Kathleen Dawn Frame

The youngest child of Edward John Frame and Catherine Falvey, Kathleen ‘Dawn’ Frame, was born in the family home at 21 Eighth Street Weston.  Father J. Marshall baptised Dawn at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Abermain.  Doreen Wilks, Dawn’s cousin, was her godmother. Dawn said she always felt loved and very cared for by her parents and older bothers and sister.  

Most of Dawn’s primary school years were spent at Weston Public School except for several months in Fifth Class when she attended Kurri Kurri Catholic School. Dawn returned to Weston Public School for Sixth Class and then continued on to Cessnock High School to complete her secondary education. 

Where the Frame family lived in Eighth Street, was in the part of town that the residents affectionately referred to as ‘The Hollow’.  Many of the other families in the neighbourhood were immigrants from Great Britain following World War I and Dawn recalled them all as being a very close-knit community. There were many children to play with and her friends were Mavis Hardy and the Lumsden twins, Edmund and Richard.  Among Dawn’s favourite places to play were the cliffs, which were two streets back from her home, and Deep Creek, which was a very beautiful creek running through the township of Weston. Wild flowers grew in abundance on the cliffs, especially flannel flowers.

The Hardy family had a huge mulberry tree growing in their backyard and many a happy hour was spent perched up in the abundant foliage eating luscious mulberries and watching the passing parade. Dawn said, ‘Of course, our purple stained lips and fingers were a dead give away as to what we had been doing, but our parents didn’t seem to mind!’  The Lumsden family had a white plum tree with the most beautiful white plums she’d ever tasted, and Dawn’s father grew many varieties of table grapes on a trellis in the backyard. There was no shortage of fresh fruit in season. 

When discussing her younger family life, Dawn recounted that her eldest brother Mick married his sweetheart Iris Storey and moved to Abermain to live. When their first child Lois was born, Dawn became an aunt at the tender age of three and a half years.  Her brother Mervyn (my father) married Eva Punton and they made their home next door in Eighth Street.  By the time she was ten years of age Dawn, had become an aunt, not only to Lois but also to her sister Janice, and my brother Tony and me. We all quickly became part of the extended family and were more like siblings than nieces and nephew. 

When Dawn was six years old, she was chosen to play the part of an American Indian in a League of Nations pageant at school. She thought that was very strange casting for a blue-eyed blonde! Nevertheless, Dawn’s mother decided that she would be the best Indian possible and sent her to the local elocution teacher, Miss Jean Pass, so that she would do the part justice. Dawn’s sister Dulcie was put in charge to escort her to and from her lessons at the Weston Methodist Church. The pageant must have been successful because not only did Dawn’s mother decide that she would continue with elocution lessons, her daughter was going to learn to sing as well!

Dawn began ballet and tap-dancing lessons with Miss Nancy Hales from Newcastle, who travelled to Kurri Kurri to teach. Miss Hales, in conjunction with Radio Station 2HD in Newcastle, produced a pantomime called Aladdin’s Lamp which was performed in the Theatre Royal at Newcastle. As the pantomime ran for a whole week and the Frame family did not own a car, Dawn’s mother Catherine had to prevail upon the good nature of her sisters Maggie, at Tighe’s Hill, and Vera, at Broadmeadow, to accommodate them for the week.

In January 1941, while Dawn was at 2HD, her mother noticed an unusual amount of activity involving the staff. The following day whilst reading the newspaper, she learned that 2HD had been closed down for the duration of the war because there had been a broadcast about the shipping in the harbour and the Government saw this as being detrimental to the war effort. As a result of this happening, Miss Hales left the area and Dawn began tap dancing lessons with Mr. Joe Pamplin of Weston.

When World War II broke out, young men and women in the town joined the armed forces. Miners were exempted from Call-up because mining coal was essential for the war effort. Dawn’s brother Edward (Coogan) joined the Air Force and was posted to England. During a particularly bad time over there he wrote home to say that he would not even mind Dawn practicing her tap dancing on the wooden verandah outside his bedroom door if he could only come home!  Her brother Mervyn also enlisted in the Air Force and remained in Australia. Brother Arthur enlisted in the A.I.F. and was posted to New Guinea. Dawn’s sister Dulcie worked in a munitions factory in Sydney. Dulcie’s fiancé, Les Fleet, was stationed in Borneo.  During the war years, Miss Joy Ramage, Dawn’s singing teacher, and Mr. Joe Pamplin, her dancing teacher, arranged concerts. Usually, the proceeds would be for some charity connected with the war effort and the packed audiences were most generous and patriotic.

