Eileen
Frances Brown (nee
Lalor)
Lloyd Patrick Lalor & Mary Veronica McCaffrey's fourth child & third born daughter...
Eileen came to Tasmania at the start of a working holiday around Australia. She was joined on this great adventure by cousin Betty (one of the Canberra Lalors). The two girls lobbed at Beaconsfield - were boarding at the Ophir Hotel ("the Top Pub" ) and working in Launceston - Eileen at a greengrocers in Charles Street, Betty not sure
After she agreed to go out with Don (He had a bet with his mates that he could get the red head over there to go out with him!!). The rest is history...
Don worked with the Commonwealth Bank at the time and after they were married they were transferred to Hobart and there they stayed until just before John was born. Dad resigned from the Commonwealth - he was an asthmatic, and the dust associated with the big ledgers did not agree with him- a bit tricky when you were the ledger keeper. They returned to Beaconsfield and lived with Nan and Pop for a while - Dad worked with Pop who had his own truck and cartage business, until he found work as a book-keeper. By the time Adrian arrived they were renting "out the road". And by the time Marcelle arrived they were in their own home.
If anything needed doing in the community Mum or Dad could usually be found close at hand or in the background somewhere.
Mum threw herself into the community - Dad was a member of the Masonic Lodge - she organised the catering for all his installations as Master - and there were several! She helped out at kinder when we were there and organised a lot of the fundraising to keep the kinder going. It was run by two sisters , Mrs Phelps and "Auntie" Hilda under the auspices of the Methodist Church - Dad was a Methodist, Mum was a Catholic so we were raised as Church of England - we were very adaptable, especially at Christmas - Nativity Scene with Kinder at the Methodist Church , then up the road to the sing at the Carol service with Sunday School at the English Church and then across the road to Midnight Mass. At that point Dad usually adjourned to the Ophir next door to the Catholic Church.
Eileen was an inaugural member of the St Johns Ambulance Brigade in Beaconsfield and instrumental in the establishment and maintaining of an ambulance service at Beaconsfield. She would be called on at all hours of the day and night to attend medical incidents and emergencies and communities events. She was automatically a member of the State Emergency Squad and was put on standby the night the Tasman Bridge in Hobart collapsed after being hit by a ship. We were never exactly sure what Mum was going to do about it from the other end of the State! She became a qualified first aid instructor and travelled throughout the Tamar Valley teaching first aid. We were all very good models for practicing bandaging and slings, not to mention rolling up of endless bandages out of her kit. All this was done on a voluntary basis.
Then when she had nothing better to do she got involved with another of Dad's cousins in the establishment of the local history committee which in term lead to the development of the Miners Park and Goldmine Museum. You will be familiar with the park because that is where all the TV broadcasts about the two trapped miners, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, were from and is now immortalised as the site where reporter Richard Carlton died suddenly while reporting on the miners.
She trained the local debutantes a couple of times- apart from Marcelle we all managed to dodge an actual debut - although we had to stand in if anyone was absent from practise - we could do all parts.
When Marcelle started school, Eileen went back to work - first at a supermarket in Launceston, then as the local librarian. This she really loved and ran both the Beaconsfield and Exeter Libraries (the being the next town up the river). She believed that everyone, especially children, should be encouraged to read and hated "quiet" libraries. She also started delivering books to the housebound on her way home - some people didn't even bother to choose their own books as Mum used to keep a few under the counter if she thought they might have interested them.
We lived the life of country kids although Dad was an only child, Nan and Pop had both been born in Beaconsfield. (You will all be familiar with the town because of the recent mine disaster - nothing much has changed over the years) and we had heaps of relatives - everybody in the town was related one way or the other!! Lots of time spent out the gravel pits with Pop or the bush woodcutting with Dad.
Weekends were often spent travelling around the state. If not related to activities associated with the Lodge, Dad would just decide to go for a drive. It wasn't unusual for Mum to pack a picnic lunch and we would set off at 5.00am to go to Queenstown (West Cost), a 7 hour drive to visit our Auntie Joyce and Uncle Dave (dad's Aunt & Uncle) for the day!!! Or we could go to Hobart to visit one of Dad's many cousins for the day, or the east coast for something to do.
It seemed very exotic to have relatives who lived on the "mainland". Occasionally they came all the way over to visit - cousins Greg and Philip, Ann, an uncle or two - Pat and Gerrard usually related to horse events, John Fitzie - when he worked for Hoyts and we got to go to the movies - really cool, and Brenda - Mum cringed because she always cleaned out all the cupboards and we could never find things after. One day "Big Dad" (our name for Lloyd) came and stayed for 3 months. We had a wonderful time having two grandfathers around at the same time. He was planning a return visit when he died.
Mum was great at turning a meal prepared for us six, into one for a hundred - you never knew who was going to be around - whether it was their friends, our friends or someone Dad befriended whilst having a quiet drink at the pub before tea. Everyone was welcome - you just had to take us as you found us. If you had no home to go to for a meal at Christmas time you could probably find one at our house.
We all attended primary school at Beaconsfield, then on to Riverside (near Launceston) to secondary school. We were all encouraged to get an education and then go see the world. John settled in Melbourne, Adrian studied in Melbourne and Newcastle, had a stint back in Beaconsfield and the went to Canberra to be a computer geek. He is still there. Needs a good feed but!!
Karyn went to Hobart to Uni and stayed there. After graduating she worked for the ANZ bank in Lending, met Phil when he arrived from Melbourne (via new York) to do a lending inspection - he still says he was blinded by jet lag!! They live in Richmond - historic village 20 mins out of Hobart. Karyn works at local primary school helping with literacy and numeracy support - graduating from many years of mothers Help, and helps local accountant with taxation work in her spare time - hates end of financial year!!
Marcelle is the only one that stayed in Beacy. Worked as a pharmacist assistant before and after marrying Michael and raising her family, then worked as a teachers aide at the "old" school. She now works at the local credit union in Beaconsfield. Marcelle was invaluable to us as a family carer for Mum, Dad and Nan throughout their illnesses and subsequent deaths.
Dad battled two bouts of the dreaded "C" and went down fighting all the way. At this time he was Mum's carer - she had suffered (mostly silently) from rheumatoid arthritis for years and spent a long time in and out of hospital being treated for leg ulcers - and throw in a couple of minor strokes for good luck.
Just before Dad died we started to build a new unit for Mum and Dad attached to Marcelle's house. Unfortunately Dad didn't see it and Mum had just 3 months in it before she suffered another stroke.
Family meant everything to both Mum and Dad - they loved the chance for a get together.
Born 25 March 1929 and died 14 September 1997.
Married 10 April 1953
Donald William Brown who was born 22 August 1928 and died on 4 September 1996.
Born 10 April 1955
2] Donald Adrian (Don) Brown
Born 25 April 1956
3] Karyn Merle Brown
Born 28 February 1958
4] Marcelle Kaye Brown
Born 15 April 1961
