Dear Fran, Love Dulcie

by Victoria Twead

  Dulcie

  * * *

  1st April 1958

  Dear Fran,

  Well, for the past week we have been having great deluges of rain. But today there has only been light showers so I guess it is starting to fine up. My garden and lawn welcomed the rain and everything looks lovely and fresh.

  I have had a run of abscesses in my right ear and it is terrible sore. I have drops to put in it and two different kinds of tablets to take, but they don’t seem to make much difference. However I suppose like everything else, they will have an ending.

  Well, you are more correct, about the way pineapples grow, than Dick is. They grow on a spiky mass of prickly leaves about three to four feet [91 to 122 cm] high and they shoot out the fruit on a stem at the top. I have taken some photos to send you when they are printed.

  Thank you for the magazines. I have read them from cover to cover. I am sending you another bundle with this letter.

  The kittens are lovely and the mother cat is expecting again. She should have them any day now. We bought Karen a collie pup a couple of weeks ago and she just adores her. She is black and white and has long hair. We called her Muchadilla (Muchy for short) which means in Aboriginal, “Fat Doggy”.

  Well, Fran, I had better close for now and get some work done.

  So cheerio,

  Dulcie

  25th April 1958

  Dear Fran,

  Thank you ever so much for the lovely birthday card and good wishes. It arrived just an hour or so after the party had started.

  We all had a lovely time at the party and after the feast was over we played games and danced for hours. Karen stayed up the whole time and really enjoyed herself. She didn’t cry once, but she ate and ate and when we got home she was fast asleep in the car.

  I received some wonderful presents, things that I hadn’t dreamed anyone would ever give me. But next morning we had to get up and work again and that was the hardest part of it all.

  We are coming into winter here now and it is chilly during the nights and in the mornings. You said in your letter when it was 70 degrees [21ºC] you didn’t need a coat when you’re out.

  But when the temp drops from 110 to 70 [43 to 21ºC] here we are freezing. It was only 73 [23ºC] this morning but we were all crowded around the heater trying to get warm and wrapped in coats. I think I’d die if I went over there during winter.

  My garden looks lovely now. All the balsams are in bloom and the gladioli, sweet peas, stocks and phlox. The watsonias are growing up into buds also.

  Well, it is 6 o’clock so I had better start preparing some supper.

  So best wishes,

  Dulcie

  PS enclosed are some snaps of the pineapples and Karen.

  * * *

  21st May 1958

  Dear Fran,

  I’ve been hoping and praying to get a letter from you this past fortnight. I don’t know which way to turn or what to do with myself.

  Karen was drowned on Sunday 4th of May. She wandered away about 8 o’clock in the morning and when I went to find her at 9 o’clock she was nowhere to be seen. We searched everywhere and Len went about ½ mile away and found her drowned in an old well. She still had her pyjamas and slippers on. She was dead when I went to meet him after he called out. But we tried to revive her. I just couldn’t believe she was gone. After a while we put her in the car and raced for a hospital. The police and a doctor met us on the road and they said they could do nothing for her. I still find it hard to believe she’s gone and everything around the house reminds me of her.

  Sometimes I feel like taking my own life but I know it would only make Len’s grief heavier and would be a selfish thing to do.

  Her pets miss her badly too and the dog keeps searching for her. If I get rid of her clothes, toys, furniture and pets, I might feel better. I just don’t know what to do half the time.

  Well, Fran, please write soon as I do look forward to your letters and I hope you and your family are all well and happy.

  Love,

  Dulcie

  18th June 1958

  Dear Fran,

  Well, it is now 6 weeks since Karen’s death, I don’t feel too bad now but it is terribly lonely on my own all day. Len is working in the far paddocks now and takes his lunch with him. I don’t know what to do with myself half the day.

  We have a neighbour now. A man and his family bought the old farm next door to us but their house is about a mile away, so I don’t get much opportunity to talk to them.

  Winter has started here and the nights are getting very chilly. There is a carnival on in Rockhampton this week. Do you have carnivals or festivals over there? We might go up to Rockhampton one day to see it. I made myself a new suit to go in. It is made of nylon and wool mixture material in grey with small specks of yellow and red in it. It looks quite nice and has a fitted coat and pleated skirt.

  Yes, Fran, I did get your magazines and have started to read them now. I am pleased to hear you got your boat motor back. It is terribly hard when you’ve saved to buy something and then some mean thing takes it.

  My garden looks wonderful too. The sweet peas are in full bloom and are a variety of colours.

  I hope you had a lovely night out on your wedding anniversary. Ours is not until 10th July and we will be 4 years married.

  I believe you told me in a previous letter you were expecting another babe. Well, good luck to you and I expect you’d like a little girl for a mate for your boy.

  We are starting to harvest the winter crop of pineapples now and during winter they are always very sour, as there isn’t much sun to sweeten them up.

  I went to Yeppoon yesterday and did my monthly shopping. I had quite a good time and met some friends I haven’t seen for quite a while.

