Richard Abbery Chapman
(1851-1929)
Mary Ann Carruthers
(1851-1891)
John Charles Truscott
(1842-1911)
Elizabeth Coad
(1848-1935)
Percival Augustus Chapman
(1882-1939)
Ola May Truscott
(1891-1936)
Nessa Truscott Chapman
(1918-1998)

 

Family Links

Nessa Truscott Chapman 352

  • Born: 25 Nov 1918, Woollahra, Sydney, NSW Australia
  • Died: 26 Oct 1998, Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia at age 79

  General Notes:

Lived 77 Albany St, Coffs Harbour 2450

  Research Notes:

Jim Truscott notes:
Nessa Truscott Lee, daughter of Ola May Chapman, nee Truscott

My father, Percival Augustus Chapman, was born in Tamworth on 31 August 1884. His father was Richard (?) Chapman (a storekeeper) and his mother was Mary Carruthers (a sister of Reverend James Carruthers a Methodist minister and missionary and Sir Joseph Carruthers who became Premier of NSW in 1923). The Carruthers family migrated to Australia from Glasgow in Scotland. Mary died when Percival was born, or very soon after. A Mary Chapman died in Dubbo in 1891, father John, mother Charlotte (nee Prince), with three sons born after Percy in 1884. ref=NSW Pioneers BDM CD. Percival was reared by his oldest sister Florence (she was born in Tamworth in 1874). When he was 13 years old, his father remarried (to an Emma Critcher in Sydney, registered 1898?). His step mother caused a lot of trouble with his father and after many a hiding for something he did not do, as a result when he was 14, Percy ran away from home.

My mother, Ola May Truscott, was born in the Vegetable Creek hospital, Emmaville on 1 May 1891. Her father was John Charles Truscott who had a general store in Moore Street in Emmaville, and her mother was Elizabeth Coad. Elizabeth's family had come to Australia as her father was a miner. Elizabeth was born on 25 August 1847. At 16 years of age, then in Australia, she married Simon Kinsman a miner at Ballarat. He was a lot older than Elizabeth, almost old enough to be her father. They had a daughter Bessie and then a son Simon, who died at birth. Shortly after her baby died, her husband Simon was killed in a rock fall at the mines. After that, she returned to England with Bess to stay with Simon's family in England. It was there she met his (Simon's) cousin John Truscott nearer Elizabeth's age and later they married. Note that the information in italics is not correct as she married John Charles Truscott on Clunes, Victoria in 1870. John and Elizabeth conducted a boarding house in Truro, England before coming back to Australia. John came out to work on the railways and later settled in Emmaville. When they came out to Australia in 1878 they had three boys, James, Sidney and Thomas) When Ola was born, she had four older brothers, Jim (John Henry) 20, Sidney 18, Thomas 19 and Percival 3.

Ola May started her education at the Convent School in Emmaville and she later attended the Burwood Methodist Ladies College. From 1906 to 1908 she was the number one tennis player in the College. She was very good at painting and music and in 1914 she was awarded the Silver Medal at the Conservatory College of Music in London. She played often at concerts etc. including a concert in the Town Hall for the Governor General (but not professionally). After John Charles Truscott died on 24 April 1911 Ola May went on a cruise to Fiji with her mother, and it was while they were in Fiji that Ola met Percy Chapman who was working as an overseer on one of the banana plantations. I remember some of the stories Dad told us about his job and how once every year he had to go to some other island and organise a group of natives who would work on the plantations for a six month period of the year. Before they married, Percy had returned to Australia. On 5 January1918, Ola and Percy were married in the Chapel at the Burwood Ladies College. Their reception was held in the Hotel Grand Central in Clarence Street, Sydney. At the time of his marriage, Percy was in charge of the Oxford Street Store of Joe Gardiner's Shoe Shop. Ola and Percy were married by Reverend James Carruthers (her uncle). Their home was in Stanmore (Olaville) and while living there, Nessa, Marie and Beth (7 November 1922) were born. All three girls were born in the same hospital.

