Richard William Laws: Back in hospital again.

More kindly written by Helen Butler

SECOND  PERIOD  of  HOSPITALISATION  and  RECOVERY  –  9 months

This was shocking news at home, but at least they could be glad he was removed from further dangers of the battlefield. Later the family received a small parcel in the mail. It was a tobacco tin with some pieces of shrapnel – some of the bits removed from Dick's head. It was kept for years and many remember it. But now its whereabouts is not known.

Dick's recovery was slow, and the family always believed he was not properly fit when he was sent back to France to fight again. In a letter to his father dated 17 July 1918, Dick reassures the family he is well - “Close on 12 stone now, and feeling pretty fit”. (Dick was ten and a half stone when he enlisted.) He plans to use his leave to visit his father's Goodall relatives in Gosport, and expects to be sent back to France after that -and this did happen.

He is philosophical about going back to the front line. “I will not be sorry in a way as a man will never get on in England.” However at the end of the letter, he perhaps reveals his true feelings - “But a man would be much better off at home.” Here is a great contrast between this Dick and the eager young Dick impatiently waiting to leave England for the first time to get into the fighting in France.

It seems to us now that his severe head wound should have been enough to send him home. Soldiers with a severe leg wound were sent home. But Dick Laws could still march and still shoot a gun, so he was OK to be recycled to build up the numbers for the big new offensive to end the war.

Dick had a studio photo taken while on his pre-embarkation leave, and sent it to his mother on 9 August, the day he left England. It would have been delivered to her in Allora well after the news of his death.

THIRD   PERIOD  with the   NINTH   BATTALION   –  8   Days

Months before this from 21 March 1918,The Germans had launched their Spring Offensive in the Somme area, and for a while made big advances.  They were stopped with desperate fighting, and the Ninth were in the thick of the action.  Now the Allies had launched their offensive to end the war, and the Ninth was part of this too. They were in the battle on the victorious 8 August, which was the greatest success of any day's fighting on the Western Front, one that the German commander, General Erich Ludendorff later described as “ The Black Day of the German Army in this War”. This 8 August was the very day Dick Laws left his camp in England, and it was to be a Black Day for him too.

After landing at Le Havre and being taken up to the village of Vaire, Dick was marched in to his Ninth Battalion there, one of 30 reinforcements. This was on 15 August. The Ninth had recently been engaged in heavy and successful fighting around Creepy Wood at the cost of many casualties, including 5 officers, and now were moved back to Vaire to rest and regroup. The weather was very hot, and as their camp was beside the river and the lagoon, all ranks enjoyed swimming. After a Sunday church parade and a battalion Sports and swimming carnival, it was announced their 5 days rest was over, and they would be marching back to the front.

The next day YMCA officers issued cigarettes to the men, which was most welcome, as these had been in short supply and for some time soldiers had been on half ration. It was a very hot day. At 2pm the battalion left Vaire and marched across country for 2 hours. After a good hot meal for all, they were ordered to rest, but to be ready, by day and by night, to march at one hour's notice. They remained at this rendezvous for 2 days. Then on Friday 23 August at 1 am, Reveille was sounded. All  companies received a hot meal and moved off at 2.30 am, marching back to the front line 7 days after most of them had left. But Dick Laws was going back after 9 months away.

Again it was planned in detail, again advancing the first part of the way in the dark, again using the Creeping Barrage and the Leapfrog Method.  The objectives were reached, so overall it was a success, but this method was no protection against artillery and snipers positioned on a height, as were the Germans on the mountain hump ahead known as Froissey Beacon.

At 4.45am, zero time, the Allied barrage began. The 1^st Brigade moved behind the barrage and captured the first objective, the Red Line, by 11am as planned. Next the plan was for the 9^th Battalion to move up to this Red Line now securely held by the 1^st Brigade, and using this as a jumping off point advance to the Blue Line behind the next gun barrage set to start at 2 o'clock. This plan was successfully carried out. The Blue Line was occupied by 4pm with 110 war prisoners and a great deal of war materials.

