Nene (Doris) McDonald
FatherDonald Glenorchy McDonald b. 6 Mar 1878, d. 12 May 1953
MotherAlice Euphemia Steer b. 17 Aug 1880, d. 18 Sep 1957
Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

Doris May 'Nene' McDonald was born on 4 April 1903 in Brunswick, Victoria.1,2 
She married Kenneth Malcolm Stuart in 1924 in Nyah, Victoria.3,4 
She married John Mead Courtie, son of John Courtie and Myra Lowe, in 1938.5 
She died on 31 May 2003 in Shepparton, Victoria, at age 100.6 

Family 1

Kenneth Malcolm Stuart
Child

Family 2

John Mead Courtie b. 1905, d. 1970
Children
ChartsCampbell, John, descendant chart
McDonald, Archibald, descendant chart
Steer, Edward, descendant chart

Story

Doris May and Irene Gladys were born at 91 Sutherland St in Brunswick on 4 April 1903. They were the second and third children of Alice, the oldest two children of Donald and the oldest to reach adulthood. Doris was the older of the identical twins. Doris was known as Nene and Irene was known as Sis.2,7,8,1
 
Nene doesn't know where her nickname came from, but says she has always had it. Later in life, she was also known as Dorrie to her bowls club friends and that is the name that appears on most of her trophies.9,3
 
When Alice Steer was expecting twins, she moved from Echuca back to her parents' family home in Lake Boga. For the birth, she went to a lying-in home at Sutherland St in Brunswick. It was run by Mrs Mary Morris, a qualified and certified midwife who welcomed unmarried mothers.10,1,8
 
A lying-in home was a private home or hospital where mothers could give birth with the help of a midwife.11
 
On returning to the family home in Lake Boga, Alice's sisters helped with their new twin nieces. Beatrice recalls rocking them in an old rocking chair.12
 
The 'Twinnies'
Identical twins, Nene and Sis were called by their auntie, Lucy Bell, the 'Twinnies'.3
Nene (Doris) McDonald
Image: Nene Courtie
Sis (Irene Gladys) McDonald
Image: Laurie & Lorraine Phillips
The Twinnies weren't too fussed about birthdays. While official records show Nene was the older of the twins, in early 1996 she said she always thought that Sis was older. And in April 2012, Sis's daughter, Irene Barnes, posted a picture of Nene on Facebook with the note:
Aunty Nene celebrated her birthday on the 2nd but Mama [Sis] celebrated on the 4th ... The twins!13,3,14

Nene (Doris) & Sis (Irene) McDonald, 1903
Image: Margaret Sellwood, Nene Courtie
Sis (Irene) & Nene (Doris) McDonald
Image: Laurie & Lorraine Phillips
Auntie Nene is asked down the street "How's Tom? How's your boy, Laurie?". Nene says 'Oh, they're fine thanks'. [Rene Barnes]15
 
The twins' parents soon set up home on Pental Island. This was near Lake Boga where their mother's family lived and Swan Hill where their father's family lived. Their parents were share dairy farming, and their mother helped milk 70 cows by hand.

She used to take the twins to the shed with her and put them in a big box, they could stand but not walk.12

Alice, Sis (Irene) & Nene (Doris) Steer/McDonald, Pental Island, Swan Hill
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Then Dougal was born; Mum [Alice's sister Beatrice] had to help to look after them [twins Nene and Sis]. Then Violet (Bub); she was only six weeks old when Alice was back milking. One morning a cow attacked her, she tried to get over the fence but wasn't quick enough, the cow's horns caught her. She was taken to hospital and had about 60 stitches; she was very lucky and got over it ok. She kept the baby in hospital with her. Mum had to look after the others with the help of a neighbour.12
 
Alice once fell in a fire resulting in a bent little finger (just visible in the photo with the twins) and missing part of her thumb (in the photo with Bub).3
Alice Euphemia, Sis (Irene) & Nene (Doris) Steer/McDonald; Alice has bent left little finger from fire accident
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Violet Alice (Bub) McDonald
Image: Nene Courtie
Parents' Late Marriage 
Alice Euphemia Steer and Donald Glenorchy McDonald were married in Swan Hill on 12 May 1910. They had four children, all born before the marriage, between 1903 and 1908.