In 1924, Percy decided to take the job offered to him in South Australia as an agent for Blackman and Rose, shoe manufacturers. Both Percy Blackman and Gil Rose were working friends of his. He was also apprentice agent for (men's) Taylor Brand shoes. We had our own home at Burnside with large gardens, ¾ tennis court, and a large orchard next door. In the paddock at the back of the house, we were able to have our own cow (fresh milk, cream and our own homemade butter). I also had my own pony, lots of chooks. A couple of years later, my father bought a small farm up Mt Lofty way. He had a manager and family who ran the farm and we all went up for the weekends. There was a herd of cows which were milked twice daily. Butter was made in wooden churns and we had regular customers (shop owners) who would buy the butter. We had a big collection of poultry and quite a few pigs. Life in Adelaide was great. We had our own pets, a couple of pedigree Irish Setter dogs, fowls, quite a few rabbits in their own special yard and not forgetting our cats especially Puss, our beautiful Persian. And a special pet Snowy a big white goose. Snowy always came to the beach with us in the car and the dog (Towser) travelled in a special frame on the running board of the car.

I remember too when Dad bought Mum a new car for her birthday, it was an Erskine sedan with arm rests on the side of the back seats, we all thought it was wonderful. An Erskine was a smaller version of our car a Studebaker. Ours was a tourer, but the new one was a sedan, black or navy colour. Often Dad and I would go fishing up the Murray River. We would camp overnight in a tent off the side of the car. As I was the oldest with no brothers, I was treated as the boy of the family. On one excursion, my mother came with us for the weekend. We stayed at Blanchetown. Marie and Beth stayed home. We had a lady who helped Mum to look after them. We went out on the Murray River fishing in a flat-bottomed boat, the first time Mum had ever been with us. On our return to shore, we noticed a ferry boat was making its way across the Murray, as we were rowing along, the rope of the ferry came up under our boat and lifted us out of the water. Naturally we yelled. Luckily they heard us, stopped and reversed the ferry and gently our boat returned to the water. That was the one and only time Mum ever came with us on a boat or fishing.

In 1930, everything crashed. Dad was out of a job, and no hope of a job anywhere. He decided that he would have a better chance of finding work if we were to return to Sydney. In mid-1930, Mum and we three girls returned to Sydney by train and stayed with friends at Arncliffe and went to Bexley Public School. In Adelaide I was in Grade 7, but as I hadn't passed an 'entrance to High School Exam', I had to stay in sixth grade. Dad remained in Adelaide to sell our house and tie up all ends, then he drove over to Sydney with Towser, our dog. When he joined us, it was decided to have a couple of months in Emmaville with Ola's mother, her father died in 1911, before settling back in Sydney. We again returned to school, Emmaville Public School, where I continued in sixth class, did my 'entrance to high school exam and passed to St George High School, the one I had nominated nearest Bexley) In mid-January 1931, we moved to Sydney where Dad rented us a house in Sixth Avenue, Eastwood. It was on top of a hill, with a very slope-y backyard. Mum enrolled Marie and Beth at the Eastwood Public School and enquired about me being able to transfer my pass to Hornsby High School, nearest to Eastwood and quite a trip by electric train daily. When Mum was talking to the Headmistress, the Headmistress asked me a few questions, then suggested I repeat sixth class as my accent was 'funny'. In Adelaide, the dialect was more like the English; so I repeated sixth class. I won dux of Eastwood School in 1931 and I also won one of two bursaries available in 1931.

During the winter of 1931, my mother developed pleurisy and pneumonia, she was very sick, and after she recovered, my father decided it was the cold winds on the top of the hill which were partly responsible, so we moved down the hill to Florence Avenue, West Ryde, very close to where Denistone Railway Station now stands. It was on the opposite side of the road from the Denistone Nursing Home reserve. This house was much better, the backyard was level, so Dad was able to grow plenty of vegetables, and as there was vacant ground on all sides of our house, we were able to have a cow which I had to tether out each morning before going to school and also quite a few chooks, which gave us eggs to sell and trade for chook food.

