2nd February 1931 - 22 August 2022

Late of ‘Inglewood’, Trangie. 

This eulogy was delivered by Jenny's son Peter at her Thanksgiving Service on 1st September, 2022 at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, Trangie.

Mother has been a bit naughty, slipping away at only 91. Father was 96 and her own mother 93. But we will forgive her because as we shall see, her four score years and 11 has been rather full.

Mum was born on 9th of February 1931 at Box Hill, Melbourne. She was the youngest child and only daughter of Charles Gordon Hall and Irene Edith Hall, nee Brown, both born at the end of the 19th century. To know Mum you need to know a little about them, because from them she derived, if not her love of a party, at least her resilience and pragmatism. Gordon, as he was known, was bundled off at the age of five on the train from Ulverstone in northern Tasmania to The Hutchins School in Hobart as a boarder. Bundled is barely an exaggeration because he was put on the train alone, with a name tag and destination attached to his coat. Doubtlessly, resilience came early to him. He put his age up to enlist in the 1st World War and down to enlist in the second. Mum was a member of a single parent household for three and a half years while he was a war prisoner of the Japanese.

Irene, or Rene as she was known, was herself no early slouch. Her parents owned a grocery store in Annandale, Sydney and Rene’s job from about age six was to take the trams up and down Parramatta Road to collect orders from customers. After finishing school at age 12 she went straight to work in the store.

ABOVE: Jenny Wilson was born in Melbourne before the family settled in Annandale, Sydney.

Gordon and Rene married in 1925. Mum’s older brother Charles was born two years later. As the depression tightened its grip, the family moved quite a bit between Sydney and Melbourne and also the country towns of West Wyalong and Temora, wherever work could be found. The cars of the day, having no boot, suitcases would be put on the floor in the back of the car, so one child could sleep on the seat and one on top of the suitcases. Mum also related how when all spare tyres had been used up her father cut long grass from the side of the road to stuff in another flat tyre and keep going. 

Eventually the family settled in a Californian bungalow at 2 Harden Road, Artarmon on Sydney’s lower north shore. Rene painted and decorated the gift woodware which Gordon made in his small factory in Balmain. They sold this in David Jones and other select outlets.

Mum attended the local primary school, joined the Brownies and Girl Guides and rode her 26” Speedwell bicycle up and down the hills of the district, including to the swimming baths at Roseville Chase. She learnt the piano and shared her mother’s talent for art. It was Mum by the way, who taught me how to change a bike tyre using the ends of a couple of spoons.

Mum attended North Sydney Girls’ High School, fighting off the ‘Crowe’ Tech (Crows Nest Technical High School) boys on the tram. Their party trick was to rock the tram off the tracks so they could all be late for school. Notwithstanding such tribulations Mother passed her Intermediate Certificate in 1946 with straight A’s in English, Maths I and II, Latin, French, History, Elementary Science and Music. I suspect it was during this time her gregarious nature and her sense of irony matured. Her best friend was a Methodist and Mum was most amused by the fact that when they attended Methodist Church socials they were not allowed to dance, but a game called spin the bottle was permitted.

Following school Mum completed a Business Administration and Advanced Secretarial Studies Course at NSGH. This led to a secretarial position at the American Consulate in Sydney. This was a rather plum job, but like many of her generation who were lured by the call of country life, she gave it up after two years and took a position as governess on Burroway Station on the Macquarie River at Narromine.

There she learnt to ride and got to know something about farming life, albeit in somewhat greater splendour than she herself was later to experience, at least initially. The Scotts took her to the polo, the races and to balls. She made many friends, in particular Anne Duffy and Laura Rawson. I am pleased to say Laura, who became Laura Forrest when she married Mick, is here with us today.

Then came the fateful day in September 1950, when Miss Rawson introduced Miss Hall to one Neil Kenneth Wilson of ‘Inglewood’ Trangie, in the sheep pavilion at the Narromine Show.

By July the next year a small one-bedroom cottage was being constructed on Inglewood and on 6th October 1951 their marriage took place in St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Artarmon, followed by a reception at ‘Mandalay’, Lane Cove. A honeymoon to Surfers Paradise in an FJ Holden utility followed, and the house was completed and occupied in early November.

Mum was aghast to find there was no money left for a much-needed water pump so she returned the present (a ball gown) that Father had used his last of £12 pounds to acquire, and used the money to buy the pump.

They played golf, tennis and enjoyed skiing and sailing. They attended the polo, balls and parties. Marriage and indeed later on children didn’t seem to dent the social round.

I arrived in November 1952. One of my first recollections is of climbing out the window of a Morris Minor and landing on the ground. What I don’t remember but has been related to me since was that the Morris Minor was parked outside the Masonic Hall in Dubbo where a ball was in progress. My nappy had presumably been soiled and I had removed it. An announcement came over the PA system and I quote “Could the parents of the child which has appeared in the doorway with no nappy please come and deal with the matter”.

ABOVE: Jenny and Neil Wilson on their wedding day.

In these early years Mother also dealt with fires, rabbits and floods, kerosene lamps and kerosene refrigerator, slow combustion stove and a copper for heating the laundry tub water, wherein clothes were scrubbed on a wooden board. I recall arguments over insufficient wood. This was more easily solved with the copper than the stove because the fire door of the former was external, so father could put a long log in and just move it up as it burnt. Wood for the stove alas, had to be split into fairly small pieces.

In the meantime, four and a half years after me Timothy came along and not so long after that we got electricity and an inside toilet. I hope he appreciated this luxury. More rooms were added to the house and four and a half years after Tim, Rohan arrived. So for those years Mum’s non-social activities centred on feeding men and children and sending the latter off to school. When she made us do our spelling and maths tables, we rather wished she had not been a governess.