In the November of 1948, both Barney and Dawn sat for the Intermediate Certificate and both were successful in this examination. They then came to a ‘parting of the ways’ for a while because Dawn went on to Fourth Year at high school and Barney decided to take up a motor mechanic’s apprenticeship with a garage in Cessnock.  Dawn told of happy memories of Christmas holidays spent camping at Arcadia with her brother Mick, Iris and their two girls, Lois and Janice. A boy she knew had a V.J. sailing boat and they had great fun skimming across the water on a hot summer’s day.

In May 1949, a position became available at the Kurri Kurri branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Dawn saw this as an excellent way of entering the workforce so she applied for the position. Her application was successful, and she was appointed to the Temporary Staff. To be employed on the Permanent Staff, it was necessary for female staff members to be able to take and transcribe shorthand at 100 words per minute and type at 75 words per minute. In order to achieve this Dawn attended Kurri Technical College two nights per week after work from 6.00pm until 9.00pm. One winter’s night after alighting from the bus at Hall Street Weston and setting off to walk down to Eighth Street in the dark, she became aware that she was being followed. She was petrified and was about to run for her life when the rascal behind her identified himself. It was her youngest brother Alex who loved to play tricks on her! In 1950 Dawn became a member of the Permanent Staff of the bank and when she resigned in 1956 to have her first child, had held the positions of Check Sheet Clerk, Savings Bank and General Bank Ledger Keeper and Secretary to the Manager, Mr. Tom Waddell.

Dawn and her friend Elizabeth decided to make their Debut at the Spring Ball in Cessnock. Dawn chose Barney O’Connor to be her partner. Her dress for the occasion was white organdie broderie anglaise, made by Jean Coburn of Weston. Jean Coburn had made many of Dawn’s clothes by that time but the debutante’s gown was her pièce de résistance. Barney and Dawn attended the Jubilee Ball in Cessnock a few months later and Dawn was judged the Belle of the Ball wearing the same gown. 

At the age of sixteen Dawn was asked to sing at a wedding that was being held in the Methodist Church at Weston. Following on from that occasion, singing at weddings became a regular practice for many years. Dawn took great pleasure in helping brides choose their favourite songs and appropriate music for this most important event in their lives.  Sometimes the bride and the clergyman did not agree as to what was appropriate for the occasion and much diplomacy was required before a satisfactory decision could be made.

One wedding Dawn had vivid memories of was held at St Joseph’s Church in Cessnock. It was a very hot Saturday afternoon and the bride and groom were about to say ‘I do’ when suddenly the groom keeled over and was laid full length down the aisle. The very next minute the best man went down as well! There they were lying side by side, while the unfortunate bride sat next to her sobbing mother waiting patiently for the men to be revived! 

The priest, who had been a nurse before taking Holy Orders, was right in his element undoing collars, sending altar boys scurrying for glasses of water and generally taking charge until they recovered enough to proceed with the wedding. The whole congregation breathed a sigh of relief when the Wedding March was played and the young couple were able to leave the church finally joined in Holy Matrimony. 

Dawn feels very honoured to have been able to sing at the weddings of all her children and many of her family and friends. Dawn sang at my wedding too, and again fifty years later sang a duet with Barney at my Golden Wedding Anniversary! 

In August 1954 at a small family party, Dawn and Barney became engaged. It was her twenty-first birthday and one of the family members present was her nephew Tony, my late brother, who brought with him a lovely silver tray - a gift from our family. As mentioned on my father Mervyn’s page, Tony succumbed to a heart problem caused by repeated attacks of rheumatic fever and died when he was just fourteen years and eight months of age. Dawn and our entire Frame family was devastated. 

