Alexander Donald Frame

The youngest son and second-youngest child born to Edward John Frame and Catherine Falvey was  Alexander Donald Frame.  Nurse Nicholson delivered 'Alex' on 17 Jan 1928 in the family home at 21 Eighth Street Weston. He was baptised in the Abermain Catholic Church by Father Michael O’Dwyer and his sponsor was Elizabeth Jennings. 

Alex began his schooling at Weston School and then for a short time, attended the Abermain Catholic School. He eventually returned to Weston to complete his primary school years before attending secondary school at Kurri Kurri.  

Alex said that growing up in Eighth Street Weston provided him with a very happy and stable environment. He fondly remembers the neighbourhood families such as the Lumsdens, Billinghams, Gainers and Storeys; and his cousins from the Wilks family also lived nearby.  Like his Father and brothers, Alex had a nickname. His was 'Gondy'

The Wilks family, related through Alex's mother's side of the family, lived on the western side of the creek; however, they ran a small farm on the eastern side, at the end of Eighth Street. The farm ran about twelve dairy cows and the family ploughed it to grow crops to feed their animals. They had a horse and cart and delivered the fresh milk to their customers around town. Alex was only about 7-years-old at that time and he would wait for the cart to arrive at his place, then hop on and go for the ride, still dressed in his pyjamas! If there was milk left when they got back, they would sit and drink it out of the measuring scoops. Alex said it was beautiful milk! Sometime before WWII, the Billinghams took over the farm from the Wilks family. 

In those days, horses and carts delivered just about everything. There was a baker’s cart; another delivered butter, cheese and dripping; others delivered grocery orders and ice. The usually trustworthy Clydesdales clip-clopped along the road with the driver more often that not, walking along behind ready to serve his customers. 

On the eastern side of the creek in those days, the streets finished at Ninth Street. So that the horse would not have to walk all the way back to Fourth Street to cross the bridge to the western side, a rough track was formed across the creek bed at the end of Eighth Street. The approach was fairly precarious and it was not unusual for the dray to tip over going down the steep embankment and spill its contents. 

Alex said the neighbourhood children would quickly gather around to pounce on any biscuits and other goodies that fell out!  Dogs were another hazard for the poor horses. It was amazing just what chaos could be wrought by neighbourhood dogs when they came running out of their yards to bark at the horses going by. Quite often, a dog would spook a horse and it would take off, usually ending up back at the Co-op Store stables still wearing its harness but with the cart nowhere in sight. The cart would be lying on its side somewhere along the way either wrecked or badly damaged.

Alex got up to the usual pranks that local boys did in those days. There were many shanghai fights between the ‘Creekies’ and the Kurri boys. On weekends and holidays, the boys would go out to the bush in the early morning and not return till late afternoon.

Alex remembered a time when the creek was flooding so high that the water lapped the deck of Fourth Street Bridge. The opportunity that presented proved too hard to resist, so he and a mate decided to wag school and walked up to Fourth Street where they stripped off their clothes and hid them in the bushes. These young larrikins then jumped off the bridge into the raging torrent and ‘surfed’ all the way down to the Homestead Bridge at Government Road. They got out of the creek there and ran all the way back to Fourth Street, jumped in again and repeated the whole escapade. Alex did not disclose whether his parents ever found out about that adventure! 

Alex was in the gang of local boys who constructed the dam at the creek off the end of Weston Street behind the Parsons family property. The boys chopped away at a rocky protrusion near the cliffs so that the rocks would fall into the creek and form up a dam wall. Their project was so successful that they had water banked up right back to the Kline Street Bridge. This became a favourite spot for paddling the homemade canoes that the youths fabricated from old sheets of tin. 