However, Dick Laws never did get even to the Red Line.The War Diary of the 9^th Battalion coldly records the bare details for 23/8/18, including this advance starting in the middle of the day. “At 11.30am the hot meal was issued to all ranks, and the companies were informed that the Battalion would move off punctually at 12.30p.m. This allowed sufficient time for the troops to reach the Red Line in an easy march. En route to the Red Line the battalion had to pass through a terrific enemy barrage consisting of 8 inch and gas shells, before reaching the jumping off trench. This barrage inflicted the majority of the casualties on this operation.”

The advance was in a line parallel to the Somme river canal, the Ninth being on the left flank and closest to the German guns on Mt Froissey Beacon, ahead of and above them . Without the protection of a covering barrage, once out of the trees they were clear targets for the guns above. And with the 2 pm deadline to keep, they had to push on with as little delay as possible. It was a brave feat of the Ninth that they did keep advancing here. But that one hour of Hell brought 50 casualties.

It is most likely that Dick was killed here. If it was not here, he lived through this horror and was killed a little later that day. The family always said he was killed while stretcher bearing. There is nothing in his army record to indicate he was a stretcher bearer. The Red Cross information service after the war found the 9^th Battalion Sergeant Ernest Menadue whose job had been to record the names of his D Company killed each day, and he said he knew Dick well and remembered recording his death, adding “while stretcher bearing”. The medical report of the Ninth for the month of August 1918, records with feeling that 2 regular bearers were killed at this time, but does not mention Dick.  So it is likely Dick took over from a bearer and was himself killed while stretcher bearing. “Killed instantly by shell”, this sergeant stated.

Note the date. He was killed 4 days later.

Thus, amidst violence and horror and noise, ended the earthly life of Dick Laws – on a warm summer day in what previously was, and is again, the beautiful peaceful French countryside.

His prayer book was returned

Inside the Prayer book with his War Roll

Richard William Laws: The war continues

More kindly written by Helen Butler.

FIRST  PERIOD   of  HOSPITALISATION  and   RECOVERY    –  12 Weeks

Trench Foot occurred when feet were constantly wet and cold, and in these extreme conditions in the winter of 1916-17, it was a common sickness. Poor circulation made the feet numb, then red or blue, then white, worsening with swelling  and open sores easily infected. The soldier was a cripple and useless. Gangrene can develop and amputation sometimes resulted. But with good treatment,complete recovery is normal.

Dick was carried out to the casualty station and processed the same as if wounded. He was taken to hospital at Rouen 130 miles away, and then to Buchy to convalesce.  There are no surviving letters of this period to gauge his state of mind, but how depressing for the athlete when he could not even walk. It took a long time, but he did recover.

SECOND  PERIOD  with  the   NINTH   BATTALION –  12  weeks

In the 12 weeks Dick had been away, the Ninth had continued at the front. Dick had missed the big breakthrough of 6,000 German troops, which was turned back by 4.000 Allied troops, including the Ninth. He also missed the second battle of Bullecourt which was successful, and the battle of Messines. After this the Ninth had been taken out of the line to rest and regroup. Dick joined them on  7 July in Ribemont where the training continued for 2 more weeks.

Then they began their move north to Belgium. They marched, entrained, marched again, went by motor-omnibus,were billeted in villages for a while,finally moving to Vieux Berquin. Here they stayed 5 weeks, bringing their intensive 4 months training to a successful end, as proved by a series of inspections and tests. On 22 August the brigade sports were held and the Ninth won the Athletic Cup by one point. There was a march past where General Birdwood took the salute. Over a period of 6 days, a detailed inspection of the troops and their equipment was done unit by unit.

“The battalion was now at its peak in numbers, training and spirit.” In this period of high morale, the men felt very happy and proud to be part of their Ninth battalion “family”, and eager again to prove themselves.

They did not have to wait long. On 13 September they began moving up to the front line in short stages. Finally they were  in position to take part in the Third battle of Ypres, which had started 5 weeks before, but had been brought to a standstill by wet weather. This second stage of the battle is known as the battle of Menin Road. It was very well planned and it was successful.

 For 7 days before the attack, 4,000 British Artillery from 18 pounders upwards bombarded the enemy positions, with a gun placed every 5 yards. The front line at Westhoek Ridge was being held by British troops. On 16 September these were relieved by the Australian 3^rd Brigade,consisting of Battalions 9, 10, 11, and 12. They rested until midnight on 19 September, when the advance began in the dark. As the  Ninth were passing through and out of Chateau Wood, it was unfortunate that German flares revealed their movement for German bombardments, which killed and wounded many, including many officers. However they reached the jumping off tapes just in time.

