A testimony of the life of Betty Smith
May 2013
Mum was a gentle, warm and generous woman who lived a good and full life. She
was born in Southport, a daughter to Bill and Jessie Davidson and eldest sister to
Neville and John who are with us here today.
Her first home was in Oxenford. Grandfather worked on the ferry on the
Coomera River in those days where the Coomera Bridge now crosses the River.
They moved from there to Badiddaba near Beaudesert where they established a
dairy farm. Grandfather also had his own bullock team and cut timber. Mum
spent the whole of her school life there.
She and her family moved on to Hope Island in February 1943 having purchased
a working dairy farm there. Dad’s family moved to the adjoining property in
August that same year. The seeds were thereby set for Mum & Dad’s future
together. The two properties on which they lived gained access to the mainland
via a ferry. The first Hope Island Bridge was built in 1950.
Mum always wanted to be a nurse and she would have been one of the good
ones. But it wasn’t to be. Her father wanted her at home to help on the dairy farm
and that was where she stayed until she married Dad. When my sister Julie
became Nurse Davidson Smith she was just so proud. Of course all of her
children were central to her very being and remained that way always. We all
grew up knowing that. She was always there for us and later for our children…
her precious grandchildren. When her brother John was quite ill and on life
support in the Southport Hospital, she thought of him every day and visited him
as often as she could, and when her beloved Auntie Nellie became frail, visited
her most weeks.
Mum married Dad in Southport, on the 10th of June in 1950 and she and Dad
spent most of their working lives on Hope Island. They didn’t start married life
there though. They worked for Mum’s Uncle George at Benowa. Then, after only a
year, Mum’s father and Doctor Bogle bought the Smith’s property and Mum and
Dad moved back to Hope Island to operate the dairy, which in time they were
able to purchase. Over the years both the Davidson and Smith farms expanded
milk production to become two of the largest milk suppliers to Pauls in Brisbane
at that time.
Mum’s brothers took over the Davidson farm. Uncle Neville moved to Beaudesert
to begin family life and Uncle John and Aunty Beryl lived next door. Of course for
us as children those were wonderful days and for Mum & Dad life was
challenging…there were droughts when there was just no fresh water. There
were floods, which took fences and cattle.
Mum & Dad’s first child Fay was born June 1951 and Julie followed three years
later. It was at about this time when Mum’s mother was sick and dying from
breast cancer. Mum nursed her mother through her dreadful illness and told us
1
often of her struggle during those times. I followed soon after Julie, a third girl
and then finally a son Colin.
Mum had her hands full and we grew up in what I think back on, as a magical
setting, on an Island at the foothills of Tamborine Mountain. Mud crabs were
plentiful, mushrooms jumped out of the ground after rain, fresh milk and cream,
eggs, often our own meat. As children we were probably a bit free range
ourselves. Running bare footed for miles around the place.We didn’t go out much
in those days and rarely had holidays but I can remember walking down an
uncrowded Cavill Avenue on a New Years Eve eating ice cream, a family trip to
Sydney and the special trips to Brisbane to spend a day at the Exhibition. Mum
would pack a picnic for us to enjoy before the fireworks.
Mum was always heavily involved in our school lives ferrying us everywhere for
play rehearsals, athletics training and working on tuckshops, in clothing pools
and she was loved and respected for her efforts. It was a long way from Hope
Island to Southport in those days but Mum never discouraged any interests that
we might have. She would do anything to ensure we had opportunities to follow
our dreams. Col had to board at the Southport School because there was no
available bus.
Family was her life really. In those early days many of Mum’s extended family
lived on farms in these hinterlands now so changed. The Veivers’, the Nielsen’s,
and the Cowderoy’s, were pioneers. Quite a few of them are here today. We are
in this church now because it lies in an area, which was closely settled by many
of Mum’s extended family.
Mum loved and supported Dad’s family too. Many of them came down from
Brisbane for visits to the farm. The pantry was always stocked with cakes and
bickies in case anyone dropped in, and they did, and this enriched our lives. I
remember wonderful times with Marie and Peter English, Uncle Ray and Aunty
Hazel and Brian Young.
Dad’s cousin Brian sent an email through to him the other day, which we found
really touching. He told Dad that he had never told him or Mum how much they
meant to him and wanted to now. He was always a bit naughty really. He would
con the railway staff in Brisbane into letting him on the goods train because he
was needed to help with the milking. They would slow the train down so that he
could jump off at Oxenford. Mum would ring his mother and say ‘Aunty Ray,
Brian is here again what should I do?’
When I was six we moved from the farmhouse into a new house on the hill that
Mum and Dad built. This was Mum’s pride and joy. She was a modern girl at
heart, it was ‘new-age’ and there was great excitement. Mum’s tastes lent
towards the latest in furniture, she liked modern things, clean lines, colours and
the house provided her with an opportunity to express this. Mum and Dad lived
there until 1989 when the Davidson and Smith farms were sold for development.
2
Mum made most of our clothes and was a beautiful knitter and embroiderer. We
all went into married lives with a magnificent range of embroidered doilies. Our
babies had finely knitted lacy woollen shawls and baby jumpers…hours and
hours of love and work. We always had flowers about us, in the garden and in the
house.
Dad became a Rotarian 1971. Rotary became a huge part of Mum and Dad’s lives.
When Dad became a District Governor in 1981, they travelled the 61 clubs in the
District, from Byron Bay to the Brisbane River through Toowoomba and west to
Charleville, extensively. Mum was a very private person in lots of ways but she
fitted into her supporting role comfortably and grew with it alongside Dad. In
later years she proudly wore the badge of a Paul Harris Fellow with three
diamonds for her contributions.
Their interest in Rotary took Mum and Dad overseas on many occasions. They
loved to attend international conventions with their friends Brian & Nancy. They
saw many interesting places and met interesting people. This was a wonderful
period in their lives and a time when they made lifelong friendships. By then
Mum & Dad were able to employ people to manage the farm at home to enable
them to do this.Mum & Dad retired from the farm in 1988 and moved to
Runaway Bay and spent time travelling with their good friends throughout
Australia, further enriching their lives. There were grandchildren then also and
Mum loved to be with them and making them a part of her life.
I will never forget the support she gave me when my children were here at
boarding school and I know, to Col and Marie, when Ashton was here.
These last years have seen the Betty, Mum & Grandmother we knew gradually
slip away from us. We didn’t realise that she had Alzheimers, it came upon her so
gradually.
I want to acknowledge our father for the incredible support he has given Mum in
both their marriage and in her illness. She came to depend on him completely
and he rose to the challenges that this sent his way. He would not hand her over
to care until he had no choice.
Mum and Dad would have been together for 63 years in June. On reflection they
have had a blessed and wonderful life together. We are sad to say goodbye to
Mum today but do so knowing that her life was rich and rewarding, that she
loved and was loved, that she enjoyed many years of life, had many joys and has
left behind family and friends who cherish their memories of her.
3