At last night's Zoom meeting those online heard about Sandie's very interesting and varied life. I didn't think I could do all the content justice but Sandie has kindly supplied her speech. Enjoy!
"On the 9th of January 1956, in Quorn, South Australia, the Larkin children were told by an older sister when they woke up that “Mum’s gone to hospital to get us another baby girl”. Being a family of seven girls already, a baby brother was not considered even a remote possibility. The promised baby girl number eight, was named Sandra Josephine. That’s me!
In November 1957, Mum and Dad were offered Commonwealth Railways employee housing at either Port Augusta or Stirling North Railways, a cluster of 97 houses located five miles outside Port Augusta. They didn’t want to live in a “big town”, and without a car Dad needed to be able to walk to work, so Stirling North Railways was the choice. Most residents were young families, and in those days without television, computers and mobile phones, most of us kids spent many hours playing in the scrub and sand hills, exploring dry creek beds, climbing trees and catching tadpoles, or checking if any calves or lambs had been born in the railway yards. Sometimes we’d take a sandwich for lunch and we’d always make our way home in time for tea. I also loved being on my own, climbing trees to check for eggs or chicks in sparrows’ nests, wandering around the railway yards … occasionally sneaking a look inside a railway carriage. Inside activities involved board games, most of which ended with me throwing a tantrum after being beaten, making scrapbooks with pictures cut from magazines, making dolls clothes, playing at being a shopkeeper or a teacher, listening to records – initially 78s on the scratchy old gramophone then later vinyl 45s and LPs on our portable record player.
Although my parents were poorly educated I learned a lot from them – stoicism, humility, honesty and independence.
I honestly can’t remember many friends of my parents coming to visit – maybe one or two ladies to see Mum, and only 2 or 3 workmates ever visited Dad. Most of our socialisation as a family was infrequent and generally with other relatives. In fact I can’t understand what the fuss is about with this current “self-isolation” – my parents were masters of it!
So, what did I learn from Mum : how to use the treadle sewing machine and bake scones, but more importantly, a love of words – reading, writing, clear pronunciation, lots of Scrabble and library books. And not to backchat within hearing range. From Dad : drawing (his subjects always horses!), ability to see the funny side in everything, that weird black Irish sense of humour, the joy of being taken for a wheelbarrow ride really fast on a really bumpy track through the saltbush across the road. Oh, and how to wire a fuse, which as it turned out came in very handy about twenty years later.
After Dad won a brand new FB Holden in a raffle, we went for regular drives to visit family in Quorn and Melrose, and to the bakery in Wilmington to satisfy Dad’s appetite for finger buns. Very rarely did we travel further, just a trip to Adelaide every few years to visit Dad’s family, which necessitated flasks of tea and sandwiches, lots of stops along the way.
When I was eight or nine, two of my friends received brand new bikes for Christmas. After a lot of whingeing I finally got my bike for my birthday. Mine was an extra special model never seen before - Dad made it himself from only the best parts - picked up from that treasure trove, the local rubbish dump. No handlebar grips, no mudguards, no fancy paintwork - and no brakes! Had a few near misses but I didn’t have any crashes, so I guess I was as slow riding that bike as I was getting ready for school.
I had some woeful but fortunately also some great teachers through school at Willsden Primary then Port Augusta High, and did quite well in most subjects, attaining a Commonwealth Scholarship in my third year of High School. During 1971, in my fourth year of high school, which was the last year of the old Leaving Certificate exams, I started working on Saturday mornings for one of the sales reps at CityState Motors, the Port Augusta Holden dealership. At that time, when US personnel left Woomera to go back to the US, their American car would often be sold to CityStates. It was very exciting for me to see those cars in the yard, after falling in love with the American cars I’d seen at Woomera during a stay with my sister at Pernatty Station a few years earlier.
Two and a half hours of typing gained me $2 (generously rounded up from 75c an hour!), which was used to buy material to make clothes for myself or my nieces, using Mum’s old treadle sewing machine. I usually bought patterns for myself, but with little money to spend, for my nieces’ clothes I’d have them lay on the material on the floor and just cut around them!
