Letter: Brown Girl

Letter 27 / 2 / 85

Looking back at old photo's - like the ones we have of James when we were in Melbourne and he was a baby only a few months old - well, Jo is just like that. Her hair is light now, and what there is of it looks quite red at this stage. Her eyes are dark brown. And her skin is tanned and hair-less - James and Alison are quite hairy, blond hairs.

Healthy outdoor life

We have all been suffering with some virus, as have so many people here. Alison has been sick for so long, I was beginning to think it was all just a reaction to Jo - she demands so much cuddling and carrying around when she is sick - but she has been having some genuine fevers. Jo, too, has a high fever, and a very noisy chest and horrid cough.

James is pale and tired looking, very weepy, though his fevers seem to have eased up now, and although his chest is "tight" he's had no asthma so far this time.

I'm very tired - from getting up so much at night. And I have a weird itchy rash under one arm, similar to a lot of other people here at the moment. Peter's had blocked ears for a couple of weeks, but seems to be improving ...

Happy lot, aren't we! One O.D. ("Old Dear") wrote to us and said,

"Do you get viruses and things up there? I guess not, with that nice outdoors life you lead you are probably all healthy" ...

Going overseas

We would like to attend a translation workshop in PNG (Papua New Guinea) but I doubt whether we will be able to. Our passports (which didn't have the kids on anyway) run out next month, so we've sent them off ... Its all very well telling people to "Go to your nearest GPO"! We had to do a statutory declaration (which involved finding a JP or magistrate!) to say that we are more than 100km away from any P.O. When we finally get our passports, then we'll have to start working on visas ... and start taking anti-malarial medications.

Mango plague

We are having a plague of mangoes. I have never seen the trees so loaded. Some branches normally beyond Peter's reach are hanging so low they are now within Alison's reach. The first million or so didn't even taste good, but they are getting sweeter now. At night they fall about every 2-5 minutes, and the lawn and roof of the shed and translation house are littered with them. Its a daily chore to pick them up and, when possible, give them away.

One bunch was hanging down and touching the translation house roof, and Peter picked 60 mangoes from the one bunch!

Village Life

Ron Day, standing for Chairman of the Island

Its very busy around the village these days. Election for a new chairman is around the end of March, and with new laws we are obliged to vote. I guess we are so much more involved these days.

I'm carrying the camera everywhere I go, it is my constant companion - along with Jo and Alison! - in preparation for furlough soon, as well as an "in".

Kids n books

James has rediscovered his books lately, he's constantly asking to have stories read to him, and its hard to find the time. The younger two are somehow more demanding, their needs usually seem more urgent. Alison loves books too, though she is not so patient with stories yet. Jo loves the taste of books...

A couple of days ago Jo was getting up on her hands and knees looking like she would crawl, but now she seems to have lost interest.

Tired now, must sleep.

Letter: Hermit Crabbing

Letter 9 / 2 / 85

Our fish tank is going better these days. We've had a little hermit crab for some time now - fascinating little chap. He was living in a little cone shell, and we put an old "egg-shell cowrie" in the tank as part of the decor - and we felt very honoured when he popped his bot out of the cone and into the cowrie. Then we felt shunned when he returned to his old shell ... and now he has chosen the cowrie once more. It probably has a more spacious interior, but it would be heavier to carry about.

Then yesterday the tide was low and Peter collected a couple more hermits - big ones in trocchus shells - and a spidery star fish which drapes itself here and there in the aquarium. When Peter was changing the water this morning it hung on a piece of coral and switched one leg like a cat switching its tail.

Pram transport

I have been very busy these days, now that James is back at kindy. I ply up and down the village with my pram-load of babies. Jo sits at the back (? closest to me as I push it) with her feet on the foot-rest, chewing on the rail, and Alison sits up behind her at the front (?) lounging back on a pillow, grinning at people and singing in her husky little voice: "How does cat'pilla go? dear me anybody know". Very cute! Jo turns on her sweet gummy smile for all and sundry too, much to everyone's delight.