Catching crawchies (an Australian freshwater crayfish) was another of their favourite past-times. Alex and his mates would tie pieces of meat onto the end of cotton or string lines and throw them into the waterholes at the creek. Once a crawchy hooked onto the meat, the line would be pulled in and the boys would grab the crawchy behind the nippers to remove it from the line. They would then find an old tin can, fill it with creek water and boil it up to cook their catch. As Alex said when recounting these memories, using a rusty tin of unknown origin - and dirty creek water - it’s a wonder they didn’t poison themselves when they ate their catch!

When Alex’s older brother Andrew ('Mick') married Iris Storey and moved to Abermain to live, Mick would sometimes ride his bicycle down to Weston to visit his family. Young Alex was rather envious as he didn't have a bicycle. However, his mate from the neighbourhood did. This crafty duo saw an opportunity presenting itself with Mick’s visits. Whenever Alex knew that Mick was coming, he and his friend would watch for Mick to arrive and enter the house. The minute Mick was out of sight, Alex would jump on Mick’s bike, Alex’s buddy would hop on his, and the pair would peddle off for a joyride around the town. Invariably, when Mick was ready to head back to Abermain, his bicycle and young brother were missing and he was left cooling his heels in Eighth Street waiting for their return.

Freddy Ginger’s paddock at Ginger’s Lane in Weston was also on the beaten track for Alex and his friends. The boys would walk out through the bush to Freddy’s place, catch his horses in the paddock and ride them bareback. They always had a great time until Freddy discovered what they were up to and chased them away!  Alex grew up in a fire brigade household, with his father Edward appointed as Captain of the Weston Fire Brigade in 1942. He believes that they were one of the first families in the town to have a telephone connected. It was a large wooden box attached to the wall with a handle to wind to contact the telephone exchange and make a call. The telephone number was ‘Kurri 69’.

Alex recalled that in the early days, his father and older brothers Mervyn and Coogan kept racing pigeons. He said that while the pigeons were a little before his time, he can remember the two-story dovecote up in the backyard.

After his father and brothers tired of pigeon racing, the dovecote was dismantled to make way for greyhound kennels. Greyhounds became the new interest for Edward and his sons Mick and Mervyn, and thus Alex spent a lot of his time helping his father and brothers feed and train their dogs. 

Alex's father Edward kept chooks and ducks on their large block of land, so another of Alex’s chores was to help his father clean the poultry ready for his mother Catherine to cook. His family also owned a fawn coloured Jersey cow, Lola, who provided them with milk. Lola had a calf named Pansy. As there were very few motor vehicles in those days, Lola spent most of her time running out in the street, grazing up and down the footpaths. When she decided it was time to be milked, she came bellowing to the front gate demanding to be let in. Alex’s brother Coogan, whose task it was to milk Lola, always kept a big tub of pollard or bran ready. Lola would walk straight up to it and start eating and Coogan would start milking. When Coogan had to go off to war, Alex had to take over milking duties. However, he mustn’t have had the same deft touch as his older brother because Lola kicked hard and connected! Alex said that was his last attempt at milking the cow and could not recall who took over the milking duties after that. Alex said his mother Catherine sometimes skimmed the milk they got from Lola and made her own butter from the cream.

When Alex was asked what his favourite memory of his mother was, he didn’t hesitate , ‘Oh, my mother was a great cook, a beautiful cook! She always baked on Sunday afternoons. She would make scones, cream cakes and angel’s wings - I always hung around when she was cooking. There was nothing like Mum’s angel’s wings, especially when they were hot straight from the oven! And I always liked to clean up the basin when she made cream! By gee, she was a good cook!’

In December 1942, Alex finished school and began working for Conway’s Grocery Store at Pelaw Main. It was one month before his 15th birthday and he was sorry he missed out on holidays that summer! Alex worked there for about two years before moving to Conway's Kurri Kurri branch where he remained for another three years. Conways used to have branches in Maitland, Cessnock, Pelaw Main, Kurri Kurri, Weston and Abermain.

