Contents
Mary Campbell: Hazelbrook Icon
by Sharon Fray and Jane Clements
"You know, I never realised what a full
and busy life I've had", said Mary Campbell when we arrived to interview
her. "I've been sorting all through my memorabilia and jotting down
some of the things that I've done throughout the years. I didn't know that
I'd done so much. It's amazing really, when you see it written down".
Then followed a fascinating tale as Mary chatted to us about her life history.
She is the only daughter of Elliott and Elizabeth Campbell, who settled in Hazelbrook at the end of World War I. In 1928, Elliott purchased his first car, a Chevrolet, and in 1930 established the first official Taxi Service which he ran until the 1950s. Over the years, all four children - Norman, Mary, Robert and Colin - held Taxi and Tourist Cab licenses. By the time Mary was driving taxis, the family owned a Packard. "My father was a teacher at the Conservatorium, he played piano. When he moved to Hazelbrook he started up a dance band which lasted until the '50s. He played all the big guest houses and went out to Cowra. I played several instruments in his band, all the string instruments. I was mad for music, but my father didn't teach me, I was taught by a couple of lady teachers. One of them taught me the piano accordion."
The Campbells lived at "Hazelbrook House", opposite Hazelbrook Railway Station, and the home has been in the family until very recently, when Mary's brother decided to sell up and move to a retirement home in Katoomba because of ill health.
When Mary was a child, she attended Miss Brady's primary school, which was held in the back room of the Methodist Church. Later she was a pupil at Stratford College at Lawson, and then finally a pupil at Mr McManemy's Woodford Academy. Here she met and became friends with Ivy Johnston, who was featured in the very first issue of Village Views.
Mary has some classic Australian bush memories of when she was growing up. "There were lots of Aborigines around here when I was little, they used to live in a camp out back in the bush - up where Terrace Falls are now", she says. "There are Aboriginal paintings still around from the time when they used to live there. Lots of them used to pass through on their travels and stop up at the camp for a while. You didn't really see many of them around though, and when I was only a little thing, I remember they used to scare me, they looked so different from the people I knew. Once, an Aborigine knocked on our house because one of his friends had a really bad injury. He asked my mother for some hot water, soap and bandages. They moved into the paddock next to where we were and built a big fire there. They left the man in front of the fire until the fever left him and when he was better they moved away."
"This was all in the 1920s, but the Aborigines moved away, and nobody can remember them after that. I heard that there used to be so much food for them up here, but after all the settlement began, most of the animals went and there wasn't much food around for the Aborigines. There are several Aboriginal paintings and spear marks around, and I think that there are more to be found."
"My brothers treated me like another boy and we used
to go out on adventures together, so I knew all the bush around for miles.
We used to go to Blackhand cave in Linden where the Aboriginal hand paintings
are."
"My mother was a wonderful woman, she never turned a swaggie away. We used to have loads of swaggies and they marked the fence so that other swaggies knew that they could get a feed at our house"
"The gipsies used to come every year, and they had a dreadful reputation. One day I was driving the taxi and this very nice chap stopped me. He had a petrol tin and asked me to take him to Bull's Camp. Dad was away, and I rang my Mother to see if it was all right to take him, because he was a stranger. She said yes, so we got the petrol and I drove him down to Bull's Camp, and out of the bush came hundreds of kids, swarming all over the car. It turned out he was the chief of the gipsies, and he shooed the kids away, paid me, gave me a tip. He was a real gentleman."
She was a dedicated Junior Red Cross member and represented
Hazelbrook as Miss Red Cross, coming fourth in the State, and with the local
Red Cross President was entertained at Sydney's "Princes" Restaurant
in recognition for her fundraising.
During WWII, most of the young men and women left the Mountains to join the services, so the women, men unfit for war service and teenage girls "kept the home fires burning". They worked hard running local stores and farms, delivering provisions, fighting bush fires and collecting money and food for the "Comfort funds" and Red Cross. Mary was kept busy with such chores.
In 1939, a Wirraway War Plane crashed and burst into flames at South Hazelbrook. Mary and her brothers helped the police and the R.A.A.F. to investigate the crash. "When we saw the plane coming down, we could see where it crashed into the bush. My mother rang the police, and it was all very hush-hush. My brother immediately set off to find it on his bike. I wanted to go but my mother wouldn't allow it."
"The local police arrived and the Penrith police. They asked for a guide and I said "I'll take them, I'll take them" but my mother still said no. They couldn't find anyone else though, because all the men were away and nobody knew the bush like I did. Anyway, they let me take them because there was no one else. So I set off at top pace with these five policeman in their lovely uniforms and shiny boots, up and out. It nearly killed them! When we got there, I didn't know how close we were, and I said give me a push up over the rock and when I was up, there was this dead man on the rock. He'd hit a tree and tried to get out, but he was killed. I took them over to where my brother was and he was with the plane which still had the pilot in it, all burnt up."
