Edgar [Bill] William Hope was born 18 January 1894 at Powers Creek, Western Victoria, the 10th child to Richmond Armstrong Hope and his wife Isabella Edgar.

Throughout his life he was known by some as Edgar and to others as William or Bill - he answered to all names!

One of the jobs that Edgar did as a young lad/man was to deliver bread to the townsfolk. At the time, bread delivery was usually done with a horse and cart and being no stranger to horses, I'm sure this was how he did his job. There is evidence that young Edgar was quite adept with horses and why would he not be, being a country boy!

In 1921 and at the age of 27, while living in the family home on Bahgalla Road, Casterton, he married Christina O'Brien of Merino, Western Victoria at the Merino Presbyterian Church. His occupation at the time was a Carter.

Their first born son, Ian Edgar Hope was born on 5 May 1922 at Casterton and on 30 August 1923, they welcomed their second son, Lindsay Halbert Hope to their growing family. However, Casterton was not to be their home for very long as in 1924, the family moved to Murray Bridge, South Australia.

Edgar commenced employment on 19 May 1924 with the South Australian Railways (SAR) as a (line) packer at the 55-Mile site, south of Callington [near Murray Bridge]. The family lived at Murray Bridge, where his eldest sister (Alice McClure) was already living. Their father Richmond died in that same year (1924), at Casterton.

9 Dec 1925, Edgar and Christina welcomed their third son, Ronald Armstrong Brien Hope into their family, and so now their family was complete - 3 boys who would all grow up to love sport and lots of it!

Whilst employed with the SAR, Edgar lived at Murray Bridge and for a time at Bordertown, although it's been difficult to find documentation to substantiate when & for what reason. According to old Railway records, he was on an invalid's pension between May 1938 & January 1940, before resuming duties as a Janitor at the Adelaide Railway Station & remained in that position until his early retirement on 17 January 1959. It was at this time he and Christina (Tina) purchased their residence at 41 Forest Ave Black Forest which became the focal point for many a Christmas family reunion. Edgar stayed with the SAR in charge of the Gents lavatory at the Adelaide Railway Station until he retired in 1959. In retirement Edgar and Christina holidayed to Alice Springs on the (old) Ghan.

For many years after he retired, Edgar was employed as Father Christmas at Cox Foys, in Rundle Street, Adelaide - a job he loved!

He loved his grandchildren and they all loved him, as well. He was the perfect grandfather, taking and making the time to share and play with each of the children. I remember when it was time to return to either Peterborough or Mt Gambier, we each had to wait in line to have our turn to sit on his knees and he would give each of us 3d for our "bank account", which we duly paid in the next opportuity we had - in those days, children had their own bank accounts provided by the State Bank of South Australia and Monday was "bank day" at the school!

His death on 3 November 1964 in Adelaide, left a gaping hole in the life of all those knew him.

Article in The [Adelaide] Advertiser [undated but circa 1963]

Sixty-one year old railway employee Edgar Hope of Black Forest, knocked down by a car at a city intersection a week ago, looked like being tied to his bed because of his injuries.

That was until he hit on the idea of using his special crutch – an ordinary kitchen chair.

Now, with the aid of the chair, he can get around his home."

The article continues:

"He has even been a few yards over the road to the public telephone box, and is thinking about going to see a friend.

Being tied to his bed with a badly bruised hip that ached like a boil after 10 minutes in the one position, was no pleasant prospect for Mr Hope.

He made himself a walking stick from an old broom handle, but, though he can get around on it, he doesn’t feel as secure as he does with his chair.

Gradually the bruising is coming out, and it won’t be long, he thinks, before he can put his chair back under the kitchen table and get back to work under his own “steam”.

