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One significant figure in this time was [[Amelia Kunoth]], the grandmother of [[Rosalie Kunoth-Monks]], who worked as a companion and nurse for the children as a young girl. She was heartbroken when the family left in 1908 and requested to go with them; the Bradshaw's denied her request, believing that it would be a mistake to take her away from her people and her land.<ref name=":1" /> |
One significant figure in this time was [[Amelia Kunoth]], the grandmother of [[Rosalie Kunoth-Monks]], who worked as a companion and nurse for the children as a young girl. She was heartbroken when the family left in 1908 and requested to go with them; the Bradshaw's denied her request, believing that it would be a mistake to take her away from her people and her land.<ref name=":1" /> |
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== Later |
== Later life == |
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Even having left Alice Springs at 18 it is said that Blackwell never lost the 'spell of the inland' and in 1922 she married Alex Blackwell, a [[World War I]] veteran who served as a stretcher-bearer in Europe alongside her brother Mort.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Petrick, Jose.|title=The history of Alice Springs through landmarks and street names|date=1996|publisher=J. Petrick|others=Petrick, Jose.|isbn=0-646-30256-6|location=Alice Springs, N.T.|oclc=38410627}}</ref> |
Even having left Alice Springs at 18 it is said that Blackwell never lost the 'spell of the inland' and in 1922 she married Alex Blackwell, a [[World War I]] veteran who served as a stretcher-bearer in Europe alongside her brother Mort.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Petrick, Jose.|title=The history of Alice Springs through landmarks and street names|date=1996|publisher=J. Petrick|others=Petrick, Jose.|isbn=0-646-30256-6|location=Alice Springs, N.T.|oclc=38410627}}</ref> |
Revision as of 02:50, 13 January 2021
Winifred Doris Blackwell, better known as Doris Blackwell (1 May 1891 – 14 January 1983) was an Australian memoirist who co-wrote Alice on the Line.[1]
Life in the Northern Territory
Blackwell was the eldest child and daughter of Thomas Bradshaw, the postmaster and officer-in-charge of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station from 1899–1908, and his wife Atalanta Bradshaw (née Allchurch).[citation needed]
Blackwell was born in 1891 in Adelaide, South Australia. As an 8-year-old girl, she moved to Stuart, (later Alice Springs) with her family (then with 3 siblings; this would expand to 6 in their 9 years at the telegraph station) where her father was to work at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station; replacing Frank Gillen. The journey to Alice Springs was a long and difficult one with a train ride until Oodnadatta followed by a buggy ride of more than 300 miles and making camp along the way.[2]
Blackwell remembers this journey as the 'greatest adventure of her young life' although, equally, she states that the novelty soon wore off. She said:[3]
In all that vast land there was not one fence, or any track other than the one we used. But we knew that civilisation was ahead of us, for we followed the slender iron poles supporting the two wires of the Overland Telegraph line - the reason for our journey. The line stretched ahead interminably, so far that we could not distinguish the poles from one another where they ran into the horizon.
— Doris Blackwell, Alice on the Line
Upon their arrival in Alice Springs Blackwell soon found herself greatly enjoying life there saying that 'Alice's tranquil charm converted all of us to her side' and she would ride out daily on her horse to explore her surroundings.[3] Do to the lack of any established school in the area her mother, Atalanta (known almost universally as Attie) employed a governess and set up a schoolroom next door to the staff dining room which doubled as a courtroom as her father was also the local magistrate.[2][4]
In addition to the governess (of which there were several over their time in Alice Springs; including Mabel Mary Taylor) the family employed a number of Aboriginal people within their household with Blackwell recalling:[3]
The native staff included a rather elastic number of houseboys, shepherds and cows and sheep, hewers of wood and carriers of water, scullery maids for the staff kitchen, and two housemaids and a nurse girl in our home.
— Doris Blackwell, Alice on the Line
One significant figure in this time was Amelia Kunoth, the grandmother of Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, who worked as a companion and nurse for the children as a young girl. She was heartbroken when the family left in 1908 and requested to go with them; the Bradshaw's denied her request, believing that it would be a mistake to take her away from her people and her land.[2]
Later life
Even having left Alice Springs at 18 it is said that Blackwell never lost the 'spell of the inland' and in 1922 she married Alex Blackwell, a World War I veteran who served as a stretcher-bearer in Europe alongside her brother Mort.[2][5]
In the 1960s Blackwell worked with journalist Douglas Lockwood to write Alice on the Line, which was first published in 1965,[6] about the families[spelling?] life on the old telegraph line.[3][2]
She died on 14 January 1983 in Adelaide and is buried in Brighton (Saint Jude) cemetery.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Women's Museum of Australia". kiosk.pioneerwomen.com.au. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
- ^ a b c d e Traynor, Stuart (2016). Alice Springs : from singing wire to iconic outback town. Mile End, South Australia. ISBN 978-1-74305-449-9. OCLC 958933012.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d Blackwell, Doris. (2008). Alice on the line : the overland telegraph, one family's story. Lockwood, Douglas, 1918-1980. (New ed.). Chatswood, N.S.W.: New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-74110-803-3. OCLC 278188157.
- ^ "A morse code link with life". Canberra Times (ACT: 1926 - 1995). 1965-07-17. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
- ^ Petrick, Jose. (1996). The history of Alice Springs through landmarks and street names. Petrick, Jose. Alice Springs, N.T.: J. Petrick. ISBN 0-646-30256-6. OCLC 38410627.
- ^ Blackwell, Doris; Lockwood, Douglas, 1918-1980 (1965), Alice on the line, Rigby, retrieved 4 May 2020
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)