I'm now having a weekly Bible Study time with Gracie Tapim - very lovely lady, belongs to "Revelation" church so feels a bit lonely on the island. She doesn't speak Meriam, unfortunately. I've been talking to other ladies about having Bible Studies - they smile and nod in that special condescending way that we are learning means they don't mean it at all. I take my own biscuits and suggest that they might provide a cuppa to go with it. They are often a bit shy of offering a cuppa to a "kole" (white person).

Letter: Water Retention

Letter 5 / 2 / 85

Its very wet here, I guess the "wet" season is properly here now. We ordered some of taht super-absorbent stuff for the garden - if its claims are true then its going to be wonderful! We will have to do a lot of proving before the Islanders will believe us about it though. Its like wallpaper paste - powder that goes jelly-like - only more so.

Minor interruption ...

Oh-oh! Alison just wee-d on Jo's play-mat and a pillow. She just refuses to be trained. I've tried rewards, I've tried ignoring it, its smacks today - I can't handle washing pillows and mats all of the time. She does know - she must know - I can only guess that she needs to get the attention any way she can.

New cot for Jo

I re-made Jo's cot the other day. It was a terrible struggle when I did it for Alison - being highly pregnant at that time -it took days of hard work. this one I whipped up in a few hours, and I made it with snappers (the kind you put on with a hammer) so I can take it off to wash it without dismantling the whole cot.

Another baby?

James wants a brother - no I'm not expecting again. He said yesterday, "I haven't got a brother, but Nathan (red-head in Darwin) is my brother." He may never even see him again. He is full of heavy questions lately, like: "When God made the sea, was it high tide or low tide?"

World Safari

Do go and see World Safari (2) if you get a chance. I gather Murray Island features quite prominently, seeing as this is where their boat sank. Wilfred (who now likes to call himself "the tourist guide for the Torres Strait") has just been with them for their opening of the film in Adelaide, he and Margaret (and 7 kids) just got back this weekend. This seventh child (which was actually a twin but one died) is called Peter, after a certain white "Uncle" the child has.

Letter: Healing the Ducks

Letter 21 / 1 / 85

The ducks have stopped dying - the last sick one did recover after James faithfully prayed for it every night and Peter washed her eyes and squirted aspro down her throat.

Bye-bye baby turtles

Our turtles were pining for the ocean and we had to let them go. They would just float around in the tank, barely eat at all, and were just not interested in anything. But once we got them onto the beach they sure livened up - down the sandy slope and into the water, and off ... little heads bobbing up every few metres.

New School Principal

The new school teacher arrived - rather unexpectedly - about a week ago. He came on his own initiative, realising that if he waited for instructions it could be April before anyone realised that MI school had no principal.

He is the first of a new breed, being under the Education Department which is presently in the process of taking over the schools around here, and plans to stay for about four years.

Gary and his wife, Jane, have three kids: Belinda is 11, quite a pretty little miss. Terry (Theresa) is 6, chubby, bossy, noisy, tom-boy ... and friends with James, unfortunately. Adam has just turned 1 - roly-poly, a bit spoilt. very much your average countrified Australian family, quite easy to get along with.

They brought with them a friend for their first couple of weeks while its school holidays. But their boat (14' with 40hp motor) hasn't arrived yet, so Peter's been taking Gary and friend John out a few times - our fish stocks needed replenishing anyway. Today the tide is low so they are diving for crayfish - which will be a nice change if they get some. Gary is a non-swimmer (!) so he intends to be the shark-watch in the boat. I've got the "citizen's band transceiver" (walkie-talkie) switched on in front of me waiting for Peter to call and say how he's going.

Mr and Mrs Fixit

This morning we took our washing machine apart - not completely. The spinner wasn't emptying. We found two tiny twigs, that's all - and its going again. We wasted a whole morning working on it, but we've forgiven it because it does such a good job washing all our clothes.

Tadpole tally

Our tadpole population has reduced itself to two (which have apparently eaten the rest) in my clear pyrex bowl on our outside table. Today I drained the green sludge out and found them, both with back legs at last. We have been waiting so long that I think James had stopped believing us that it would happen.