At zero hour 5.40 am,the barrage suddenly started from those thousands of guns, and the line of men began to move steadily forward behind the barrage. ( The battalion history records that almost every man lit a cigarette as he rose to start.)
This was the creeping barrage moving forward at a rate of 100 yards every 6 minutes, so this was also the rate of the troops advancing behind it. As there were three sections with an exact starting time for each, synchronization was doubly important. This plan of attack often did not work well, with so many things to possibly go wrong in co-ordinating 4,000 men and 4,000 guns, plus an enemy lurking ahead. But on this occasion, the Creeping Barrage  worked perfectly.

By 10 am, using the ploy of Leapfrogging, the Ninth and the Tenth had reached the final objective, the green line. They dug in here on the edge of Polygon Wood. That night they were relieved , and moved back. The Ninth were only 4 days in this tour of the line, and they were very successful. However casualties were 1 in 4. Private Dick Laws was lucky and lived to fight in the next tour, soon to happen.

The Ninth then had 9 days to recover behind the lines at Dickenbusch and Steenvoorde. They returned to the line on 30 September to relieve the 47th Battalion on Anzac Ridge. A large force of Australians joined with New Zealanders to capture Broodeseinde. In moving up , the ninth was very heavily shelled, but with few casualties.  While the Ninth was still behind the lines, Broodseinde was captured on 4 October with many German prisoners. After this the German Artillery were very quiet, but not for long. On 5 0ctober in continuous rain, the Ninth moved further up to the Supply Lines just behind the Front Line, and relieved the Eighth. That afternoon the German guns started up again firing at the Front Line. The next day these guns shelled further back at the Supply Lines, which were severely hit.

This is where Dick Laws was badly wounded with shrapnel in the head, officially recorded as “GSW head severe.”  The Ninth continued at the front 5 more days until 11 October, and on this tour suffered 150 casualties, about 1 in 6. Dick was unlucky to be one of these, but at least he was not one of the 40 dead.

Charles Bean's History of this battle describes the days of pouring rain and the greasy and collapsing “roads”, making it very slow and difficult to move up guns and supplies and to evacuate the wounded. Perhaps Dick was wounded before the conditions became extreme, but it was after the rains came. So it is notable that he was evacuated so promptly. His record shows he was carried to the casualty clearing station on the same day he was wounded, and he was in the 12^th General Hospital at Rouen far away the next day. Within a week, he was in England at Exeter in the Devon Voluntary Aid Hospital.
Read more about the Hospital at http://www.devonremembers.info/exeter-war-hospitals-project/

Exeter: Possibly what he would have been in.

Now Richard Laws's war service begins

The story by Helen Butler continues.

 DETENTION

Sergeant Richard William Laws

On 4 December 1916, Sgt Laws was the Sergeant in Charge of the Guard, for 24 hours from 3 pm, a duty he had often done before. There were 8 prisoners held in the guard house - not prisoners of war, but fellow soldiers being held on various charges from drunkenness to desertion.  Sgt Laws did all his inspections of the camp throughout the night as set out in the regulations, and all was well. On his 8 am inspection, all was still in order.

Soon after the sergeant left the guardhouse on his 8am inspection,  2 of the 8 prisoners escaped, telling the others to say nothing for an hour or so, to give them time to get away. Both were notorious and frequent offenders, and one of them was being held awaiting his trial for escaping from another gaol. About 9 o'clock a Provost Sergeant walked past, and the other prisoners told him that the two had escaped.  The provost sergeant found Sgt Laws and told him to go and report their escape. Sgt Laws could not believe the escapees could be far away and did a search for them. When he did not find them, he then went up to the command centre to report the incident. But unluckily the Provost Sergeant had appeared there a short while before him.

Dick Laws was charged with neglect of duty in allowing two prisoners to escape. This was an automatic charge for the commander of the guard, no matter what the circumstances. He also incurred a second charge in that he failed to report the escape (even though he was about to do so after his search for them). Dick was held in the guard room for 11 days until tried on 17 December by 3 British army officers. He did not question any of the witnesses and he said nothing in his own defence, probably realizing it was useless to do so. Conviction and sentence were automatic – Guilty and 2 years hard labour.