  We will be able to have the telephone installed soon. The line is being brought this way slowly. At present we have a trip of 5 miles [8 km] to the nearest phone.

  Well, Fran I guess I had better close as I hear our transport carrier coming to collect and deliver our weekly mail.

  So Love,

  Dulcie

  15th July 1958 Bungundarra

  Dear Fran,

  Well, I’ve just had the most happiest shock. I’m nearly four months pregnant and I didn’t know it! I knew my periods had ceased some months ago but I thought the shock of Karen’s passing had done it. But yesterday I decided I’d go see my doctor about it and I almost fainted when he told me it was a baby. December 29th is my due date. But I’m not even an inch [2.5 cm] bigger than my normal measurements, so I still find it hard to believe.

  Len and my wedding anniversary was on 10th July, but we both forgot it till 3 days later. I was doing some accounts and looked at the calendar and we both had a good laugh about it.

  We are in mid-winter now but have only had 3 or 4 cold nights. We are still picking pines and Len is also planting more.

  I went shooting a couple of days ago, with my dog. I had a good day out and got the dog a wallaby. Len and I are going again over the weekend. The wild-duck season is open now, so we are going to see if we can get some.

  My garden is slowly going off now, with the cooler air. Nothing likes to grow in winter.

  Well, Fran, I had better close now, so write soon.

  Love,

  Dulcie

  16th August 1958

  Dear Fran,

  I haven’t heard from you for quite awhile and I wondered if you were alright. I hope you or your family are not ill. It has been raining here for the past week and we have had just about enough now. My garden has soaked up all it can hold.

  My young dog died last week from a shellback tick bite. I took her to the vet and had her given an injection and tablets but she died two days later, after becoming paralyzed. So my only house pets now are two cats.

  I am listening to the Hit Parade as I write this. “Twilight Time” and “The Ballad of the Teenage Queen” are the two top numbers.

  Well, Fran, excuse this short note and
I hope you and your family are all well.

  Yours truly,

  Dulcie Clarke

  29th August 1958

  Dear Fran,

  Well, I was pleased to hear from you again and thank you so much for the photo.

  Your little boy [Ricky] is a lovely little fellow and looks like his father a bit, doesn’t he?

  I think I must be going to have a boy this time as it moves and kicks too much for a girl. I really would like a little girl though.

  I have gained one pound and have made a blue and pink poplin maternity suit but I don’t need to wear it yet. The baby must be terribly small.

  I am eating all I can in the hopes that it will make him larger.

  A wallaby is a smaller edition of a kangaroo. It only grows about 2 feet [61 cm] high (standing on its hoppers) and hops along the same as a kangaroo. I have enclosed a snap of a pet one I had.

  It grew up and “Went Bush”. They are grey in colour and eat grass.

  I have to drive into Yeppoon tomorrow and am not looking forward to the trip one bit. The road is rough and dusty and it takes ¾ of an hour to go 13 miles [21 km]. I wish we owned an aeroplane.

  I have two parrots nesting in a bloodwood tree near the house. The female bird is sitting on some eggs.

  Well, Fran, I will have to dash and start supper as the time is 6 o’clock and Len will be in soon.

  So love from,

  Dulcie

  10th October 1958

  Dear Fran,

  I am so sorry to hear you have been ill and hope you are quite better now. We must have caught the infection from one another as I too have been ill for two weeks with influenza. I had a terrific cough for eight days and lost three pounds [1.4 kg] in weight.

  However I am okay now and have been doing some gardening today. It is a showery day and very good for transplanting things. I have a lovely lot of watermelons that should be ripe about December. Also my watsonias are in full bloom, and they are really beautiful.

  Len bought me another little pup last week. He is just a blue and white cattle dog with a white tip on his tail, so I call him “Tip”. He is only as big as a kitten but so fat he can hardly turn around.

  How did you get on with your house hunting? Have you found one suitable? You ask if many people own aeroplanes for private use here. Well, in Western Queensland, on most of the sheep and cattle stations, they have aeroplanes instead of cars as there are no roads to travel on. They are only two to four passenger Austin aircrafts.

  My stamp collection has just about got beyond me so I think I’ll sell it if I can. The album is fairly valuable now and I should make a good profit. I’ll get some together for you to give the boy you say collects them.

  It doesn’t matter if they are postmarked lightly, but of course they wouldn’t be so valuable as the unmarked ones. However, I don’t think a child would mind as long as they were different to what the other children had.

  Well, Fran, as it is nearly lunch time I had better close.

  So love,

  Dulcie

  14th October 1958

  Dear Fran,

  Well, we’ve been having a hectic time here lately with the temp around 112 degrees [44ºC] each day and bushfires have been terrific. Most of the other farmers around are burned right out and goodness knows what their cattle will eat. Also a lot of pineapples have been burned.

  The worst pineapple fire was just a week ago. I was on my way home in the car from Yeppoon and I could see a terrific cloud of smoke rising. When I reached home I found Len had gone to help with it. So I went too. One family had to leave their home as the smoke was suffocating.

