By Ruby Lane
This article was originally published in December 2025 in Soul Search, the Journal of The Sole Society
Welcome to Part Two of The Early Life and Times of Mary Elizabeth Alice Lane (née Soall) written by her daughter Ruby Lane. When we last left the family, the children were settling into their new life, hiding their shoes to go barefoot to school like the local children did. We now pick up the story finding out more about day to day living conditions in Palmyra – a suburb of Fremantle.
Palmyra 1915.
The war was still raging in Europe and thousands of men were away leaving behind their young families to cope the best way they could but jobs were plentiful for those left behind. Tom found some work bricklaying around the Palmyra district. One of the many chimneys he built was for the Anderson family who had been fellow passengers on the journey from England on the Osterley. (That house is still standing in Hope Street next to number 9.)
Tom was advised by his brother-in-law, Tom Vinten, to join a lodge in order to make more contacts and possibly hear of better paying jobs, so he duly became a member of the Ancient Order of Forresters Lodge and as such was obliged to attend monthly meetings. Wife Mary was absolutely petrified of being left alone at night with just the children in their flour bag covered dwelling, always fearing an attack by those indigenous people that she had heard so much about. To protect herself and her brood she would pile furniture up against the door. This made her feel very secure. She never gave a thought to the fact that if someone wanted to get in, all they’d have to do was slit the flour bag wall with a knife. Tom never bothered to point that out, believing that if she felt safe that was all that mattered.
Tom picked up quite a bit of work around the district as word of his fine workmanship spread and they were soon able to buy a few more pieces of furniture and life became a little more comfortable. They still had only a sand floor but Mary and her little girls swept it with tree branches then collected arms full of banksia flowers and kangaroo paws from the surrounding bushland. These were arranged in old cans that were placed in the corners of the room in an effort to make it more homely.
The back yard was soon a source for fresh fruit and vegetables as Tom was a keen gardener who derived a lot of pleasure in seeing what could survive in the unfamiliar sandy soil. While his orange and mandarin trees drooped under the weight of their fruit his pride and joy were his roses, which seemed to thrive with little attention. He was particularly proud of one called Blackboy, a deep red climber and he built a large wooden trellis to train it on. This rose survived for many years and always seemed to be full of blooms.
The chicken run provided manure for the garden and eggs for the families’ breakfasts and of course the odd roast dinner. One day while Tom was away working Mary decided that it would be a nice surprise for him to come home to a roast chicken dinner, so with the help of young Mary, she managed to catch a nice fat hen and armed with a tomahawk lined it up on the chopping block, closed her eyes and chopped the bird clean in half!!! With her daughter still clasping the back half Mary picked up the front half, severed the head then left both pieces to drain of blood prior to placing them in the baking dish to roast. The dinner was all carved up and on the plates when Tom arrived home and he praised his wife and family for their newfound skill of beheading poultry.
While working in the garden one morning Tom knelt down and felt a severe sting on his knee. When he looked down he saw a large scorpion and at once the knee began to swell. His brother-in-law told him to get straight to a doctor as those bites can be quite serious. This bite stopped Tom from working for many weeks and the small amount of savings was soon used up. The Vintens helped out where they could but the situation became so desperate that Mary had to lower her pride and seek help from The Ugly Men’s Association, a charitable organization based in Fremantle, whose aim was to help people in dire need. This group raised funds by running a fair at the Pioneer Park in Market Street each weekend and did a wonderful job providing food and clothing to those who fell on hard times. It was several months before Tom was able to return to work.
A year later Tom built a two bedroomed home with a sleepout to replace the flour bag dwelling. He and Mary had the main room and the three girls shared a double bed in the second room with Fred sleeping in the sleepout. The furniture was mostly second hand and the girls spent many a night scratching from the bed bugs that came with their double bed.. It took many weeks to rid the house of those pests but at least the sand floor had given way to floorboards so the sand fleas and midgies were no longer such a problem.
At twelve years of age young Mary’s childhood was left behind and she was sent to do some housework after school for the wife of a sea captain who lived in a large home on Canning Highway Palmyra. Her chores included setting the table for the evening meal, peeling the vegetables, attending to any dish washing that had accumulated during the day and the polishing of wooden floors. This was hard work for a twelve year old and after being on her hands and knees for an hour or so the lady of the house would come in and tell her that the floor was still smeary and to start again. Many times she went home in tears but money in the family was tight and she’d be sent back the next week for more of the same.
The Jackson children had become firm friends with the Soall’s even though mother Mary was still very wary. They all went to school together and lived in the same street and Daisy Jackson and her younger sister Janey introduced Mary and Lill to various types of bush tucker such as bush raspberries and sheoak chewing gum. Being Indigenous they knew about all the animals, reptiles and insects around the area but could not tempt the Soall kids to eat witchetty grubs. They told many tales that had been handed down from their elders and the Soall kids soon grew to love their new country and appreciate all the natural beauty it had to offer.
Mr Jackson was away in the army and it was now 1916. The First World War was still raging in France and Turkey with families all over the country receiving the dreaded telegrams informing them that their sons and husbands had been either killed or badly injured. One afternoon when Tom returned from work he and Mary became aware that Mrs Jackson was crying quite loudly and Tom suggested that Mary should go over to see what the trouble was. Although not an unkind lady Mary was very reserved and she found it hard to approach someone to whom she had never spoken to ask what was the matter, however she did go over and Mrs Jackson told her that she’d just been advised her husband had been killed in the war. Mary hugged the lady then brewed a pot of tea, cooked a meal for the family and sat and talked for a long time. In the years that followed Mary and Mrs Jackson became good friends with Mary’s fear from all the stories she had heard were completely forgotten.