in the Highlands. Maybe book a hotel somewhere and meet Gerard! Maybe I could join Gerard for his coffee mornings in Bowral. I would also like to go for a walk in the Lake Alexandra Reserve in Mittagong! https://auntyuta.com/2021/07/31/lake-alexandra-reserve/
If I can manage to take my rollator with me, a few slow moving, contemplative walks are really something to be looking forward for. Besides, if I do travel to Benalla and stay there with Martin for one or two weeks, I definitely need to have my rollator with me again. Last time I did stay with Martin for two weeks, was in March this year. I was fortunate then to have my rollator with me. And I was able to make good use of it, even though I did have an infection in my legs at the time.
Yes, if at all possible, I would like to spend some time in the Highlands! Maybe I could choose a time for my trip when daughter Caroline and son-in-law Matthew have a little holiday again. Recently both of them had some leave. But because of the lockdowns they could not travel anywhere. However, Caroline told me, they both felt they needed some time off. And being able to spend this time together in their beautiful home was the next best thing to doing some travelling.
So, I was thinking, whenever they can travel again and also have some time off, they might want to spend some time at my place in Dapto. I think they would very much like to see all the alterations to my place, especially the beautiful deck at the back of my house! I think the last time they were able to come to my place was on the 16th of May this year celebrating Peter’s birthday in memory of him.
LONELINESS!
I needed a break from writing. But I am back now! There is so much more to write! Why did I put ‘LONELINESS’ as a heading for my next section? Well, I could not help it. I feel, it is totally unnatural to be living totally on your own. Really, there are still so many things I could share with someone! Usually, I do not go much into matters of a believe in God. But I think the best way to put it when I think of the end of my life, is actually to say, when God calls me, I do not want to delay. But what I want to do and what I have not quite achieved yet, is, that I want to make the best use of the most likely very little time that may still be given to me. To make the best use of time? What is this. I feel, for a number of things, that I would like to be doing, this is really my last chance now. So, should I allow myself to feel angry about it, that there are quite a few things, that I meant to be doing, and that I still haven’t done yet? No, no, no. I have to learn not to be angry with myself. As a matter of fact, when I do make an effort to ‘love’ myself, I find it is easy for me to love people in general and to love life!
. . . . .
Today I haven’t done the dishes yet, even though I had a big, very healthy meal. So what? I can do the dishes later. I think, that should be alright. Today is Friday. In normal times I would this afternoon be playing Scrabble and Rummycub with my friends. But right now the law in the vicinity of Sydney is, that we have to stay in isolation. Actually, I totally agree with this law, since I want to do everything possible not to catch the virus. So, I am not going out visiting friends, and nobody is coming to visit me. If I’d expect my friends to visit me this afternoon, I’d have to do the dishes quick smart before everyone arrives, right? But neither my friends nor the queen are coming to visit today! This is why I decided to forgive myself for not doing the dishes straight away. To be honest, I am looking forward to doing the dishes later on; for I actually like doing the dishes! It gives me satisfaction to see everything being nice clean again. And while I do the dishes, I can let my thoughts go wandering . . . .
Recently, I have been thinking again and again, why one of Peter’s grandfathers and also one of my grandfathers had to die young when they still had children who had not quite grown up yet. So, my mother as well as Peter’s father had lost their fathers much, much too early. I wonder, how this may have effected their lives. My mum was only about eight when she lost her father in the Flu-Epidemic after WW One. Peter’s father was 15 when he lost his father in France in WW One. When he was 16 he volunteered to become a soldier in WW One and in WW Two he was a soldier again . . . .
AuntyUta 
