NOTES ON LUCAS FAMILY TREE

John Hazel Lucas & Isabella Abagail Lucas and Descendants
( Notes as remembered by their Grandson John Arnold Lucas)

JOHN HAZEL LUCAS (1878-1929)

My recollections of my Grandfather are limited because I was only 4yrs when he died, but strangely I do have some quite clear memories of him- such as the fact that he was a very large man, always jovial and by far my favourite person at that time , probably because he was always giving me little treats such as bread with dripping spread on it with pepper & salt, and the absolute pinnacle of delights, bread & butter sprinkled with hundreds & thousands. I also remember him taking me once to Darlinghurst where he bought me a second hand little “Flivver”, which became my best toy. I also remember him taking me to ‘uncle’ Owen Lucas’ home in Ryde Rd Pymble where I got to ride a very large & ornate rocking horse, whilst he and Owen drank a lot of beer and did a lot of singing. That more or less is all I remember but my Grand mother and my Father told me a lot about him.

He was a big man (about 20 stone), a very open hearted, good natured man always willing to help any of his friends who were down on their luck, particularly during the depression when he refused to allow his front door to be locked ever, just in case one of his mates called while they were out so that they could come in, make a cup of tea and get a piece of bread & dripping.
 He had a tremendous sense of fun and as one story goes the kids were all pestering him to take them to the  ‘Pictures’ so finally he said ”OK go and get your shoes on and have a wash and I’ll take you to the Pictures”….they were all back in a hurry and he said “follow me” and took them into the lounge room, pointed and said  “there is a picture of your Mother, there’s one of your Uncle Owen” etc. etc. Very bizarre but even the children saw the joke!

He was a very loving husband and did his best to see that his wife ‘Bella’, who did not have a strong constitution, never wanted for a thing.
Unfortunately for all of us he had Diabetes and in those days they experimented with all sorts of remedies and he died in Royal North Shore Hospital at 51 yrs of age, and left behind a family who thought the world of him and many friends who also cherished his memory.

ISABELLA ABAGAIL LUCAS (Nee Hood)(1879-1966)

My memories of my grand mother are very vivid indeed both in my school years (on occasions) and after my return from World War 2 I lived with her until my marriage.
 ‘Ma’, as we called her, had been a very beautiful woman, universally loved by anyone who came into contact with her because she was genuinely compassionate and caring. Although very softly spoken, she could usually get her own way.

Nobody ever heard ‘Ma’ utter a swear word or say anything out of place. We were all together in her lounge room, I think the occasion was a family ‘Kitchen Tea’ for my Bride to be, Dot, when some lady’s name was mentioned and ‘Ma’ came out with the astonishing statement, “Oh, her she’s as ugly as an ‘atfull of arseholes” ..We were all so astounded that no one was capable of saying a word for a number of minutes, then we all burst out laughing at once.

 ’Ma’ loved a little punt on the horses and would have sixpence each way, with an SP Bookie, on her fancies. Woe betide any of us if we didn’t get in touch with her and tell her what we were backing in the ‘Cup’
She was also a great cook in the old fashioned way and always had a Sunday Roast. Her most famous dish was Toad-in-the hole, which was unconventionally done with strips of steak and tomato instead of the traditional sausages; I have never tasted anything so good and still yearn for it in vain.

She was also interested in the Cricket and would sit up all night listening to the broadcast of the Tests from England and could almost describe all the strokes made by Bradman, McCabe & Co.
Her main interest was her family, which we reciprocated. This particularly applied at Xmas when we would all gather round her every year and most of us sleep in her house, none of us ever thought of going elsewhere.
When she was dying almost all of her family moved into her home at 16 Cameron Ave, Artarmon, to be with her in her last days. My mother & Father,2 Uncles & Aunts, Daughter, Son-in-law, 2 Grandsons plus daily visits from those not staying there, over her last few weeks.

I can remember one of her relatives called Dolly coming up from Yass to see her saying “how are you going Bella?”, “Ma’ answered very softly “Dolly, I am just passing away very quietly in the midst of my lovely family”
So ended a life that had enriched all of us, and left us with wonderful memories that will never be erased.

  JOSEPH SMITH (MY maternal Grandfather) (few details)

Arrived in Australia in January 1913 to find employment to enable him to bring his wife Nancy and two children Alice & Doris to a new life here from where they lived in Darwin, Lancashire. It is presumed that he wanted to provide a better life than the harsh existence they had in England.
He was not well educated and was embittered by his previous life in England where he constantly had to ‘ touch his forelock’ to his betters in a class conscious Society and where the only work he was fitted for was very menial.

