1944 - 1949 “Booming
Babies”
(Written by Warren Maloney 2018)
The
War was largely over for the Maloneys by late 1944 as the Boys, whilst not
officially demobbed, were starting to focus on home-front desires, ambitions, and realities.
For the family, as with so many other working-class families,
World War II had started with the banner headlines and the opportunities for ADVENTURE.
We
consider that thirst for “adventure” a little strange nowadays, but the lads
had been locked into the small worlds of Carlton and Fitzroy for too long. Work,
if available, was in the monotony of the furniture and textile factories. The
family business of the Vaudeville stage and the Circus had seen its day in both
money and applause. Lots of dead-ends confronted most dreams and with those
outcomes - no money.
This Gore Street Fitzroy backyard photo of September 4th 1939 says it all as Pop, Mum, Ronnie, Bonnie and the next door neighbours excitedly and happily read the Announcement of War.
We
weren’t a family with a “fine military record”. Only Gunner Les Wilson, the “blow-in”
husband of Aunty Babe had toured in the First War – and he had got a fancy
medal from the King for running fast and bravely between the trenches.
So the 1939
newspaper headline presented Adventure, Travel and Excitement away from Gore
Street; and anyway it would all be over in a short time. We had won the last
one! We would win this one!
Ron
(rightly called “the Eldest” by his siblings) was quickly into uniform; and his
brothers 4 & 5, Rex and Keith, as well as Bonnie’s hubby, Bill Smith, were
not slow in putting on the khaki and getting their farewells at the back lounge
of the Builders’ Arms, the pub on the corner. 97 Gore Street Fitzroy was
sending the Maloney Boys and Bill Smith to stop that bloke Hitler in his
tracks.
Having enthusiastically seen them off, their Mum,
Ruby, joined up with other patriotic mothers and penned poetry and letters to
encourage all to get behind the cause. Indeed Ruby won a newspaper prize for
her 1941 poem “To our A.I.F Heroes”, which began –
Far away in Egypt
Wait our gallant sons so true –
My sons and other Mothers’ sons
From the land of the kangaroo.
Now they are in battle
And they will never cry for peace –
God knows what will happen
When they meet the German beast
As
can be expected, the Maloney boys did have adventures and did have different Wars.
The eldest, Ronnie, aged 33 to 38 years, could not
wait for action and saw plenty of it with some very scary moments in Egypt,
Crete and New Guinea. In between there were camels to ride, pyramids to climb
and ancient ruins to tick-off the bucket list.
Rex, aged 23 to 28 years, was a little more
entrepreneurial and mysteriously acquired the rank of Sergeant when he helped
to found the “A.I.F News” in Palestine – he was the main driver of its Arab
business sales revenue and troop distribution. After getting close to the
action at El Alamein, he transferred to the A.I.F. Headquarters Concert Party,
utilising his comic and juggling skills over the next 2 years, to entertain the
mates from Cairo to Townsville to Port Moresby.
Bill
Smith was the quiet achiever and quiet enlister - he didn’t tell his wife of four
years, Bonnie, until after he had signed the forms. Being a Pom by birth, the “need
to go” had an added incentive for him. Aged 27 to 32 years, he added a tough
time in Borneo to his Middle East experiences and talked little about his
“adventures”. But, apart from a certain episode involving a truckload of U.S.
Army cigarettes, he toed the line and lived up to Ruby’s poetic thoughts.
Keith,
the youngest, enlisted as soon as he turned 18 and found his adventures,
starting with the Field Ambulance units around Milne Bay and the relentless mud
of New Guinea. By late 1943, older brother, Rex, had located him and encouraged
a military career change to the AIF Concert Party and the safer routines there.
The
other half of the family brood, Roy and Ray, had not been subject to the
patriotic zeal at Gore Street. They had lived with the Grandmothers and the Aunts
in Lygon Street during the Depression years. They were less keen to join up;
but when conscription looked likely, Ray, aged 28 years, signed the form.
However, Ray’s head was more into his sports of
football, basketball and tennis and within a short time of monotonous base camp
at Mount Martha, he went absent without leave and headed back to Lygon Street.
Added to this “head decision”, his heart also took over that year and he was
the first of the brothers to marry, which he and Doris Bradley, the factory
forelady, did during that unofficial leave time.
But
by late 1942, the War Effort caught up with the life Ray was wanting, so he
re-enlisted and went off to build the supply roads (and to play poker) up in
the Northern Territory.
Roy Maloney, the second oldest, was the enigma. Roy was always the enigma.