The marriage was conducted by John Stewart Drummond, a presbyterian minister. Neither of the two witnesses, Ernest Gerald Gray and Donald Urquhart, were family; Gray was the registrar for Swan Hill.

Because of the delayed marriage, the twins were originally registered under the name Steer, though they were always referred to as McDonalds. No father's name was provided for the original registration of twins Doris and Irene, but Donald's name was added as the father when these two births were re-registered in June 1943.

Donald McDonald is shown as the father for Donald (jnr) and Violet.

It says something about the Australian treatment of names that the four children, Doris, Irene, Donald and Violet were always known as Nene, Sis, Dougal and Bub.

While we don't have any photos of the wedding, we do have a photo of the three eldest children that could have been taken at the time.16,17,1,8,13,18
Nene (Doris), Dougal (Donald) & Sis (Irene) McDonald
Image: Nene Courtie
Around 1912, Donald moved from dairy farming on Pental Island to being a butcher in Swan Hill, and for a short time around 1914, the family lived in Swan Hill.

In the 1909 electoral rolls, Donald is a dairy farmer, on his 1910 marriage registration he is a labourer, and in the 1912 electoral rolls he is for the first time shown as a butcher. In the 1912 and 1913 electoral rolls, Alice gives her residence as Pental Island, but in 1914 she is 'c/o Renkin Bros, Swan Hill'. Renkin Brothers were butchers.19,17,20,21,22,23
 
[Florence Renkin, daughter of Robert George Renkin, butcher, was born two weeks before Violet and appears with Violet's birth registration.]
 
Donald snr remained a butcher for the rest of his working life.

By September 1914, the family was living in Nyah.24
 
Swan Hill to Nyah by Ballast Train
According to Nene and Bub, the family travelled on the ballast train when they moved house from Swan Hill to Nyah. The line was being built from Swan Hill to Piangil, through Nyah West (or Nyah Rail as it was then known) around 1914. It must have been quite a sight and adventure for the four young children to have all the family's belongings piled onto a railway wagon.3,25,26
Ballast train, old S-class steam locomotive No.199, early 1900s
With Donald a butcher, meat would have been readily available, though most sold to support the family and perhaps a growing drinking habit. A treat might have been Murray Cod from the nearby Murray River, or a rabbit.

The four children attended the local school in Nyah.

We walked 3/4 mile to get to school. We sometimes took a shortcut through the swampy paddock, but snakes were a problem. [Nene Courtie]3,26

 
Entertainment for the children was based on whatever was available.

As a young girl she would paddle in the channel, catch yabbies and race horses with her twin sister and two other siblings ...

Nene tells the story of how, with Sis and their 'Auntie Beat', they once walked across Lake Boga. [Beatrice was only ten years older than her nieces Nene and Sis.]27,3
 
The children helped with the butcher shop. Bub remembers delivering the meat on her bay-coloured horse, Paddy, from Nyah to Wood Wood, about 7 km to the North.

Dad loved horses, but had an aggressive streak. I once mentioned to him that Paddy had misbehaved the previous day. He attacked Paddy so viciously, I deeply regretted saying anything. [Bub Williams]

Dad drank too much. Mum once asked me to go and get him because he'd had an accident while delivering the meat. I found the cart upside down, and Dad sore, sorry and slightly drunk. [Bub Williams]28

 
LOST from Nyah Two Bull Calves, red and white, one branded TC on rump. £1 reward. Don McDonald, Butcher, Nyah. [Mar 1918]29
 
Through a combination of drink and poor management, Donald snr lost the butcher shop, and most of the family moved to Preston.

There are unknowns relating to the family's last years in Nyah. The first relates to a report in On 'This Bend' of the River, where in May 1919:
New butcher shop at Nyahwest in Gray Street, built by AN Lewis for McDonalds of Nyah.

No family member has ever mentioned living in Nyah West, only Nyah. And the electoral rolls for 1921 show Donald in Nyah.