Bread problem solved

I discovered why my bread wasn't good. I knew that the (white) flour had some weevils - all flour here does - but then i seived some and discovered more weevils than flour. Things have improved since I opened a fresh drum of flour.

Letter: Keeping on top of it all

Letter 11 / 1 / 85

I am battling with the usual heap of correspondence to keep up with, and I am just about keeping on top of it as long as I ignore the call of my sewing machine and my eagerness to actually get some language work done.

Seawater fish tank

Jo is on the floor behind me - getting quite mobile these days, but also more demanding. James and Alison are "helping" Peter change the water in our (saltwater) fish tank. We've tried sea slugs (or "swea swugs" as James says!) and crabs, and sardines ... but everything dies. Some of the local kids caught us some beautiful little angel fish and they delighted us for about 4 days - but they wouldn't eat anything we offered them, and they died. (The ducks were happy to eat them though!) Then I saw some kids with a batch of newly-hatched turtles, and persuaded them to give us a couple. They are so perfect, like little clockwork toys! Of course, they can grow rather huge - we will let them go when they get bigger.

Dying ducks

Our ducks are dying off one by one - presumably its one of these respiratory diseases that we hear ducks are prone to. Its a shame for them to die so close to the age when thy'll produce eggs. Two black ones have died - we only have one black duck (female) left - and one of the two remaining original oldies died after a prolonged illness while we lovingly nursed her. Now one young white duck has been sick for a couple of days - we are very hopeful of her recovering. And this morning we noticed our young drake is staggery.

The first wheat-germ bread I made was really good - stayed fresh and extra tasty. But every loaf since has been horrible ... so I just don't know why. This last time I forgot the 'lecimax' - to my regret, as it seems to help considerably.

When I was a little boy ...

Alison's talking continues to increase. James chatters on ad nauseum. One of his favourite phrases which refers to any time in the past (even last week) is: "when I was a little boy ..." And our little mimic (Alison) came to me the other day with, "when I was a little boy ..." She speaks so clearly and copies all of James' mistakes very accurately!

All night dances

So I can see today's language helper arriving - I'd better finish this and concentrate on keeping the kids away from Peter. The night before last they danced all night, from 6pm to 6:15am - we live right next to the dance ground! Its a kind of competition (or battle) and both the dance itself and the practices leading up to it have made our language helpers rather irregular lately.

Letter: End of Cheap Phone Calls

Letter 3 / 12 / 84

The wet is here, or almost. Today it thundered and rained - and I couldn't do the washing. I would do it now but the last lot is still on the line and of course its soaked. Now its so steamy.

Our 20c phone calls have at last come to an end. Not that the phone can't do it, but there is a sign saying that we mustn't. Actually, the phone is a private phone, you see, belonging to the council, and they receive a bill regardless of how much money is actually in the box. So the council has the right to ban people from using the phone (on Yorke Island the council insists that you ask permission every time you use the phone!) and Telecom promises to remove the phone if the bills are not paid. It was suggested that people might make a donation to help the council pay for the $1000 that was due over what was in the box, so we went down to make a contribution, as people are aware that we have been using the phone ... but they said it has all been taken care of. We could still phone you on the 20c system (so as not to have the operator butting in) and time ourselves and put in the extra money I guess. But for the time being I had better try to catch tomorrow's plane with a few letters.

Getting on with translation

We feel we have finally 'hit our straps' and started work. Only two of our four men have been coming to do translation, but they have been working well and seem to be learning what its all about now. I guess translating "Nowa" (Noah) was good practice for them - we've nearly finished getting it checked now. They are pretty keen on the new "Sower" (parable) booklet, so hopefully it will go a bit faster.