During the winter of 1932, Mum again developed pleurisy and pneumonia. She was very sick and tuberculosis set in. I didn't know at the time that Mum was pregnant before she got sick. I can still remember the time her doctors sent her to a Macquarie Street specialist, and when I came home she had a pencil and note pad and wrote that the specialist said she was not to speak for three months. At the end of three months, she could not speak, her voice box had been destroyed. She could only whisper and her voice never returned. Mum was very sick that year and on Christmas Eve she was taken into West Ryde Hospital. Her daughter was born on Christmas Day, and we were all so excited, as to what we could call the baby - being Christmas, we thought of Noel etcetera and finally we all thought Carol was the best. Mum was still very sick and could not look after the baby, so Marie and I had to go to the hospital and learn how to look after the baby, what to do, change and bath baby before we could bring her home. Dad still had not been able to get a job, he had sold the car to make ends meet.

Mum's doctor advised that as she still wasn't at all well and she had TB, it would be a help to her health if she were to return to the climate (place) where she was born. Dad didn't get on one hundred with Grandma, but Mum was the most important thing, so we sent Mum back to Emmaville, then finalised things in Sydney. Mum was too sick to look after the baby so she went on her own. I stayed home from school to help Dad look after the baby. We girls and Dad went up by train. Mum had gone to Emmaville about Easter 1933. The newsagent in Deepwater wanted to sell his business, so Dad bought the newsagency. He only rented the shop and a house in Forbes Street. Deepwater is only 17 miles from Emmaville and on the railway line. Mum was able to move back with us in Deepwater and Mrs Thomas, who lived next door, was a great help as she also did our washing and ironing. Marie and Beth went to Deepwater Public School and I had to board in Glen Innes to go to the High School there as I had won a bursary on my entrance to High School exam so this helped with expenses for my schooling. To go to the Glen Innes High School, I stayed with an elderly lady Mrs Dibley who lived fairly close to the High School. I used to go on the mail train on Saturday night. (Mum had gone to Emmaville about Easter 1933, so I stayed home to look after baby Carol till we moved to Deepwater. I was able to resume school after the commencement of the second term, in Glen Innes.

Dad, being a business man, our shop did quite well and when McKenzie's moved from the shop they rented in High Street and moved to the corner store, my father bought the shop they vacated. It was quite a large store, with an adjoining shed and large store rooms at the back. After we bought the shop, Dad had the back store rooms made into living quarters, two bedrooms, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. The shop was now in the main street next door to the picture show and bakery. As my Mother was still very sick and I was the eldest, I decided I should leave school after third year (Intermediate) earlier, I had planned to be a Doctor, and so my school subjects included Latin and science. Mum's brother Percy had a Chemist shop in Muswellbrook. His son was studying for a doctor, so Uncle Percy wanted me to become a chemist so I could take over his business, and my maths teacher wanted me to go and study higher mathematics in America. After all, my family was most important and I liked shop work. I used to help on Saturdays and school holidays so I knew what it was like. We had a newsagency and general store. In those days we sold everything from farm produce, groceries, hardware, stationery, shoes and a small selection of clothing, newspapers too. I left school at the end of 1934 and commenced in the shop, my wages were to be ten shillings per week and I still remember that first pay. I think I still have the original.

