Betty Irene RODDA
25-Nov-24 to 30-May-14
It was a life well lived. A life full of honour, dedication, community service, truth, love and compassion. She was a humble and uncomplicated woman who we are all very proud of. Love was a very big part of Betty’s life and we can only hope that she felt as loved by us as she made us feel loved by her.
Yes, she was christened Betty … not Elizabeth. We variously knew her as “Mrs Rodda”, “Betty”, “Aunty Bet”, “Mum”, “Nan” and also in more recent years, by some of her cheekier offspring including myself as “Old Bet”. It is interesting to recollect however, that to Dad she was always “Betty”, “Mum” or “Nan” … never “Bet”.
Betty is a direct descendant of Australia’s first European settlers who arrived by way of the First Fleet in 1788 to establish a penal colony in Sydney.
With Rex’s 2 children and 6 grandchildren, Ted’s 2 children and 5 grandchildren, my 5 children and 7 grandchildren and Anne’s 2 children and two grandchildren, Betty now has added 35 to her family’s footprint on Australia (4 children, 11 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren).
Betty was born in Manildra on 22-Nov-24, the first child of Walter Oswald BARNES (a 24 year old Garage Proprietor from the nearby township of Cudal) and his 19 year old wife Irene Ellen BARNES (whose maiden name was WINDRED and whose family was also from Cudal).
Betty had two brothers (both of whom have predeceased her) and has a sister. Her mother and father apparently moved about the central west area of NSW quite a bit …
• Walter Brian BARNES (known as Brian) was born in Cudal in 1926,
• Florence Joan BARNES (known as Joan and who married to become Joan CARY and later Joan CAVANAGH) was born in Yeoval in 1928, and
• Robert Barry BARNES (known as Bob) was born at Bogan Gate in 1934.
The Barnes family had settled in Peak Hill before the war where Walter operated a motor garage. After leaving school Betty worked for the Post Master General’s Department (before it eventually became AusPost and Telecom) on the local telephone exchange and then, during the war, delivered the town’s mail on push-bike.
During a casual conversation with Betty about 30 years ago, I asked about her experiences doing what had really been, until the war, a man’s job. It was only then that I realised the heartache that she had endured in carrying out that job. She commented that amongst her duties was the delivery of telegrams … and then added that in wartime, when you arrived at someone’s front door with a telegram, it was usually conveying really bad news.
It was within 200 meters of this church, in the vicinity of where the Peak Hill Police Station is now, that Betty caught the eye of a local lad named Henry Richard (“Pom”) RODDA who happened to be on a trip home to Peak Hill to visit family at Mungery (after he had been released on leave from hospital in Sydney where he had been recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg that he had sustained whilst on active service with the Australian Army’s 2/13th Battalion in Papua New Guinea).
Soon after, in Nov’44 they were married and, after a short time residing with relatives in Sydney, they set up home on Strahorn State Forrest about 20ks to the northwest of Peak Hill. Rex was born in Jan’46 and they had moved into town to reside in a house near the Catholic Church by the time Ted was born in Apr’48. Anne and I were born after the house at 100 Warrah Street had been built (in Mar’52 and Dec’53 respectively).
Betty was always community minded and served very well many of the community organisations in Peak Hill. Her beautiful handwriting can be found in the minutes of organisations where she served as Secretary. She was also very proud to have held the position of President of the Peak Hill Women’s Bowling Club.
Over a period of 37 years she continually supported St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Peak Hill. She served as Sunday School teacher and School Scripture teacher, held all positions with the Mothers Union (President, Secretary and Treasurer), and was a big contributor to the activities of the Anglican Women’s Association. She also cleaned the Church as well as the Church Hall and washed the linen. A big part of her work with the Anglican Ladies was in fundraising by way of catering for weddings and other functions. I recall that mum had books where she had recorded the collective wisdom of the generations of volunteer catering women who came before her. These were lists that detailed how many turkeys and how many pounds of potatoes etc. would be required to cater for various numbers of guests.
Many of us will recall the production line that was thye Rodda’s little kitchen/dining room area at 100 Warrah Street when jam sponge rolls and other goodies were being baked and filled for street stalls that raised funds for all types of local charities and community organisations. Betty Rodda’s jam sponge rolls were so popular that it became a common practice to pre-order them to allow for the pick up of a “reserved” roll at the street stall on the actual sale day.
I also recall, with a great deal of affection and humour, visual images of Betty starring in fundraising concerts … in a three-piece suit and bowler hat with a big cigar in her mouth as Sir Winston Churchill … and also complete with a black-eye and headgear as a Manly-Warringah footballer. It would not have mattered at all if she had failed to deliver her lines … she had already won over the audience and had them in stitches with her dramatic entrances to the stage.
Mum was very handy with all types of knitting, needlework and craft. She was an active member of the Peak Hill craft community and, in particular, she amazed us with the skill she showed with her china painting.
Most of all, Betty was a very caring and loving family oriented person … and by family I mean an extended family that included our uncles and aunts, cousins, neighbours and friends.
