Alice McDonald (Steer)
Image: Rene Barnes
FatherPhilip Steer b. 2 Jul 1855, d. 11 Aug 1937
MotherEuphemia Forrest b. 1859, d. 13 Mar 1914
Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

Alice Euphemia Steer was born on 17 August 1880 in Dinyarrak, Victoria.1 
She married Donald Glenorchy McDonald, son of Archibald McDonald and Lucy Turner Campbell, on 12 May 1910 in Swan Hill, Victoria.2 
She died on 18 September 1957 in Forbes, New South Wales, at age 77.3,4 

Family 1
Child

Family 2

Donald Glenorchy McDonald b. 6 Mar 1878, d. 12 May 1953
Children
ChartsCampbell, John, descendant chart
McDonald, Archibald, descendant chart
McDonald, Irene, pedigree chart
Steer, Edward, descendant chart

Story

Alice was born in Dinyarrak near the Victoria-South Australia border. She was ten when the family moved to Lake Boga. At 18, she had a child in Echuca. Four years later, she started her family of four with Donald McDonald, whom she married when the twins were about seven. The family moved from Swan Hill to Nyah where the children grew up. Alice moved to Preston where her son Dougal ran a butcher shop with a little help from Donald senior. She then helped her daughter Bub in the Cricketer's Arms hotel in Mooroopna, and later the Junction Hotel in Toolamba. She died age 77 while on holiday through central New South Wales.
 
Alice Euphemia was born in Dinyarrak in western Victoria on 17 August 1880. She was the oldest child of Euphemia and Philip.

Dinyarrak is about 10 km north-west of Lillimur and 6.5 km east of the border with South Australia.1
 
Early Life
Alice was the oldest of six children. Only four reached adulthood and she would have witnessed the deaths of her three year old sister Helen and three month old brother Robert.

She most likely attended school in Lillimur.
 
Wagon Trip to Lake Boga
Whether to leave behind the tragic deaths of the two young children, or with the hope of better farming prospects elsewhere, Philip and Euphemia decided to move from near Lillimur to Lake Boga. They moved between August 1890 (when Bert was born) and April 1892 (when we have a newspaper report of Philip in Lake Boga).
Lost, Stolen or Strayed
£1 Reward - Lost from Lake Boga about the middle of April, 1 bay pony gelding, blotch brand near shoulder, black points, wild and hard to catch, about 14 hands high, shod, last seen at Mystic Park. The above reward will be paid to anyone delivering same to Mr P Steer, or J O'Donnell, Lake Boga.5

 
The three children were loaded into horse-drawn wagons; Alice would have been about eleven, Maggie about eight and Bert one.6
 
Family Life in Lake Boga
When the family first moved to Lake Boga, Philip built a four-roomed cottage on their ten acre property. This is where youngest child Beatrice ('Beat') was born. The cottage was to be the family home for the next 15 years, and so is where the children did most of their growing up. They all attended school in Lake Boga.

In her late teens, eldest child Alice left the family home in Lake Boga and headed towards Echuca.

Having farmed in South Australia, around Langhorne Creek and Wolseley, then Victoria near Lillimur, when they moved to Lake Boga, Philip initially farmed there on their ten acre property.7,8
'Grandfather harvesting wheat' (Philip Steer, possibly man standing left of wheat bags), Lake Boga
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Food consisted of whatever was available at the time, and was quite dependant on the weather and economic conditions. The Federation drought of 1902 and the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 30s were particularly tough times. On a good day it might be lamb that was part of Philip's pay, or Murray cod caught in the nearby Little Murray river. At other times, they might catch a rabbit or two to eat. The water in the nearby lakes was of poor quality, usually too salty. This would cause fruit crops to fail in some years and was known to wipe out whole seasons of many different vegetables. In leaner times, they would have to live on potatoes and onions.