Though we lived next door to the picture show, we did not attend, but being teenagers, after we got our pyjamas on after tea, as was our routine, we would go outside and sit on the side fence between the shop and the picture show. The side doors were always open at the picture shows with no air conditioning in those days and we could see and hear the whole show. On that first night of my starting work at the shop, the picture that night was Imitation of Life we were sitting on the fence when something on fire, a piece of film, was thrown out of the front upstairs window of the picture show, then panic broke out as everyone rushed out of the pictures, the building was on fire. I remember Dad helping Mum and the baby out and placing them under a tree in the paddock on the other side of the shop, rolled up in blankets. He then organised a bucket brigade (only water was tanks), had quite a few men with buckets of water who stood by and when the side wall of our shop started to smoulder, they threw the water on the walls. The paint being hot, blistered and held the water. Luckily that night in December was very calm and the picture show collapsed within itself. If our shop or the bakery on the other side had caught fire, the whole are would have been burnt out because the extra heat would have prevented anything being saved. I remember people helping us, by rushing in and emptying drawers of clothing just outside the back door. If our place had caught fire, nothing would have been any good. Just before the water was thrown on the side walls, I went into our bedroom to check up if I'd had anything special I'd forgotten when they threw the water. I still remember the feeling as unexpectedly the windows smashed with the cold water on the hot glass. I thought my time was up, that the whole building was collapsing and still in my pyjamas, when it was safe to return and most importantly, in my pyjama coat pocket, was my first pay, that ten shilling note!

Though Mum was still very sick, Grandma never had a day's sickness. Uncle Jim used to bring Grandma over to see us every Sunday. He had a 1902 Fiat. I always remember those Sundays. We had to get properly dressed up and be on our best behaviour for roast dinner and in those days we were told it was wrong to do any knitting or sewing on a Sunday including mending or "you'd have to unpick it with your nose" when you died, and what worried me, I had a pretty flat nose!

On 15 October 1935, Grandma Truscott didn't get up at her usual time of 6am; said she didn't feel so good. At lunch time we got a phone call to say she was unconscious and we all went over to see her. Mum was very upset, but being Grandma's favourite, I went in to see her. I still remember her laying on the bed with the mosquito net over her. I pulled it aside, gave her a kiss and she seemed to 'come to', but that was for the last time as she passed away peacefully in her sleep that night. Not long after Grandma was put to rest, Myrtle who was Grandma's grand-daughter from her first daughter Bessie Kinsman, who had married a Mr Richardson and had three children; Ophir, Percy and Myrtle) had always been Grandma's companion and housekeeper and after Grandma passed away she stayed on at the house in Emmaville.

My mother's condition was not improving and acting on the specialist's advice, Mum moved over to Emmaville and lived in Grandma's house; she had to have a trained nurse live in to look after her. In those days, shops used to close on Wednesday afternoon, stay open late on Friday night and regular trade on Saturday. We used to open the newsagency section about 6.45 am when the papers arrived on the morning train. Sometimes we would go over to Emmaville (only 17 miles away) after the shop closed, but always on Wednesday afternoon and all day Sunday. Carol was still with us in Deepwater and my sister Marie left school when she completed eighth grade so she could look after Carol and the house. We all knew Mum was very sick and that there was little chance of any improvement. I remember that Tuesday afternoon we went over to see her; she was in bed as usual. She had long fair hair and that Tuesday night as we left she was propped up in bed brushing her hair. She had always said you should brush your hair 100 times a day with a good brush. About 2am the following morning, she lapsed into unconsciousness, and as soon as we got word, Dad rushed over to Emmaville and sat with her. She passed away about 1.30pm that afternoon, Wednesday 8 April 1936 without regaining consciousness, and as Dad used to say "she didn't even know I was there". It really broke him up. That Wednesday was just before Easter, and her funeral was next day Thursday at Emmaville. We girls had to stay home, only Dad went to her funeral. Grandma had been buried in the Emmaville Cemetery beside her husband and Mum was buried on the other side of her father. I was 17½ when Mum died.
I had been saving my wages with plans to buy a car, so just before I was 18 I bought my first car, an Austin from Carl Bahr the baker. It was £52 and 10 shillings. Percy Richardson gave me some lessons when I got my permit and two weeks later on my eighteenth birthday I went for my licence. At first our local policeman said I hadn't had my permit long enough, but relented and gave me a pretty severe trial (according to Percy) but I got my licence. In 1938 Dad decided to buy a utility for use in our business, it would do for grocery delivery. In those days orders were collected and delivered on pushbike. He said if I'd trade my car in on the new Willy's Ute, I could use it anytime I needed it and when I turned 21 he said he would transfer the Ute to me. It would be mine.

