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[Page 2]
I think she was so scared of it all she decided to move again. This time to Gulgong near a Dr. It was a very pleasant place 12 miles from Mudgee. We went to a country school and all seemed well. However, as Mother was not a particularly good business woman, and if she saw a man drinking a little too much she would try to persuade him to go home to his good wife instead of wasting his money, we never seemed to get ahead. The local policeman, who called in when passing by, said she would never make money. I think there was only one public house in the town so we should have been comfortably off. Very soon we moved again ~ this time to Riverstone, a»d after a short time there to Sydney where we had a small hotel in Liverpool St. near the junction of Oxford St. From there we went to Underwood St. in Paddington to the Grand National, however we did not do any better there.
We learned Shakespeare whilst washing dishes and heard stories of Dickens from Mother. In spite of the lack of money we were a happy family.
In those days ladies did not go to work, but eventually something had to be done. My sister Kit went to the Melbourne Hospital and took up nursing. Tess & Gert also went to work - Tess to millinery in Queanbeyan and Gert a governess earning 7/6d. a week.
My eldest brother, William Loneragan, who suffered with asthma was advised by the Dr. to go to Western Australia and after some time in Perth was much better. The youngest brother, Fred, started in the Post Office as a messenger boy and finished up being a very eleven chamber magistrate.
-Eventually I went to Melbourne. - By this time Kit had a Nursing home and took in a few patients. I went to the Melbourne Hospital to train, although I was not keen to become a nurse. Before the three month's probationary period was up I called on Nellie Stewart " she was playing "Sweet Nell of Old Drury". I thought she was lovely and to me very kind. After a cup of tea and small talk she asked whether I could dance or sing and I said no. She then said you can walk and you speak well and she advised me to stick to nursing which I did and finished my training in December, 1908.
Whilst Kit took a trip to England another graduate and myself managed the private hospital very nicely. We were paid £1 a week.
As we were getting quite a few maternity cases, we engaged a midwifery trained nurse for the first three days, after which we carried on alone.