Burrinjuck, March 4, 1932
Alas, for all the work we put into our garden, there is nothing left but stone hard, dry earth. Our work of love was in vain. The earth is just too poor. Perhaps, if we could have been sure of staying here for some years, we would have hauled in, bit by bit, more black earth and manure. Then it would have worked. As it is the plants just stopped growing and when the buds appeared, they wilted. We are getting just a few tomatoes, but they are small. We put so much hard work into that garden, so it was not for want of love.
Next week I will be a grass widow. Sverre is going to drive to Sydney on Monday and stay for about a week. He is going to look for work and a place to live. Hopefully it won't be entirely without result. The chances don't look too good, but we can still wait for a while. We probably won't stay here too much longer. Mrs Chaffer wrote us a terribly friendly letter. She said Sverre could come and stay with them as long as he liked, and if I felt like it I could come too. But I will stay here. We are not telling anybody that Sverre is going. It is better that way.
I am not at all afraid of being on my own. I am now so used to the gum trees, the silent darkness at night and the opossums which now and then race up the trees and then tear like crazy around the tent.
I am now quite over my influenza. We go swimming every day. The driving is getting better and better. I can now back the car and turn it around on a narrow road. It is really quite easy. You just have to concentrate all the time until it becomes second nature. It is a wonderful feeling to speed along and to feel you are in control. I wish I could just do it all the time.
Sverre is so industrious all the time. He has made improvements on the garage, washed some of his own clothes, and of course, fiddles around with the engine. I have made a car cushion which I need to have at my back because my legs are too short for the pedals.
Burrinjuck, March 10, 1932
I have now been a grass widow for three days and it's no fun, especially since there has been thunder and lightning, rain and hail ever since Sverre left. Today again - the fourth day, it's most depressing in the evening. As soon as it gets dark, that is, around eight I go to bed and read for several hours. That helps a lot. During the day I have plenty of work to do. What with our new car and all the visitors we’ve had, things have piled up and I have quite a collection of things that need repairing. The pile is now quite reduced in size. When I'm through it I will start writing letters.
Sverre had two passengers with him from Yass. A vegetable dealer who brings vegetables twice a week to Burrinjuck, and his wife. They paid one pound each for the ride, so the trip is not costing Sverre anything. Sverre has been to the State Monier Pipe Works. They had no jobs available at the moment, but it does not look completely hopeless.
The evening before Sverre left we went spinning with success, and Sverre was able to take nine good fish with him. I also sent Mrs Hindwood a jar of honey. Sverre is going to the dentist while he is in town. That was really necessary. I am happy for Sverre that he is having a bit of a holiday. He hasn't been out of the bush for ages. We will soon have to decide whether to stay on here or go to Sydney. A lot of people are now leaving Burrinjuck because they believe that work will be discontinued a couple of weeks after Easter. Sverre was only supposed to be one week in Sydney, but I am trying to persuade him to stay there for Easter as the Harbour bridge is to be opened for traffic on March 19 and it would be a pity were he to miss such a big event.
This is a typical trappers camp (ed. note: refers to photo). It is built of bark and the outside fireplace is of old corrugated iron. Many trappers. i.e. rabbit exterminators, live like this. Inside the hut there is a wooden bed and a mosquito net, seldom do you find a table. There might be a couple of chests standing around, a cup. a plate, an axe, knife, spoon, a couple of cans for cooking. That’s how they live. Sometimes one man on his own, sometimes a couple of men, hardly ever a woman. Hideous life, hideous work, every day tearing the heads of hundreds of defenceless animals. It's true. They simply tear off the heads. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. It is loathsome.
While I've been writing the weather has cleared and the sun is shining. Wonderful! I hate grey sky.
I have now food for Jip. I went hunting rabbits yesterday afternoon, but it was too dark and I shop brilliantly past the mark. To be honest I shudder to think of cleaning the rabbit and removing the skin. Sverre always does that, but I suppose I have to learn to do it some time. I guess I'll manage somehow. I'll go out earlier today.