 In Australia he found work as a pick & shovel labourer mainly on roadwork gangs. He must have saved enough to bring out his family but he still lived to some of the limits imposed on the ‘downtrodden class’ where the wife was there to do the man’s bidding, fetch, carry, cook, sew, bear children etc. and never did achieve many of what today we would think were normal achievements.

 But, of course, the main goal of all was where he succeeded most in that he managed to bring his family from abject poverty in England to a much more bearable, but hard, life in Australia.
It is a pity that he seemed to deny his wife Nancy a lot of the common rights of today’s women, because her input could probably have enabled him to have a more fulfilling and less bitter life, because you shall see in the notes I have made on her life that she was an astute, determined, courageous, careful woman.
He died, of Emphysema, after many years of unemployment in his Eighties at his home 21 Murray St. Lane Cove.

 NANCY SMITH (Nee Rostrum)

 She talked a lot to me of her early days and the appalling life young children (or at least the children of the working class) had in those days. They were treated as chattels and cheap labour and had virtually no rights or freedom. She talked of being sent off to work at the tender age of 8 or 9 yrs. They were woken before dawn by the lamplighter who would beat on their door or window telling them to go to work.
Work in the ‘ Mill ‘ from daylight to dark was not only arduous but also interspersed with beatings for mistakes or slow work and at the end of the day it was then home to help with household tasks.

 Is it any wonder that she relished the idea of a new life in Australia. She and the children arrived in Australia in January 1914, to join Joseph, who had come a year earlier to pave the way.
They arrived on the SS ’Commonwealth’ and after a time were able to place a deposit on a house at 21 Murray St. Lane Cove through a system organized by Banks and Insurance Companies to house new migrants and their house was built, Joseph contributing a lot of the labour to reduce the cost.

Years later, when work was hard to get and many of the migrants couldn’t keep up the payments, the repossessions started.
Nancy Smith was determined not to let them take her home and set out on a one person campaign to beat what she knew was an unfair system.
She walked, many times, the whole way to the City from Lane Cove (today it would be unthinkable) and she beleaguered Banks, Insurance Companies, and Politicians at Parliament House constantly until they took notice of her. She no doubt put in more than her ‘tuppence worth’ in the Campaign, which brought about the Moratorium which prevented Banks & Insurance Companies from seizing people’s homes.

 For a woman with virtually no education to match wits with Bankers, Politicians and Business Men, and WIN, was an unbelievable feat of endurance, courage and intelligence and through it she saved her home and no doubt helped to save many others. But, of course, she still had to pay the house off otherwise this would all happen again.

 So she set about earning money in the only way she knew how, by sheer hard labour. She would take on any work she could get such as cleaning shops, washing, ironing, gardening, sewing, mending, or anything else she could get. I can recall that at one time she would walk up to Lane Cove at night (about 3miles uphill) to clean a Chemist Shop and some others a couple of times a week, for what could only be called a pittance. This in addition to her daily round of customers for whom she did washing, house cleaning, gardening, ironing etc. (most of these jobs also required a walk of some miles to and from and the payments were meagre.) In addition to all of this she had a prolific vegetable garden (in which she laboured  from dawn until she left home about 7am to work somewhere) this provided food for them plus whatever she could make selling vegetables and strawberries.

All of the money she earned in these ways she assiduously saved and never put any in the Bank, she told me she just did not trust Banks or Insurance Companies, and she paid off the house!
She was ultra proud of her home and the envy of her relatives in England because she had a bathroom with chip heater and running water, which only the affluent could afford where she used to live in England.
Although they never had much in the way of luxuries, I recall that there was always a cup of tea and one or two ‘Spotted Dick's (a sort of scone/biscuit with raisins) whenever I called in to see her and on the occasions when we went there for dinner there was always a well cooked roast with vegetables but always without Pumpkin which she avowed was the food you only feed to the pigs.

At one stage my grand parents decided to put a Tennis Court on the back of their land, which was a large block and the garden had become just too large for her to handle so they constructed a very good Clay Court which became the ‘Sunnyhurst’ tennis club and was in frequent use and provided a small income.
They lived a very Spartan life with very few amenities and my Grandmother saved every penny she laboured for, but if either of her daughters needed anything she was always there with a few pounds taken from one of her many hiding places, such as stitched into her girdle or under the lino or any of twenty other hidey holes, and I can never remember her ever asking for repayment. So she was certainly not a mean person to us, only to herself.