The home at Black Forest of Edgar William Hope and Christina O'Brien was often used as a family "Bed and Breakfast" station. Most of their siblings and associated families lived in Western Victoria and for many of them, they chose to conduct a lot of their family business and medical appointments in Adelaide rather than Melbourne; and so 41 Forest Avenue was the place to be! In addition, two of their own children (Ian and Lindsay) lived in country SA and they too would lob at "Mum and Dad's" back door for an overnight stay - or longer.

The house was a standard 3-bedroom home and yet it was unbelievable how many people would be bedded some nights. Their unmarried son (Ron) had a second bed in his room and that was often where brother Lindsay would stay on his thrice weekly trips to Adelaide (he was a train driver and did the Mt Gambier to Adelaide run, 3 times a week). Maggie had the front 'sleep-out', a half-size room which was accessed via the Guest Room. Ian and Dulcie and other couples would stay in the Guest Room and if both Ian and Lindsay and their children came at the same time (usually the Christmas holidays) camp-stretchers, mattresses and sleeping bags would be put wherever they best fit - and if need be, the spillover was in the Lounge and sometimes even in the extended Dining Room. I guess as both of them came from large families, it didn't phase them to have a full to overflowing home from time to time. Siblings on both sides were frequent visitors.

Special acknowledgement to Keith Hope for the basis of this history.

Mum and Dad Hope: Edgar William and Christina Hope

by Dulcie Hope (nee Butcher), wife of their son Ian Edgar Hope, 1995

I first met Ian's parents in April 1945 when I went to live with them at 41 Forest Avenue, Black Forest. They were very loving and welcoming and made me feel 'at home' and part of the family. Ian and I were given the main bedroom and the small room off it, which had at one time been a shop. I soon felt so comfortable with the family (including Ron, who was also living at home) that I called them 'Mum and Dad'. I shared the chores of housework, washing and cooking etc. I took over all the work for about 4 or 5 weeks while Mum went to visit her sisters and relations in Victoria, making a round trip to Kaniva, Melbourne and Mildura.

By this time I was familiar with the shopping and types of food that the family enjoyed. The washing was all done by hand and boiled in the copper. Dad worked in the City (Adelaide) at the Adelaide Railway Station as a cleaner, as he had been put on light duties after treatment for cancer of the lower lip. He had also been very ill with septic tonsils for several years before they were removed.

Ian was completing his apprenticeship as a tailor with Hugh Pozza Ltd* in Gawler Place, Adelaide. Ron had begun learning the painting and decorating trade as he had not had a trade before joining the Airforce during the War (WWII).

Everyone caught the tram or train to Adelaide and when Mum and I went, we always wore our "Sunday best" including hat, gloves and stockings. Dad of course had a railway concession pass and used it to go to work. He also rode a bicycle to go shopping and visit friends. Ian and I soon had bicycles too and rode to the football when we went to watch "Westies" (West Adelaide), so I became a baracker too. Mum never went to the football or seemed to be interested. She bought the Women's Weekly regularly and Ron bought the "Pix". Mum and Dad attended the Presbyterian Church on South Road (Black Forest) every Sunday, if Dad wasn't working. Dad proudly wore his suit (made by Ian) and hat and Mum wore skirts and knitted cardigans in Winter or a black 'good' dress in Summer. She had a nice string of pearls to dress it up. Ian, Ron and I went to the Methodist Church in Forest Avenue and I bcame a confirmed member in 1947. Ian was a Lay Preacher but only occasionally took services - usually with the Order of Knights or the Endeavour groups.

Ron and Dad, also were interested in the races and trots, so they studied the Form in the papers and occasionally went and had a few bets at Morphettville (races) and Wayville (trots). Dad was called "Bill" by his work-mates and friends, but was called "Edgar" by Mum and she was known as "Teen". Dad and Ian were smokers and always rolled their own as bought cigarettes were too expensive or unavailable immediately after the War. Food and clothing rationing was still in force in 1946 and until 1948, I think. I did quite a lot of sewing on Mum's sewing machine, making my own clothes and also skirts and dresses for Mum.

