‘Sure.’
Tessa dug into her pocket and pulled out the box holding the rings. She opened it and placed them on the table. The two gold bands lay glittering on their bed. Instinctively, all three women leaned forward.
‘Whose are they?’ Marni asked quietly.
‘I have no idea. I was hoping someone here might know.’
‘I’ve never seen them before. Where did you find them?’
‘Spider had hidden them well. I’m not sure I was meant to find them. They were in that little clay pot on the outside table.’
‘Why did you go looking in there?’
‘Sounds weird, doesn’t it? I was holding it, tossing it from hand to hand and I felt something clunk inside it. I turned it over and they fell out.’
Peggy gently picked one up and held it up to the window. ‘“Forever mine, forever yours”,’ she read. ‘I’ve heard that somewhere before.’
‘Really?’ Tessa looked at her eagerly.
‘But I’m buggered if I can remember where. I’ll ask Paul when he gets home.’
‘Ask me what?’ Paul and Ryan came in, covered in dust and grease.
‘What have you two been doing?’ asked Peggy.
‘The bloody grader shat itself. Had to pull out the fuel pump.’
Ryan washed his hands in the kitchen sink then sat down next to Marni. ‘They’re a bit flash. Where’d you get them, Tessie? Someone want to marry you?’
‘Found them at Aunty Spider’s.’
‘Where have we heard the saying “Forever mine, forever yours”, Pauly?’ asked Peggy. ‘I know I’ve heard it somewhere.’
‘Hmm, yeah. You’re right.’ His brow wrinkled as he thought. ‘Not a hundred per cent sure, but I wonder if it’s down at the old cemetery on one of the graves. We can have a look later, if you want.’
‘Old cemetery? Is there another one, other than where Aunty Spider is?’
‘Yeah, it’s where they first camped when they first came out here. Near a grove of mallee trees. It wasn’t used until the fifties. I can’t rightly say why her other family is buried over there and William is in this one nearer to her house.’ He reached for the teapot and swished it around, before pouring it into his cup. ‘That might be it, because she wanted William closer to her.’
‘Oh! That’s what she meant about another cemetery.’ Tessa’s eyes flashed with recognition. ‘Her brothers and uncle? I read about them dying, in the diaries! So tragic. Can we go and have a look?’ She leapt up from the table.
‘Hold your horses! You’re always so impatient.’ Paul smiled. ‘We’ll have to knock that out of you! Let me have my tea, then I can take you.’
‘Yeah, Tessie.’ Ryan chimed in as he lifted his cup. ‘Us hardworking fellas need our sustenance. How’d you go with a swag?’
‘Smart-arse,’ she muttered, passing him a plate of biscuits. ‘Oh, I forgot! Yeah, I got the swag done, but when I opened it all up to check for creepy crawlies and things, there was an old camera in it. Right at the bottom of it.’
Ryan straightened up. ‘Was there?’
‘In the swag?’ Peggy asked.
‘Yep. It’s an old wind-on one.’
‘What did you do with it?’ her brother asked.
‘I couldn’t carry it back with everything else, so I left it on the bench.’
‘Weird.’ Marnie shrugged. ‘I didn’t know she took photos.’
‘Can’t say I did either,’ Paul entered the conversation. ‘But I think there were plenty of things we didn’t know.’ He put down his cup and stretched. ‘Come on then, Miss Impatient. I’ll drive you out to the plot.’ Paul and Tessa climbed into the ute and drove about thirty minutes to where three of Tessa’s great-uncles plus her great-great uncle were buried.
Under the shade of the mallee trees, everything was silent, almost reverently still. Tessa took in the old gravesites, the handmade wooden crosses and headstones. Clumps of grass grew out from in between the rocks which covered the hard-working pioneers’ final resting places – unless you looked hard, you wouldn’t have known they were there. The land they had loved had claimed them.
She shivered, knowing the rocks had been placed there so the dingoes and foxes wouldn’t dig up their remains.
Paul stopped to read the inscriptions, all of which were carved by hand.
‘Len Mathison, died, 30 June 1957,’ Paul said softly. ‘And over here, Sam Mathison killed in a horse fall, April 1957.’