After the investigations were completed, Mary received a letter of appreciation from the Commissioner of Police in recognition of her work.
Mary was a qualified first-aider, trained at Katoomba Ambulance station by the late Superintendent Bill Davis and Officer Kent, and she assisted them when called upon. During the war, a complete First Aid room was established at Hazelbrook House, and it was also a Fire Brigade post. The sick bay continued for many years as an emergency treatment room for the community. Mary worked with Dr Lewis and Dr King, and when they were away had responsibility for taking the sick and injured to the hospital.
"All sorts of things happened, like once I had to attend to a woman who had a miscarriage on the dunny floor. But mostly it was just bandages and aspirins for headaches."
Mary passed her Home Nursing Certificate and became a V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachments) at Katoomba Hospital and local Nursing Homes. She held classes and lectures for firemen, schools, Scout groups, Red Cross and the C.W.A.
Mary established the first Hazelbrook Cub Pack and was "Akela" (Cub leader) for 21 years. During the war, the Cubs collected tons of rubber and aluminium to be recycled for the war effort. They also collected truckloads of clothing and food to send to the fire and flood victims over the State.
After the war, Mary continued driving the taxi, and in 1956
she joined the Civil Defence Organisation. She was trained as a Welfare
Officer at the Department of Defence Civil Defence College in Mt Macedon,
Victoria.
Mary was a keen needleworker and in 1957 she won a sewing competition with the British McCabe Academy of Dressmaking and Designing, the prize being a one year's full training course.
Mary also continued her work in nursing. "I worked at the Hall for Children from 1962-68. I was a bit nervous at first about working with mentally impaired children, but they were so affectionate and sweet, they won me over immediately. I later worked at Clarevaux Welfare Home at Katoomba. They were lovely kids, but nobody wanted them, nobody loved them. It'd break your heart."
As well as working, Mary was always involved in community activities. She established many youth clubs and musical groups, and was a member of the Woodford Young People's Club, which raised money from concerts and plays.
In 1968 bushfires raged through the Blue Mountains. An emergency headquarters was established at the Springwood Community Centre, and as Welfare Officer, Mary spent ten days and nights on duty, until she was forced by the police to go home and rest for the night.
"It was terrible, you could see it coming over Bell's Line of Road. It crept slowly across, you could see it get closer and it suddenly hit Springwood. From Springwood to Glenbrook, everything went. I came back one night and the firefighters said to me 'Your house is in danger. It's going to go'. I said, well I can't do anything about it, it'll just have to go. I thought I'd come back to a chimney. Later, they came to me and said 'Oh, Mary we've done an awful thing. We were bulldozing and we got the wrong direction and we've bulldozed your back yard' Bless them, they cleared all the bush away from my house so it didn't burn down! They a got a lot of beer out of that, I can tell you."
"The tragedy to humans was appalling, but somehow it was the animals that touched my heart. I had fallen in love with a labrador dog while I was on a Scout camp in Warrimoo. The dog loved me, and oh, I loved that dog. They brought this dog to me with all of its legs burnt and I begged them to save it, but the police said 'Mary, we can't, it's too cruel' and he had be put down. That upset me more than anything."
After the fires, Springwood was visited by Sir Ivan Dougherty who was impressed with the work which had been done. Within a few weeks Mary received a letter from the Director of the Civil Defence College saying that she had been nominated to take up the duty of House Manageress and Sick Bay officer. Mary was thrilled and flew to Melbourne to accept the post. "This was a wonderful experience. I met men and women from every Australian State and many overseas countries with the Foreign Affairs Department. It was all so exciting. I worked there for thirteen years, until a long, serious illness compelled me to return to Hazelbrook."
"I love Hazelbrook and its history. For years, school teachers and librarians would come up to me and ask if I knew about the history of this or that, and I did. I'm a hoarder, and I always kept bits and pieces, photos, old newspapers and stuff. In the end I decided to put it all in a book, which is how I came to write Hazelbrook Heritage with four other people, Eileen Cranston, Joseph McKay, Neryl Medcalf and Laurel Pracy. It's all sold out and you can't get it now. It was launched by Leonard Teale at a Gala day at the Village Centre in 1989."
Campbell Avenue leading to the Village Centre was named after the Campbell family in recognition of 70 years of community service. "We were so proud, it was the greatest thing that had happened to us. It was lovely to be recognised for our work."
Mary still lives in Hazelbrook, and still does for herself. She hates the idea of being forced to live in a retirement village, as she feels that it would take away her enjoyment of life. She is still an active member of the community, and an icon of Hazelbrook. And those who know her, are convinced that she always will be.
To contact the Village Views, send us an e-mail to: bmvv@hermes.net.au