She lived this hard- working existence until the day of her death when she had a heart attack whilst digging in the heavy clay soil of her garden…in bare feet!
She was a tough, wiry, courageous lady with remarkable fortitude and intelligence and a very soft heart where her family were concerned and was deserving of a much better life than she had.

  From all of this you will be led to believe that there was not much joy in the lives of Nancy & Joseph Smith and that may be perfectly true and whilst they gave the impression of being mean, penny-pinching, people with no apparent happiness in their lives they were in fact people who had beaten the class system of their forbears and I always sensed in my Grandmother not only a certain happiness at the achievements of all of us in the family, but a great pride that she had in her children and Grandchildren and instead of giving in to a dislike for her husband she had recognized they had together beaten the repressive system in England and given us a better shot at life.

 We loved her and I am proud to be her Grandson.
 

 ROY LUCAS (1905-19830 (My Father)

He was the fourth child of John Hazel Lucas & Isabel Abagail Lucas (nee Hood).

His early childhood was spent in the Henly- Drummoyne area of Sydney; he left school at age 12yrs and was subsequently apprenticed as a Coachbuilder. With the advent of cheaper and mass produced Motor Cars his trade was waning and in the early depression years he was constantly unemployed, so he joined the NSW Police Force where he was eventually an initial member of the ‘Safety Bureau’, this elite group were equipped with Harley Davidson Motor bikes & Sidecars and worked in pairs.

Later, because he was an excellent witness in Court he was transferred to the Police Traffic Branch whilst William McKay was Police Commissioner. He studied Law at home and practiced writing until he had a fluent and attractive writing style, and soon was elevated to Police Prosecutor at the Water Police Court in Phillip St. Sydney. There he achieved some notoriety not only because of his great ability in the job, but also because of his handsome appearance. He was often lampooned by the famous cartoonist Lenny Lower.

He gained the respect and admiration of any of the Legal profession who came against him in Court, and Mr Ken McKaw (who later became Attorney General of NSW) asked him to join his practice simply to read and interpret Case Law for him because Dad had almost a photographic memory and very balanced legal acumen. Roy refused this offer, but the friendship with Ken McKaw continued for many years after his retirement. When he was living at Woy Woy in later years, and McKaw was Attorney General, he would arrive at Dad’s place frequently for a chat, which continued for hours.

 During World War 2 Roy was transferred to Tamworth as Senior Police Prosecutor for the Northern Districts of NSW where he covered almost all of the State North of Newcastle and had broad experience in all Court matters.

 One case worth mention was at a Coronial Inquest into the death of a Mrs Fleming, where it was alleged that her husband had murdered her by giving her a poisoned MINTY… He was opposed to the most eminent Barrister of that day Mr Jack Shand QC. Roy in his summing up said that ‘the opportunity to kill her was not just there but knocking the door down’. Mr Shand supposedly took offence and caused quite a stir and headlines in all the City papers by demanding his dismissal from the Police Force. The outcome was that Roy received a letter of Commendation from Mr Rooney Q.C. on behalf of the Police Commissioner for the way he handled the case.

 Due to the skill of Mr Shand QC whose modus operandi was to amass a great number of facts and suggestions and virtually toss them up in the air for the Jury to sort out, Fleming was acquitted in what was a shock verdict for the Legal Profession. Later when asked by a leading Legislator if this was not a blight on the Jury system my fathers answer was “No it is far better that some guilty persons escape justice than that we convict and hang one innocent individual. This typified his attitude to the Legal System where he was never dissatisfied to lose a case and pointed out that this was better than the American system where Promotion and Political Appointment is dependant on the number of victories you have.

Later Roy was asked to go over to Coffs Harbour where the Queen was to present him with a medal for meritorious service, but he wouldn’t go, using some lame excuse, because he just didn’t want to get involved in Pomp and Ceremony.
Whilst at Tamworth Roy suddenly took ill with Pagets Disease and spent considerable time in and out of hospitals and was subsequently boarded out of the Police through ill health. Around this time his youngest daughter Pamela had learned to swim and made such progress that she was entered in the under12 State Championship in Sydney and she was placed 2nd. This opened up a whole new life for Roy and he devoted a lot of time to her training and driving her all over the State for Carnivals etc.