‘Edward Mathison,’ Tessa continued, her fingers tracing the letters. ‘George Mathison.’ Tessa could only imagine the grief felt by Spider and what was left of her family when they lay to rest these men who had played such a large role in their lives. She suddenly remembered the words of Aunty Spider in one of the diaries: ‘. . . sometimes it seems this station has seen nothing but heartbreak’. Tessa repeated it out loud for Paul.
‘Danjar Plains has definitely had its moments,’ he agreed.
Tessa took one last look at the four graves and turned away, looking to see if there were any more. Nothing leapt out at her.
Disappointed that she hadn’t found the words she was looking for inscribed anywere, she walked further out into the trees and glanced around. Hidden in the middle of a cluster of bushes she saw part of a little rusty white fence poking out. It corralled off an area that was small enough to be a child’s grave. Beside it was another one, not much larger. The two seemed to be joined together with the fences connected.
As she looked carefully, Tessa realised there was something scratched into the fence. She leaned closer.
‘“Forever mine, forever yours”,’ she read. ‘Dad! Dad, here it is!’ she called.
Paul came to stand beside her.
‘You found it.’
‘Yes, but whose grave is it? There’s nothing to say whose it is?’ She ran her finger across some marks in the stone. ‘But I can’t read it. Only the words “Forever mine, forever yours”.’
‘I have no idea.’
Chapter 24
Harrison put the parcel on the step and raised his fist to knock on Violet’s front door. He paused. He wondered what sort of a reception he’d get.
He had instantly disliked Tessa at the airport, and hadn’t warmed to her at the wake. On both occasions she seemed shallow and selfish.
But he hadn’t seen that when she was with Cally. Watching from a distance, he noticed her smiles had been kind and genuine. Cally was besotted, as only a child could be – it had been her idea to get Tessa a thank-you gift. Remembering his promise to himself to make an effort with her for Cally’s benefit, he’d agreed.
Ange had always said kids were the best judge of people, but there was still something that made him wary. He knew she was involved with Brendan McKenzie and, in his eyes, that wasn’t to her credit. Even if his body had responded to her closeness in the plane on the trip home.
The door was ajar and he peeked through the gap. Tessa was hanging photos of her family in the lounge room. He wondered if she was going to live here after she’d finished clearing everything out. Was she going to stay?
He adjusted his hat and knocked. ‘Special delivery!’ he called, pushing the door open further.
‘Oh! Hello!’ Tessa said, smiling. ‘This is a surprise.’ Then she must have seen the parcel in his hands. ‘Oh, they’re here already? The diaries!’ She rushed towards him, her hands outstretched.
‘Well, that’s a nice hello and I don’t mind if I do.’ Harrison grinned, holding open his arms and closing them around her briefly.
‘Uh. Oh. Um.’ Tessa was red-faced. ‘Sorry. I meant the parcel. I thought it was from Elsie.’
Harrison laughed and handed it to her. ‘I think it is, if she’s “E. Harlot, sender”.’
‘Oh, it is! They’re finally here!’
He grinned, finding it hard not to get caught up in her enthusiasm and he watched as Tessa plonked the package on the chair and ripped it open. Inside the box were eight books with black covers.
&nb
sp; ‘What are they? They seem very important.’ Harrison leaned over her shoulder.
‘Aunty Spider’s diaries from the early years.’ She flicked through them. ‘Yeah, see, here’s 1932, 1933 and 1934. Oh, there are still some missing,’ she sounded disappointed.
‘Why are you interested in them?’
‘I found these rings,’ she pointed to the open box on the table, ‘and I’m a bit keen to find out who they belong to. They’re engraved, and Dad remembered that he’d seen the same words on an old family grave. So we went up and had a look. Sure enough, there’re two unmarked plots up there, with this scratched into the paint on the fence.’ She showed Harrison the engravings.
‘Yeah, right,’ he said, bemused. ‘Sounds like a bit of a mystery. So you want to find out who owns the rings?’
‘Absolutely!’
‘Hopefully there’ll be some answers in the diaries then.’
‘Can’t wait to start reading them! And look at what I’m doing.’