In the big drought of 1902 times were very hard, Grandfather [Philip] found work at a big Station called Murray Downs. Once a fortnight he would walk the 10-12 miles home carrying half a sheep on his back, this was part of his pay. Most of the time they lived on potatoes and onions. [Memories of Beatrice Lee]9,10

'Fishing at Murrabit' (Philip Steer, possibly right)
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Rupert George Steer
Around Christmas 1898, the 18 year old Alice fell pregnant. Rupert George Steer was born the following year in Echuca East. He was brought up by a friend, Christine McBride, and died aged eight of heart failure.11,12
 
Twins Born in Brunswick 
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.13,14,15
 
A lying-in home was a private home or hospital where mothers could give birth with the help of a midwife.16
 
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.9
 
It is not known where Donald and Alice met, but they soon set up home on Pental Island. This was near Lake Boga where Alice's family lived and Swan Hill where Donald's family lived. The couple were share dairy farming there, and Alice 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.9

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.9
 
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).10
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
Marriage and Family 
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.17,2,14,15,18,19
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.20,2,21,22,23,24
 
[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.25
 
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.10,26,27
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]10,27

 
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.]28,10
 
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]29

 
LOST from Nyah Two Bull Calves, red and white, one branded TC on rump. £1 reward. Don McDonald, Butcher, Nyah. [Mar 1918]30
 
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.31,3,32
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

 
Death of Albert
In 1918, Philip, Alice, Margaret and Beatrice received the news that their son and brother Albert died while on active service.
 
DEATH - On Active Service
STEER - Killed in action on 8th August, 1918, in France, Private AE (Bert) Steer, only son of Mr Philip Steer, of Lake Boga, and brother to Mrs D McDonald, Nyah; Mrs W Cook, Lake Boga, and Mrs H Lee, Lake Boga. Aged 29 years.
    Though absent from among us, Bert,
     You are always in our thoughts;
    And those you left behind you
     Most keenly feel your loss.35
 
"Half Mast."
Private Albert Edward Steer, of C Company 60th Battalion, has been reported killed in action, in France, after having been in the firing line for only three months. His widow and three fine little boys reside in New street, Dandenong. Private Steer was an only son, of magnificent physique, and 29 years of age. His father and mother are living at Lake Bolac [sic: Lake Boga], while Mrs Steer's parents are Mr and Mrs Kennedy, of King street, Dandenong. His last letter was full of hope for a safe return home.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
Family Gathering
This photo was taken at Murrabit, likely Maggie and Will's place at the time, around 1921.
Front: Alice McDonald (Steer), Maggie Cook (Steer), Bill (Philip) Lee, Philip Steer; others unknown; Murrabit (north of Kerang)
Family Life in Preston 
In the early 1920s, Donald snr, Alice, Dougal and Bub moved to Preston where Dougal was a butcher. Nene (Doris) had married Ken Stuart in Nyah then moved to Melbourne. Sis (Irene) had married Tom Phillips and moved to Shepparton.

By 1924, Donald snr and Alice were at 182 Bell St, Preston. In 1925, Alice is shown in the electoral roll at the same address, but Donald snr is not. Neither Donald nor Alice have been found in the 1926 and 1927 electoral rolls, but by 1928 they are both back in Preston, now at 60 Austral Avenue.37,38,39
 
The butcher shop was one of two shops on the south-west corner of Bell St and Austral Ave. A greengrocer was right on the corner with the butcher shop next door. The house ran across the back of both shops with the back yard opening almost opposite 60 Austral Ave.40,41
Don McDonald, Preston, c. 1944
Image: Rene Barnes
Don McDonald, Preston, c. 1944
Image: Rene Barnes
Neither Donald nor Alice have been found on electoral rolls between 1930 and 1935. Nene once said that during the Depression (early 1930s), her mum ironed and her dad worked in the Mallee somewhere. And Bub said that her father once worked at Murray Downs station, just over the New South Wales border from Swan Hill. This fits well with the absences from the Preston electoral roll.42,43,10,44,3
 
Donald snr worked in the butcher shop, though he was not that helpful. He was a soft touch, and when a down-and-outer came to the shop for a hand-out, he was known to give expensive eye fillet. He would also sit out the front of the shop with young 'friends' and drink and tell stories.3
 
Donald senior was shot at in Preston in July 1932.45
Image: The Advertiser (Hurstbridge)
From 1936, Donald snr and Alice were living in Austral Avenue.42,43
 