Marie and I spent two weeks holiday with our cousin Wilma Chapman, a daughter of Dad's brother Bill, whom I've never met at the Manly Hotel. We were due to return home on Sunday 13 February. On that Sunday there was a big celebration planned to bid farewell to a USA cruiser. Wilma said for me to ask Dad if we could stay the extra day, but I still don't know why, but I said "no". How lucky, on that day we returned on the afternoon train, had we stayed in Sydney, we may have been on the Rodney farewelling the Naval Ship, when the crowd on board rushed to one side of the ferry and the ferry overturned. A big tragedy as there were a large number of passengers caught up in the cruiser and they drowned. Our train arrived 6.30 am on Monday. Unknown to us then, on the same train, arriving in Deepwater from Glen Innes was Ernest Charles Lee, who had just taken on the position of branch Manager of McKenzie's store.

Later that same year, in early November, a girl friend of mine Kath Kiernan who had just finished her nursing training and became a sister and I went on a ten day cruise to New Zealand on the Strathmore. The cost of the cruise was from £25. Kath and I shared our cabin with another nurse. From memory I think our fare was £28. We had an overnight stay in Brisbane, then on to Auckland where we went on an excursion to Rotorua then on to Wellington for a day or two, then back to Sydney. The cruise was really wonderful, dancing, games. On my return home, I found my father hadn't been too well. A couple of weeks later I managed to persuade him to see a doctor in Tenterfield who immediately put him into heart hospital. My sister Marie and I used to drive up to Tenterfield (32 miles) every afternoon after the shop closed to see Dad, and then we'd have tea in a café before returning as hospital visiting hours was only till 8pm. On one night I went up on my own and on the return trip, I dozed off on a bad bend and lightly hit the wire fencing. I still remember the shock and I've never dozed off again.

That Christmas, Dad was very sick, and couldn't even feed himself and after he had been in Tenterfield Hospital five weeks, the doctor decided to send him to Sydney to see a specialist. He was put onto the train in Tenterfield, I came with him to Deepwater (I still had to carry on at the shop) and he continued on to Sydney where an ambulance met the train and took him to St Luke's Private Hospital. He arrived in Sydney on Friday 13 January 1939. I didn't visit him while he was in Sydney but Kath who was a Sister at the Sydney Hospital, regularly visited him and would let me know how he was doing. The two specialists who were treating him were very pleased with him and after he'd been there just on four weeks, said he was fit to come home. I made arrangements to go to Sydney on Monday (no trains on Sunday) so I could finalise books, put in necessary orders for the coming week and organise things, so that we could have a couple of days at the Manly Hotel before we returned and when we did get home, everything would be okay and Dad could realise he could sit back and relax and that we were carrying on as he wanted. I was busy finalising books on Sunday night when the phone rang just before 7pm. It was Sydney calling, so I presumed that Kath was ringing me to say that maybe she wouldn't be able to meet me at the train on Tuesday; however the lady on the phone said "Nessa, this is Mrs Bourke speaking, (I hadn't met her or her husband but they had been friends of Dad from the days when he was first married) I just rang to tell you your father just passed away" (no warning or anything). I started screaming in the dark, everyone realised something was wrong. Dad died on Sunday 12 February 1939, exactly 12 months to the day that the "Rodney" sank.

I was still to go to Sydney on the Monday night train to finalise matters. Early Monday morning I had an unexpected visitor at the shop, Ernest Charles Lee. He was my sister's tennis partner but I hadn't had much to do with him. He called to offer his sympathies and tell me that he had been in touch with his boss in Glen Innes, who agreed for Ern to take time off and drive me the 26 miles into Glen Innes so I could catch the afternoon train to Sydney, which meant I would arrive 7am instead of 2pm Tuesday. I really appreciated his thoughtfulness. Mr and Mrs Bourke met me at Central Railway Station on Tuesday morning - we met my Uncle Tom and all went out to Wood Coffils where I had to make all the funeral arrangements. I was just over 20 and expected to select type of funeral and coffin. When they asked me if I'd like to see my father, I said "no thanks, I'd rather remember him as he was" and I've never regretted that decision. After we left Wood Coffils, I called in and saw D.W Murray, the store from whom we used to buy our drapery, explain the position and they told me they were happy for me to carry on. I also called in and saw the manager of Gordon and Gotch, our stationery supplier, and they said they were agreeable for me to continue as before.