It was during these war years that Alex joined the National Emergency Service (N.E.S.). The N.E.S. was a volunteer organization that trained citizens to be prepared in the event of an air raid. Wardens were appointed and each was put in charge of a group of volunteers. Alex trained as a ‘runner’ and his warden was his neighbour, Mr. Hardy. Air raid shelters were built, including those in the school grounds, and practice days were held. On training day, volunteers would turn up at a designated place where they practised their routines – a hypothetical bomb would have ‘exploded’ and ‘casualties’ would be laying everywhere with tags on them such as: ‘lost an arm’ or ‘severe bleeding’. N.E.S. members would report to their warden for instructions. The Ambulance Hall was Weston’s N.E.S. headquarters. Thankfully, the skills learned were not required as an air raid never eventuated in Weston.

After the war ended, Pagan’s Rugby League team started up again and Alex played in the Under 20’s division for about three years. He also began playing tennis at Elsley’s tennis court in Ninth Street Weston. Alex played competition tennis for many years until taking up lawn bowls later in his life.

In 1947, like his father and brothers, Alex also became a coalminer when he began work at Richmond Main Colliery. He remained there for about a year, but the pits began to experience tough times then and Alex found he had to move around between the mines to stay in work. In all, he worked two periods at Richmond Main, one at Hebburn No.1 and two at Hebburn No.2 Collieries. When the Coalfields mines eventually closed down, Alex got a start at Stockton Borehole Colliery where he remained for almost five years. After that, he spent the last remaining twenty-plus years of his working life at Newvale Colliery. 

Alex met his future wife Fay McGilvray through mutual friends. They met at a time when there was plenty of entertainment for young people in Kurri Kurri. On a Saturday night there were three dances being held in the town at the same time! There was an Old Time Dance in the RSL Hall, a 50/50 Dance in the Ambulance Hall and a Jazz Dance in the Catholic Hall. Patrons could purchase a ticket from one of the dances and it would allow them admission into the other two on the same night. As well as the dances, there were two cinemas operating in the town, so there was plenty to choose from on nights out. Romance blossomed for Alex and Fay after he escorted her home from a dance at the Ambulance Hall one night. After they became more serious, they didn’t attend the dances as often, preferring instead to go to the cinema on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Alex and Fay married in the Catholic Church at Kurri Kurri and made their home in Kurri Kurri. They had two sons, Donald and Gary.

By October 1963 when Alex was cavilled out from Hebburn No.2 Colliery, he had acquired some experience in mines rescue training and was offered a couple of months relief work at Abermain Mines Rescue Station. During that time, there was an explosion at the Bellbird Colliery that closed down the mine. Alex ended up being involved in the second largest reclamation of a pit that had been blown up! The work meant that he had to work in a PROTO suit with breathing apparatus which, he said, was incredibly hot. Regulations stipulated that the men only went into the mine for two hours at a time and then they had to come out for two hours. They had to wash down their suits and usually had a cup of tea or some refreshments before preparing to enter the mine again for another two hours.

Alex represented the Hunter District in Sydney in Lawn Bowls. He won about six Club Championships in Pairs, a District Singles Championship (restricted) and also played Pennants. Fishing and gardening also proved to be enjoyable. Alex remarked that he once caught an 8.5lb. (3.9kg.) Flathead off the Swansea flats, and while he enjoyed boat fishing, he preferred to floater fish off the rocks at Wangi Wangi.

In about 1987 after Alex retired from Newvale Colliery, he followed the Frame tradition and dedicated some time to community service. He joined the Meals on Wheels volunteer group in Kurri and remained with the organisation for more than two decades. Alex served two years as President.

After suffering health challenges in the latter years of his life, Alexander Donald Frame passed away at Kurri Kurri, NSW on 27 May 2023 aged 95 years.  Almost five months later, on 13 Oct 2023, Gladys 'Fay' McGilvray Frame also passed away at Kurri Kurri, NSW.

Alex and Fay are survived by their sons, Donald and Gary, and granddaughters: Claudia, Caitlin and Rachael.