My Leaving Certificate results satisfied the Manager, so I started working full time in the CityState Motors office mid-January 1972, with some of the most generous and supportive men - and two of the meanest women - I have ever worked with.
My oldest sister Cecily had married a career soldier and moved to Sydney before I was born. This might as well have been the dark side of the moon as far as my parents were concerned, so we never visited them, and because of their large family of four biological children and seven adopted children, they were not able to visit us. When I was thirteen years old, Doug left the Army and they moved to Adelaide. The following summer school holidays, I was duly despatched on the train – alone, aged fourteen - to Adelaide to stay with them. Although I had never met my sister and we had no recent photo, I was able to recognise Cecily on the busy platform in Adelaide Railway Station. She looked just like Mum. Because of our separation and the 21 years difference in age though, we didn’t really connect all that well; I related better to her adopted daughters who were closer in age.
Late in 1972 my second oldest sister Janice was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, and she passed away early in 1973, aged 33 and with two very young daughters. My mother had already been fighting breast cancer since late 1971, and seemed to be winning until Janice’s death; after that Mum’s health quickly deteriorated and she left us in October 1973.
At this time I was working at the Regional Office of the Department for Community Welfare in Port Augusta, and I heard heart-breaking stories from the Welfare Officers about domestic violence and neglected children. I volunteered to spend three weeks helping with administration work in the District Office at Oodnadatta. It was a real eye-opener for me, to see the conditions in which the Aboriginal people lived, and it certainly made me question the lack of facilities and basic necessities, those comforts I had always taken for granted.
In September 1974 I married Peter, and in early 1975 we moved to Melbourne, then to Darwin in November 1976, two years after Cyclone Tracy. I worked for TAA, as it was then, before the change to Australian Airlines and later the amalgamation with Qantas. Access to discounted airfares, accommodation and car hire meant we were able to travel through Europe, England and Scotland for three weeks in 1978. During that trip we visited Sonja in Germany, my penfriend since we were fourteen.
Late in 1980 Peter wanted a change, so we applied for positions of Motor Mechanic and Administration Officer at Daly River Mission, south west of Darwin. During our second interview we were told that the Administration Officer had decided to stay, but the Store Manager was leaving, and that job was offered to me instead! After a nano-second of deliberation, I agreed – another childhoold dream realised – being a shopkeeper! Daly River was managed then by Catholic Missions, but the Aboriginal population of around 200 had strong leaders, and still practised customs such as initiation for young men and women, and serious tribal punishment. We also enjoyed the spectacle of corroborees “just for fun”, where the Elders trained the young ones in traditional musical instruments, singing and dancing.
I really enjoyed a visit from Dad, and he really enjoyed going fishing for the first time ever and catching a bigger barramundi than anyone else, as well as showing the younger men that he could still handle a shotgun.
We moved back to Adelaide in late 1981 but in mid 1982, we were asked to move to Bathurst Island, north of Darwin, me to manage the General Store during the absence of the Aboriginal Manager, and Peter to manage the Mechanical Workshop. The current Store Manager was exiled from the township for three months as punishment, because a small boy was taken by a crocodile from his boat while crossing over to Melville Island.
When Bernard came back to the Store Manager job, I still performed many of the management tasks such as staff supervision, purchasing, stocktake and chasing dogs out of the store with a broom.
In April 1983, Dad came to visit us on Bathurst Island and had a great time getting to know the locals, checking out the horses used by the Aboriginal stockmen, and visiting our favourite waterholes and camp sites. It was a great shock when three weeks into his visit, he died in his sleep. Our friends on Bathurst Island and in Darwin were very supportive, helping us to arrange his return to Port Augusta, to be re-united with Mum at Stirling North Cemetery.
Late in 1983 Peter and I returned to Adelaide, I started working as a Secretary at Sellers Atkins, and after a crash and burn experience with a fruit and veg business, we went our separate ways.
I started a new job at Pipelines Authority of South Australia, and promised myself to not get serious about any man ever again.
