Monday, February 11, 2013

The oldgirl turn's 80!







 Well it was a warm Saturday morning in '33 when Esmond and Clara Dougherty brought into the world their little bundle of joy, a little sheilah by the name of Maureen Catherine Doughty. But what you might not know is that on that very same day up in the South Burnett region of Queensland, nestled in the little farming town of Wondai another child was born. A little fella by the name Chadwick William Morgan, who went on to become one of Australia s greatest Country singers... Chad Morgan! That's right our Great mother has the same birth-date as one of Australia's Royalty, as that great aussie bread maker would say 'Good on ya mum'.
 Being the seventh of nine little kiddies jammed into a town house in Cooks hill, you might say it was a pretty full house! I can only imagine what great times she must of had with her mob, and with only two fellas in the house Es and little brother Kevin you could say the boys were outnumbered. Crikey I feel sorry for them having seven sheilahs under the same roof, but where not here to chat about the Dougherty mob where here to talk about my Mum so here we go.
  I know when she was growing up she was a little tomboy because she use to sit around the radio listening to the cricket, keeping score on her score book as she heard her little favorite batter... some young bloke from Cootamundra by the name of Mr Bradman. turns out he was pretty good with the willow and went on to become a pretty good batsman in his time... as mum would say.
  Maureen (or Nana to some) started her first job at a corner shop called Cope's which was on the corner of Bull and Corlett street in Cooks hill, so really my mum's first job was (in a roundabout way) a check-out-chick. Over the years the shop changed hands and became Donnans then Maisons, until finally it was changed to Bendeich. However this final change saw her having to leave her most loved job, as the owners kids were made to work inside the shop. But she was out of work for only a short time as a friend of her mother Syd Evans offered her a job at his milkbar/sandwich shop, it was only for two weeks but turned out to be for over three years.
  Then at 17 Mum went to a youth group picnic where she met 'The love of her life'... she found a cassette tape of Bing Crosby ha,ha. Sorry couldn't help myself, she met a young fella my the name of Victor. And he had the one thing that all girls love but mum's hate... A Motorbike!! He asked to give her a ride home but she knew if her mother saw her on a bike, that would be the end of her romance with this bloke who worked with Bob Stace on the railways. She remembers Vic walking into her shop and right in front of her boss asked her to go out with him, She said 'No thank you', because he should have better manners! She didn't see him for years after that as he signed up for the air force, then one day he poped in to see his mate Bob (who was dating Joan) and the boys wanted  to go on a double date. And where did the boys take the girls out for the night... well the wrestling of cause! ha,ha he was a old romantic my Dad! But then Dad decided to cancel an order to buy a Holden FJ so the two of them could get married, can you believe it! He had to sacrifice a beautiful piece of machinery like the FJ with a three speed gearbox, top speed 119km/h with an acceleration of 0-60mph in 22 seconds. To give up an FJ for my mum it must of been true love! (or he spent way to much time in Woomera!).
And that was about it for mum as after getting married they moved to their little house at 122 Brighton Ave, and then along came kiddie after kiddie! So life pretty well stood still for Maureen after that ....
  And now the old girl has hit twenty short of the Ton... crikey 80 years old! now just take a moment to digest what 80 years actually is.... that's 29200 days old! Strewth, but if you want to take it a bit further then that, what if Mum was a Dog! Well if she was she would be 333 years old! ha,ha and I reckon she feels every bit of it! ... not saying shes a dog or anything like that in fact in the Chinese mythical calender she is known to be a Rooster... funny I always thought of her as more of a chook then a rooster... but their you go. I did have a nice little nick name for her as I was growing up, and even today I still think of her as my little 'Fruit-bat', why I nick named her that I'm not to sure (maybe after a few Ports?) was it because she vaguely resembles a Fruit-bat ?... well maybe in the right light... nah I'm not sure why but it did stick and since then she'll always be my little fruit-bat!
  So with that I'd love to say to my Mum how much I love her and I'm sure everyone in my family would wish here a ripper Birthday, and hopefully many more to come.... and just remember age is not important unless you're a cheese!
Love you Mum