In 1938, Armidale was classified as a city because of its bishoprics, it was already a recognised educational centre and the prospective capital of a new northern state – but its population was only 7000.
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It was also a remote place, especially for those drawn from elsewhere to the new university college.
There were no air services, road connections were bad and cars scarce. The night trains to Sydney and Brisbane provided the transport backbone.
With the exception of Isobel Blanch, the academic staff from that early period (1938-1940) were all male. Most were already married, some already had children. Only two married local girls.
In 1939, Jack Sommerville (physics) married Muriel Naylor, while in 1944 Jim Belshaw (history and economics) married Edna Drummond. Edna had been in charge of the new college library, marking the first, but certainly not the last, marriage within the university community.
In 1938, it was normal for women to give up work upon marriage. When Edna became engaged to Jim Belshaw in 1943, she resigned her college position.
Of the early wives, only Gwenda Davis maintained career interests, finally becoming a staff member after husband Consett Davis went to war and then died. The university playing fields now carry his name.
The threat was averted, but it helped build links and cohesion among the college family, husbands, wives and the children who became known as the siblings.
The wives who came to Armidale were in a difficult position. Unlike Muriel Sommerville or Edna Belshaw, they had no family support locally. They had to fit into a sometimes strangely alien community.
They also struggled with sometimes difficult conditions.
The college was founded on the dawn of war. Between 1938 and 1950, building materials were in very short supply. There were limited properties to rent or buy, limited materials or labour to modify once purchased.
202 Marsh Street, the home my parents purchased, was a slightly bigger if somewhat nondescript California bungalow. However, there was no insulation. The howling winter westerlies came through the cracks in the weatherboard. The toilet was outside, as was the laundry.
The wives also had to cope with insecurity and limited financial resources.
The college may have been a college of Sydney University, but the staff were not employed by Sydney University.
As the war deepened, the army tried to take over the college, Had that happened, the college would have closed and the staff lost their jobs. This created a wearing insecurity as the women worried about their men and the growing number of children in the college family.
The threat was averted, but it helped build links and cohesion among the college family, husbands, wives and the children who became known as the siblings.
Jim Belshaw’s email is ndarala@optusnet.com.au. He blogs at http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com.au/ (New England life) and http://newenglandhistory.blogspot.com.au/ (New England history)
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