Pam won many titles and awards and was eventually selected in Australia’s Olympic squad but did not get to compete in the Olympics of 1956.
Roy & Doris eventually moved to Woy Woy where he soon established a pleasant garden and their life became pleasantly laid back.
Doris became ill some years later and she passed away soon after.
Roy was inconsolable for a year or two but finally found a compatible friend ‘Edna Moon’ and they were married and he spent his last years quietly with her as a good companion.
He died whilst recovering from a stroke in Gosford hospital.

DORIS LUCAS (nee Smith) 1904-1976  (My mother)

Doris was the elder of the two Daughters of Joseph & Nancy Smith and she arrived here with her Mother & Sister on the SS ‘Commonwealth’ in January 1914, to join her father who had come out a year before.
Some time after arrival the family constructed and moved into a new Home at 21 Murray St. Lane Cove where after a few years they constructed a Tennis Court at the rear of the property. Doris had a withered leg as a result of early childhood Polio and it was quite remarkable to see how agile she became on the Tennis Court. She soon became a better than average player and played competition tennis for many years.

She also learned to play the Piano and became the life of the party at singsongs and Family Gatherings etc. Seemingly always in a good humour she was widely popular and had many friends.
With four children to rear and constantly on the move from one rented house to the next, her life was full, without a lot of notoriety, but she was a much loved mother, a constant optimist, a good wife and in the opinion of all of us (her children), a really great cook. I can hardly remember any meal at home, which I didn’t enjoy.
She must have got really frustrated at times with all the moves we made over the years. I wouldn’t be able to remember all the places we lived in and I bet she yearned to settle down in the one place long enough to relax a bit, but with her happy nature you could never tell and maybe she even enjoyed the nomadic lifestyle we had.
She later took up Lawn Bowls when the Tennis became a bit much for her and as usual she became a very proficient and popular Lady Bowler.

When they finally settled in the first Home they had ever owned, at Woy Woy, she settled into a relaxed and enjoyable lifestyle, played an awful lot of bowls, hosted her children and grandchildren’s frequent holidays
with them with good nature and aplomb and was a perfect foil for Roy’s flamboyance. She was stricken with breast cancer and had one breast removed but unfortunately for us all she passed away soon after, ….toward the end she must have been greatly comforted by her husband Roy’s constant devotion and care for her. We miss her a lot!

JOHN ARNOLD LUCAS (1925-

Seems funny to be writing about oneself for posterity and no doubt someone later will take the trouble to tell the future Lucas’s what I was like so I will just stick to the bare facts and let someone else do the adornment.

Schooling and Work history.

Born 7/6/1925

Went to Artarmon Public School then to North Sydney Boys High School left after Intermediate Certificate, I was a very ordinary student and got very middle of the road results in examinations. Didn’t enjoy school life because at 12 yrs old I lost the sight of my right eye when skylarking with my friends and one of them shot me with an air rifle, resulting in constant harassment at school by the usual unkind variety, and occasionally having to fight them.

Started work at Permewan Wright as junior Clerk, that wasn’t for me so then moved to Murrel & Co. Hotel Brokers but the war caused a slump in the Hotel sales business and was retrenched. Then worked as Engineers Assistant on the Sydney Graving Dock construction for some time, then to Industrial Steel Ltd at Lidcombe as a cadet Engineer/ Metallurgist until I enlisted in AIF during World War2.  Served in New Guinea for two years during the war.

On leaving the Army after the War I was Credit Control Manager at Rhinecastle Wines Pty Ltd for about 18 months, then found my niche as the nineteenth employee of Nuffield Australia Pty Ltd and soon got into the Sales Dept., from there gained valuable experience as a Country Organiser covering about one fifth of the State, from there ten years later joined Sundell Motors, a Holden dealer at Chatswood, for an exciting 9yrs 11months and 20 days. If I had hung around another ten or eleven days would have qualified for ten year service payment. Oh dear!
At this time bought (all with borrowed money) a Ford Dealership in Melbourne which became John Lucas Ford and managed to make a go of it and sell out some seven and a half yrs later after a couple of coronary occlusions And have devoted myself to golf a lot of the time since.

FAMILY.

Managed, after much trying, to convince Doris Baty, who was the only girl friend I really ever had, that I probably wouldn’t make an awful husband, and we were married on 28th August 1948, and we managed to have two children Diane the first-born and David both of whom we love very much and now through David we have three lovely Grandchildren.