We had lunch at Bourke's house in Bondi, then we went to the funeral. After that we went back to Bourke's. Next morning I left Sydney and caught a train to Newcastle where I went and saw M Allinson, the manager of J Ireland and Co, our main grocery suppliers. Again, after explaining my position, they were happy for me to carry on till the Estate was finalised. I was only 20, would not be 21 till the end of the year. I was executrix of Dad's will, and till I was 21 and able to finalise his will, all Dad's assets were frozen, bank accounts, everything, and all the money I had to carry on with was the day to day takings. The little bit of money I'd saved I put into the business which some day would be mine when things were finalised. So to help things financially, I didn't take any wages, just put everything into the business. When I was 21, I had all the necessary data ready for my solicitor to apply for probate, but as my birthday was the end of November, all government offices were close over Christmas and we had to wait till late January before probate could be finalised.

On my twenty-first birthday, I got £140 from my Grandmother's estate. This was wonderful and I was able to splash out and buy a good selection of goods suitable for Christmas at the shop. At the time my father died, he was talking to Mr Bourke who said that there was a war coming and that rubber goods were going to get very scarce. He asked Mr Bourke to tell me to be sure and stock up on rubber goods rubber boots etcetera and as he said this, he turned his head side on and died. Towards the end of January 1940, our solicitor applied to the Board for Probate of Dad's Will. Then one day I got a telegram from the official assignee, asking if my father Percival Augustus Chapman had been bankrupt in 1913. Immediately I rang my solicitor in Tenterfield. He had received a similar telegram, so I said I would drive over to Emmaville and see Mum's brother James, who still lived there and find out when Mum and Dad had met in Fiji, because in those days, people didn't marry anyone soon after they met. I took the telegram with me to show Uncle Jim and when I asked him when Grandma and Mum had made their trip to Fiji, he replied "I don't remember and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you - I don't want to get involved in this." Immediately I left him I drove back and then to Tenterfield where I saw Mr Taylor, our solicitor. I explained what my Uncle had said and he told me not to worry, that he felt there would be nothing more, it was just that when a person applies for probate, they check up all files and they would be just inquiring, seeing that they had seen where a Percival Augustus Chapman had been bankrupt in 1913. He said I probably would not hear another thing about it. A couple of weeks later I got another telegram from the Official Assignee "my agent arriving tomorrow morning, hand over all assets to him". Again, I rang the solicitor, he also had the same notice. His reply to me was that there was nothing I could do but hand over everything to him. Next morning, about 7am, a gentleman arrived on the train, he came and knocked on our back door, told me who he was and handed me his official notice and in return I handed him the keys of the shop. He came in, and was very thoughtful, introduced himself, Mr Pass and enquired about my position. I explained that I had been carrying on. He asked me if I would like a job carrying on as usual, till they finalised matters. He offered me £2 per week. That was wonderful, I had no money, Carol and Marie still lived with me, but Beth was in Sydney. She had always been very hard to handle, would not help in the shop, but would pack herself some lunch and disappear all day; sometimes reading down by the river, sometimes going to Tenterfield with Mrs McCotter, who would ring me and tell me Beth was okay but would be home late. When tackled, Beth said she didn't like shop work but wanted to do short hand and typing, so I contacted Uncle Jim who was executor of Grandma's will. Jim's wife had a sister who lived in Sydney and we made arrangements for Beth to go to Sydney and stay with Jim's sister-in-law and do a secretarial course at a business college, using her inheritance. After four days at a tech college, Beth decided it was too boring; so left and got a job. That lasted one week and she gave up the job and went back to college. After a while, she again got out and got herself another job, from then on, she would stay till she found another job that paid better. She really did very well, then in the war, she enlisted with the RAAF and it was there she met and married an American Phyl Bayer. She prepared to return, but found herself a very good job which she loved, so changed her mind about going to America. They later divorced and sometime later she met and married Tom Ramsey and they had two children Janet and Brett.

