The Macallisters

Marian

Well it's happened. I can't tell you about my life without telling you about the people around me. In my early life the most important people to me was my immediate family. So here is a little about them.

This photo was taken on 24th October, 1970 at Doug and Kathy Macallister's wedding. For some reason, Dad and Robyn weren't in this photo, but Graeme and Greg are centre bottom row and Colin is second from the left next to Grandfather, who was called John Ferguson Hopeton Macallister.. A grand name for a grand patriarch of a grand family.

As stories come to mind about family members I will add them to their profile below. Visit this page regularly to keep updated.

Douglas Ross Macallister

Dad

My Dad joined the second world war when he was only 16. He was a very proud Australian who followed he war effort with Citizen's Military Forces. He went away to camp regularly and when he returned he always brought back a jar of woofle dust! It was a powerful fix-all which he would sprinkle over us when we were down... it did the trick, even though it was thin air!!!

Dad was a great story-teller. In my younger years I'm sure I was read to but bedtime was always storytime with Dad.

Dad was big on education and after work each day he would test all 6 of us on tables and spelling words or history or science.

Dad was very spiritual. He told me he was going to be a presbyterian minister until he changed his mind during the war years. He encouraged my faith from an early age and we often had special moments in the garage (where I studied) talking about God and his infinite wisdom and grandeur. Dad was an elder at St Mark's Concord, our local church. He also ran pathfinders.

Dad was a heavy smoker and enjoyed a drink but I ionly ever once saw him drunk and that was on Anzac Day when I was fourteen.

Dad was very proud of his family also his grandchildren.

Douglas Ross Macallister

Doug was the eldest in the family and perhaps too the most adventurous. He was always a rough and tumble player in games and seemed to get into trouble a lot at school. With that said, he was quite bright at school but couldn't wait to leave school as soon as he got his Intermediate Certificate.
The Carmens lived next door.Warnie was the old Grandmother and the children were all working age. Every morning before school, Doug would run around the corner shop and buy two Bex powders for Warnie. One day, someone caught him shoplifting a lolly from the shop and told Mum even before Doug got home. He was marched back to the shop and made to hand over the lolly and apologise.
When Doug left school he got a job as a clerk with the Water Board.... or was it the Electricity Commission.
He married Kathy on her 21st birthday and they bought a house in Kingswood. They had three children, Nathan, Ben and Kelly.
There was much shock and sadness when in 1986, Doug was killed on his way to work, leaving Kathy to bring up three children under twelve. Kathy has done a marvellous job and all three now have families of their own. It is a joy to link with them all on FaceBook and follow their lives.
Kathy and Ben still live at Kingswood, but Nathan, Kelly and their families are country folk now.

Robyn Kay Macallister

Robyn is my younger sister. She always liked school and enjoyed her drum majorettes.
She was quite pretty and was selected as a flower girl for Dad's lodge's debutant e ball. By the time we were old enough to be debs, that was the last thing either of us wanted to do.
Robyn was good at schoolwork too and enjoyed school life. She left school after the School Certificate and went to work in the bank.
She married Tom Booler, Doug's wife's brother, when she was nineteen and had four children. Although Robyn didn't work after she married she was a great mum andmodel for her kids who learnt to love learning and reading as much as she did.
Rob later went to uni and got a job with the Dept of Housing, a job which she loves to hate!
She now lives with Dayna in a beautiful home near Camden. The extended family seems to be ever growing as Roby is now a grandma 5 times over.

Graeme Malcolm Macallister

Graeme was the odd man out in our family but he has had a varied and most interesting life. Graeme left school at fifteen and went into the bank. He never married but became engrossed in the family's Scottish heritage.

Gwen Emelie Macallister

Mum

Mum was a loving wife and Mother who worked hard in the house all her married life. She was very beautiful as a young woman and I remember Dad telling me once she was a real catch in his time.

With six kids, Mum's daily routine of making beds, washing and ironing and washing the linoleum all worked like clockwork. After school she was always cooking dinner (tea) in the kitchen. Both Mum and Dad were tea drinkers and the art of the after dinner cuppa was quite a ritual which we were allowed to join as soon as we hit high school.

Mum had very special rules at the table. Quiet when you're eating. Don't play with your cutlery. Ask politely if you need something. You can't leave the table until all your food is finished. Many times I remember dry reaching, as I tried to swallow cold brussel sprouts or cauliflower!

I remember once, when Colin was using his knife and fork and drum sticks on the table, Mum told him once to stop and then slapped him with a knife she was holding... unfortunately as he pulled away he was slashed and needed stitches.

Mum used to make the best Baked Dinners. I remember we always bought hogget from the butchers because it was bigger and cheaper, but her roasts were always succulent and very tasty. Comming home from church each Sunday we would be met with a set table and the best smells from the kitchen. My friend Margaret Murray would often come home with us from church just so she could join our baked dinner Sunday lunches.

Marian Gwen Macallister

Being the "perfect child" I can't remember ever doing anything too naughty... but I must have been naughty because I remember "THE STRAP"! If any fights happened after school we were all sent to our bedroom to wait for Dad to arrive home. Dad would lift the shaving strap from behind the bathroom door. It was thick 15cm wide leather strap about a metre long. Dad would enter the bedroom, give us a short lecture on not upsetting "your mother" and tell use to lie across the bed. The statement was always the same.... Sis, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you... and this was followed by 2 or 3 sharp cuts across the bottom, which often left welts. The idea of child abuse was not around in these days and even now I don't regard we were abused... only punished for bad behaviour. However worst was yet to come. About half an hour later I was called to the kitchen and asked that feared question.... "Now tell me, Marian, why did I have to punish you?" And I had to go on and on until he was satisfied fully. I loved my Dad so much.
I had jobs before and after school. Making sandwiches for all the kids came later but it was clearly in my mnd. Six kids by six slices all laid out on the table kitchen table. Butter them all. Devon or Vegemite or peanut butter or plum jam on every second one. Tomato sauce on the devon. Cover them over. Stack three sandwiches in piles and cut them in half. Wrap six in greaseproof paper and place in a paper bag. Hand to each child as they left for school.
In the afternoons I had to shell the peas (all fresh in pods in those days) or peel potatoes or string and cut the beans for dinner which was a staple meat (usually sausages), three veg and gravy.

Colin Bruce Macallister

Colin was born an athlete. He excelled at whatever sport he touched but his chosen sport was Soccer in which he was a first grade player and was the Player of the Tournament in the U/16's National Championships.. He was always the joker in the family... and he always stirred his younger brothers which ended invariably in fights... This usually happened when Mum and Dad were out.

Col married Helen Cahill from "up the street" and bought a home in Avalon. They both went into education. They had two children Dylan and Cassie. Dylan followed his father in football but became a professional.

Gregory

Neil Macallister

Greg and Carol met on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean. Of course, she lived in Ballarat and he lived in Sydney and therein laid the beginning of a love story which is perhaps the best in our family. Greg drove to the Victorian border each weekend and Carol drove up to meet him! Ah! They eventually married in 1986 and Greg gave up his Sydney life and moved to Ballarat. They have three Children... Amy, Maddie and Joel and two grandchildren as well.

After a lifetime of teaching and nearing retirement, they picked up sticks and moved to the other side of Australia to live near their growing family in Townsville, in North Queensland!