Despite his outstanding sporting successes, good looks
and previous militia training, he was rejected on undisclosed “health grounds”
and, aged 31 to 36 years, spent the War in the Maribyrnong Munition factories,
playing mid-week footy and sun-bathing at Middle Park Sea Baths. Perhaps they
decided that Roy was just too different, or maybe he was just lucky.
So it was that in late 1944 that all of the above “adventures”
began to unravel and the Boys started to return home.
Indeed, Ruby had moved from her early patriotic zeal
to now writing directly to the Prime Minister, saying: “Enough is enough. It is time for my sons to return home.” Surprisingly,
the Army agreed with her and the Eldest, Ron, was re-assigned to Melbourne. As
you can imagine, the forsaking of the “adventure” was not desired or easy for Ron.
He was not finished. But his life was changing anyhow. In February 1944, he
became the second brother to marry. He and Mary Corbin, the daughter of a local
Lygon Street fruiterer, now had to look for new adventures.
As did Bill Smith returning to Bonnie, and Ray
returning to Doris. The family and personal adjustments in that second half of
1944 seemed to have worked. The World was starting to look a little rosier and home
focused; and so the babies started to boom forth in the first half of 1945 –
Ronda Ramona Smith in February, Gary Ronald Maloney (Testro) in March and Denise Joy Maloney in July.
Whilst Roy, of course, resisted all attempts by the
family to consider marriage, the youngest, Keith, fell for a blonde Sydney "Nightingale", Jean Byatt, and together they began a new adventure – a return to
the family love of Circus.
Four months later over in the West, the
entrepreneurial brother, Rex, spun his web of verbal magic around another
theatrical songbird princess, Joan Blake Saunders.
The Maloney siblings simply reflected that time
immediately post-war – a time of new or delayed careers mixed with thirsts for
money, children and family togetherness.
Rex Maloney (now Testro), ever "the Linker", ever the “big picture” man, wasted
no time in enticing the emerging journalist, Ron, the circus kids, Keith and
Jean, and the reliable “behind the scenes” Bill Smith, as well as Joan’s famous but
hard-drinking mum, Maggie Buckley, into the re-invented family tradition, the Pantomime circuit performances of Testro Theatres Pty. Ltd. Together they
toured the Town Halls with a mixture of children’s pantomime favourites, new
versions of old vaudeville juggling and comedy routines, and three reliable
songbirds (Joan & Jean & Maggie) to open, restart and close the shows. "Most of it was worked out on
the night".
Ray Maloney, as usual, did his thing away from the other brothers,
experimenting unsuccessfully with Hosiery Manufacture and Bookmaking, before
finally accepting the peaceful but financially unrewarding life of a factory
employee.
Roy Maloney played for all sides. He not only refused Brides.
He also refused full-time employment, and focused instead on the occasional job,
the occasional family handout, and the continuous lures of Sunbathing and
relentless critical commentary of the others.
Throughout all this, the BABIES CONTINUED TO BOOM.
Ron
added a second, Joanne Mary Testro, in 1947. Ray doubled up with Warren Bradley Maloney in 1948
and Rex and Keith got started with Alexandra Jane Testro and Wayne Kingsley Testro by early
1949. The pre-war generation of 6 had now added 7 of their own in four post-war
years and they were not finished.
But there did need to be a quintessential FAMILY CELEBRATION MOMENT for the “New”, and it was created, directed and performed in February
1949.
Rex issued the order that all were to be present to
celebrate the baptism of his first, “the Princess” Alexandra. Minor details
such as having no money and no location were to be sorted by the Executive Producer,
Joan – and she did.
Their next door neighbours in Inkerman Street St Kilda
operated an extra business by night in their adjacent very large flat, a Brothel. The neighbours, Paul and Sony St Louis, were most generous in agreeing
to have the family take-over the flat for a baptismal “knees-up” – provided
everyone was out by 5pm when “the regulars would be arriving”.
“Not a problem”, said the Director. The Sunday baptism
was moved forward by an hour – the Brothers’ Wives agreed to bring more than a
plate or two – the Brothers found ways around the rationing to produce a couple
of kegs of beer – Joan, Jean and Maggie rehearsed some songs – Ron organised a Press
Photographer for the obligatory group photo – outfits were cleaned and pressed
– cots and bassinets (Alexandra, Warren and Wayne) were borrowed – and a great
celebration of family post-war success was held before 5pm that Sunday afternoon
in Sony’s Brothel.
No-one knew what the next decades would bring. It was
a family time of “living in the moment” and letting the next adventures come
what may!
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