Tessa reached for his hand and, without thinking he held it out to her. ‘Show me,’ he said. ‘Looks like you’ve done a lot of work.’ As he let himself be dragged over to the first photo he noticed her hair was touching her collar. The harsh peroxide blonde was growing out and he could see her natural dark brown and gentle curls starting to take shape again. She turned to look at him and the excitement in her face reminded him of Cally when she had achieved something special. Suddenly, he wanted to stay with Tessa longer. He looked at the grainy black and white photo trying to think of a question that would keep her close to him but she spoke first.
‘I’m going to do our family history and the history of Danjar Plains. I guess they’re sort of one and the same, really. But look, here’s a photo of Violet with her parents, her sister and brothers. I think I’ve worked out who is who by their ages. This is Grace.’ She pointed at a solemn teenager in the photo. ‘Here’s Len, George, Edward and Violet. Tom couldn’t have been born then. I’m not sure if the adults were their parents or Spider’s Aunty Margaret and Uncle Sam. So far I haven’t found any records of them.’
‘Don’t know how you’d tell, but I would imagine they are the parents. Didn’t Spider’s Aunty and Uncle live near Ceduna and then gravitate out here when seasons were bad? I’m sure that’s what I remember Violet telling me. There wouldn’t be many professional photographers roaming the Nullarbor in those days – even these days. Look here.’ He pointed to a small logo at the bottom of the photo.
Tessa stopped. ‘That’s a really good point.’ She grabbed a note pad and jotted down ‘parents’. ‘You’re good at this.’ She flashed him a brilliant smile. He nodded his acceptance of her thanks.
‘And look at this next one. All the same except a couple of years older. And then I think we get to Danjar Plains. But we’re missing the parents, which makes sense because they didn’t come out here. Mum told me Aunty Spider and Edward were sent to Margaret and Sam’s just before the Depression. Things were tight for them in Adelaide. Their mum was pregnant and they didn’t have enough food for everyone. I guess the older boys followed after them. I wondered why they never went back to Adelaide.’
‘Can’t answer that.’ He caught her eye and tried to hold it for a moment, but Tessa quickly turned back to the wall.
‘This is the second to last one, I promise. Sorry, I’m probably holding you up.’
‘You’re all right.’
‘All five of them. Grace, Len, Edward, George and Spider. I don’t know where the photo was taken, but it looks a bit like where the shearing shed is now.’
Harrison peered closer. ‘Reckon you could be right. See here? I bet that’s the edge of the old wooden yards Paul doesn’t use anymore.’
‘Yes! That’s what I thought. And last one, except here, Grace is missing and there is a young Tom. Dad’s dad,’ Tess clarified. ‘I’d love to know where Grace is.’
‘She probably got married to another station owner. Or moved back to town. Wouldn’t have thought that would be too much of a mystery or hard to track down. Why don’t you ask some of the older people at the Muster? I’m sure they’ll remember stories about her. Actually,’ he paused, thinking. ‘I tell you who’d probably know. Old Joe. He’s been around forever and spent a bit of the time with Spider. Or if worst comes to the worst, you could always try the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry.’
‘That’s a fantastic idea! Why hadn’t I thought of that? Will Joe be at the Muster? Or can I come across to your place and talk to him?’
‘Either, or.’ Harrison watched as her fingers twirled around the pen she was holding.
She jotted down more notes then pointed to another image. ‘Anyway, I’ve found the photos I’m going to hang next: this one of the camel trains hauling out bales of wool, and then here’s a cheeky one of Len on a horse with Tom sitting in front of him. There’s such history here.’
‘Looks like you’re doing a great job. History is really important. The people who own Mundranda have heaps of photos and paintings of back when they were developing the land. The way they used to put up windmills would have WorkSafe cringing these days! It’s amazing there weren’t more people killed. Most of the blokes who have worked on windmills are missing a finger, though. Even in this day and age, if something goes wrong when you’re pulling a bore you’ll get your fingers chopped off. Solar pumps are much friendlier to work with.’
A shadow quickly passed across Tessa’s face then was gone. She grimaced. ‘Oh, gross!’
‘I think Violet would be proud of what you’re up to,’ Harrison said. ‘What are you going to do with the house once you’ve finished?’