Three days later, the Australian Captain in charge of the Australian troops at Etaples appealed against the sentence very strongly, stating Sergeant Laws had been at the base for 2 months and had carried out his duties most satisfactorily, and the escapees were clever repeat offenders. The sentence was reduced to 6 months. Dick spent Christmas in gaol. Then on 6 January on further appeal by his Captain, the sentence was suspended and Dick was released to join his unit. However his conviction remained, and is still in his record today. He was reduced to Private, and would never advance in the army with this blemish on his record.

At last the time had come for the Reinforcements to join their 9^th Battalion at the battlefront, and they all left – except Private Laws! He was required to stay at Etaples to give evidence in the trial of the 2 who had escaped when he was in charge of the Guard. ( They had been caught the next day.)

Card to brother Lionel

Card sent to his brother Lionel

After their trial, Dick finally reached his 9^th Battalion on 18 February 1917, which was 16 months after he had enlisted.

Private Laws on right

FIRST  PERIOD  with  the  NINTH  BATTALION -  8 Weeks

The 9^th Battalion had been in the thick of the fighting since coming from Egypt to France in March 1916. In 8 months they had fought the battles of Pozieres, Monquet Farm, and Flers. Casualties were heavy and reinforcements had periodically arrived, but the 15^th reinforcements had not been needed until now. After the bitter cold and extreme wet and mud at Flers, “nearly all the troops were more or less ill”. They were taken out of the line for 2 months to recover their normal health through sports, marches, and adequate food and rest.. On 20 January they were about to sit down to a belated Christmas Dinner donated by the people of Queensland.(They had been in the line on Christmas Day.) Suddenly in marched their 15^th Reinforcements, quite unexpectedly from Etaples, and the dinner was shared with them. But Private Laws was still at Etaples, to arrive a month later to join them.

The Battalion story gives a detailed picture of the weather here in the winter of 1916-17. While it was getting colder from October to January, there was constant rain. Then there was a hard frost, followed by heavy snow and unbelievable cold. On 24 January the Band could not play. This freeze lasted a month. The thaw began on 17 February bringing fog every day for 2 weeks, and the soil which had been churned up deep by big explosives, now became deep mud where even a horse could disappear.

Dick arrived just as the thaw began, and almost immediately saw the action he had waited so long for. On 22 February in the fog the Ninth Battalion moved up to the front line to relieve the 11^th Battalion. The plan was to make an all-out attack on the area known as the Maze, which the Germans had held strongly for some time.

Preliminary small patrols, however, found all the German positions had been evacuated. Under cover of the fog, they had quietly withdrawn back to their new stronger Hindenburg Line. The men of the Ninth

pressed forward as quickly as they could in the difficult wet and foggy conditions to gain as much ground as possible, reaching well beyond the Maze.  But soon they were in range of the enemy machine guns and snipers well placed safely in their new concrete positions, and they suffered many casualties. For 4 days and 4 nights in drizzling rain and slippery soft mud they pressed on with pratically no sleep and part of the time with no rations. The Ninth held this new territory and were finally relieved by the Eleventh.  The history of the Ninth records - “Great gallantry had been displayed by all ranks under very difficult conditions”.

After this, the Ninth moved back behind the lines and most of March did training to incorporate the new Lewis machine gunners into every platoon.

On 4 April the Battalion set out on a long, very wet and cold march up to the front, arriving with depressed spirits at Logincourt at dusk on 6 April. They moved into position in their section of the front.  The plan was for them to go forward and attack Queant after the battle of Bullecourt was won on their left, But on 9 April the battle of Bullecourt was lost, and the attack on Queant was cancelled. Five days later, the Twelfth arrived to take over from the Ninth.

The day before this, Dick Laws was carried out disabled with Trench Foot. In his 2 months with his battalion he had experienced some action.  It was to be 3 months more before he could return for more.

Off to War-Dick Laws

What has he left behind?

His riding crop

Collar box.

I guess he was not going to need his collar box for storing the stiff collars or his riding crop.
These have been handed down in the family.

What he took with him that has been sent back and now passed down the family- his prayer book..