Bill Simons and I met while I was working at Sellers Atkins, and the friendship developed further after I started at Pipelines Authority. Despite my promise about men - and the fact that he had a daughter only five years younger than me, and a two year old granddaughter! - I moved in with Bill in late 1986.
We married on 18th March 1990, his Mum’s birthday.
In November 1990 I started working as a Systems Support Officer in the IT department at Levi Strauss & Co, located at Elizabeth. This role involved rolling out personal computers to our sales offices, from building each computer to installing the software, writing manuals, training and ongoing support. After a few years I moved into a Business Analyst/Project Management role. I learned a huge amount about many different areas of the business, and was fortunate to work with high calibre people from all over the world on high profile projects. Another bonus was a lot of interstate and international travel.
As a side project, I decided to achieve another childhood dream of teaching, so I volunteered as an English teacher through the ESL program, for a couple of years.
In August 1996, we bought the Corvette and that introduced us to a whole lot of new friends.
However, over time, with our unit at Tennyson having undercover parking for only one out of our three cars – shades of The Castle! – we thought it would be good to have more space. After a few visits to the Barossa Valley with the Corvette Club, we decided it would be a good area to live in, and started looking for an established property. We stumbled across one acre of land on Gilbert Street in Lyndoch, and decided to build instead. A four car shed was built first of course, and we often stayed weekends in the shed until we moved into our house in December 2002.Thanks to Bill’s vast experience in the building industry, we enjoyed the process of designing and building our own home, and we worked very hard at landscaping and establishing a drought tolerant, mainly native garden.
In 2009, I took to art again, with intentions of having some serious fun. I had lessons at Norm’s Art Studio in Gawler, did courses at the Art Gallery SA and at Adelaide Central School of Art, and whatever other workshops I could fit in. I entered several competitions and SALA exhibitions, and finally I sold some paintings and secured a few commissions. I haven’t done anything serious for awhile, but it’s still there, bubbling away in the background.
Bill retired at the end of 2010, and he started volunteering at the Barossa Bushgardens in Nuriootpa early in 2011. I was also involved there, helping with Open Days, the newsletter and memberships.
In mid 2011 we spent five weeks travelling through Europe, where we visited my penfriend Sonja and her family in Germany. In 2013 we travelled for six weeks in the UK, Spain, Italy and France, a highlight of which was four days in Paris with Sonja and her husband Dieter, then back to their home in Germany for a few days before coming home.
In July/August 2017, our holidays included a Baltics cruise, time in Cornwall and Germany with Sonja and Dieter, then a cruise on the River Douro in Portugal followed by four nights in Rome.
A surprise wedding invitation from Sonja’s daughter Julia, saw us off again in early October 2018 for a week in Strasbourg, joined by Sonja and Dieter for another week in Colmar, then to Liemen near Heidelberg in Germany for the wedding. A few days back home and we were visited by the honeymooners for a long weekend at Wilpena Pound.
At the end of February 2015, I received a redundancy from Levi’s – not unexpected, but after 24 years there, most of which was quite intense, and having worked almost continuously for over 40 years, it still took a good few months to adjust.
After a holiday in Tasmania, I started volunteering at BBBfm Community Radio, helping to produce an interview format program. Following technical training I began to present my own music program. For the last few years I have been Secretary of the Board of BBBfm and work on other projects and functions including Sponsorships.
We’ve been members of Probus since September 2016 – after 15 months on the waiting list!
After duly serving our Apprenticeship as Friends of this Rotary Club, Bill and I were inducted as full Members on February 1st, 2018. Despite not having been involved in a service club before, we have found it easy to embrace the culture of giving back to the community, with the support of you, the Club members being so willing to share your experiences and knowledge. And of course there’s the additional benefits of great friendships.
Since Bill and I have been together, I have lost many within my family but I have been very fortunate to be part of his family in a way that many others would envy. I have gained a daughter who is also a wonderful friend, and I adore our two now grown up grandchildren. My remaining sister lives in Gawler and we are very close.
I feel blessed with my life and hope the fun continues for many more years!"