Another mystery relates to a photo showing 'McDonald Bros, Butchers'. Being a family photo, it would be our McDonalds. And the photographer's shadow shows an old vehicle, so the photo was not just a more recent photo of an old building. The brother would be Herbert William, as electoral rolls show him as a labourer living in Nyah West at the time. But the butcher shop was established in 1921 and in Nyah, which appears to contradict that McDonalds had a new butcher shop in Nyah West in 1919. The shop appears to have living quarters behind it, which fits with electoral rolls showing them in Nyah at the time.

A third mystery is Nyah Cafe next door, and the names 'I&D McDonald'. The initials don't match any of Donald's siblings or any other McDonald in the electoral rolls. The only I and D McDonald we know of are Irene and Doris. They would have been about 18 years old, but not yet on the electoral rolls. But no one in the family, including Nene (Doris), has ever mentioned a cafe in Nyah.30,31,32
McDonald Bros Butchers, est. 1921. Nyah Cafe, iced drinks, fruit, confectionery, I & D McDonald
Image: Rene Barnes
McDonald Bros Butchers, est. 1921. Nyah Cafe, iced drinks, fruit, confectionery, I & D McDonald
Image: Rene Barnes
A highlight on the family's social calendar was the annual Nyah picnic sports day. Held on New Years Day, the social gathering drew people from all around the region, including a large contingent from Swan Hill. A popular location was the Nyah recreation reserve on the bank of the Murray. At night, dances would be held in any available hall.

During the war, the day was used as a fundraiser for the war effort, for the Red Cross, and also to help returned wounded Nyah soldiers.

The 1916 event featured athletics and swimming. In the girls' under 14 race, the McDonald twins came first and second. Their father, Donald, was one of two judges on the day.33,34
Nyah picnic sports: McDonald girls 1st and 2nd 1916
Nene and Sis were both good runners.

In 1917 & 18 she [Nene] won the Ladies Nyah Gift when she was 13 & 14 years old. A book presentation prize has this inscription - 'Donated by JT Millen "Roseville" Swan Hill to the Nyah Red Cross Sports - January 1917 won by Miss Doris McDonald of Nyah.'

Nene said that on both occasions her prize was a book, and the following year she won a hat. When asked how Sis went, Nene replied 'She came second'.

In 1985, the local Lions Club got the sports day up and running again, and in 1990 Nene visited for old time's sake.

When here, she was given the honour of presenting the winners of the Nyah Gift and Sam Jeans Memorial race with their sash and prizes.34

 
Piano
Nene and Sis both played piano, passing their 'Primary Pianoforte' exam in December 1917 in the Kerang centre of the London School of Music:
... Doris McDonald, Nyah (Miss I Colling, ALCM); Irene McDonald, Nyah (Miss I Colling,
ALCM) ...

They passed their 'Elementary Pianoforte' exam in June 1918.35,36
 
Four McDonald Children
The occasion for this photo is not known.
Dougal (Donald Glenorchy jnr), Bub (Violet); seated: Nene (Doris) & Sis (Irene) McDonald, c. 1920
Image: Laurie & Lorraine Phillips
In September 1922, Nene was bridesmaid in Sis's marriage to Tom Phillips.
 
Doris 'Nene' McDonald, Tom & Irene 'Sis' Phillips (McDonald), Jack Phillips, Sep 1922
Image: Lesley Blythman
First Marriage and Family 
Doris May McDonald and Kenneth Malcolm Stuart were married in Nyah in 1924. They had one child.4,3
Ken Stuart, Doris 'Nene' (McDonald) Stuart, Donald 'Dougal' McDonald, Violet 'Bub' McDonald, 1924
Image: Rene Barnes
When the marriage broke down, Nene and Pauline stayed for a short time in Melbourne before moving back to Mooroopna to be closer to family.3
 
Working Life
To help make ends meet, she worked in Gribbles cafe in Shepparton, selling tea & cake, and staying with Sis at the time in Nixon St. She also worked at the Victoria Hotel waitressing. And she worked at the cannery during the canning season, then did house cleaning for the rest of the year.3,37,38,39,40
 
Second Marriage and Family 
Doris May Stuart and John Mead Courtie were married in 1938. They had two children.5
 
Jack was also a wardsman at the Mooroopna hospital [Apr 1940].41
 
Miss Rene Phillips Honored
Friends of Miss Rene Phillips tendered her a cream and green kitchen tea on Tuesday evening in the Star supper room in view of her approaching marriage to Mr Keith Barnes.

