DEIRDRE KATHLEEN BAKER
(Née DANIEL, 10 June 1935)
Written for the Johnston Lello family reunion February 2005, Beaconsfield, Tasmania
WHO AM I?
I am descended from Elizabeth Johnston and Thomas Henry Lello, through their eldest daughter Eleanora (Nell) Lello, born 12 February 1901. She met and married my father Frederick Trevor Daniel in Sydney in 1932. I was the second of her five children, born in England. Dad loved Australia but after having taken his new bride to England, remained there contributing to the war effort as an Engineer. We never knew our Australian Lello grandparents, but my mother often talked about them and later wrote her memoir, which my sister Gwyneth published as “A Tasmanian Girlhood”.
We were all brought up to consider ourselves ‘half digger’ and felt isolated from our wider family ‘Down-under’. Our favourite books were sent to us from Tasmanian relatives – we loved the koala but the Tasmanian tiger and devil made us shiver with fear. The children became five, Rhyllis, twins Deirdre and Brenda, Gwyneth and Geoffrey. We lived in the English midlands during World War II, but moved to Norwich in 1946.
This photo dates from ‘47 (Deirdre on left). Of the five children, four survive (Brenda died of cancer at 43 yrs), Rhyllis and Gwyn remaining in England, Deirdre in Australia and Geoffrey in the USA. My generation totals 13: Rhyllis (now known as Eleanor) has 3, Deirdre 3, Gwyneth 4, Geoffrey 3.
WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?
I went to university in 1953, and studied French and Spanish, as did Brenda and Ryllis. Not surprisingly I ended up teaching French in Melbourne for some 15 years. I married Alec in 1960 and our three children were born in ’62, ’64 and ’68. Our family now is: Janice and her husband Mark (Lucas), who have Sophie, 2, and Grace, 7 mths); Richard and his wife Sally (Royal) have adopted Pannara, 5, and Lily, 1; Damaris (marrying Dave Ashton on 6th March) has Lauren, 8 1/2 yrs .
Alec’s only link with Australia was that his father had fought at Gallipolli. But in 1972 he was asked to work in Melbourne as a management consultant, so we were in Melbourne and Sydney from 1972-75, visiting Tas and many other places. By 1976 we chose to return to Melbourne, where our children all completed their school and uni studies. Nell visited us with Trev, and after his death, came out to Melbourne, having lived in England for 50 years. She died in 1991 at the age of 90.
As Christians, we have always been involved with our local churches wherever we were and have enjoyed many good friendships, home groups, bible studies, camps etc. In the 1980s I studied part time for a theology degree (BD) and in 1993, God led us both in a different direction – we trained and went to the Middle East with CMS Australia. Based in Cyprus and Cairo for seven years, we worked with Arab Christians in TV and print media, and continue to be in touch with them. That was such an amazing and worthwhile time for us, opening our eyes to another part of the world, with Middle Eastern and Greek ancient cultures.
Retirement came in 2000, but we were back just in time for the new millenium celebrations by the Yarra river. As our house in Melbourne had been sold in 1993, we based ourselves at Aireys Inlet/Fairhaven on the Great Ocean Road. We had built our house here after the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire. However, with three families, including five grand daughters, all living quite close together in the Northcote/Thornbury area, we travel up to Melbourne often (having bought a little unit there). We feel part of two parishes, our little local one and our old parish of Kew in Melbourne, in addition to involvement with CMS and many overseas Christians. We love the beauty of this area, its wonderful environment and wild life, and being in a ‘village’ of about one thousand people.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE DOING?
Travelling, especially in Europe. I love books, good films and TV programmess. Music, most kinds, but not modern. I also like to knit, sew and garden (our windswept site means doing battle with the elements). I continue to do some editing and French translation for our Cairo friends. I also do photos – I have quite a large photo gallery on our PC. We also love seeing our children and grandchildren, offering hospitality and visiting. And for the sake of our health, we walk on the beach and go to our exercise class. Quite enough to keep us busy and happy.
We have decided to make this visit to Tas specially to catch up with family and friends, and of course to see more of Tasmania’s beauties. Include yourselves, of course…