Mum and I always caught the Glenelg Tram to Victoria Square to buy vegetables and fruit from the Central Market once a week, usually Fridays. We also went to 5KA to the day-time community singing and show; of comedians, guest artists and all the radio personalities. Mum loved this outing very much and rarely missed going.

Editor's Note: 5KA was the launchpad of many of the popular radio and television personailites of the future, including Ian Fairweather, Lionel Williams, Kevin Crease, Bill Davies, Rex Heading and John Doherty.

Baking day, once a week, was religiously carried out with very tasty cakes, scones, johnny cakes, tarts and pies being baked in the little wood stove, Mum was a very good cook and taught me how to use the wood stove but my efforts were never as good as hers. There was also a wood fire in the Lounge so chopping wood was a daily chore for the men - usually Dad and Ron. Mum and Dad grew vegetables under and around the fruit trees in the back yard. We had peas, beans, broadbeans, cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes, lettuces and a few potatoes which were dug regularly for small "new potatoes". Mum made jam every year from the cherry plums and apricots. We ate the white peaches and apricots raw but also stewed them for desserts. There was also a large loquat tree and we enjoyed eating them as they were the first stone fruit to ripen. Then came the apricots, cherry plums and white and yellow peaches. We also grew onions and made cauliflower pickles and pickled onions. We bought pie melons and made 'melon and lemon' jam or 'melon and raspberry' jam.

Mum was friendly with all ber neighbours; and took jams and pickles to the church fetes. She loved her roses and a lovely daphne bush which she cherished.

Every year we went to the "Royal Show" at Wayville and enjoyed looking at all the displays of produce and crafts, flowers and cooking. We especially liked watching the "Grand Parade" of all the prize-winning farm animals.

A 'day out' for Mum and I was often a tram trip to the Bay - Glenelg. We usually walked up and down the main street, looking at the goods in the stores and sometimes bought cake from Balfours - Napoleon Cake being a popular choice.

Ian and I stayed with Mum and Dad Hope until we built a house at Clovelly Park in 1952. During those 6 years I grew to love both Mum and Dad as if they were my own. Mum often went to Peterborough to visit Lin and Judy and brought back grandsons Lindsay and Keith to stay for several weeks when Ronnie and Maggie were born. Mum was very good with the children being firm but kind. Dad was more affectionate but they both loved having the children to stay. Once when Keith had a serious illness, Mum offered to have him and took him to the Adelaide Children's Hospital to a specialist for about 3 months (Keith was about 7, I think). Apparently before I knew them, they had Isobel (Mum's niece) to stay for very long periods when she was a girl, I guess it was partly because they didn't have a daughter but it was also because they were very caring and family-oriented.

Dad regularly visited his sister (Alice McClure) in Everard Park and her son (his nephew) Dick and Vi McClure, who lived on Anzac Highway.

When Ian and I bought a new Hoover washing machine with an electric wringer, we gave Mum the old one which had a hand wringer on the top. She found it a boom for washing large items like sheets and towels but especially for Ron's white combination painting overalls. These still had to be boiled to get them white.

Ian and I moved to Whyalla where we had bought a tailoring business, We missed Mum and Dad dreadfully at first and I think they felt the same. We went down to Adelaide to stay for holidays and we were always made very welcome. When we moved to Stansbury after our third child was born, they came to visit us for short periods. They regularly visited Lin and Judy in Peterborough and later at Mt Gambier. After Judy died Mum had Maggie for long periods to ease the burden on Lin. The boys also went to Black Forest to stay for holidays.

Dad retired from the Railways about 1963. He spent much of his time in the garden growing vegetables. He also rode miles on his bicycle to shops, football, races and visiting his relatives and friends. He only lasted a couple of years before he died. Ron still lived at home and kept the property in good order, doing repairs and painting as it was needed. Mum was becoming very frail and had difficulty keeping down her food. She missed Dad and all the children but she still looked after Ian's and my tribe of four when our last son was born in 1964.