On entering, Mrs Phillips and Rene, who chose a mauve light weight woollen frock for the occasion were presented with sprays of roses by Misses Betty Pryde and Val Skelton.

Dancing was enjoyed to the music of Miss Mary Taylor and Mr Ray Stiles. Mr Kevin Newton and Mr Ray Nickolson provided solos. Mr Nickolson accompanied himself on the ukellele. He also acted as MC.

Mr Nickolson presented Miss Phillips with a table of beautiful gifts. Rene suitably responded.

At 12 o'clock Mrs TJ Phillips and her twin sister, Mrs J Courtey [sic: Courtie], were wished a happy birthday.

The evening concluded with a delicious supper and the traditional 'Auld Lang Syne.' [Apr 1951]42
 
Kittens on Graeme's shirts: Without prompting, both Nene and Bub tell this same story, so it must have been significant. For a month or so after selling the Toolamba pub, Bub and Graeme stayed with Nene and Jack. While there, a black cat had kittens on Graeme's nice white work shirts.43,44
 
Travel
In the late 60s, Jack and Nene travelled to England.

After Jack died, Nene and her sister Bub travelled to England, Austria, Germany and Venice.45
 
I'm Going to Wear Out, not Rust Out
Physical activity features prominently in Nene's life. In addition to the childhood activities described earlier, she later enjoyed dancing and cycling.3
 
Nene met Jack Courtie while dancing at the hall in Mooroopna. He would ride to Cobram, 64 km north, where he worked at Pullars orchard. Nene bought a bike too, and they rode together from Mooroopna to surrounding areas like Pine Lodge.3,46
 
When Jack Courtie died, Nene told the family that she was going to bowl. She was going to 'wear out, not rust out'. She took up bowls and was a member of the local club for many years. Appropriately, her 100th birthday celebrations were held in the Mooroopna Bowls Club clubhouse.

Doris said her secret to a long life was that she didn't put anything bad into her body, she kept active and enjoys a laugh.

While Doris has a particularly active social life, playing cards, bingo and catching up with friends, her real passion lies with her three children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.3,27

 
John Mead Courtie died in Mooroopna in 1970, aged 65.47
 
The Twins' 80th Birthday Celebration 
When twins Nene and Sis turned 80 in 1983, the family gathered to mark the occasion.
Sis Phillips (McDonald) & Nene Courtie (McDonald), 80th birthday party, Apr 1983
Reg & Laurie Phillips, Rene Barnes, Jack, Sis, Don & Brian Phillips (one of few photos with all six siblings), Amber Court, Shepparton, Apr 1983
Image: Pete & Di Phillips
Extended Phillips family at Sis & Nene's 80th birthday party, Amber Court, Shepparton, Apr 1983
Image: Peter Phillips
Violet 'Bub' Williams (McDonald), Doris 'Nene' Courtie (McDonald)
Doris May Courtie died at the Goulburn Valley hospital in Shepparton on 31 May 2003, aged 100.
 

