I would like to acknowledge the life and times of a true heroine.
The twilight of the roaring thirties sees an attractive young lady having experienced life during the depression….. trolling through life after a forced early separation from her family as a little girl and “typically” was raised in an abusive environment.
During her Duty to her country with the ADF ….. she falls heavily for a boy, also in uniform, and is lured toward a transition to another culture ….. In the mix, somehow, along with religious influences, she raises a family and begins to create refuge in a foreign, primitive country, which sometimes has a violent social behaviour. Having inherited determination from her Celtic aristocratic, warrior like ancestry, she forged ahead for a few short years until she is finally able to enjoy an affluent colonial lifestyle. While mixing with international embassy personnel, as her husband builds a successful and thriving shipping company, the dice turns again and she loses everything as the country is overthrown by a violent coup d’état, which only this year, 2014, is showing some signs of democracy.
Having survived the exploding skirmishes erupting around her, she endures a traumatic escape to her original country, as is documented in the movie “The Year Of Living Dangerously”, then struggles through the prejudice-tic “White Australia Policy” as she manages to return 80% of her immediate family to her birthplace. Her husband who had transferred the ADF on allied ships to Kokoda and the like, while serving in the Australian allied forces during WW2, was now discriminated against and not allowed back into Australia.
She was then left to raise her young family by herself. She set out in search of employment in the rag trade as an ironing lady then progressed to gain credentials as a seamstress. A number of hard years passed as she successfully settled in a caring community. Without any understanding of her struggle and eventual achievements …… She is then unfairly beckoned to return to care for her ailing mothers demise. Yes… the mother that was forced to let her go when she was a little girl during the depression.
She is approaching the years when most would enjoy retirement and this is the third time in her life that her only choice leads to loosing everything she has managed to put together.
After showing the Australian Immigration Department a photo of her husband fully interacting and entrenched in a post war soccer club, her persistence forces the department to concede and allow his entry. By this stage in time, her mother passes away, and her husband who is now on in years, also passes away soon after.
Her troubles do not end there. Further life tribulations arise as she struggles to understand the behaviour of her troubled children and grandchildren as they in turn troll through the legacy of the past traumas.
Looking at her past, confusion reigned in her stormy life but she soldiered on with dignity like a true Celtic warrior while her memory fades and as dementia now takes hold. It is good that these memories no-longer trouble her. I am confident that her defiant attitude and the ability to see it through is now a trait in all her offspring and descendants alike, which will allow them all to make the difference in their endeavours.
Her name is Elsie Lillian Archdeacon Luntungan and I invite all who know her to come and acknowledge her ninety years of existence at an afternoon tea on Saturday, September the 13th 2014, at the home of Tom and Catherine Sargent situated in the Sydney suburb of Earlwood.
I am pleased to say, with pride, that this heroine is my mother.
I love you mum.