Even I am getting into the action at last. The priest's wife, Adiana, has made herself available to help me. She seems to have a fairly keen mind and is willing to do her best. Also a lady freshly up from Mackay, after being away from the island for 20 years, is keen to help. She has all the marks of a mainlander - they stick out like a sore thumb with their fancy clothes. She belongs to the "Body-Felt Salvation" group, though she has some quarrel with them over whether the local culture should be preserved and/or taught. She still uses the language, and has taught classes (down south) on island cooking. She is very concerned about the local women, their health problems and those who spend all day "doing nothing". So she will be a good place to start with this cookery book I want to do (to aid literacy in their language among the women especially). I'm also being a bit ambitious and wanting to do a Christmas drama - simple as possible, and in the local language, to be performed maybe at the Christmas service or outside afterwards. These people love to watch any kind of drama, but they don't seem to do much.

Baby Jo likes to eat

Thanks for the Farex, it only took six days to get here. Jo gets quite upset if she doesn't get to eat with the rest of us at tea time. She doesn't eat much of course, but likes to taste different things. She remains such a pleasant little tike. Peter often accuses me when he catches me just cuddling her - "Sometimes I think you enjoy that baby!" - I sure do! She seems to take a special interest in Alison (despite some of the treatment she gets from her!) and often chuckles when Alison dances about. She has a smile for everyone, but has already learnt who Mum is and is not keen to be taken away.

James is unwell

Poor James! His big boil in the corner of his mouth came up and burst and then healed incredibly quickly. But then he developed little ones on his nose, eyebrow, chin, and a row on his top lip. They are all still there, like very large pimples, and he has a huge boil on his shoulder which seems to be taking for ever to either come up or go down. He is on antibiotics, but they don't seem to be doing much good. He still has at least one bad asthma attack each night, but is learning to cope by himself and we've kept him off the wretched medication because it makes him so restless and naughty. He has taught himself when he wakes up choking and coughing to get up on his knees and stick his elbows out. Even if it doesn't really make it better, having something specific to do helps him to cope with the panic of feeling like he can't breathe.

Tues am 11.00

I've got the kids perched in front of the radio ready for Kindy of the Air. Jo is in her "Fraser Chair" - got it in Darwin for $2 and its been good value! I've done the washing and pegged it all out on our little rotary clothes hoist. Peter is working with Fr Tabo - began "The Sower" today, though we still need to check "Nowa” with some 'independent readers'.

Aquarium window

Did we tell you be brought a fish tank up this time? Or, at least, we got our friends Rod and Hazel to carry it up here. It was in pieces, and we have finally got it siliconed together without any leaks (took about three goes). And we have been experimenting with fish and reef creatures - so far everything has died, but we are working on it. Peter knocked a hole in the wall and made another window in the living room especially for it to sit next to, and even just with big shells in it now it looks very pretty.

Well, radio kindy will finish soon, and I guess it will be time for the plane soon so I'd better close.

Letter: Making Bread

Letter 19 / 11 / 84

We are all getting over a virus, even Jo, and the freezer, generator, and washing machine are doing their various jobs saving us so much time and energy while we are so tired. I even put together a few of my 'rest' moments to do some sewing. If I try to sleep I usually get disturbed as soon as I drop off, which makes me feel lousy for hours, so I try to do something relaxing for an hour or so after lunch rather than let myself sleep. I put together some material scraps in rather hurried, rough-and-ready form and came up with a nice bright patchwork bedspread for our bed. I do enjoy using that treadle machine, I find it most relaxing.

The kibble wheat is lovely, but most of it just seems to melt away in the bread, only occasionally do we get a crunchy bit. Even though we now have a freezer I can't seem to keep my bread fresh - its only really nice for the first few hours. In the freezer (which is the absorption type and therefore very slow to actually freeze anything) it just goes dry very quickly. Is there something one can put into bread to stop it going stale so quickly? Would wheat germ keep it moist? - not that we have any.

Our garden plot

'Uncle' Kakam in the hilltop garden

The doldrums are trying to come, we keep getting really calm patches, the turtle season is well under way, and we can often see whales splashing about and spouting water out in front of our place out in the deeper water. We are longing for rain to grow a bit of greenery, fill our tank with non-scummy water, and try out Peter's new rock-wall on the drain!

