Children are often protected from stories and discussions about war, but I believe children do have ‘antennae’ and heightened awareness of their parents’ moods, of atmosphere changes in household settings such as kitchen and dinner table conversations.
This is a story about conversations about war which may have been included in dinner tables of my paternal great grandparents and grandparents’ homes in the inner south eastern suburbs of Melbourne during world war 1 and in the post war period. My mother, Paula Alice Devitt, was born on the 23 March 1913, the first child of Jack and Lily Devitt, a home birth in Victoria Street, Malvern. Her parents, John Edward Devitt Jr ‘Jack’ and Lily Mabel Florence Devitt, nee Hooper, had “gone for a walk when a thunderstorm broke and sent them hurrying home”. Paula arrived shortly after – with the help of their next-door neighbour, Mrs Wells, a mid-wife. The Doctor hadn’t had time to get there. At 9:00 am Australian Eastern time on Wednesday 5 August 1914 war with Germany was declared by the United Kingdom and Australia entered World War I. Paula was 17 months old. Although anticipated, the news must have stunned her parents and grandparents. Stories about the Gallipoli landing would have filtered through to be discussed earnestly when family members gathered. However other matters would also have engaged them when they met. In 1914 Jack’s brother Vincent’s young wife Gladys was admitted to what became the Kew Psychiatric Hospital, after breaking down during a family picnic at Sandringham Beach, perhaps caused by Post Natal Depression. The family pulled together to support Vincent with the children, with his daughter, mum’s same age cousin Joan, staying for extended periods with Lily and Jack. A year or so later after the declaration of war, in early June, 1916, Lily, Jack and three year old Paula were reportedly thrilled when her brother Edward Gordon was born. A “blue baby”, Gordon only lived for seven weeks, devastating Jack and Lily, and troubling little Paula. He was buried at the Brighton Cemetery on July 19, 1916. Deciding to move not long after Gordon’s death, Jack and Lily rented a home in Wilgah Street, East St Kilda while building a home at 11 Testar Grove, Caulfield. Jack’s much-loved parents, ‘Dinky’ and Elizabeth lived within walking distance in Rockbrook Road, East St Kilda, and it became the tradition for Jack and Lily to visit Dinky and Elizabeth on a Saturday for lunch, along with Vincent and his children, sister Victoria and brother Sydney and their young families, and then unmarried sisters Lily and Adelaide. When the children were sent off to play in a side room, discussions at the lunch table almost certainly veered towards the war. There may well have been some difficult conversations, as Victoria’s husband, Herbert Bouschier ‘Bert’ Kirsch, was from a German family. In 1917, Jack’s younger brother Sydney enlisted, sailing to the European theatre of war in the Ascanius on the 11 July 1917. I wonder whether Jack’s four boys, Sydney 1911, James 1913, Herbert 1915 and John 1916, Paula’s cousins, were at the port to farewell him? What follows is a difficult story to tell. I’d always sensed that Sydney was considered the black sheep of the family, and his war records possibly throw some light on this. Ensconced in war records is evidence of his being in the ship’s hospital isolation ward for the venereal disease ‘Gonorrhoea’, shortly after embarking, where he remained isolated for a total period of 52 days. He was then admitted to the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital at Bulford for a further 9 days not long after arrival. Perhaps at Bulford, portrayed in an episode of the series ‘Anzac Girls’, he eventually received specialist medical treatment for VD, also portrayed in this episode. Sydney went on to fight in France. He was wounded in action, invalided to UK, then returned to France, twice during 2018. He had a troubled record during the war, not only the instances cited of periods of VD, but also a number of ‘Absences With Out Leave’ (including ‘missing Parade Duty’) also resulting in forfeiture of pay. This must have been difficult for his wife, Ellen. It was noted in his records that the initial periods ‘VD’ of 52 days, then 9 days were not fully lost, but paid at half the rate. Perhaps Ellen had made a compassionate request to the war office? Not receiving two months’ pay must have been difficult for her. The records suggest that Ellen moved to Rockbrook Road, where her parents in law Dinky and Elizabeth lived, for a period while Sydney was at war, perhaps needing additional support at the time. Little Paula almost certainly met up with Sydney’s boys when visiting her grandparents for the family’s traditional Saturday lunch, probably playing outside while parents and grandparents were worrying about the war and Sydney’s welfare over the dinner table. After Sydney’s return home, electoral records in 1921 record show he and Ellen living in East St Kilda, where he had returned to his work as a carpenter. They appeared to have stayed together during the 1920’s, but by 1949 we find Ellen living with her son Herbie, and Sydney living elsewhere. Other news, of pregnancies and births, including Jack and Lily’s second daughter, Joyce, another home birth in 1917, and Victoria’s daughter Marie, in 1918, would have jostled for a place for discussion at the table alongside news and opinions about the war. Elizabeth, who had many nephews and nieces in Adelaide and Perth, would have no doubt shared news from her brother’s James in Perth and Robert and John in Adelaide about cousins who had enlisted and fought overseas. Thinking about Paula’s grandparents and aunts and uncles during this time, I’ve often wondered about the nature of Conscription referendums and the post referendum discussions when they met. I’ve wondered whether the Jack’s Catholic Devitt family and Lily’s Protestant Hooper family shared the same opinions about conscription. If not, how did this affect Lily and Jack? Would they have voted for or against conscription? Jack’s father Dinky was of Irish heritage and a committed Catholic, his children had been educated at CBC St Kilda and Presentation Convent and they’d attended St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong Road, East St Kilda. Indeed, Stone Mason Dinky had completed the stonework on a wing of Presentation Convent. Was he strongly influenced by Archbishop Mannix? Also, I read recently that people from Irish backgrounds were prone to refuse to fight to support the British Army ‘on principal’. Feeling the need to find out more about the conscription referendums during the first world war, I came across the following video ‘Against the Odds: The Victory Over Conscription in WW1. It answers some of my questions about what life was like in Melbourne at the time of the Conscription referendums, firms up my ideas about how members of my ‘Devitt’ side may have voted, and also caused pause for further reflection on our recent experience of the Voice referendum. My mother, Paula, a small child during the 1914-18 war years, didn’t experience a particularly strong ‘military’ history on her father's ‘Devitt’ side in terms of soldiers going to war, however conversations and emotions surrounding her would almost certainly have resonated at times with concerns and stories about the war, the conscription referendum and more. Beverley Lee April 2024 Flinders Lane is one of the 'places' which features in Devitt Family stories across the first half of the 20th Century. I've always pricked up my ears when Flinders Lane is spoken about it and love wondering along it and the now cafe filled lanes which seem to emanate from it. I keep an eye out for photographs of Flinders Lane taken at the time when my grandfather, Jack Devitt; two Devitt grand aunts -Victoria and Adelaide and their husbands, mother Paula Devitt, aunt Joyce Devitt family members worked in and around Flinders Lane, part of the 'Rag Trade'. I'm looking forward to writing about Flinders Lane and to set the scene, have included a photo perhaps in the 1920's/30's... Flinders Lane - Image acknowledgement - 'State Library of Victoria'
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The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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