The Wrong Man - Episode 25 - The Outing
Chapter 23 - Sydney, March 1920
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Eventually, the day came when over dinner, Florie suggested Ned hire a pony and trap for the day’s journey required to reach and return from the address I had for Mr and Mrs Smith in West Kogarah.
Devon Cottage. I tried to imagine it: pictures of neat, whitewashed walls and colourful flowerbeds filled my head.
‘As the weather is fine but not terribly hot, I thought that the four of us could set out early the day after tomorrow and make it an outing to the countryside. I’ll wrap a picnic to eat on the way. I checked at the market, and they said it’ll be quite easy to find, with a well-marked road. It’s about a three-hour journey taking it slowly by horse and cart; less in an automobile, but we don’t have one of those,’ she joked.
‘One day, my dear,’ quipped Ned, in return.
‘If we all go, then Susannah won’t be nervous, seeing as she doesn’t know what she’s going to find… do you, Susannah?... And her with a tiny babe.’ Florie framed it as a statement rather than a question. We had discussed it before, and she knew the answer well enough. The arrangement felt controlling, but she was right, I was nervous.
‘Oh, thank you. You’ve thought of everything, Florie. Would that be alright, Ned? I have a little money still, to pay for the hire.’
‘Fair dinkum, you keep your money in your purse for when you need it, Susannah. We’ll enjoy a day out while I’m on land and Florie’s come up with a bonza idea to suit both.’
‘Thank you. That’s very kind.’
Thinking quietly, I continued to eat my potatoes, cabbage and mutton broth with barley, followed by bread pudding. Food was plentiful and I wondered if it was like that all the time or only when Ned was home. At least my breasts had plenty of milk for Caroline. Feeding her had grown harder in the last weeks at sea with those meagre rations; by the end of the voyage, potato soup and hard bread featured excessively despite what the ticket claimed. Sufficient food again was an encouraging sign of Thomas’ promised abundant work and nice houses in Australia. And there was his family to meet. Thomas is such fun. His family must have brought him up in a happy home.
‘There’s a homey ring to Devon Cottage, don’t you think? I visited the real Devon on an outing with Grannie Mitchell to one of her children. Cottages there had charming, thatched roofs, even if they were a bit rustic on the inside.’ I said in the lull between eating.
But a little warning voice in the back of my mind prodded me about the slums just down the road, while a piano played again in my head, the tune now transposed as It’s a long way to Tipperary. Of course, I’ve never been to Tipperary, but I realise the song is about longing for a distant home.
***
The day for our visit dawned. I had washed our clothes and the night before packed my bag in readiness to stay with Thomas’ family until he returned, if he hadn’t already. I imagined he might be there, wondering where I was. Nervousness from contemplation of our reunion hit the pit of my stomach and sent me running to the outhouse for a second time. In the heat the rancid smell made me gag. Maybe this would be less of a problem in the countryside. Another daydream my mind constructed.
When it was time to go, Ned pulled up in a trap hired from the local stables. It was in excellent condition, with its two seats in the back and one up front beside him. The pretty skewbald horse with feathered legs waited for us, still and compliant. It reminded me of the gipsy horses I’d seen attending big summer fairs in the English countryside, although those animals were wilder. It was another happy thought the day brought me; one can never have too many. Perhaps it was a sign. In any case, it bolstered my dipping confidence.
Florie commandeered Caroline and sat in the back, while I sat up front alongside Ned.
Florie had insisted. ‘You’ll get a good view of your new country without worrying about disturbing the babe.’
Fair dinkum, I thought.
In less than two weeks, the new lingo already came unbidden. Nonetheless, even in my mind, it sounded strange. At times when Ned and Florie talked it seemed foreign. There were many unfamiliar words, even after working with the diggers back home. I needed to improve my knowledge, I thought, so I could fit into Thomas’ world.
Moving beyond the city – with its row upon row of terraced houses or dilapidated shared tenements – everything became more spaced out. There were small houses with gardens filled with potager vegetable patches and netted areas for chickens and pigs; in that regard, not unlike Wiltshire and Hampshire, except dustier. Country folk had brought their ways here with them.
The landscape included expanses of wattle trees dressed in glorious drops of golden flowers glowing amid spindle leaves on their long-canopied branches. I also recognised gum trees. Their heady fumes grew stronger as the day grew hotter.
After about a two-hour journey, Florie asked Ned to pull along an earth and gravel path. At its end, we stopped. Ahead was a wide piece of almost-green grass, under a stand of three big overhanging trees. A small stream idled along past it, sparkling with reflected light. When you looked at its bottom, tiny fish darted around worn white pebbles. Along the other side, it was swampland. Growing on the near side were upright, mainly bright-red flowers blooming on long furry green stems. From them came the sound of insects humming and clicking. They weren’t pretty in the way I had always thought of flowers being at home, but they were extraordinary. These definitely did not come from Wiltshire.
I observed my new home. Many things were so much the same, yet others were so completely different we could just as well have been on the moon. Idyllic in a harsh way. The light was translucent, the heat almost visible as the hazy air stirred. This strange land mesmerized me.
Ned helped Florie climb down with Caroline in her arms and Florie’s voice broke into my reverie.
‘Right-oh, Ned. Let’s get the billy on the boil and have a cuppa. I’ll unpack the cheese sandwiches to eat before they melt. Maybe the horse needs a drink too. The day is getting a heat up. I see a bucket on the back.’ Orders issued to Ned, then my turn. ‘While you’re doing that, Ned, Susannah can sit quietly on the other side of that tree and feed Caroline. I’ll spread the spare rug I have in the back.’ Adding as she looked around satisfied, ‘We’re jolly lucky to have this spot to ourselves. I was told it’s where the traders stop for a smoke-oh break on their way south.’
As I sat down with Caroline, Florie bustled about readying things. At the same time, she managed to keep hold of a large white parasol which also appeared with the picnic basket. This looked comical, but I understood. Even beneath the branch canopy, Caroline and I needed our wide-brimmed hats to hold off the sharp sun. I didn’t want to arrive at our new family the colour of those weird scarlet flowers.
The stop provided a welcome break and created a picture of contentment. As we lingered, Ned and Florie took off their shoes on the bank of the stream and dangled their feet in the water. Florie, with ubiquitous giggles, squealed as fish swam near to explore her wriggling toes.
‘No crocs to get you here,’ laughed Ned. ‘Won’t be doing this if we go up north.’
‘This is quite far enough north for me thank you, Edward Stewart. I’ve heard tales of them beasts taking off with grown men, never to be seen again. Why, you were reading about such in the newspaper just last week…’ As I relaxed, their conversation merged into the background of insects and the stream’s gurgling water.
After feeding Caroline, I was able to wash and change her and rinse out her dirty clout downstream. She could sit well now when propped up, as she was under the tree, and her little hands splashed at the cool water I had gathered in the horse’s water bucket. Her giggles echoed Florie’s. Caroline lay down beside me after tiring of the water game, chubby legs kicking the air. It had taken her no time at all to grow pleasingly plump again. I sat contentedly with my tea, chewing a chunky sandwich.
This interlude provided a carefree moment with Caroline to treasure as we headed into the unknown.