Burrinjuck, March 3, 1932
Today I got news from Sverre that he is coming home tomorrow, and that he is bringing old Mrs Chaffer with him. She will probably stay a week. We won't let her go before anyway. In one way I am quite thrilled. Firstly because I will have my darling with me again, and secondly because Mrs Chaffer is coming. On the other hand I am sorry that Sverre is not staying a couple more days so he could see the opening of the bridge. I would also have liked him just to have a longer holiday and I'm sorry he's only taken one week. I am already used to being on my own and I'm not at all afraid in the evening. I manage to shoot and clean the rabbits for Jip like a genuine bush wife. I've seen Sverre do it often enough. I catch fish too. Today I took 5 shillings from Mrs Fraser, and already I have five more fish in the cage. There's only one thing I have not learnt. That is to chop wood. Because Sverre has never allowed me to touch the axe. He thinks I might chop off my foot, despite the fact that I am not the least clumsy. Anyway, Sverre made sure to chop enough wood before he left to last me for at least two more weeks. And now he's coming tomorrow. Too bad.
Burrinjuck, March 29, 1932
Sverre and Mrs Chaffer arrived on Tuesday, March 15, around seven in the evening. All day long I had been washing, ironing, baking etc., but I was finished by the time they arrived so the following days were very pleasant. I was only sorry Sverre hadn't stayed four more days and seen the bridge opening. There were great festivities and all sorts of things to see. However he didn't want to leave me alone any longer. That pleases me of course. but I'd have been happy for him to stay. Naturally Sverre did not find any work in Sydney. It just isn't that easy. However, he visited his old boss from Taemas, Bob Westerlund, and he said he expected soon to get a new contract and if he does, he will engage Sverre. If that happens, it will no doubt be somewhere in the Never Never. A bridge in the desert or something like that. But now that we have a car, the prospect is not so discouraging. Hindwoods have decided they want to use their garden house themselves, but rooms with kitchen are now so cheap to rent so we will probably soon move to Sydney, since there doesn't seem to be much future in staying here.
The holiday has done Sverre good. He looks much better and his face is no longer so thin. I'm pleased about that. All the stair climbing and bike riding was very strenuous, and the working conditions were far from pleasant. Sverre would so like to work at his own profession and build houses. But there is nothing to build. There are too many people who want to sell their houses and can't find a buyer.
I was so happy to have Sverre home again. I don't like being without him. We hang together like (/O?)
It was nice to have Mrs Chaffer here too. Unfortunately, she has trouble walking, or rather climbing - and climbing is what you have to do around here if you want to go anywhere. So we only made a couple of trips by boat and had lunch some place along the shore; or we went for short walks along the road, and drove down to the dam in the car. In the evenings we played cards endlessly. Naturally we didn't have any cards, so she gave us a pack. We hadn't touched a pack of cards for years, but we've made up for that now. All the Chaffers are very pleasant visitors, since they are modest and eat whatever is put before them and don't fuss (like Keith). They have plenty of money but are not extravagant. Mrs Chaffer brought me a big box of sweets and a big bag of peanuts; and Mrs Gilbert (Bryan's mother) sent me a box of delicious filled, dried plums. She had made the marzipan filling herself. And Pearl sent me salt and pepper shakers and a mustard pot, something I really needed. (Jip has just been barking at a passing car and Sverre is punishing the poor beast). Mrs Hindwood sent a couple of dozen lovely persimmons. Sverre too brought various goodies back, so we have really been living it up.
Mrs Chaffer could not stay longer than a week and she left Monday morning. The train left Yass at 10.30 am and Sverre and I stayed in town, did a bit of shopping, and when we saw that they were showing the movie ‘Dreyfus’ in the evening, we decided to stay and see it. It was terribly boring. Sverre drove to a garage where we always buy petrol. There they let-him use their tools and machines without charge. So he put on his overalls which were in the car and started on a minor repair job, three screws which were broken in half and were stuck. They could just have stayed that way, but Sverre wanted to have everything in order, and here in the garage they had an electric bore etc. So Sverre lay under the car and I was bored. To make matters worse the film was lousy. It was English, and it would seem that large parts of it had been damaged and cut away, because it was quite impossible to make head or tail of the story. We got home at 1 am, cold and tired. We lit a fire and made coffee and at three we were in bed.
I have not driven the car much, since when Mrs Chaffer was here I did not want her to have to sit in the back, and I don't yet drive without Sverre at my side, not to speak of driving in the dark.
Norman Chaffer arrived here early Thursday morning, and with him we did a lot of hiking and climbing. Unfortunately, it is already getting to be quite cool, and it rained a bit as well. Yesterday we took him to the train and came straight home after.
Those were our Easter holidays. We didn't give Easter much of a thought, but we had a lovely time nevertheless. We won't invite any more people now. Once it gets cold it’s not so nice any more.
NEXT: April 1932