In 1940, when her daughter Sis Phillips had a major lung operation, the family rallied around to help. Alice went to Shepparton to help look after the three youngest children, Rene, Don & Brian.46
 
Following her lung operation, Sis had holidays to Nauru and Tasmania with Alice.47,48
Sis Phillips (McDonald, deckchair right), probably Alice McDonald (Steer, deckchair behind Sis), Nauru holiday, c. 1950s
Image: Laurie & Lorraine Phillips
In 1940, Bub left Frank in Mooroopna, and she and six-year-old Graeme then lived with her brother Dougal and parents Donald snr and Alice in Preston. It is reported that when Bub left Frank, she went to Melbourne for a holiday and just didn't return.

Initially they lived at the back of Dougal's butcher shop. Later Bub rented 60 Austral Ave nearby.

Cousins Graeme and Don went to school together at Bell Primary school. Graeme was there for one or two years.46,44,27,49
 
In late 1941, Bub and Graeme returned to Mooroopna, to the Cricketer's Arms hotel, and Alice soon followed.
 
Life at the Cricketer's Arms Hotel
Alice's sister Beatrice and her two youngest children, Frank and Margaret moved from Lake Boga to Mooroopna and also lived at the hotel.46,50
 
Bub had Alice help run the hotel, and Beatrice became one of two cooks, the other being Ma Hawking.

Beatrice enjoyed the peacefulness of a room with her two children.

Frank, Margaret and Graeme started school in Mooroopna. Graeme attended the Mooroopna State school.44,3,6,51
 
The lease and licence for the Cricketer's Arms hotel expired late 1944. Bub, Alice and Graeme lived with Nene or Pauline for a short time before Bub and Graeme moved to the Hotel Australia in Shepparton.52,27,44
 
Bub and Graeme returned to Pauline's briefly after finishing at the Hotel Australia in late 1945.

In early 1946, Bub, Graeme and Alice moved to the Junction Hotel in Toolamba.
 
Life at the Junction Hotel Toolamba
Graeme was there early when attending Shepparton High School. And he was there later after doing tertiary studies, then briefly working in Melbourne.44
 
WOMAN RUNS PUB; RULES FOOTBALL
MELBOURNE. — The Victorian hamlet of Toolamba has a woman hotel licensee who is also the president and coach of the district Australian Rules football eighteen, and the town's unofficial policeman.

She is Mrs Violet Williams, 41, of Toolamba, 103 miles from Melbourne.

Mrs Williams said she had taken over the presidency of the Toolamba-Goulburn Valley football team because it needed a 'strong hand' to control it.

She is also unofficial coach of the team.

Mrs Williams supervises the massage and health of the players.

Toolamba team has improved its premiership position since Mrs Williams took over the presidency and coaching of the team.

SON A FORWARD
Mrs Williams has a 15-year-old son who is a forward in the team.
He told a reporter that he didn't see eye to eye with his mother, 'who dabbled in football.'

SHE SETTLES IT
Toolamba residents say that when there's a fight or argument in Toolamba, Mrs Williams is called in to settle it.

After football matches Mrs Williams takes her team to the hotel.

Mrs Williams' 60-year-old mother is one of the team's strongest supporters. [Sep 1949]53,54,55
Woman runs her own football team (Bub Williams) 1949
Apart from brief periods with Pauline, Alice lived with Bub until her death in 1957.46
 
Alice Euphemia McDonald died of heart failure at Forbes District Hospital in New South Wales on 18 September 1957, aged 77. She died while on holiday through New South Wales. She was buried in the Presbyterian section at the Shepparton public cemetery on 20 September.4
 

