Part 1 - The Cooberang Years (1928 to 1941)

Our Mum, Gwendoline Irene O’Brien, was born in Junee on 18 April 1928. Or was she? Certainly up until she was 53, we all believed that to be the case – Mum included. But in 1981, Anne asked Mum to travel with her to Noumea. Mum had never needed a passport before, as this was to be her first overseas trip. Excitement turned to confusion when Mum applied for her birth certificate only to discover that her official birthday was actually 17 of April, not the 18th. On discovering this, there was a level of disappointment as she realised that she was a day older than she’d always thought!

There are a couple of interesting things to note on Mum’s birth certificate. First, Mum had always said that she believed that her Dad had mistakenly recorded the day as the 17th when he registered her birth sometime later. But it was her Mum that recorded the birth, as you can see under the ‘Informant’ column on the birth certificate above, dated almost 1 month after Mum’s birth.

And it’s a sign of the times that only the Father had to have an ‘occupation’ recorded.

There’s also an interesting side story about Doctor Weaver who delivered Mum, although it’s not related to Mum at all – Rob just stumbled across it during his research. In December of 1939, eleven years after Mum’s birth, Dr Robert Weaver was asked by a Dr Rowland Cuttle to administer an anaesthetic to 14 year old Leo Armstrong, who was being admitted to Junee hospital with acute appendicitis. Dr Weaver refused, because he didn’t want to work with Dr Cuttle, having previously been in an altercation with him. Instead he suggested there was time to get an anaesthetist from Wagga, as Leo was yet to be admitted. Sadly, Leo died.

On 2 February 1940, there was an inquiry into the death of the unfortunate young Leo, during which Dr Cuttle was accused of raising a ruckus about another doctor every time one of his patients died. Well Cuttle denied this, only to be confronted with three occasions when this had been the case. He was then accused of causing these rucki (plural of ruckus?) to cover up his own errors. Well, the good doctor wasn’t having any of that. He did later admit however, that Dr Weaver wasn’t the only Junee doctor who’d refused to work with him.

And this is the bit I really love. When Doctor Cuttle was asked about his previous altercation with Doctor Weaver, he agreed with the transcript that “he smote Dr Weaver over the nose. Weaver fell back over the table”. Seriously, there is simply not enough ‘smiting’ going on nowadays. Bring back the smite, I say. Dr Cuttle was then asked to confirm that he had hit Dr Weaver while he was sitting down, to which he replied, “Oh yes. With a book”. Given that he knocked Weaver off his chair, I’m guessing it may have been volume 7 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, or maybe the whole of Grey’s Anatomy!

Click here for the full article. Clearly these were tough times in country hospitals. Of course, all of this was ahead of poor Dr Weaver when he delivered our Mum in April of 1928.

Although Mum was the 9th of the 12 O’Brien children, she was actually the 10th pregnancy for her Mum, Irene. A baby had been lost between Harold and Cyril’s births, hence the ‘massive’ gap between the two brothers’ arrivals, with Harold born on 28 September 1920, and Cyril on 3 May 1923. For Irene that 31 months must have been blissful! Just 4 kids to look after, and a couple of years free from pregnancy.

Mum was always very proud to carry her Mother’s middle name, Irene, as her own middle name, particularly since Irene had decided to use that as her main name throughout her life.

Now, this O’Brien clan website has a lot of material about the O’Brien family’s time on Cooberang, their property in South-Western NSW. Irene and Bill’s own story covers a lot about those early years, as does Harold’s daughter Madonna’s second edition of her fabulous book ‘Growing Up On Cooberang’. So, I won’t repeat that here. If you’d like to read Irene and Bill’s story, you can click here. And if you’re interested in a copy of Madonna’s book, please email me at rob.landsberry@gmail.com.

So, what we plan to do for this part of Mum’s story is to use her own words taken from a series of video interviews that Kate did with her in 2011, while Mum’s memory was still in excellent shape, particularly when it came to stories from ‘the olden days’.

These are in no particular order. They’re a series of vignettes and memories that Mum chatted about with Kate as they shared a cup of tea and a homemade biscuit or two.

Cooberang was the name of our property at Junee Reefs. I don’t know how big it was, though when I went back, years later, before it burned down, I remember thinking how small it looked and wondering how on earth Mum and Dad brought up 12 children there.

Cooberang was actually two lots that Bill and Irene had bought – Lot 96 was 670 acres and Lot 167 was 130 acres, so the total size of the property was 800 acres. But we believe Mum was referring to the size of the house rather than the size of the property.

Anne and I used to help Mum wind the rags for Claire’s ringlets. I never remember her as a little girl without ringlets. Later on, Mum used to braid Claire’s hair into two plaits. I was so gawky. My hair was straight, cut short. I always felt a bit ordinary – with not a lot of good things in me. As I grew up, I became a bit more confident and felt better about myself.

I was a little girl when I was given a small sewing kit for Christmas by Mum and Dad. We just got one gift in those days and that was enough. Once I began to sew, I knew I could do something well and I wasn’t as worried then about not being that good at school, not being as good as Mary or the boys.