Tessa looked thoughtful. ‘You know, I hadn’t given that any consideration. I don’t know. I just felt I wanted to get the family history up here. Anyway, it’s not really my house to make the decision. It’s Mum and Dad’s. I couldn’t stay here – how would I earn a living? Marketing is my thing, not chasing woolly sheep. Anyway, I hope Spider would approve. And I hope these books have got some answers for me!
‘Hey, doesn’t Cally look gorgeous in those new clothes? Look, I’ve got the photos she sent up on the fridge.’ She pointed towards the kitchen and Harrison stuck his head through the doorway.
‘I’ll tell her that. I don’t know where the time has gone. It only seems like a moment ago she was in a cot. Now she’s in the last year of primary school. I’ll miss her next year.’ Just the thought of Cally leaving made him feel sick, so he quickly moved on. ‘Oh, while I remember, Cally asked me to pick you up something. They’re just outside.’
He ducked out the door to grab the parcel he’d left on the step. On his return he held it out to her. It was gift-wrapped. ‘Cally promises me you’ll love them and they’ll be the right size.’
Tessa glanced at him quizzically. She took it, tore off the paper and opened the box. ‘Boots!’
‘Cally said you didn’t have any.’
‘No, no, I don’t. Thank you. I guess I can’t go to the Muster in a pair of tatty sneakers.’
‘Nope.’ He smiled. ‘Better get on. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Thanks, Harrison. For the boots and the diaries. And for all the other things I’ve forgotten to thank you for.’
‘It’s my pleasure,’ he answered and found he meant it.
Harrison had said goodbye and left, but Tessa was still standing in Spider’s lounge room with the boots in her hand. What a mixed package he was! Of course the boots were just a thank you for looking after Cally, but his interest in what she was doing made her feel like she was doing something of value.
Anyway, she had the diaries to focus on now. She put the boots down and made herself a cup of tea before settling into the lounge chair and picking up the last diary she had taken from the cellar. She couldn’t wait to start on the rest.
Saturday, 9 February 1929
It’s very dry and Uncle Sam and Len think we need to cull some of the kangaroos and rabbits because they are eating all the bushes and grasses.
There’s not enough for them and the sheep. The blokes have been going out at night and killing as many as they can, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the numbers I see.
One of the water sources has dried up and Len is keen to get the stock on the move again, to look for more feed and water.
The good thing about the water lease is we can roam as far and wide as we want to, although we have our favourite spots.
. . .
Thursday, 28 March 1929
A camel train came through yesterday. It wasn’t one we’ve seen before. Usually the camel train drivers are quiet, lovely and gentle. These men weren’t. Uncle Sam and Len weren’t here – they were on the hunt for water, but Edward and George were around. I’m pleased because I don’t know how I would have handled their surliness and anger.
We bought some soap, flour and many of the other household items we would usually get from the Tea and Sugar Train. It was easier to buy it all from these men than make the long journey to the railway line. Because we didn’t have the correct amount of money, the younger man yelled and made threats. I suspect they had been drinking, even though it was early in the day. It was a very odd incident.
. . .
Tuesday, 28 May 1929
We have had little rain since the beginning of the year and Uncle Sam is starting to get worried. The boys have been droving the sheep daily, but Aunty Margaret, Grace and I have stayed in one spot. It’s much easier than packing up the camp every couple of days. Grace seems unwell, as she has for the last month or so. But then again, Aunty Margaret is finding everything very tiring at the moment, too. I hope it’s just the weariness of the dry and that, once it rains, everyone will be ‘right as rain’. Pardon the pun.
We met three Aboriginals droving a mob of cattle today. Len was taken with the hardiness of the stock and is now trying to convince Uncle Sam we should buy some.
. . .
Monday, 17 June 1929
It’s rained! The land is awash with puddles and water. And everyone is smiling.
Tessa closed the book with a snap and picked up her cold cup of tea. She’d been swept away for the last few hours. Standing up, she stretched and picked up the next diary. She was impatient, wanting information to jump out at her, but it was all just bald historical stuff. Just as Elsie had told her. The 1934 diary seemed much the same. Although she had to admit, she felt like she was gaining a better understanding of her family.
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