  Two farms were being burnt and as the men were all away at the fire front, the women were in a panic. One woman has eight children and expecting another in two weeks time and the other has two little babies. I collected both the women and children in the car and made a dash out along the road, but we hadn’t got far when we discovered we were hemmed in with fires cutting across the road. I turned back and parked the car in a piece of ploughed ground. We nearly all died from the smoke. The babies had a tough time.

  Our house was partly burnt and on another farm fifteen thousand pineapples were completely destroyed. It is a terrible loss to the owner as they were all in fruit and would be ready to pick in December.

  We had all our country burnt clean, but we saved the pines. Today the temp is 108 degrees [42ºC] in the shade with a gale force wind blowing so I expect there will be more fire outbreaks today.

  I like your names for the baby. I like Linda especially. I have gained seven pounds [3 kg]. You haven’t got far to go to the hospital so you are very fortunate. It is reassuring to know one hasn’t far to go isn’t it? I have a trip of 2 and ½ hours from home. But I always have one car here so I can go if Len is away. I can always shorten the drive by a ½ hour if I need to go really fast.

  Your house sounds like it will be nice and comfortable. You will be able to move in with the new babe.

  Well, Fran, I had better close and get lunch started.

  So love,

  Dulcie

  27th January 1959

  Dear Fran,

  So sorry to have been so long in answering your letter and congratulations on the birth of your son.

  We, too, have a son and we named him Terrence Leonard Clarke. He was 9 pounds [4 kg] at birth and has dark hair and blue eyes. I just made it to the hospital in time. The water broke at home and by the time I’d driven to the hospital I had only an hour before his birth.

  Labour started at 4 o’clock Tuesday evening and I was home on my own. I waited till 8 o’clock, thinking Len might be back from his trip, but then I thought I had better go so I got the car out and the drive took me three hours as I had to go slowly when the pains got bad. I arrived at the hospital at 11 and the baby was born about 11:45. So altogether labour lasted only about 8 hours.

  It is very wet here and the roads are just quagmires. Len has to pull the truck-load of pines with the tractor, while I drive the truck. The mud is so deep that only part of the wheels are visible.

  Terry sleeps on the seat while I’m working with Len. He is bottle fed and is quite a contented little fellow.

  Well, Fran, I will have to close and get supper ready.

  So love from,

  Dulcie

  1st March 1959

  Dear Fran,

  So pleased to hear from you and hope you and babe are doing well. Terry is doing good and is five weeks old and weighs 12 pounds [5.4 kg]. He has been eating cereal and fruit for three weeks now. I feed him on a cereal called Larese and he really loves it. He also has plenty of pineapple juice to drink.

  How is your ankle? I hope it is doing well.

  I hope the weather has warmed up for you. I would gladly send you some of our heat, if possible. The temp has been around 100 degrees [38ºC] for the past month and the baby feels it too. He wears only a nappy [diaper] both day and night.

  The heat has been terrific in the southern states. The temp there is usually only in the 60s [16ºC] however, it has been around the century for a while and 30 babies have died so far and a number of elderly people also. We are used to the heat in Queensland and would probably die if we got a cold snap.

  I’m sorry to hear you have to search for another home. However, it would be no good buying one and not being happy in it.

  Yes, Fran, I will send you some more magazines when I go to Yeppoon next week or so. The mail transport only takes letters as he is unable to quote the amount of postage on parcels and papers, so we have to wait till we go to town.

  We are still picking pineapples although the peak of the crop has finished. I have a number of abscesses on my arms and my feet from pineapple prickles. My blood is a bit out of order and the sores have turned to abscesses. Normally they don’t bother me.

  Well, Fran, I have to get the washing out so I will close for now.

  Love,

  Dulcie

  1st April 1959

  Dear
Fran,

  Well, you seemed very pleased in your last letter because the snow had gone. I hope you are still having lovely weather. It has been so hot here last week, over 100 degrees [38ºC] all the time and one day it reached 112 degrees [44ºC].

  However we are having some rainy showers today and everything is starting to look green again.

  The road from Yeppoon to here is being widened to 12 feet [4 metres] now. It was only 7 feet [2 metres] wide before and one had to drive into the trees if anyone wanted to pass.

  They have a bulldozer pushing down trees and they are also blasting the big ones. It will be so much better but at present it’s very boggy. We have no bitumen on it, only just a dirt road. Your new house sounds so lovely. I hope you are happy in it. It is a great upheaval to have to pack up and move.

  Yes, it would be tough to start off in Alaska and as you say the nearest doctor is 100 miles [161 km] away, maybe they could adopt the Australian way of solving the problem. We have what is called a “Flying Doctor Service” to outback places where no doctors are available for up to 500 miles [805 km]. The doctor is paid by the government and given an aeroplane and pilot and flies to the places where he is needed. Most stations (cattle and sheep) have airfields and all have pedal wirelesses (or as I think they are called over there) two-way radios.

  When the doctor is wanted they radio the doctor’s radio and then he answers them and flies off to attend the cases or bring them to a hospital, depending on how serious they are.