Harold Richard Maxwell

From Harold Maxwell's Autobiography:
"later Dad met Elsie May Moore and they married in 1926. Elsie was born and raised in Balmain as one of seven children and in her teens she worked at a soap factory until she met and later married Dad. Grandfather Michael Moore (Da) and Grandmother Emma (Ma) lived for a while in Gladesville but when I was old enough to remember them Da was crippled with arthritis and they lived in Rozelle. I was always curious about the term “Da” although I had heard “Ma” used in many families. Not long ago I found that Da is commonly used in Ireland where Michael’s parents originated. Mum was one of 7 children, the others being Gladys (Love), Rose, Isabelle (Tillie), William (Bill), Sidney (Sid), and Clive.

Both of my Grandfathers had made a living the hard way. Grandfather Maxwell had been a puntman, a road worker, a Water Board Ganger, and a share farmer as well as a few other things in his time and Grandfather Moore had spent much of his life as a railway labourer. Da was of Irish ancestry and Mum told me in later years that he was often on a soapbox exhorting his fellow workers to fight for better conditions. Both families had come through hard times with the economic depression of the 1890’s. Neither family was involved in the Great War of 1914 to 1918 with the parents too old and the children too young.

Both Mum and Dad had Primary School education as was normal for the general working population of the time and both were intelligent, well mannered, and well spoken having each been reared in a good family environment with many siblings as was common in those days. Both families were honest hard-working people who lacked the background and resources to achieve any substantial higher education and had to rely on hard work to make a living. Of the 35 people from the 4 grandparents through to the children of my vintage I know of no occasion when any had ever been involved in anything of an unsavory nature and this speaks highly of their upbringing.
In the early 30’s Dad’s employer (MacAndrews grocery store) went bankrupt because of the “Great Depression”. Dad couldn’t find another job and during this period of about 2 years he got the “dole” and did “relief work” quarrying stone in Leichhardt Park. He offset some rent with our landlady, Mrs. Meally, by repairing and painting our house roof, rejuvenating the back fence, brick paving the side lane, making a lattice gate for it, and concreting the broken pavement on the main passageway. Mrs. Meally was a stern but kindly old widow who owned a little old-fashioned grocery store next door at No.20 where she lived with her unmarried son. The son worked for the post office and when he came home from work in the evening he would come up our side passageway and call “hoi!” Mrs. Meally would then open the front door of the shop to let him in. I lived there for 10 years and I think I saw him only twice. She deferred part of our rent for about 2 years until Dad was able to get work and then Mum paid extra rent until the debt was repaid. Mrs. Meally had great respect for Mum and congratulated her on having made the final payment with the words “not many people would have done it”. The old shop has now gone and has been replaced by an ugly corrugated iron shed.

While he was unemployed Dad sometimes rode his bicycle to Springwood with his friend Lew Beckhouse and others to catch rabbits with a ferret & nets. They had a box trailer that was towed behind a pushbike and they would take turns towing it back full of rabbits. It was hard to push going up the hills and hard to control going down. They would sell most rabbits to greyhound coursing trainers and keep some for the table. I remember once having a rabbit kitten for a pet for several weeks until I was told that a cat got it. When I was older Mum told me that I had helped to eat it. Rabbit was a good cheap form of meat in those days and the “rabbitoh” was a regular hawker along the street with horse and cart.
Dad’s old employer, Jack MacAndrew, had gone to work for Derrins Grocery Stores when his own grocery store went bankrupt 2 years earlier and he now managed to arrange for a job for Dad at Derrin Brothers grocery stores. It was an indication of how Dad’s hard work and integrity was valued. Times were tough for Mum during and after the time of unemployment when she struggled to provide food on the table with very little money. We had very little clothing and hand-me-downs were the order of the day whenever available. Mum broke down and cried once when she broke a mirror. The thought of another 7 years bad luck was too much for her."