OTHER

Was for years member of DY Surf Club, Patrol Captain etc, fairly good Surf Swimmer
Best friend Ken Gibson who helped me tolerate the bullies at school and always stood by me, Ken was in RAAF in War and shot down at Balikpapan on the day of the Landing, he decided to stay in RAAF after war and was unfortunately killed in peacetime taking off from Amberley in Qld, when the Bomber he was in crashed. I still miss him greatly, even after so long!
Best friend in the Army .. John Conry..a friend for life!
Best friend after the War. John Batty (Ex U.K.) Taught me to fly fish, as well as being a wonderful friend and companion together with Wife Audrey.

RESIDENCES

Initially after marriage lived at father-in-law’s weekender at DY then bought our first house at Clontarf St. Seaforth, Then to Grayling Rd. West Pymble Then Willis Ave St Ives, Then to Gareth Ave. Beaumaris in Melbourne, then to Ocean View Drive Alstonville NSW and now we live at Snapper Close Corlette on Port Stephens. Next move will be into retirement Village.

THANKS

I have always been very grateful for all the Wartime and Post War Education I was fortunate to receive; First through Army Education whilst in New Guinea where I learned the value of Education for the first time and studied English, Maths, Short Story Writing etc. Then after the war the Government, through CRTS, put me through the first Industrial Management Course at Sydney Tech, College, it was a Certificate course, probably today the equivalent to an MBA. And finally I am grateful to Nuffield Australia for sending me to numerous courses at the ‘Sydney Institute of Management’. All of the above turned me from a very basically educated young man into a reasonably well-educated businessman with the necessary skills to manage not to go ‘broke’ when I got my own business and to enrich my life.

UNFULFILLED DESIRES

I always wanted to be a Schoolteacher!
I would have enjoyed representing my State or Country in any Sport!
I wish I could have been a better person, a better husband and a better Father than I have been. Also a better Son to my Parents!
I regret any of the things I have done, or said, that have hurt any of my Family or Friends at any time because I have learned the true value of friendship!
.
That’s all folks!

DORIS JEAN LUCAS (nee Baty) (1925-

SCHOOL AND WORK

Chatswood Primary School initially then seconded to Artarmon Special School (for specially Gifted Students) Was Dux of North Shore in QC, then to Hornsby Girls High (was a prefect). One of top results in Intermediate  Certificate (as was her Sister Joyce)
First and only job (until Marriage) at Registrar Generals Dept. Land Titles Office Sydney.
Later in Melbourne was part- time Store Demonstrator using microphone etc in large stores around Melbourne. Also in Melbourne Managed a Captain Snooze store whilst owner crewed on Johns Yacht on race days.
Other than that raising two children, providing guidance and support, being a home- maker etc.

OTHER

Dot had a very fun-loving adolescence, particularly during World War 2; she helped in the Canteen Service for the Troops and enjoyed a busy social life at Dances, Balls, Tennis, Hiking Holidays etc. A lot of her social activities centered round the young peoples group of the local Baptist Church, she also enjoyed the time spent at their weekender at DY beach.
Dot had a very close relationship with her Sister Joyce whose Educational Path closely followed the same pattern as Dot’s, she was also a brilliant Student and Scholar.
Dot has always been, and still is, a keen, better than average Tennis player, and always enjoys company in any type of group activity.

She was for a year the President of Kuring-gai Lady Lions Group and is a convincing, and competent, Public Speaker because she remains   her natural self when talking.
Where we are now she is a member, sometimes office holder in View Club, Garden Club, Probus, Bridge Club, Bowling Club, Tennis Club, Golf Club etc. and is a very hard worker for any cause. She did a stint in Alstonville for Meals-on-wheels and was very helpful to John who looked after
some 16 Legacy Widows under his care.
She is an avid, and well- informed, book reader… always has one open!

There is no doubt that our children could not have had a better Mother, she is supportive, compassionate and generous and prepared to do anything to help them at any time. Also whilst Dot’s Mother was alive she must have got great joy from having two Daughters who loved her and looked after her so wonderfully.
From all this you will perceive that Dot has always been a compassionate, caring person, devoted to her family, a true and loyal friend with absolute integrity and a gritty determination to make things better for those around her, without losing any of her unfettered, fun-loving spirit, these are the reasons she has made so many true friends wherever she has been.
She is a real ‘Gem’ and you would have to say I was indeed lucky to snare her before someone else beat me to it!

IT IS PROBABLY BETTER THAT ONE OF OUR CHILDREN SHOULD REWRITE WHATEVER THEY THINK APPROPRIATE ABOUT DOT & I AFTER OUR DEATH TO PASS ON TO OUR GRANDCHILDREN AND CONTINUE THE CHAIN OF THE FUTURE OF THE LUCAS CLAN