Together with a jackaroo she ran pigs for a time. She also acquired some cattle of her own. Her modest savings were used as real estate deposits and that prudence proved invaluable later when Dad and Mum and I found ourselves taking over the farm in 1973. On that subject I note our bank manager at that strained time, Ernie Kidd, is here. I think it is a great tribute to the character of Mum, as well as Dad and Ernie and his wife Gwenda that we could have some difficult conversations in an office one day and the next sit down together round a convivial dinner table. Not to mention remain lifelong friends.

During these challenging times Mother went on the road as a Bessemer agent and quickly rose to become a manager. She was offered the NSW Bessemer distributorship but that would have involved moving back to Sydney. Instead she chose to stay on the farm she had helped to save. 

Meanwhile we three boys had been sent away to Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School and each matriculated. Our own resilience was enhanced not only by example but by the absence of helicopter parenting. If one was in a play, or was receiving a prize at a speech day, or had appendicitis, perhaps they might turn up at school. I remember at Cathundral Pony Club the parents would all sit under the trees well away from the parade enjoying a glass of wine and a good picnic.

This laid-back approach allowed time for Mother’s many other interests. She became ‘Brown Owl’ of the Trangie Girl Guides, a matter to which I will return. She was a volunteer guide at the Dubbo Art Gallery, a member of the Australian Decorative Fine Arts Society (ADFAS) Dubbo, she belonged to St Andrews Trangie Guild, was a member of Trangie Red Cross, the Trangie Theatrical Society, and the Trangie PA&H Society where she was for many years the Fine Arts Show Steward. She was also the International Officer of Trangie CWA for many years. This year as the CWA celebrated the centenary of its formation, Mum was recognised as the longest and oldest continuous paid member of the Trangie Branch. This would have pleased her mother-in-law Clara Clancy Wilson who was a foundation member of the Trangie Branch. It would also no doubt have gratified her sisters-in-law Ula and Dulce who were long serving and active members.

She delivered meals-on-wheels, took line-dancing classes, played bridge and enjoyed gardening and making clothes.

Along with Dad, Mum has been for some time a member of Sing Australia and together they have sung at many venues throughout Eastern Australia including in such iconic places as the Sydney Opera House and the Trangie Bowling Club.

ABOVE: Jenny Wilson, late of 'Inglewood', Trangie.

I have to mention travel. It would probably have been unbecoming to play ‘I’ve been everywhere man’ at this service but I thought about it. I will be as brief as possible.

 So within Australia:

• Beaches: Avoca, Collaroy, Foster, Narooma and Gold Coast – many times
• All capital cities, states and territories
• Heron Island, Kangaroo Island, Uluru, Bungle Bungles, Cape York

Travel overseas:

• Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, USSR, USA, Europe, UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Tibet, South America, Egypt

• Ocean cruises:
• Hawaii to San Francisco and to New York via Panama Canal – QEII
• Naples to Columbo via Suez Canal
• Rio De Janeiro to Santiago via Cape Horn
• Sydney to New Zealand (circumnavigation and return)
• Sydney to Capetown

• And finally the river cruises: Mum and Dad have been in boats on many of the world’s great rivers from the Macquarie River to the Murray, the Yangtze, Irrawaddy and the Mekong.

Beat that Lucky Star – well my cousin Katherine and husband Bill possibly can, but not too many others. Mother and Father always made new friends on their travels and enjoyed hosting friends and family at Inglewood. Mum was most definitely a woman for all seasons.

Mother was a grandmother of eight – Ben, Nat, Grace, Clara, Sam, Miriam, Lily and Alice and a great-grandmother of six – Abigail and Alexandra; Monica, Katherine, Luke and Elizabeth. As a grandmother and great-grandmother she was quite involved. She enjoyed going to performances, graduations and sporting matches. Usually she cheered for the grand-child or their team - unless North Sydney Girls’ High School was competing, in which case her allegiance was known to switch. This sometimes caused some embarrassment in the PLC rowing tent.

I did say I would return to ‘Brown Owl’. I do not recall the date, but Mother had to attend a Girl Guides jamboree, I think possibly at Wellington. So on her return, while still wearing her Brown Owl regalia, she called in to see her long-time friend Nance Gibson, nee Richardson, who was living in Narromine. As usual they had a brandy – or two. After leaving Narromine, a patrol car pulled her up. ‘Madam’ said the sergeant, ‘You were weaving’. ‘Oh, I often weave a bit’ says Mother, ‘It breaks the monotony on this road’. ‘I see’ says the sergeant, ‘Madam, is that alcohol I smell on your breath’? ‘I imagine it would be’ says Mother, ‘I have just had a brandy or two with my friend and (leaning over confidentially) I have to confess she can at times be somewhat heavy handed with the brandy’.

Well fortunately the conversation took a diversion because the sergeant, who happened to be the Narromine Scout Leader, noticed the Brown Owl uniform. A long conversation ensued about cubs, scouts, girl guides and brownies, ending in ‘Well Jennifer, I suggest you go straight home and take it carefully’.

Which just goes to show the benefits in life of a sense of humour, honesty and civic contribution.

On your Order of Service booklet you will see the departure hymn is ‘Open up them Pearly Gates’. This is the one special request Mother made for her funeral. There is to be no sorrowful exit of the coffin, because remember this is our mother, Jennifer Florence Beatrice Wilson nee Hall, late of ‘Inglewood’ Trangie whom we are sending out and she expects you to sing up with as much gusto as you can muster.

Jenny is survived by sons Peter (Trangie), Timothy (Melbourne) and Rohan (Molong).