Time for some Newman Nostalgia, and we’re back!
As School returns for Term 2, we thought we’d show you the adorable 4-and-3/4-year-old Brophy twins Tricia (left) and Lindy (right) on the day they started at Our Lady of Victories (Brigidine) Primary School in Wembley, in March 1961! This photo was taken outside the front door of their home on the corner of Cambridge and Selby Streets, Floreat.
Lindy and Tricia met with us recently and, along with this beautiful photo, shared some of their OLV memories, such as the government-funded scheme where each child had to drink a little bottle of milk at recess.
"They were a third of a pint with a silver foil lid that you pierced with a straw,” Tricia said. "The bottles used to sit outside in the sun, so it was always warm. It was awful!”
I think we can all agree there...!
Sometimes at lunchtime, in the early 1960s older girls used to walk the littlies down to the corner shop near the Wembley Hotel on Alexander Street, where they spent their hard-earned pocket money on lollies and icy poles.
Before the tuckshop was established in 1967, lunch orders were carefully written on a brown paper bag with the money folded inside (one shilling for a pie or sixpence for a sausage roll), and sent down to the Ballerina Cake shop on Birkdale Street. (Warning: Memories of their fabulous sausage rolls and vanilla slices may cause some readers to salivate!)
After the tuckshop was established, mothers volunteered to make the lunches, mostly consisting of polony, egg, or Vegemite sandwiches.
The Brophy's dog Kelly, a labrador, was a regular visitor to the tuckshop. Everyone knew who he was and, when he wasn't snaffling the odd cinnamon bun off the counter (if no one was watching and it was reasonably within reach), he barked his head off until he found the girls! He was a very clever dog, and one day even found them in the audio visual room in the middle of Sister Christina's RE class. He walked in and plonked himself down between them, but we’re not sure if he retained much of the lesson!
Another clear memory was from Grade 3, when they all sewed a design onto hessian with coloured thread, which would eventually be made into a potholder by talented mothers who mostly all had sewing machines. Who doesn’t remember making one of those?!
As far as sport, there were only two available - basketball in winter and tennis in summer! Tennis lessons were given by celebrity tennis player Max Bonner, who Bryl-creamed his black hair and lived on the Boulevard. Out of school the girls played netball at nearby Matthews Netball Centre, and each week five young netballers would pile into the back seat of Mrs Brophy's Holden, and two in the front; no airconditioning.
The Brophy twins went on to Brigidine College, Floreat, for their senior schooling; two of 13 girls who went all the way through from Kindy to Year 12 together. They graduated in 1973 with Tricia as Head Prefect (seen cheering in the second pic).
Theirs is a tight-knit cohort which still gets together every November.
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With sincere thanks to Emma Withers, and Tricia and Lindy Brophy.
L-R: Twins Tricia and Lindy Brophy (aged four and three quarters) on their first day of Kindy at Our Lady of Victories (Brigidine) Primary School, March 1961.
Brigidine College Athletics Carnival Cheersquad c1972
L-R from centre: Tricia Brophy, Marion Waddell and Jane Mazza
Sister Dorothea Hickey Collection.