Citations

  1. [S362] Alice Euphemia Steer, birth registration no. 15067, 17 August 1880.
  2. [S53] Donald Glenorchy McDonald and Alice Euphemia Steer, marriage registration no. 4052, 12 May 1910.
  3. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 7 July 1996.
  4. [S379] Alice Euphemia McDonald, death registration no. 1957/024623, 18 September 1957.
  5. [S399] 'Lost, stolen or strayed', Kerang Times and Swan Hill Gazette, 1877-1889, newspaper, Harcourt & Co, 20 June 1893, p. 3, viewed 17 July 2022, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222524867
  6. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987.
  7. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987, p. 1.
  8. [S361] Beatrice Maud Steer, birth registration no. 26902, 12 July 1893.
  9. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987, p. 2.
  10. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, 10 November 2001.
  11. [S352] Rupert George Steer, birth registration no. 18206, 7 September 1899.
  12. [S353] Rupert George Steer, death registration no. 5193, 15 May 1908.
  13. [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
  14. [S375] Doris May Steer, birth registration no. 8481, 4 April 1903.
  15. [S374] Irene Gladys Steer, birth registration no. 8482, 4 April 1903.
  16. [S2] 'Lying-in home (1890s-1920s)', Find & Connect, online, 2020, viewed 3 June 2021 https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00650b.htm
  17. [S146] Edwardian Index Victoria 1902-1913: Indexes to births deaths and marriages in Victoria, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1997.
  18. [S5] Irene Gladys McDonald, birth registration no. 9877/1943, 4 April 1903.
  19. [S391] Violet Alice McDonald, birth registration no. 23071, 2 July 1908.
  20. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1909.
  21. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1912.
  22. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1913.
  23. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Swan Hill, 1914.
  24. [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
  25. [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
  26. [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).
  27. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 28 December 1999.
  28. [S257] 'Doris delights in 100th birthday', Shepparton News, 4 April 2003, p. 5.
  29. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 1 September 1996.
  30. [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
  31. [S188] On 'This Bend' of the River, Nyah district centenary committee, 1993, p. 111.
  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. [S39] 'Death on active service', Swan Hill Guardian and Lake Boga Advocate, 1892-1937, newspaper, A Knox Chapman, 5 September 1918, p. 2, viewed 17 June 2021, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87265877
  36. [S390] 'Half mast', Dandenong Advertiser, newspaper, 5 September 1818, p. 2, viewed 7 September 2017, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88818842
  37. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Batman, Victorian division of Jika Jika, subdivision of Preston, 1924.
  38. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Batman, Victorian division of Jika Jika, subdivision of Preston, 1925.
  39. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Batman, subdivision of Preston, 1928.
  40. [S32] Laurie Phillips, personal communication, 27 July 2019.
  41. [S265] Graeme Williams, personal communication, 28 July 2019.
  42. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Batman, Victorian division of Hidelberg, subdivision of Preston, 1936.
  43. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Batman, Victorian division of Heidelberg, subdivision of Preston, 1937.
  44. [S265] Graeme Williams, personal communication, 31 January 2013.
  45. [S258] 'Shot fired at butcher', The Advertiser (Hurstbridge), newspaper, GP Armstrong, 29 July 1932.
  46. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 28 September 1996.
  47. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, 30 December 1996.
  48. [S32] Laurie Phillips, personal communication, 28 September 1996.
  49. [S21] Lorraine Phillips, personal communication, 17 December 2012.
  50. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987, p. 11.
  51. [S563] Salt of the Earth: Inspirational stories of Mooroopna & Ardmona women, Mooroopna Education & Activity Centre, 2016, pp. 51-54.
  52. [S220] 'Hotel licences', The Argus, 1848-1957, newspaper, Argus Office, 4 November 1941, p. 3, viewed 9 June 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8214590
  53. [S203] 'Woman runs pub; rules football', Evening Advocate, 1941-1954, newspaper, 2 September 1949, p. 7, viewed 18 July 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213971948
  54. [S699] Ron Testro, 'Woman runs her own football team', The Australasian Post, 1946-1996, newspaper, Argus and Australasian Limited, 18 August 1949, p.5, viewed 6 March 2020.
  55. [S1] There were similar stories in the Western Mail (Perth WA 1949), Weekly Times (Melbourne Vic 1949), Queensland Times (Ipswitch 1950), Cairns Post (Qld 1950), Lithgow Mercury (NSW 1950), Northern Star (Lismore NSW 1950), and Pioneer (Yorketown, SA 1952).