When Mr Pass arrived and took over the shop, I knew we would have to plan for the future. My sister Marie left school in eighth grade at Deepwater School. Although she was top in her small class, all she liked was housework. Mrs Thomas our neighbour and friend when we first came to Deepwater, and who had done our washing and ironing on a regular weekly basis, had a daughter who worked as a housekeeper for a family in Sydney, so I asked Iris if she knew of a position that might suit Marie. Luckily, yes, a Mrs Glasgow whose husband had a good position, was a sick lady, she had two school daughters and wanted a housekeeper, companion, a job which suited Marie. Mrs Thomas had a daughter, Aileen too, who was not much older than Carol, but the two little girls enjoyed each other's company.

When I enquired about Dad having been bankrupt in 1913, I said I found it hard to believe because he had left home at 14. The next we heard he met Mum and I couldn't comprehend how there would be time for him to return to Australia with enough money to buy a business and then go bankrupt by 1913 as he would have only been 27 in 1913. Also, the business was supposed to have been in Tumut and I never remember ever hearing Dad or anyone mention a town by that name. The only thing that they had to go on was a similarity of the signature, and as they said, if I wanted to prove it was not the same person, I would have to prove it legally and as I said, I had no money of my own at the time. I needed to save every penny I earned those days for the days ahead.

When Mr Pass' department (Bankruptcy Section) sorted things out, everything was advertised for sale by tender. Our Ute, for which Dad paid £308, was sold for £85. All stock including the specials I'd bought prior to Christmas with my inheritance was sold for ten shillings in the pound. All our premises, shop etcetera on a very large block sold for £450. This money was taken by the Bankruptcy Department and all accounts owing by P.A Chapman at the time of his bankruptcy were paid in full from memory about £600. Earlier I had offered, if they let me run the shop my way, I would pay up all these outstanding accounts, but no, that wasn't allowable by law. According to Bankruptcy Court Dad had been bankrupt to the amount of £600 and as I pointed out to them at the time of his death, Dad's bank account had been frozen and I felt that once that was released and I was free to trade, I could have paid the outstanding amount within twelve months. But they said no way, not allowed. After everything had been sold and cleared up, Carol and I stayed for a short while with Mrs Thomas and Aileen. Deepwater, being a small town, I decided it would be better if I went to Sydney to try and find a job. I was told I wouldn't find a job washing up, as I only had two references, one from our minister and one from our local bank manager. I made arrangements for Carol to stay with Mrs Thomas and Aileen. She was happy with ten shillings per week, so I said I would send her an extra 2/6 per week for Carol in case she needed school books or wanted to go to the pictures.

I left for Sydney with £30 in my pocket as I had sold Mum's piano for £15. Marie's friend Johnny Parsons was staying at a hotel in Yurong Street in Darlinghurst Sydney from memory about 7/6 per week. I arrived on Sunday and on Monday morning had an appointment with Mr R.D Mayne, the official assignee. He was very humane, but explained why things had gone as they were. However he couldn't show me the original bankruptcy papers, not his place, I would have to pay to see them. When I asked about the £140 I had put into stock, shouldn't I be listed as a creditor and entitled to a percentage of the money, but all he said was "My dear, just feel thankful you are not facing a criminal charge". So I left his office, roamed around for a while, saw a picture Gone with the Wind. As I came out of the picture show, I decided it was time I got a job, so late that afternoon, I bought a paper and went back to the hotel to study the 'positions vacant'. I applied for two jobs I found advertised, one as a cashier in a butcher shop on one of the southern beach suburbs, and the other as a senior ledger with Dairy Farmers at their Beauty Point (Mosman) Depot. I posted both applications on Tuesday and on Wednesday I got a phone call from Dairy Farmers to go for an interview and was offered the job. Later I was told I was chosen from 84 applicants. When they asked me where I was staying, I explained and that I would seek local board. They (the Manager who interviewed) gave me the name of a couple of places where I might get board. They told me that they would put me on the pay roll as from next day Thursday but I didn't have to report to the Depot till Monday morning, would give me time to settle. My starting wage was £2.9.6 per week, and later was increased to about £2.17.6 from memory.

