Conversation with Glenda

Glenda and her husband Sidney (dec'd)

Glenda was born 90 years ago at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Paddington, Sydney.  She was the eldest of five children.  She and her family lived in inner city Sydney for the first 10 years of her life, as her parents owned shops.  In the great depression they moved to Granville, so that they could have a house with some land where they could grow their own vegetables. 

As a child Glenda was sometimes called ‘the shadow’ as she loved to be with her father and would follow him everywhere.  He taught her always to be tolerant and would say ‘never judge people by their religion, politics or the colour of their skin’.  Glenda has always carried these words with her and believes that people are people, whoever they are.  She thinks that the migration to Australia of big groups of people from other countries has been a very positive change.

Sadly, when Glenda was 13 years old her father died.  The great sadness of losing a parent was very difficult for Glenda and the rest of her family.  It was also a struggle during the depression.  

At 21 Glenda married and then had two sons.  Her husband, Sidney, was in the army.  They could have moved into an army camp but her husband chose not to.  He didn’t want Glenda to be in a situation where she might try to talk to someone who turned out to be a captain’s wife, which wouldn’t have been permitted.

As a result, they lived with other people until they could get their own house.  In those days 8 out of 10 people would be living with someone else, rather than having their own house.  Glenda’s happiest time was moving into their own house in Liverpool, just she and her husband and their two boys.  She lived there for 40 years.  In those days Liverpool was just an army town, not a city like it is today.

Glenda has seen a colossal change in the world since she was young.  In those days everyone was very trusting.  It was normal to have grandparents living in the family home.  Now the younger generation expect their parents to sell the house and retire.  People from a European background are different and seem to have a greater respect for older people.

Glenda feels that Australia has lost its innocence.  There has always been crime but it is more vicious and frightening than it used to be.  No one is safe wandering around the streets any more, especially women and girls.  It is a terrible way to live and we just don’t have the trust we used to have.

However, Glenda has seen positive changes as well.  In the medical area Australia has made huge advances since World War II.  Children are much better educated, particularly girls.  In the past often only the boys in a family would receive an education.  Glenda believes that if girls are educated they will make sure that their own children are also well educated.  If children are educated they can achieve anything, and will give back to the community.  One of Glenda’s greatest regrets is that she had to leave school at 13 and did not receive a better education.  At that time only the extremely bright children were encouraged to go on.  However, it was clear from my conversation with Glenda that she has educated herself and has great knowledge and wisdom. 

Another positive change is multiculturalism.  This is evidenced in Glenda’s own family as her eldest son married a Swedish girl and her younger son married a girl who is half Russian.  As a result she has two grand daughters who are half-Swedish and a grand son who is a quarter-Russian.  Being ‘well and truly mixed up’ in this way is a good thing, according to Glenda.  However, we could do more.  In Sweden children learn four languages at school and it gave Glenda great pleasure to see her daughter in law teach her granddaughter English and Swedish before she was five years old.  We are lucky that English is the international language as we don’t have the same focus on languages in Australia. 

Glenda also thinks that Australians are finally adapting to our environment.  In the past, housing, gardens and food were all based on the English model and not suited to hot weather and limited water.  We wasted a lot of water on our lawns.  All these changes take time. 

What is most important to Glenda is to ‘do the best I can with what I’ve got.’  She says that anyone who is 90 years old has a few things wrong with them and she regrets that she can’t go for walks the way she used to.  She has had the most wonderful conversations with people while out walking and sitting down for a rest.  She often thinks she should write an article for the local paper called ‘At the bus stop today’, because some of the stories she has been told at the bus stop would make your hair go curly.  Glenda really likes people and loves to talk with them. 

Glenda believes that our hope for the future should be that our children have a good life, are well educated and get along with all people.  Her own experiences, which she kindly shared with me, show that she lives by this belief. 


(Interview with Sally, daughter of one of Glenda's friends, February 2011)