We've taken possession of our piece of family garden land up on the hill. Its about half an hour's walk away, only the first bit is very steep. Its a fairly barren looking patch, with just scrubby lantana-type bushes - hard to tell what they are as its all been recently burnt. And there is one tree which will have some leaves later. The soil is red, but our section which has not been previously cleaned islander-style is covered with lovely brown humus - dry now, but will be beautiful when its wet. Peter got up there early the other morning and poked a few seeds in ... and now we wait for the rain and hope we don't get a big rain followed by a big dry so that the seeds don't germinate then just die. We live in hope.

Kids

We've got James going to kindy again after some weeks away sick. He even takes himself there on his bike. Its still a constant struggle to keep him on an even keel, he's so emotional and over-sensitive. Next year's school principal (as far as we know) has a six year old boy and a baby about six months old. That information may not be correct, but it would be nice for James to have a real boy to play with!

Alison, today, had half a dozen successes in her potty. I've been sitting her on there every hour - it seems to be taking a lot of my time, but I'm trying to think of it as an investment. Her chatter goes on and on, she's game to try repeating anything she hears.

She misses James when he's at kindy, but when he is away and Jo is asleep she rather enjoys being the only one for a while. Her hair is looking fairly respectable at last and I've been clipping it back or tying a little bunch rather than cutting a fringe - makes her look very cute! Her hair is quite blond, but not white like James.

Jo's hair is still brown (such that there is) and looks like staying that way. James's eyes have remained the same dark grey, but Alison's are a much lighter grey/blue. Jo's eyes are very dark, grey but tending towards brown. Her skin is slightly more sallow than the other two too. James and Alison both look very fair, but neither of them seems to burn easily.

Birthdays

We are celebrating James's birthday sometime next week, just so his little friends will still be here. Nerissa had her birthday this week and Danielle's birthday is a few weeks away so I think they are bringing hers forward after James's so she can also have all her little friends (James and Alison) for a little party.

Anthropologists

A big mob (about 6) of white chaps turned up on a plane today. Heard on the bamboo line that they are from England and have come to up-date the Haddon report - done by the Cambridge expedition around the turn of the century, a six volume work and about the only real study ever done about these parts. Don't know how long they plan to stay - or where they'll stay - but I guess we'll catch up with them in due course. Just now another plane arrived with two more white people (a man and a woman), don't know who they are.

Work

We still haven't managed to get the whole translation team together at one time. We had two meetings and only two out of four came ... reckon they'll all make it on Sunday maybe. Peter wants them to work in pairs for the initial part of a translation. We think we'll do the Parable of the Seed in story book form, and also dramatised for video. To get the women thinking in terms of literacy and realising that books do have something for them too, I'm working on a cookery / health book - haven't got very far yet, the women are so scared, or shy, or just busy.

Chooks and Ducks

Our two chickens are still laying, one each most days, but the two big ducks have gone broody - they don't do anything, hardly even eat, but sit on their nests and hiss at anyone who comes near ... and if we are not quick enough to collect the chickens' eggs they roll them out of the drum where the chickens lay and into their duck's nest and sit on them too.

The ten little ducks are doing well. One has a black spot on her forehead, one has two spots, and one has three. There seems to be only one drake, which we may keep this time. The three black ones are supposed to be magpie muscovies, but we are suspicious that they may not be muscovies at all - maybe that's why the big duck kept rejecting them. The black feathers they have grown now have a greeny sheen.

Uncle Kakam over the road has one black duck - strange looking bird, though - and he keeps it outside the run presumably because the others pick on it all the time.

Garden

We went up to the garden early this morning, managed to leave about 6:30am - not bad with that many kids to get ready! - and we planted a few more rows of corn. James managed to walk all the way up and back by himself - though a lot of the way down was on his bottom. Alison walked most of the flat bits by herself, and for the rest of the way Peter had to struggle with her on one arm, back-pack on his back, and mattock and cane knife in the other hand.