In 1955, Dawn and Barney were married at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Cessnock. Dawn was attended by her friend Elizabeth Holt, her niece Lois Frame and another niece Catherine Fleet as flower girl.  Barney’s attendants were Patrick Brown as Best Man and Ronald McMahon as Groomsman. The couple were married on a beautiful afternoon by Father Phillip Purcell. After the ceremony, the wedding party visited Kurri Kurri Hospital where Dawn's sister-in-law Eva Frame, wife of my father Mervyn, had given birth to my younger brother, Carl Anthony Frame the day before the wedding. 

Dawn and Barney flew to Queensland in a D.C.3 for two weeks honeymoon at Beach House, Coolangatta. Barney had been working very hard to have their new home in Anstey Street Cessnock completed for their return, but it was another three months before it was ready for them to move in.

Sadly, Dawn and Barney’s first child, a daughter, was stillborn on 19 August 1956. She was named Mary Therese and was laid to rest in the Catholic Cemetery at Nulkaba.  After vowing never to enter the labour ward again, Dawn and Barney welcomed five more children into the world: Kerry, Michael, Catherine, John and David and later became the proud grandparents to their offspring.

Dawn shared a story about the time her husband Barney was working as a Foreman at Sharpe’s Garage in Cessnock. On this day a young apprentice received an electric shock and appeared to have died. Barney and another workmate quickly decided to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which was a new procedure at that time. The young man survived thanks to their efforts but complained bitterly about being able to taste cigarette smoke for months afterwards. At that time, Barney was a heavy smoker!

Eventually Barney decided that he would try to better his employment situation; he had a desire to be a teacher. For several years at night after work, he attended Cessnock Technical College doing a Mechanical Engineering Certificate Course. Having completed his Trade Course as a motor mechanic and worked for ten years as a foreman at the garage, Barney was well qualified to apply for the position of a Technical College teacher. He was accepted into Teacher Training in Sydney and worked for the next two years at Granville Technical College. The family situation was very difficult with Barney living in Sydney through the week, basically ‘on the smell of an oily rag’ and Dawn in Cessnock with four young children including a baby. However, the family survived and were very happy when Barney was transferred to Newcastle Technical College where he remained for the next twenty-one years.

For thirty years, Dawn was very involved with St. Joseph’s Parish Cessnock. Much of that involvement was through singing at Mass every week, First Communions, Confirmations, Weddings and Funerals. She became a Catechist in the State schools for ten years and worked in the St. Vincent de Paul shop for many years. Dawn was an inaugural member of the Cessnock Catholic Women’s Club, which began in 1960. She served as Secretary and Minutes Secretary on a number of occasions and was granted Life Membership. Over the twenty-four years that Dawn’s children attended Catholic Schools, she happily worked for fetes, school canteens, and lend a hand wherever assistance was needed.  Dawn re-entered the workforce in 1980 following the death of her mother Catherine.  She was employed in the Medical Records Department of the Cessnock District Hospital until she retired in 1986.

Although Dawn had sung the National Anthem when Prime Minister Mr Bob Hawke visited Cessnock, and entertained at a dinner that night in honour of Hazel Hawke, the most exciting singing event for Dawn was when she sang at St. Peter’s in Rome, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, with a choir from the Maitland Diocese. Dawn and her daughter Catherine joined the choir in 1989. On the day of the Newcastle Earthquake, she and Catherine flew out to spend a few days in Singapore before flying on to Rome. The Papal Audience, at which 10,000 people were present, was made more exciting and unforgettable when the Pope took Dawn’s outstretched hand and asked if she was from Sweden. Dawn proudly replied, “No, Holy Father- I am from Australia!”

Singing continued to be a very important part of Dawn’s life, including being a member of the Cessnock Cantata Choir over many years. Dawn often expressed her gratitude to her mother for allowing her to learn singing, her father and brothers for their support, and her sister Dulcie who was her constant companion at concerts and eisteddfods during the early years until Dulcie’s own little ‘star’, Catherine, was born.

Dawn said, ‘Without the constant love and devotion of my husband Barney, and our children: Kerry, Michael, Catherine, John and David - I would not have been able to continue singing and so I thank them from the bottom of my heart!'

Dawn's beloved husband, Paul 'Barney' O'Connor passed away at Cessnock 15 Sep 2022.