Shirley - a Tassie girl

Shirley is a resident at Hawthorn Village and a born-and-bred Tasmanian; her daughter, Wendy, volunteers there.

Shirley was born in Cambridge (Tasmania) and grew up with two brothers and four sisters and was raised by her grandma. They lived on a farm on Belbins Road; the property was named after Shirley’s Grandma.

The farm had no power, and Wendy recalls visiting the property when she was a child: “They didn’t have showers; they had a bathroom. I remember going there and in the shed there was a big bath, and the loungeroom had a big fire with an iron…her husband died when my mum was two, she had a very hard life.”

Shirley said growing up she was spoilt unlike her older sister, “We used to get up to a bit of trouble. Not bad trouble, but trouble. And of course, she'd get the blame for my fault.” One such time was when they jumped over a fence, and Shirley got her hand caught in a rabbit trap; she says her sister, “Got the blame, of course; my mother blamed her.”

Shirley recalls how she learned how to swim, “Down the Pitt Water causeway, and there used to be a shed there. They had a bridge out to go out to the shed, and they had to learn in Pitt Water. You see the tides out there, the rocks; that's where we used to go.”

Shirley attended Cambridge Primary School until grade 6 and recalls walking 3 miles to and from school, she then went to Sorrell School. She says, “I didn’t like school. I left school when I was 15.” She went on to work at Cold Cafeteria, then Hardwood Biscuit Factory, then James and Cove, which was the IXL Jam company whose building still exists in Salamanca. She married, had children, and later became a cleaner and did Meals on Wheels.

She eventually went through a divorce and started attending group sessions at Parents Without Partners; here is where she met the love of her life, a widower, Laurie, when she was in her late 40s. Wendy says, “She had a wonderful 30 years with him. He took her around Australia. She’d done stuff that she’d never done before.” Shirley replies, “I went dancing, fishing, I had a lot of fun with him. I’ve got good memories from him.”

Laurie and Shirley went to work at Laurie’s son's piggery, in Mundubbera. Shirley remembers her time travelling around Australia fondly, “I couldn’t read a map, and we got lost plenty of times – and of course we lived eight hours away from Brisbane!” Laurie and Shirley bought a property at Cattle Creek, where they had cows and a lot of friends.

Shirley and Laurie returned to Tasmania when their health began to decline. Sadly, Laurie passed away 5 years ago.

Wendy says Shirley was ‘too lonely at home,’ and since coming to Hawthorn, Shirley says, “I’ve been feeling better.” For Wendy, the move has been a positive shift: “I wasn't a daughter before; now I can be a daughter, not a carer.”

Wendy now volunteers at Hawthorn Village, she is familiar with aged care after working in the industry for 25 years; “I was coming in and I've seen Mum because I only live up the road. So, if I'm going past, I'll come and have a coffee and a nice cup of tea. But then I'll make someone else a cup of tea and then I'll feed somebody… I do the coffee club and I've done painting.”

Family extends beyond Wendy as Shirley is a great-great-grandma with about 35 grand children and great-great-grandchildren.