Unfortunately the many changes in lifestyle over the years have meant that most youngsters these days are missing out on the childhood that were so blessed to have experienced as Betty and Henry’s children. We thrived on the enjoyment of a simple lifestyle with the love and companionship of our uncles, aunties and cousins who lived within a couple of blocks of each other.
Betty was always there to support when people were sick or when new babies arrived … in fact on any occasion where support was needed.
A couple of examples:
• Betty’s niece Vicki Moore reminded me earlier this week of the support that Betty provided to Aunty Joan’s family when her father (our Uncle Fred Cary) was very sick in hospital in Sydney while Vicki was young. In Vicki’s words … “I don’t know how I would have survived without your mum.”
• While visiting mum at Holy Spirit earlier this year, I noticed a “thinking of you” card on her dresser from one of her sisters-in-law Anne Budds (who was Bob Barnes’ wife before remarrying after his passing). Anne’s note in that card expressed succinctly the feelings of many who had been blessed with Betty’s generosity over the years … ”To Dear Bet, A big thank you. Thinking of you very fondly as I often do. And remembering our life in Peak Hill. I especially remember what a good kind lady you have always been. You did so much to help me for many weeks when I left hospital with new babies, which I really appreciated. Thank you for being you!”
Betty was an absolutely wonderful wife to Henry and looked after him to the best of her ability and to a level that had to be seen to be believed. She often commented that, as Henry had experienced such a hard early life, she saw it as her duty to look after him and to make the rest of his life the best it could be. She certainly did that … and he loved her dearly. She has also been a fantastic mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
After Henry’s retirement, Betty and he moved to Dubbo where they resided for many years in a self-contained unit in the Masonic Retirement Village. For a period of about three years after it had became necessary to place Dad in a high-care facility at Holy Spirit Dubbo, mum lived alone … but visited Dad often. It was there that mum has now also resided for the last 15 months. The family is extremely grateful to the wonderful staff at Holy Spirit for the love and care that they have so professionally provided to both of our parents.
Almost exactly 10 years ago, just before Betty’s 80th birthday, Sharon and I recorded mum and dad on video at their then residence at the Masonic Retirement Village in Dubbo. In recent weeks, and being a long way away, we have been thinking of mum a lot … so we dug out and viewed the VHS tape that we had made of that day (01-Sep-04).
I would like to share with you some of what Betty said:
• When asked if she had any regrets:
“I wish I didn’t have such a quick temper and that I didn’t blab blab as much as I do. That’s the biggest regret for me. I suppose I have never been one to not say what I think”.
• When I asked if she had any advice to pass on to her grandchildren and great grandchildren:
“I think the main thing is to love everybody and to tell the truth”.
• When I asked to comment about what she had seen in her lifetime:
“My mother and father’s main form of transport was the horse and sulky and then the motor car. They saw the aeroplane and the man on the moon. I’ve seen all that and then all the extra with the cars, the bitumenising of the roads, big airplanes going all over the world just like a daily exercise, and all the technology, computers and things that I don’t understand. And I wonder what our children will see in the future”.
I have also reflected over recent days on some of the funny conversations that I have had with Mum over the years.
For example …
• While residing in Dubbo in the late 1980’s, I often flew to work in Melbourne in a company aircraft which would pass directly over Peak Hill. When mobile phone’s first came on the market one was fitted in our company plane. Looking down from over Peak Hill one morning I could see Mum’s washing out on the Hills Hoist and could not resist the urge to use the new technology. When mum answered the phone, I said … “I can see you have done the washing.” Mum replied … “How do you know that?” When I informed her that I was in a plane that was about to pass over the silos heading towards Parkes, she replied after a short pause … “OK smarty pants, how did you get a telephone line up to there then!”
• As we all did, Mum would often take her turn to help her father (our “Farve”) at his legendary hot dog stand at the Peak Hill Show and the Peak Hill trots. I vividly remember Mum recalling, with one of her impish facial expressions, the look of absolute horror that instantly appeared on the face of one youngster who looked up to pay her and was astounded to discover that his Sunday School teacher was really a carnival worker.
My brother Ted and his wife Pam have been the mainstay of the family in providing day-to-day support to Dad and Mum in Dubbo for many years. On behalf of all of Betty’s family and friends I sincerely thank Ted and Pam for all that they have done. It has been a huge commitment and one that is genuinely admired and appreciated by all who know them … a commitment that has seen them put their own lives on hold to care for our beloved mum and dad. A few well intended words of thanks from me on behalf of the family here today therefore feels to be a little inadequate. I am sure however that they both have everyone’s genuine love, whole-hearted appreciation and total respect for being such wonderful supporters of Betty and Henry.
The words of a 44 year old song have continually flooded back into my mind over the last several days. It was a song that was taken by Australia’s World Bantamweight Boxing Champion, Lionel Rose, all the way to the “Top 10” in 1970. With the use of only a small amount of poetic licence, those words are …
Thank you for your smile
And the love that was in your eyes
And thank you for your heart so big and true
Thank you for the many things you were to us
Let us thank you for just being you
Betty, we certainly thank you for just being you!
Kevin Rodda
Son of Betty Irene RODDA
5th June, 2014