GETTING  TO  EUROPE

The new soldiers were eager to join up with their 9^th Battalion and get to fight the Enemy. By the time their reinforcements left on the “Commonwealth”, the 9^th were on the battlefields of France after leaving Egypt where they had regrouped after the failed Gallipoli campaign. But it was to be much more than a year before Dick caught up with his battalion.

One month after their departure, there occurred the first anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli. This first Anzac Day was celebrated with parades, ceremonies, and displays in schools and public places. The newspaper “The Queenslander” in its issue on the 29 April 1916, reported many of these commemorations. Also featured in this issue was its report of the departure of the “Commonwealth” the previous month, with 4 full pages of small individual portraits of every soldier on the boat, including the 111 men in the 9^th Battalion, Sergeant R. W. Laws being one of them.

When the family read this exciting newspaper, they had already received postcards from Dick sent from West Australia. The troops were kept on board until Freemantle, where they were allowed ashore briefly. It was an opportunity to buy and send postcards home, and Dick the athlete did some training too. “I went for a good long run.”  He was feeling the confined space, and the lack of activity and the heat. “It is very stale on board. Most of the troops sleep on deck, but it is hot wherever you get. I will not be sorry when we land” b

ut it was another four weeks before that happened.

Then they were landed in Egypt where they trained for 3 months in camps recently vacated by the soldiers from Gallipoli, now in France. Dick had his 21^st birthday here, and it is hoped he did manage to celebrate this birthday, because for the next birthday he was in hospital in France, for the next he was in hospital again in England, and before the next birthday he was dead.

TRAINING  IN  ENGLAND & FRANCE  

From Egypt they were sent to England to train further in the big British camps on the southern downs, waiting until needed to replace casualties in their regiment fighting in France. Dick was at Tidworth Barracks on Perham Downs and sent from there letters and postcards every mail to someone at home. He was missing his big warm family, but always wrote lightheartedly. He wrote to his 12 year old brother Frank - “Just a line to let you know I have not forgotten you and I would like to see you again. We have lots of fun here and aeroplanes are as common as motorcars are in Warwick. There were 8 flying over our camp the other day.”

From Tidworth Barracks

However, a little later his boredom and frustration were revealed to his older sister Lily when he writes to her - “We have not left England yet, but I don't think it will be long before we do. I will not be sorry because I am just about fed up of all the training we are getting.” This was then 11 months since he had joined up.

Finally, 2 weeks after this, the reinforcements were moved to north France, being marched in to Etaples on 16 October 1916. This was the big British base camp where all new arrivals to France were sent for their final toughening up training at “The Bullring” before being sent to the front.

Soon after his arrival, Dick purchased more postcards and posted them off to reach home by Christmas. The ones he sent to his sisters were special ones with colourful, pretty embroidered organza panels. Two of them had a pocket which contained a similarly embroidered handkerchief. These were greatly treasured then and still are a hundred years later.

Christmas card to his sister Jessie

Cover of the card sent to his sister Jessie

Also in October 1916 Dick Laws voted for the first time.  All soldiers over 21 had to vote when there was an election in Australia, and also now in the Referendum to enact a law that all Australian men should be conscripted to serve overseas. Men enlisted in the Services voted in a small majority for Yes, but the overall Australia vote was a majority for No. So unlike most other countries, Australian forces fighting overseas remained all volunteers.

The final hard training went on, and it seemed Sergeant Laws would soon march out to his 9^th Battalion with flying colours.  But this was not to be.  A most unfortunate event ruined Dick's future in the army forever, even though it was through no fault of his.

Richard William Laws 1894-1918-before World War 1

             This story was provided by Helen Butler, niece of Richard Laws and she has allowed publication here.

Richard Laws was born at Berry, N.S.W., on 23 May1895, the second child of Lionel and Louisa Laws.  In the next 20 years, their family would increase to 10 children.  Father Lionel had grown up in Queensland and he became a bridge carpenter , but from 1890 there was a depression in Queensland with a failure of the banks,  and construction work had stopped.  So Lionel had found work in N.S.W, where the South Coast Railway Line was being extended from Kiama to Nowra.  There he met and married a local girl Lou, one of the large Chamberlain family established at Berry.

