Euphemia Flora "Phemi" Gregg 1879-1948

RECOLLECTIONS and information from her daughter, Flora Christina Hamilton.

"Until 1979, she and all her family, believed that she was born on 6th. May, 1879. A copy of her birth certificate gives the information that she was actually born at 11.30 pm. on 29th. April, 1879, at Tourello, four miles from Clunes, and about seventeen miles from Ballarat in Victoria.

She was the eleventh, and second youngest child of Richard and Catherine Gregg. There was always a special bond between her and her youngest sister Christina Catherine, who was four years younger.

My mother's early years were spent in Poowong, South Gippsland, as a member of her large family. They lived on a farm, in fairly rugged country, experiencing the primitive and harsh conditions of living toward the end of the last century. The life was hard, with very little experience of the frivolities of life.

She attended the State School at Poowong, but left at the age of twelve, when she had gained the certificate which indicated that she had completed the minimum term of education which was considered adequate for children of her era. She had always yearned for higher education, and throughout her life was an avid and selective reader. Not for her the romantic novels. She read history, travel, biographies, encyclopaedias, and most often, the Bible. We always believed that Mother knew everything.

Coming from Scottish Presbyterian stock, she maintained a fairly serious view of life in general. She often told me that by choice, she would have attended the 'Free' Presbyterian Church, which she believed preached the true faith of her fathers.

Her oldest sibling, Sarah, was fifteen years her senior. She married Frederick Umbers, who had a farm at Goschen, in north-western Victoria. My mother went to visit them, and while there, met her future husband, Donald McLennan, (a man of happy disposition), who was helping his two older brothers with their farming pursuits in the area. The friendship was carried on, mostly by letter, and they eventually married at her parents' home in Poowong, the officiating minister being the Rev. S. McGowan. They were both twenty-eight years old.

Their first child Neil Fraser, was born the following year, at St. Arnaud, which was Father's business centre, twenty-six miles from Marnoo, where they were living on his parents' property at the time. While Mother was valiantly labouring on, Father, never a man to waste time, went off and enjoyed a local football match! Mother, for all her Christian principles, had considerable trouble in forgiving him!!

Father soon selected eight hundred acres of dry farming land at Pira, thirteen miles north-west of Swan Hill. It would be impossible to adequately describe the sheer misery my mother endured in that ice of sand, dust storms, flat country, and Mallee scrub. She had come from a land of running streams, green hills and fern gullies, and lovely singing birds; from a large family environment, to an isolated farm, the nearest neighbour being a couple of miles away. No telephone, no radio, no electricity, and no Doctor within thirteen miles. For transport, horses, and a buggy with iron tyres!

She never enjoyed robust health, having sustained a damaged heart as a complication of diphtheria, which she contracted as a young woman. She was unable to withstand hot weather, which affected her to an unusual degree. Whatever that country lacked, there was no shortage of violent heat. She was terrified of snakes, but was often called upon to despatch one with a shotgun. She didn't really care for guns, either, but was eager to protect her children.

She was fortunate to make a close friend of Mrs. Elizabeth Orchard, who shared a similar life as a bride, on a farm a few miles away. They were a great comfort to each other. She would have been happy to know that Elizabeth's daughter and hers, eventually rediscovered each other, and for many years now, have been close friends in Bendigo.

Her second child Flora Christina was born in Swan Hill on 29th. April, 1912, on her own birthday, though no one knew this at the time! Life dragged on until 1921, when drought finally forced our father to sell out. Mother took the two children, then aged thirteen and nine years, to live in Daylesford, where, in a cooler climate, living in rented rooms, she drank copiously of the famous spa waters, and sought to forget the trauma of those twelve memorable years! We, her children, merely enjoyed ourselves in our new environment. Father thought he may buy a house in Daylesford, with a view to giving us the benefit of a secondary school education. Then he experienced the delights of snow in winter. They were no delight to him! He revelled in a hot climate. As a compromise, he agreed to settle us in Castlemaine, after ascertaining that it never, ever, produced snow!

Mother joined the local Presbyterian church, but her sphere was limited because of her prolonged ill health. My father obtained employment in Wycheproof, came home to see us as often as he could, and wrote weekly. We always felt him to be part of the household.

In 1930 I went to train as a nurse in Bendigo, (the fulfilment of my mother's most cherished ambition for me), my brother having left home earlier to be a teacher. Mother moved to Bendigo, where she remained until 1936. With some reluctance, (that HEAT again), I having moved on to pursue my career, she re-joined my father in Wycheproof. In 1942 she survived a severe 'heart block', and I then returned to be with her for the remaining six years of her life. She was ambulatory, but never well, and in 1948, twenty-four hours after a sudden cerebral haemorrhage, she died at home in the presence of all her family, at the age of sixty-nine.

Mother was always closely in touch with her original family, and we visited a number of them over the years when we were children. We always looked forward to visiting our relations. I sometimes wonder now, if they were always equally glad to see us!! Mother was not really a 'fun' person to be with. Her life had been a difficult one physically and emotionally, and from an early age she knew the realities of living as a pioneer of her time. She was very self-sufficient, and was often called upon for help, which she gave freely and generously. I still meet people who recall her kindness to them when they were in trouble. She was the most thoroughly consistent person I have ever known. Black and white were clearly defined for her. There were no grey areas in her life. We, her children, knew right from wrong at a very early age, and needed no psychiatrist to sort us out, ever!!"