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--- nora_s_grandchildren_-_hobbs_hickson_murray-prior [2025/05/21 22:06] – judith
+++ nora_s_grandchildren_-_hobbs_hickson_murray-prior [2025/05/21 22:14] (current) – judith
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 Sterling and Brenda's only son was born 10 months after they married (luckily at this censorious time, he was not premature like their next baby!). Australia entered War II eleven days after their son's birth. Less than a year later, on 11 July 1940, Sterling enlisted.((https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4640026)) He served as a Gunner in the [[wp>2/9th_Field_Regiment_(Australia)|2/9 Field Regiment]].((http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?ServiceId=A&VeteranId=175805. For a history of the Regiment, see http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1507941719870~632&locale=en_GB&metadata_object_ratio=10&show_metadata=true&VIEWER_URL=/view/action/singleViewer.do?&preferred_usage_type=VIEW_MAIN&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=10&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true)) He served in the Middle East for over a year. He saw his wife and son briefly in Sydney on his return from the Middle East, on his way from South Australia to far north Queensland, then not until the war had ended.\\
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-Brenda not only had her husband fighting in the war, but all her four brothers (she had no sisters) - 2 in the RAAF, 2 in the AIF.((Sydney Morning Herald,  8 January 1942, p.5.)) Her brother Pilot Officer John Campbell Pottie was Killed in action when his plane crashed over Libya on Brenda's birthday in 1942.[[https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11027602|War Memorial record]] [[https://aircrewremembered.com/pottie-john.html]] In December that year, another brother, Flight Lieutenant Norman (Norm) Charles Pottie, was in a plane crash which resulted in his leg being amputated and him being repatriated to Australia. He was mentioned in a dispatch for his bravery in putting out the potentially disastrous fire in the plane.[[https://www.454-459squadrons.au/pottienc|Norm's War Memorial Record]] Her brothers in the AIF were both discharged as medically unfit in 1944: Sapper Herbert (Bert) Allen Pottie and Private Alexander (Alex) James Pottie.[[https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ListingReports/ItemsListing.aspx]] \\
+Brenda not only had her husband fighting in the war, but all her four brothers (she had no sisters) - 2 in the RAAF, 2 in the AIF.((Sydney Morning Herald,  8 January 1942, p.5.)) Her brother Pilot Officer John Campbell Pottie was Killed in action when his plane crashed over Libya on Brenda's birthday in 1942.[[https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11027602|War Memorial record]] [[https://aircrewremembered.com/pottie-john.html]] In December that year, another brother, Flight Lieutenant Norman (Norm) Charles Pottie, was in a plane crash which resulted in his leg being amputated and him being repatriated to Australia. He was mentioned in a dispatch for his bravery in putting out the potentially disastrous fire in the plane.[[https://www.454-459squadrons.au/pottienc|Norm's War Memorial Record]] Her brothers in the AIF were both discharged as medically unfit in 1944: Sapper Herbert (Bert) Allen Pottie and Private Alexander (Alex) James Pottie.[[https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ListingReports/ItemsListing.aspx]] Brenda's widowed mother died on 9 January 1944.((SMH, 11 January 1944)) \\
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-In 1943 the census showed that Brenda was living at 40 Raglan Street Mosman. At some stage she moved to the Blue Mountains to live, perhaps after her widowed mother, who lived at Waverley, died on 9 January 1944.((SMH, 11 January 1944)) \\
+In 1943 the census showed that Brenda was living at 40 Raglan Street Mosman. At some stage she and her young son moved to the Blue Mountains to live. \\
 {{:slide_16_esmp_uniform.jpg?200|}} ES M-P shortly after he enlisted, c.1940 ((Provenance: J. Godden))\\
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-Sterling had thrived amidst mates from very different backgrounds and in highly physical work, and returned a very different man. With the war's end, he was discharged from the army on 6 November 1945.((Certificate of Discharge, provenance J. Godden)) He and his wife remained at 40 Raglan Street, Mosman.((census)) Sterling was re-employed at Perpetual, but now found being confined to a desk job difficult. On the advice of his wife's brother-in-law, he pooled his and Brenda's meagre resources to buy a dairy farm from a relative of the brother-in-law's wife. The date of the purchase could later be seen as prophetic: 1 April 1949.((ESM-P,letter to tax office, 1956. Provenance J. Godden.)) The farm was at (R.M.B. 7) Hydes Creek, four miles from [[wp>Bellingen,_New_South_Wales|Bellingen]]. Sterling, Brenda, their son and daughter Helen moved there; a second daughter was born nearly two  years later. The farm was never a viable proposition, despite the efforts of agricultural researchers to find alternative crops, and became less so with the inexorable decline of the North Coast dairy industry. While he thrived on the outdoor life and went from total inexperience to a highly respected farmer, Sterling's big achievement was to wrest a minimal living from infertile land. He only once, in the late 1960s, accepted a desk job to tide the family over a specially bad drought. His wife and son had a particularly challenging time due to their huge decline in living conditions: Hydes Creek had no electricity until 1962; the roads were untarred; and when he entered High School their son had to undertake a long commute to Coffs Harbour High School, involving bike, bus and train. Dairy cows need to be milked twice a day and the family could not afford any help; in later years Sterling made a yearly trip to Sydney to see his widowed mother, but Brenda rarely had a day away from the farm. Even when bitten by a red-back spider, she had to drive herself to Bellingen Hospital while the rest of the family did the milking.\\