When I finally returned to the hotel on Wednesday afternoon, there was a phone call with a message for me to ring a certain number which I did. To my surprise it wasn't the butcher shop to where I had applied for a job, but a grocery store next door. They had checked up and offered me a position to take charge of their office-staff of six. They were a chain store of groceries. I thanked them, but said I'd already accepted the position with Dairy Farmers. They were very nice, said they would like me to try out my position with Dairy Farmers, and that they would hold the job open for me for three months in case I changed my mind. I loved my job with Dairy Farmers and never contacted them again.

Somehow, after the thoughtfulness shown to me in my time of need, a friendship started with Ernest Charles Lee. When I left Deepwater to go to Sydney job hunting, he came as far as Glen Innes on the train with me. We wrote each other and he would check up if there was anything Carol needed - even took her to the dentist one time when she had a bit of trouble. He came to Sydney and looked me up as his sister Mona was married and lived in Sydney.

Ern and I were married on 7 June 1941, at 6pm at the Mosman Methodist Church. At the back of the church is a stained glass window in memory of Rev James Carruthers who had in 1918 married my mother and father. We returned to Deepwater where Ern still worked as manager of McKenzie's General Store. I was approached not long after I was married by a Glen Innes solicitor who had heard of my trouble with bankruptcy. They had looked into the case and felt that I had a very good case to sue the government for their mistake. He said he would not charge me for representing me, but if we won the case, we would share the compensation. However I thanked him for his thoughtfulness but said that part of my life was over and I felt it was better forgotten. Often I wonder how my father, who ran away from his father's home in Dubbo at the age of 14, we heard of next in Fiji. Often Dad had told us some bizarre stories of his Uncle Rev James Carruthers who was a missionary in the Islands round Fiji. It was thanks to the Rev James that Dad went to Fiji and was able to get a job as overseer on a banana plantation. At Christmas in 1940, Mrs Thomas brought Aileen and Carol to Sydney to spend Christmas with her married daughter. While they were in Sydney, Carol stayed with me at Jones'. After we were married, we lived in Forbes Street, Darlinghurst. Ern was offered the house for just over $120. The premises purchasers couldn't keep up the payments, so the house was offered to us at the balance still owing. It had three bedrooms, lounge, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and veranda back and front, no electricity. Neither Ern nor I had much money. I had had to pawn my mother's engagement ring for $25 to help me pay for my wedding expenses. Her story finishes here as she was mainly recording the Truscott and Chapman history.
Ola May according to Nessa

My mother Ola May Truscott was born on 1 May 1891, in a thriving mining town of Emmaville, situated 26 miles northwest of Glen Innes and 17 miles west of the nearest railway station, Deepwater. Her family owned one of the four local general stores and bake house. She has four older brothers Jim, 20 years old when she was born, Sid (18 years). Tom (17 years) and Percy who was three years old when she was born. Her parents had migrated from England about 15 years earlier, her father to work on the NSW railways, after a while, though they bought the shop. My mother was educated at the Convent School in Emmaville although the Truscotts were dedicated members of the Methodist Church and later she attended the Burwood Methodist Ladies College. In about 1906 she was the No1 tennis player at the school, an honour she held for a couple of years. Ola was an outstanding artist (oil paintings) and also excelled at piano playing and she was awarded the Silver Medal of Music from the London Conservative School of Music in 1909. She even played at the Town hall in Sydney in a concert for the Governor. Ola played the piano outstandingly, right up to the time of her final illness. After she left school. She and her mother (Mrs Elizabeth Truscott) went on a cruise to Fiji and while there she met a man, Percival Augustus Chapman whom she married in January 1918


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