Back L to R Louisa, Lionel , Lily, Richard, Lionel Snr
Front: baby Colin, Victor, Jessie, Frank, Fred

When the railway was finished, Lionel found other work  and stayed on in the area.  By 1896, the Queensland economy had recovered somewhat and Lionel was able to find work there.  So he returned to Brisbane with Lou and the two boys.  Richard was just a toddler.

At this time, Railways in Queensland were built for the government by contractors.  Lionel worked for the contractor W.C.Wilcocks,  and would go away to work wherever the next contract was.  This meant he was away from home often.  However, when he worked on the Gladstone to Rockhampton line, the family, now with five children, all went with him.  They lived at first in a railway camp in the bush, but later in Gladstone.  Here Richard, always known as Dick, attended the Gladstone State School. Then in 1904 when the line was completed, the family was back in Brisbane, and Dick and his older brother Lionel went to the Normal School.  They were great mates and used to walk the 12 kilometres from their home in Clayfield to Sandgate to go swimming.

Grade IV a,  30/3/1906 Lionel Edward on left of middle row.

In 1906, Laws & Trewick in partnership won the contract to build the Helene Street Road Bridge in Warwick. So early in 1907 the family,  now with eight children, went to live in Warwick.  When the bridge was finished, Lionel contracted on his own for all sorts of jobs, some in distant places but the family remained in Warwick for nine years.  Then they moved to Allora.  ( This move was after Dick had gone to the War. )

Dick attended  the Warwick West State school until he was 14.  Then he went to work for his father.  Father had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart, so he took his two eldest boys to help him in his work.  However, after two years, his condition improved, and he apprenticed Dick to a plumber.

The Laws boys were keen sportsmen . Rugby was probably their favourite.  Dick and his older brother Lionel played from a young age with the Warwick Boomerang Club  – Rugby Union at first , then from 1915,  Rugby League with the widespread switch to the new code. In 1913, Dick was only 18, but he played in the Senior team as well as the Junior team , and both teams won their premiership.

Dick second from right

Dick Laws was a very good racing cyclist, both road and track.  He was also a good swimmer and diver, excelling in the competitions held by the Warwick Swimming club in the river.

Championship ribbon Warwick Swim Club in Condamine River. awarded to R Laws

The Commonwealth Military Cadets was another activity for all boys and young men.  Starting in the schools at 11 years of age, boys learned drill and military discipline and became very fit.  Progressing to the Senior cadets and the Citizen cadets, they learned all the soldier skills, including rifle shooting even before cadet training became compulsory.  He became a crack marksman later.
Dick was a keen cadet, passing his Sergeant's exam while only 13 years old .

At the outbreak of war, both Dick and his older brother Lionel had many years training in the Cadets.  Like most of the young men then,  they enjoyed learning the skills, and the activity, and the mateship.  Now here was a real war!  A chance to be a real soldier! It was exciting and adventurous, and besides it was your DUTY – as the propaganda was constantly telling you.  Both Dick and his brother were keen to enlist and be in it all.

However it was discussed in the family and agreed definitely that both could not go.  One of them had to stay for the family's sake.  Father's heart was a worry still.  Mother had never been strong since she had survived Typhoid fever in Brisbane just after she had her fourth child , and now she was expecting her tenth child.   Dick's brother Frank,who was 12 years old at the time, remembered well the family discussions about this problem, and had always thought it was agreed by all that Dick was the one to go.  But the truth was learned sixty years later.  When asked about it, his older brother Lionel stated,  “Yes, we both were very keen to join up.  And Yes, there was much family discussion. But Dick just up and did it !!!  Lionel was still angry about it in his old age. That might explain why Dick did not enlist in Warwick, but went to Toowoomba to “ do it “.

So Richard Laws aged 20 enlisted on 9 October 1915, and became # 4829 in the A I F.  After 5 months training in Brisbane, he went home to Warwick to say his goodbyes, including to his new baby sister Thelma only 3 months old.  Thelma used to say in later years, “My brother Dick saw me, but I never ever saw him.   Dick's mother and father went down to Brisbane and farewelled their soldier son on 28 March 1916, as HMAT 'Commonwealth'  sailed down the river with the 15^th Reinforcements of the Ninth Division.