When I was about 12 or 13, Jack was away at war in the Air Force, and Celia was living in her family home in Wagga Wagga. Her parents had to go away, and Celia asked Mum if she could have one of the girls visit as a companion. She said, ‘I’d like to have Gwen’. I couldn’t believe it!
I had to have a good dress, so Dad took me into town - just me! And he bought me the most expensive dress. It was soft green with cream hail-spots and a cream top. Mum nearly passed out at the price when we got home! I thought I was Christmas. Celia took me shopping in Wagga Wagga and I felt so grown up. She bought me a little bag to match the dress, with a dog-bone clasp and two dogs, one on each side - that kept it closed. She took me to swim in the Murrumbidgee River. I should have kept that dress and bag forever.
We didn’t have much money though we never thought we were poor. We had plenty of space to run around. We grew our own food and each of us young ones had a plot of earth to grow what we could. Mum would buy things from us – just a penny here and there. We farmed sheep and wheat and the boys helped harvest the wheat, making stacks like pyramids in the paddocks.
Dad was strict but a very fair and good father. He used to work our land with the tractors until after dark. We’d help him bag the produce. Helen learned to drive the tractor to help Dad. He also tended the cows. Joan was petrified of the cows as the boys would squirt her with milk! The ducks always chased Joan. She preferred to be in the house helping Mum.
A man would come around selling and singing ‘Clothes props! Clothes props! Clothes props!’ In those Depression days people came around selling all sorts of things just to get enough money for a bit of food. Sometimes Mum would be so tired we’d find her leaning over the copper, saying ‘pommy word, pommy word’, which I found out later was actually ‘upon my word’. That was the only complaint I ever heard from Mum.
Once we all had measles and Mum had so much washing, that Dad bought her a washing ‘machine’ as a surprise. It was still manual with a hand plunger and hand wringer, but Mum loved it. No matter what you got in those days, it was better than what you didn’t have.

Mum didn’t have time for many cuddles – not with 12 children! Sometimes Harold would pick Mum up, carry her to a chair and do the work for her – just to give her a break.
The whole family attended church in Junee Reefs every Sunday, getting there by car and horse. I remember Frank and I riding on the back of a utility to my first communion - hanging on tight with my veil flying in the wind! Religion was just a part of our lives, and we were surrounded by nuns, priests and Catholic people – particularly in Sydney. I don’t remember having strong feelings about my religion. Anne was different. From the time she was a little girl she wanted to be a nun. Dad wouldn’t let her join until she was 18.

The older children were in school in Wagga, boarding. So, I was 10 when I started to drive the sulky to school, responsible for the younger ones. I drove with Claire and Anne up top, but Reg had to sit underneath. It took about 20 minutes in the morning to harness Nancy or Jill to the Sulky and then about 45 minutes to drive to school. We went to school rain, hail or shine, often with Jack Frosts hanging off our eyebrows.
“Don’t ever cross the creek if the water is above the black top of the stump”, Dad would say. One day it was just below the top of the stump, and I decided to cross. It was so hard, and Nancy battled to get across. The waters were fast, and I was scared.

In winter Mum had the fire on and cocoa waiting for us after the long drive home from school. We were at a distance where we didn’t have to go to school, but Dad wanted us to have an education. The Department of Education agreed to pay for the upkeep of our sulky so we could get to school. It was good for them too because Junee Reefs School had to have a minimum of 12 children to stay open. Once we 4 youngest left and moved with the family to Sydney, the school had to close!

1935 Junee Sport's Day School photo

1938 Junee School Photo

1940 Junee School Photo

I loved our home. I’d drive the sulky out the front gate and could look across a couple of paddocks to the McKay’s farm. Left turn from the gate and down the dirt road to get the mail and bread, then around and up the path behind the house toward the Heffernens where Jack would be shearing with the other boys in season. I remember heading off to school, opening the big gate, over the hill and down to the main road. It seemed a long way until we turned down toward ‘Slicker’ Hancock’s. Then over Lake Noorla – always had to watch out in flood times, turned right and chugged along for ages until finally a left turn and school.
I was a reasonable runner in Junee Reefs and did high jump and javelin. They used to call me Jessie the Untamed Elephant, I think because I was tall and gangly. We all had nicknames. The Burmeister girls (Dulcie, Marie and Shirley) were called the 3 Escaped Monkeys. Anne was asked her name once by the Bishop. She said, “It’s Anne, but they call me Podge”.
Dad used to fire the gun for the running races at the sports days. Anne ended up in hospital after picking up a used bullet and sticking it up her nose. She also ended up with two broken arms once and plaster casts. Claire and I used to tickle her relentlessly when she was trying to have a bath!
We were never bored at Junee Reefs. There were always responsibilities and we never questioned them – letting the horses out, feeding the chickens. Enjoyment was simple – play times with family and friends. We had a tennis court. Not that we were posh. It’s just what people had in those days. And a wood up the back of our place where we loved playing hide and seek. Sometimes we’d all nick back home leaving the seeker wandering around the trees trying to find us!
The older boys, Jack, Harold, Allan and Cyril, would go up the back property in shearing season to earn some extra money. At the end of the day they’d come back down the paddocks, singing ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’, Jack’s voice booming out, and Claire would run like mad to Jack and be hoisted up on his shoulders laughing and coming home.
What do I remember most from those times? The feeling of freedom.

To go to the next section of Gwen’s story click here.

To be re-directed to any other part of Gwen’s story, click on the applicable blue text below.

Introduction

Part 1 -The Cooberang years (1928 to 1941)

Part 2 - Move to Sydney and the War years (1941 to 1945)

Part 3- First jobs, meeting Alf and religious differences (1945 to 1951)

Part 4 - Marriage and children (1951 to 1965)

Part 5 - Taking control and drifting apart (1965 to 1991)

Part 6 - Life after Dad (1991 to 2011)

Part 7 - The Alzheimer years (2011 to 2020)

Recollections by Gwen Landsberry, written by Kate Landsberry and Rob Landsberry, last updated 15 October 2025