+Sterling had thrived amidst mates from very different backgrounds and in highly physical work, and returned a very different man. With the war's end, he was discharged from the army on 6 November 1945.((Certificate of Discharge, provenance J. Godden)) He and his wife lived at 40 Raglan Street, Mosman.((census)) Sterling was re-employed at Perpetual, but now found being confined to a desk job difficult. On the advice of his wife's brother, he and Brenda pooled their meagre resources to buy a dairy farm from a relative of Brenda's sister-in-law. The date of the purchase was prophetic: 1 April 1949.((ESM-P,letter to tax office, 1956. Provenance J. Godden.)) The farm was at (R.M.B. 7) Hydes Creek, four miles from [[wp>Bellingen,_New_South_Wales|Bellingen]]. Sterling, Brenda, their son and daughter Helen moved there; a second daughter was born nearly two  years later. The farm was never a viable proposition, despite the efforts of agricultural researchers to find alternative crops, and became less so with the inexorable decline of the North Coast dairy industry. While he thrived on the outdoor life and went from total inexperience to a highly respected farmer, Sterling's big achievement was to wrest a minimal living from infertile land. He only once, in the late 1960s, accepted a desk job to tide the family over a specially bad drought. His wife and son had a particularly challenging time due to their huge decline in living conditions: Hydes Creek had no electricity until 1962; the roads were untarred; and when he entered High School their son had to undertake a long commute to Coffs Harbour High School, involving bike, bus and train. Dairy cows need to be milked twice a day and the family could not afford any help; in later years Sterling made a yearly trip to Sydney to see his widowed mother, but Brenda rarely had a day away from the farm. Even when bitten by a red-back spider, she had to drive herself to Bellingen Hospital while the rest of the family did the milking.\\
-{{:hydes_creek_farm_from_far_paddock.jpg?300|}} Photo of the M-P farm published in G. Wilson, F. Cradock, K. Flemons, 'Pasture and Soil Fertility Investigations in the Bellingen District', //The Agricultural Gazette//, May 1961, p.244. The article reported one of the numerous crop trials at the farm. The farm now looks completely different - the house has been moved to a sub-division at the Bellingen end of the old property; the reedy creek has been dammed; and new buildings added. Returning to look at a site can be very misleading! (see google maps for 423 Hydes Creek Road.)\\
+{{:hydes_creek_farm_from_far_paddock.jpg?300|}} Photo of the M-P farm published in G. Wilson, F. Cradock, K. Flemons, 'Pasture and Soil Fertility Investigations in the Bellingen District', //The Agricultural Gazette//, May 1961, p.244. The article reported one of the numerous crop trials at the farm. The farm now looks completely different - the house has been moved to a sub-division at the Bellingen end of the old property; the reedy creek has been dammed; new buildings added, and sadly the many fruit trees have gone. Returning to look at a site can be very misleading! (see google maps for 423 Hydes Creek Road.)\\
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-Brenda and Sterling benefited from family legacies as well as the local area being transformed by 'tree-changers' and the Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM, now Amcor). After they sold the farm, the local creek made into a dam, with the land apparently used as a hobby farm, the area looks idyllic and, to those who grew up there, unrecognisable. Brenda and Sterling moved to 5 Hawea Close,[[wp>Wamberal,_New_South_Wales|Wamberal]] on the NSW Central Coast. They enjoyed a comfortable retirement there, enjoying gardening and the local garden club, making numerous friends and benefiting enormously from dedicated nurses and other home-carers supported by the Department of Veteran Affairs. In their final years, however, infirmity made their lives difficult. Molly (Sterling's sister) and John Wilson later moved to Wamberal in their retirement as well.\\
+Brenda and Sterling benefited from family legacies as well as the local area being transformed by 'tree-changers' and the Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM, now Amcor). After they sold the farm, the local creek made into a dam, with the land apparently used as a hobby farm, the area looks idyllic and, to those who grew up there, unrecognisable. Brenda and Sterling moved to 5 Hawea Close,[[wp>Wamberal,_New_South_Wales|Wamberal]] on the NSW Central Coast. They enjoyed a comfortable retirement there, enjoying gardening and the local Garden club, making numerous friends and benefiting enormously from dedicated nurses and other home-carers supported by the Department of Veteran Affairs. In their final years, however, infirmity made their lives difficult. Molly (Sterling's sister) and John Wilson later moved to Wamberal in their retirement as well.\\
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 Sterling and Brenda M-P celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.((Provenance: J. Godden.)) {{:sterling_and_brenda_668_.jpg?200|}}\\