Sunday School Cards

Do you remember getting Sunday School cards?
It was a disaster if you missed a Sunday because you missed out on the card for that day.
I wasn't diligent enough to keep any of mine but here are some that my  Laws Grandparents kept.
Why am I finding them now? I'm going through all the things that my Mother has collected, one of my Uncle's things and the Laws grandparents things as well in readiness for the Laws family reunion in May.
I wonder what other treasures I will find.

Olive Emily Laws Part 5

The story continues

When the war came, Bert and the next door neighbour built an air-raid shelter between the two properties for their families. It was underground, steps leading down from either side. She broke her little toe during this effort. Bert finally joined up as only one Manager was allowed to a business and as he was the youngest, he decided to join the Air force ground staff.

Bert Wood in Air Force uniform

It was a struggle - four children - living on an allowance from his Air force pay, so she washed and ironed for American Servicemen. This was done with a wood copper and hand washing. One day a week preparing dinners for servicemen at Albert St Methodist Hall and of course still the one day a week to her mother to help. Each night she wrote to Bert who was stationed in Darwin.

When the war was over and the children were moving into teenage years the home was always open to their friends. Once a month the young people from the church would have a party, of singing around the piano and games and more often than not it was at the Wood residence. She always enjoyed this and had a lovely supper prepared.  She always gave her children opportunities to work hard in the church preparing concerts and Sunday School Anniversaries. Bert would paint backdrops for the concerts and she would always work hard at home and do the extra things when members of the family were busy with church activities.

She used to enjoy going to the Boomerang Theatre to see a film of a Friday or Saturday night or just a drive to Woolloongabba to buy fruit was quite an outing of an evening when the children were small.

In the children's teenage years many holidays were spent at Burleigh Heads. One year the tent we were in was completely ripped to shreds in a Cyclone. She wasn't a great lover of surfing but she enjoyed the beach and simple pleasures were watching the people on roller skates at the open air rink at Burleigh.

She would have loved to have learnt to dance but she wasn't allowed to, so to watch people dance or skate gave her enjoyment. Her father died in July 1949 at 75 years, her mother died in May 1953 at 76 years and her sister Eileen passed away in May 1958 at 53 years. 

Back row:Eileen and Dorrie Laws Front row: Bert & Olive Wood, Emily & Percy Laws

Shirley married Bill in 1956; Jean married Don in 1957; Cliff married Helen in 1961; and Alan married June in 1962. All her family lived in Brisbane. Grandchildren began to arrive and the first week out of hospital she always looked after the family with the new baby.

Their hardware store at Woolloongabba and their home at Annerley were both taken by Main Roads as they were in the path of the proposed South East Freeway. They came to live at Aspley.

Christmas has always been a very special time in our family. We all came home for Christmas lunch and dinner. She always enjoyed preparing the traditional meal and the Christmas Pudding Recipe which has been handed down is something to rave about. At night the grandchildren with the help of their mothers performed in a concert on a stage and backdrop prepared by Bert . From the time she was married Christmas dinner was at her home, her mother, father and sister Dorothy came.

Bert took a job for a few years and when he retired they went on a touring holiday to Perth. They worked hard in the garden and yard at Aspley always keeping it immaculate. Bert died in January 1979 at 72 years. She stayed on at Aspley working hard in the garden.  Her home was badly damaged in the bad hail storm that hit Aspley. Her brother, Percy died in 1985 at 86 years and her sister, Dorothy passed away in 1988 just one month short of 87 years, so she is the only member of her family alive. (1)

While she was working in the garden at Aspley someone crept into her home and stole her purse. This naturally unnerved her and with the many instances on TV involving the elderly she became fearful. She was also becoming forgetful about tablets she had to take so agreed to be assessed for admittance into an aged home. She enjoyed once a week her day at the respite centre at Aspley. She was accepted and moved into John Wesley Gardens hostel care. She took part in activities there always folding the serviettes ready for the dinner table. She spent just over 2 years there. After a few mini strokes she was sent to Jacaranda Village Prince Charles Hospital for further assessment and was finally placed at St. Lukes.

