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On 20 Oct 1935 at Sixth Avenue Windsor a baby girl was born, with the assistance of a Dr J Ralston and Gladys Smith, to Sid and Queenie Anderson. Sid was only a chairmaker, although had been born into a wealthy English family, a series of unfortunate family circumstances was left him with nothing, and he left for Australia. Queenie was from an artistic Scottish family, her father a printer and compositor who had his own orchestra, and her mother a music teacher. Valma Ann was this baby girl, and she inherited the artistic bent from her mother's side of the family.
Valma was a shy child who led a fairly sheltered life. During the war the family lived at Shorncliffe, but when about 7 or 8 years old, Valma was having a sleepover with a friend, Daphne, at Kelvin Grove. She woke, sick with a violent headache and Daphne's mother returned her to Shorncliffe, but Queenie was out. Time ticked by and eventually she was taken by ambulance to hospital. She had severe appendicitis, which was just about to burst, and nearly died. She was opened up twice, fed via an ankle drip and also possibly had pneumonia during her 6 weeks stay. This time is probably the origins of her lifelong lung disease of bronchiectasis. Her first year at school was also marked by measles and tonsillitis, and this meant she did not progress to the next grade with her best friend Daphne.
In 1941 Valma was enrolled at Kelvin Grove Girls & Infants School. She was left-handed, and due to the insistence of Queenie she was the first at the school to be allowed to write with her left hand. Despite this, Valma hated having to write left-handed as she was slower and all her classmates had to wait for her, and the pen used to jab into the paper and cause unsightly blots.
Between 1948 and 1950 Valma attended North Brisbane State High School, where she, by her own admission, was a bit of a trouble-maker and hung around with the wrong sorts. Despite this, at aged 14 she got 60 in Scholarship, and the headmistress encouraged her to go to Senior, but she didn't want to. She then attended Domestic Science High School, until she left school to work at Hislop's the dressmaking business behind City Hall in Brisbane. Her artistic talent blossomed and she designed embroidery, Wedding Dresses, Square Dance dresses and patterns. Unfortunately, Hislop's started experiencing some financial difficulties and the girls were put on short time. Her Sunday School superintendent advised her to learn shorthand and typing, so Valma enrolled in a night course through Stott's Shorthand College. The superintendent also arranged a job for Valma at Burns Phillip in the paperwork division, and she went for only one day feeding paper into a machine.
After graduating from Stott's, Valma got a job as a Secretary to the Property Officer at Penny's in Brisbane. Although there were 41 stores across Queensland, a new store was being opened at Southport and Valma went there and served behind the counter, her first selling experience. A number of factors led her to resign, a lack of work to do, the air conditioner, and a dislike for the Managing Director. A friend of Queenie's suggested a job at H. G. Noble's where she was employed as a secretary. Noble's sold agricultural supplies such as portable sheep fences, dips and spray paint guns. Despite being employed as a secretary, Valma sold the first Victor Lawnmower in Brisbane. She also caused much amusement among the men employed in the business, when, one day all the salesmen were away when a potential customer came in to look at a new Victor Mower. Valma said that she could show him how well it worked. There was a big clump of grass outside and she started the mower and pushed it over the clump, but the grass popped up undamaged. She tried again, and still nothing! Eventually she turned the mower over to find that there were no mower blades attached. Victor Mowers were very popular and at one time there were 70 names on the waiting list, this is despite there being a ward at the hospital call the 'Victor' ward for those who cut their toes off! The motors were also used for speedboat motors.
In July of 1956, Valma went on a cruise aboard the Elsanna, to Cairns, with her brother Paul's girlfriend, also Val. Val was seasick, so Valma sunned herself on the desk alone. Valma was very attractive, slim and poised, but very shy, and whenever she was approached by any of the men trying to talk to her, her nervousness led her to chatter about Noble's products. On her return to work some came in and bought lawnmowers, boat mowers and spray guns. The boss said he didn't know what she was up to, as she was supposed to be a secretary, not a saleswoman! None of those men had a chance with Valma, as, on the cruise, she had met a handsome ship's engineer called Barrie (the only unmarried officer on the ship), who appeared on the desk in his immaculate white overalls, and it was love at first sight. Nobles gave Valma and Barrie a Pressure Cooker as a wedding gift, and it is still in use 53 years later.
Valma and Barrie planned to marry to following September, but as Barrie was out of work they deferred the ceremony. On 21 December 1957 they were married at Herston Methodist Church surrounded by dear friends and loving family.The honeymoon was planned for Lamington Plateau, but an earlier reconnoitre made them feel uncomfortable so they booked a flat at Kingscliffe. Valma forgot to take her recipe book, so Barrie had to cook, and made a stew.
Barrie wanted to go to New Guinea to be missionary carpenter, but Valma convinced him to first learn about the Bible, so he went to Otira Home Missionary Training College in Melbourne, and assisted at a church at Port Melbourne. Valma looked after the Sunday School.
As the wife of a Methodist minister, Valma led a very busy life, supporting Barrie in his pastoral work, and assisting in the general requirements around the church and church life. This had to be organised around the births of a daughter in 1960 and a son four years later, and the subsequent chaos caused by young children.
At the end of 1965, Barrie received a posting to Biggenden, a small rural community west of Bundaberg in Queensland, and the family was relocated to the manse, diagonally across from the church in George Street. Valma continued her supporting pastoral activities, leading Sunday School, holding prayer and bible-study meetings, assisting with organising the church fete and visiting the needy. Despite all the hard work over the previous 6 years, Barrie had a crisis in his calling, and decided to return to his more manual profession. He took up a job as an underground miner at the Mount Isa Mines, and relocated the family to the hot dry north west of Queensland in early 1967. Although no longer a minister’s wife, Valma continued her intense support of the church and church activities. Her artistic side being exercised creating teaching materials for Sunday School. She also returned to work as a secretary, as the living expenses were high, and there was a requirement for the family to purchase a home. Another son was born, and, unfortunately, despite the drier climate, Valma’s bronchiectasis continued to plague her.
Barrie’s career entered another phase when he took the opportunity to study for four months in Brisbane to gain his teaching qualification and become a Manual Arts teacher in Mount Isa. Still Valma continued to actively support the church and church activities, with Sunday School, Bible Study, church plays, and even providing holiday relief accommodation for a young aboriginal girl, Fay from Yuendumu. Her devout adherence to her Christian faith is the theme of her life and continued through other family relocations, to Charters Towers and then Townsville, and through the ups and downs of life. Her bipolar disorder was a major part of her life for the last 35 years. Although this was very sudden, I take comfort from the fact that the last couple of months were very comfortable for mum. She was no longer in the chronic pain that had worried her for years, and in now at peace.
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