Citations

  1. [S375] Doris May Steer, birth registration no. 8481, 4 April 1903.
  2. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Doris May McDonald entry, birth registration no. 9876, 1943.
  3. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, 10 November 2001.
  4. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Kenneth Malcolm Stuart and Doris May McDonald, marriage registration no. 8766, 1924.
  5. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, 'John Mead' Courtie and Doris May Stuart entry, marriage registration no. 14957, 1938.
  6. [S21] Lorraine Phillips, personal communication, 31 May 2003.
  7. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Irene Gladys McDonald entry, birth registration no. 9877, 1943.
  8. [S374] Irene Gladys Steer, birth registration no. 8482, 4 April 1903.
  9. [S126] Peter Phillips, personal knowledge or recollection.
  10. [S220] 'Board and lodging: Madame Morris', The Argus, 1848-1957, newspaper, Argus Office, 19 June 1909, p. 1, viewed 3 June 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10684155
  11. [S2] 'Lying-in home (1890s-1920s)', Find & Connect, online, 2020, viewed 3 June 2021 https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00650b.htm
  12. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987, p. 2.
  13. [S5] Irene Gladys McDonald, birth registration no. 9877/1943, 4 April 1903.
  14. [S281] 'Phillips Family', Facebook, webpage, Facebook Inc, group created 25 June 2011, 3 April 2012 post by Irene Barnes.
  15. [S15] Irene Barnes, personal communication, 4 December 2013.
  16. [S146] Edwardian Index Victoria 1902-1913: Indexes to births deaths and marriages in Victoria, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1997.
  17. [S53] Donald Glenorchy McDonald and Alice Euphemia Steer, marriage registration no. 4052, 12 May 1910.
  18. [S391] Violet Alice McDonald, birth registration no. 23071, 2 July 1908.
  19. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1909.
  20. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1912.
  21. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1913.
  22. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1914.
  23. [S39] 'The sheep dipping act', Swan Hill Guardian and Lake Boga Advocate, 1892-1937, newspaper, A Knox Chapman, 13 July 1914, p. 3, viewed 25 June 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87217083
  24. [S39] 'Red Cross Society: Nyah branch', Swan Hill Guardian and Lake Boga Advocate, 1892-1937, newspaper, A Knox Chapman, 28 September 1914, p. 2, viewed 25 June 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87216824
  25. [S188] On 'This Bend' of the River, Nyah district centenary committee, 1993, p. 110. This was probably around 1913-1915 because at the time railway workers camped in the Nyah area as the rail line was being built from Swan Hill to Piangil, through Nyah West (or Nyah Rail as it was then known).
  26. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 28 December 1999.
  27. [S257] 'Doris delights in 100th birthday', Shepparton News, 4 April 2003, p. 5.
  28. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 1 September 1996.
  29. [S39] '(Advertising)', Swan Hill Guardian and Lake Boga Advocate, 1892-1937, newspaper, A Knox Chapman, 4 March 1918, p. 3, viewed 3 July 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87265559
  30. [S188] On 'This Bend' of the River, Nyah district centenary committee, 1993, p. 111.
  31. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 7 July 1996.
  32. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1921.
  33. [S39] 'Nyah picnic sports', Swan Hill Guardian and Lake Boga Advocate, 1892-1937, newspaper, A Knox Chapman, 6 January 1916, p. 2, viewed 7 June 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92121872
  34. [S188] On 'This Bend' of the River, Nyah district centenary committee, 1993, pp. 68-70.
  35. [S665] 'London College of Music: Swan Hill centre', Bendigo Independent, 1862-1918, newspaper, Bendigo Independent Pty Ltd, 13 December 1917, p. 8, viewed 5 June 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219852042
  36. [S665] 'London College of Music', Bendigo Independent, 1862-1918, newspaper, Bendigo Independent Pty Ltd, 15 June 1918, p. 5, viewed 5 June 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226798140
  37. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Echuca, State division of Goulburn Valley, subdivision of Shepparton, 1934.
  38. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Echuca, State division of Goulburn Valley, subdivision of Shepparton, 1935.
  39. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Echuca, State division of Goulburn Valley, subdivision of Shepparton, 1936.
  40. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Indi, Victorian division of Goulburn Valley, subdivision of Shepparton, 1937.
  41. [S201] 'Local and personal notes', Shepparton Advertiser, 1914-1953, newspaper, Thomas Pettit and William Callender, 19 April 1940, p. 2, viewed 1 February 2023, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174612402
  42. [S201] 'Miss Rene Phillips honored', Shepparton Advertiser, 1914-1953, newspaper, Thomas Pettit and William Callender, 6 April 1951, p. 2, viewed 7 July 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170013823
  43. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 30 December 1996.
  44. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, 30 December 1996.
  45. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, interview 10 November 2001.
  46. [S2] 'A brief history', Pullar Cold Storage, online, Cobram, 2015, viewed 17 June 2021 http://ppullar.com/about-us/
  47. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, John Mead Courtie entry, death registration no. 29822, 1970.