Her favourite meals would be roast dinners or steak & kidney, bread and butter pudding and steam puddings. She was always busy with her hands sewing, knitting, crochet, cooking.  Her family was the most important thing in her life. In fact after Bert died her family was her whole life for she didn't mix in any circle of friends until just before she went to John Wesley Gardens when it was suggested she go one day a week to the respite centre at Aspley which she enjoyed. During the war she didn't have much in the way of clothes but she always liked to dress well and in later years she has had a nice wardrobe of clothes.

(1) It is probable that this was written before she died in 1999.

Olive Emily Laws Part 4

Now the children come along.

In 1932 their first child was born, Jean Emily. Olive gave birth to four children, all at Marquis St Annerley. 1935, Shirley Louisa; 1937 Clifford Herbert; 1938 Alan Charles. When Cliff was about 6 to 8 weeks old she took ill (Nervous breakdown)  She was in hospital for a time but doctor felt it best for her to be at home, So it being school holidays Jean went to relations and family and a housekeeper looked after things.

She always loved to cook.  Saturday's lunch was for many years a roast dinner. There were always cakes and biscuits she had baked.

It was always important to her that she and her family attended church and the children belonged to the various groups in the Methodist Church at Annerley. She, herself, was a member of the Ladies Church Help. She regularly visited her mother once a week to do anything that was needed. She loved to sew and made all the children's clothes. Knitting and crochet were always her activity. Her hands were always busy.

Olive Emily Laws part 3

91 Marquis St Annerley

Let's continue with Olive's story

Throughout her whole life she attended the Methodist Church where they were living. When she was courting Bert they were attending Albert St. Church and they belonged to the Tennis club. They each belonged to the Y.M.C.A. and the Y.W.C.A. After 6 years of courtship they were engaged on her 21st birthday and married in the Valley Methodist Church on the 11th April 1931. They had put a deposit on a house at Marquis St. Annerley, and went there on their wedding night.

They spent their honeymoon in Sydney but while they were there the Banks closed their doors and they had concerns getting money to return home.

 Bert worked with his brothers in a Paint & Hardware Store they ran.

Olive Emily Laws Part 2

House at Albion

The houses they were living in were rented houses so it was only a short while when the Hill End house was sold. They shifted to Wooloowin and in 5 months this house also was sold so they decided to buy a house and settled at Store St. Albion near the Railway line.

Bert Wood

She went to Eagle Junction School. She sat for the Scholarship Exam but failed so she was sent to do a business course at Stott & Hoars (shorthand, typing and book-keeping). From there she gained a job at T.C. Beirne typing country orders. She and Eileen worked at T.C. Beirne and this didn't work out so she gained another job in a warehouse but wasn't there long when her mother took sick and her father asked her to stay at home to look after her mother and do the household chores.

 Through a friend of her father’s suggesting his brother drive their car to Redcliffe for them, she met her husband to be, Herbert Charles Wood fondly known as Bert.

Olive Emily Laws Part 1

Jean Lowrie, her daughter, has very kindly let me publish Olive Wood's Profile and given me access to  photos to illustrate it.

Percy & Emily Laws

Mrs Wood was born in Brisbane on the 19th July 1909, the fourth child of Emily & Percy Laws. 

 Her first most vivid memory of early childhood was when she was 4 1/2 years old. They were living at Dyeton Road Dutton Park, when her 11 months old brother Stanley died. The vivid scene she has always remembered was her standing at the bedroom window watching the horse drawn hearse move away from their home to the cemetery. 




Her father was a sign writer (1)and he and Mrs Laws raised a son, Percy, and three daughters, Dorothy, Eileen and Olive (Mrs. Wood). Soon after Stanley's death they shifted to Gladstone Rd. and she went to Dutton Park school for a short time then she and her sister Eileen were sent to the Normal School in Adelaide St. City where Anzac square is now. ( Note -See  http://www.yourbrisbanepastandpresent.com/2010/01/corner-adelaide-edward-sts-2.html  for more information about the school.)
 The memory she recalls most of this period is during the War when a soldier had died it was a regular thing to hear the band coming in the distance playing ' "The Dead March of Saul" The Class stood with their heads bowed until the procession passed by. They had another change of house to Hill End and as her sister was not happy at school they were transferred to St. John's Cathedral school in Ann St. 

(1) See pevious post  http://familytreeblossoms.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/longest-laws-family-run-business-in.html