Marjorie Love has lived her whole life in the Surry Hills, Darlinghurst area. She went to kindergarten and primary schools there and when she left school at 14 years she worked in a local printing house nearby her home.
Along with her 4 siblings, Marjorie was raised by her father and often her kind neighbours gave a helping hand. She reflects on how wonderful her father was, as well as playing in the streets with local children and living in the area. Marjorie also talks about her first job out of school, meeting her husband and becoming a mother which was always her main ambition.
Marjorie recalls the characters in the area, the shops, playing in the empty paddocks and that going into town for shopping was always a special treat.
01:29 ML First of all we started off at Frances Newton Kindergarten, which was two blocks up from where we lived. And from there, my elder sister and I went down to William St School, public school, which was just behind the museum. It was on the corner of Yurong St and William St. And we only did the infants there. As far as I know there was only infants classes there. There wasn’t any higher ones. All I can remember anyway. And then we went to Darlinghurst school. And at Darlinghurst school we started in – not the infants, because we’d already done that at William St. – so we started off in the primary classes, third class. And then Darlinghurst school went to eighth class. I don’t know then whether there was any high schools or just that we didn’t go to it. I don’t know, because normally children leave school at sixth class, don’t they, and then they go to high school. But we didn’t go to high school, we just stayed at Darlinghurst school ’til eighth I just went to Darlinghurst school and finished at eighth class and then I left there and went to work.
ML I was 14. Once you turned 14 you could leave school.
SA Right, okay. So where did you start working?
03:02 ML Oh, I loved it. In the printers in Yurong St. I don’t know whether you know Yurong St, but between Stanley St and Burton St is this little lane that goes down and there’s the factory there, Shepherd & Newman and it used to be a printers. And they printed the stuff downstairs and I think it was three storeys: the printers downstairs and us women upstairs, girls doing the folding pages down into smaller size. You know, page size, so you can read them. And oh, it was great, I loved it. And then we used to have our lunch up on the roof in the sun.
SA So did you work there for a long while?
03:52 ML Yeah, until I was 19, then I left because I was getting married and having a baby. So I left there, but I used to go back and take the children there to show them off, you know. They were gorgeous children. That was all I ever wanted to be was a mother.