At Ron's wedding in April 1966 we returned to SA from WA and were dismayed to see how much Mum had deteriorated, being almost bed-ridden and very frail. We asked her if she would like to go back to the West with us while Ron and Janet were honeymooning and settling in to married life. She was pleased to come and although it was a very tiring journey for her by train to Kalgoorlie and then by car to our home at York, she seemed to improve and took an interest in the children.

However, old age had caught up with her and she gradually became bed-ridden. She had to go to hospital and went into a coma but partially recovered with intra-venous feeding and was able to come home for a few weeks. Gradually though she weakened and died. She really felt she had lived her life and although she wasn't in pain, she was, I think, pleased to go quietly into a coma from which she didn't recover. Her funeral was attended by many people and after the cremation, her ashes were taken to Adelaide and put in Dad's burial plot.

So ended my twenty-odd years of being a daughter to a lovely, caring couple who were generous in their affections and actions to all of us.

Hugh Pozza *

• Hugh Pozza migrated to Adelaide in 1927 from Italy and established his tailoring business in Gawler Place, attracting the Who's Who of Adelaide amongst his clientele. His sister was Angela Josephine Pozza, who ran a successful hairdressing and beauty parlor in Adelaide known as "Madam Josephine's", and to which people of 'Note' flocked.
• Following the death of The Somerton Man in 1948, it was to Hugh Pozza that the Courts looked to be the tailor who examined the jacket of the Somerton Man and he determined it was "of American origin because it had a front gusset and feather stitching".
• In 1953 and thereafter, Don Dunstan's tailor was no other than Hugh Pozza (Don was a future Premier of South Australia)

Maggie's Memories of Life with her Grandparents:

Note: this section will be added to from time to time, as one memory is written down which might free up headspace for others to come to the fore:

• If Edgar and Teen were 'free' on a Saturday night, then more often than not neighbours Mr and Mrs Cole would be invited from across the street and the 4 of them would play 500 well into the night. The game would stop for a Supper break about 9 o'clock and once Supper had been eaten and their drinks of tea or hot chocolate drunk, the game would resume.
• In the early 1960s, a lot of food was home delivered. Each day the bread cart and horse would plod up and down the streets, selling breads, rolls and iced finger buns to the housewives. The horse knew how much further to go before stopping and letting the breadman catch up to him. In the meantime, the breadman would load up his big wicker basket with the goods that he knew his next customers usually ordered and off he would go to the homes while the horse plodded on to his next stop.
• The milkman also went from doot to door selling milk and cream and leaving them in the milk-bottle baskets. If the householder left 2, 3 or 4 empty bottles then, that's what they'd get as fresh milk. Sometimes there would be a note saying that cream was wanted. However, in our case, we had a dairy in our street and so it was my job to walk the few houses up the road to get milk measured into our billycan.
• The man selling rabbits would come around about once a month selling his wares, as did the bottlo'. The man collecting old bottles, usually long-neck beer bottles, would come but other bottles as well, would come about monthly, to collect them.
• Another home delivery service was made from the grocer, the butcher and the green-grocer - we would place an order at their respective shops by a certain day for whatever we wanted and a few days later, it would be delivered - again by horse and cart in those early days. Sometimes, however, if one of these guys was passing by, he would drop in to our home and collect Grandma's order, which saved her from going down to South Road.
• I loved going down to the grocer because, if Grandma wanted some biscuits and IF there were broken biscuits in the tin, then I would be given 1 or 2. Back then biscuits came loose in large tins and customers would buy however many (by weight) as they needed. Other groceries came by weight as well including flour, sugar and other staples. Tinned food was rare and there was no such thing as frozen goods.
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Thomas Hope (grandfather)

Richmond Hope (father)

Ian Hope (son)

Lindsay Hope (son)

Ron Hope (son)