Lindsay Halbert Hope was born 30 August 1923 to Edgar William Hope and his wife Christina (nee O'Brien) at Casterton, Western Victoria.

Lindsay was named after brothers of both his parents, with the name Halbert also coming down from his great grandfather, Halbert Edgar; the name being represented across all generations, often more than one in a generation as the families expanded and each wanting to respect their common ancestor.

He had an older brother Ian Edgar Hope (born 1921) and was to become the "middle child", with a younger brother who was to be born a couple of years later. Not long after his birth Edgar, Christina and their two small boys made the move Interstate to Murray Bridge, where the younger Ron AB Hope was born towards the end of 1927.

After Murray Bridge, the family moved to Bordertown for a while, in the Upper South East, before making their home in the suburb of Black Forest, Adelaide, where Lindsay and the family remained either until death (of his parents) or as the boys moved away from home.

Lindsay did some early schooling at Murray Bridge (1931/3) and Bordertown (1936), (his father moving about the State working on railway line maintenance gangs).

When Lindsay left school, he started work as an apprentice butcher but the call of the railway was already in his heart and as soon as he could, he joined the South Australian Railways (SAR), following in his father's footsteps, although Lindsay had far greater ambitions than simply working for them - he wanted to drive the trains!!!

And so on 4 Nov 1941, he started work with the SAR initially at Mile End (Adelaide) where during the next year he passed the necessary examinations which would set him on the track of achieving his aim - that one day he would qualify as a Train Driver. One year later, he moved to Peterborough in the Mid-North, where more studies and examinations were set before him. Peterborough was the State's largest depot for training and like all his peers he had to start at the very bottom of the ladder. After all, there was no point in something going wrong miles from anywhere and not being able to fix it or at least to give it a go before signalling for a support team to be sent out. And like all his peers, they were billeted around the town with various railway families - and there were plenty of them - after all, Peterborough was established as a railway town right from its beginning. He was billeted with a widow in Bourke Street and her 2 older children - Mrs Day with son Albert and daughter Judy. It was a case of boy meets girl and girl likes the boy she's met! And so wedding bells soon began to ring. However, now it wasn't appropriate for Lindsay to be living in the same house as Mrs Day and her family and so another billet was found for him until their wedding - that of the mother of his now best friend - Mrs Green, mother of Arnold Green.

And so in 1945, Lindsay and Judy were married and started a new life together - and soon 2 became 3, then 4, then 5, then 6 and finally 7 - with the birth of 4 sons and 1 daughter.

Lindsay worked his way through various courses including Fireman's Exam, Air Brake exam, Loco Train working and Signal exams and finally on 28 July 1952, he qualified as an Engineman.

Lindsay graduated to engine-driver running the Peterborough-Broken Hill line and was strong in the Railways Union, taking the position of Secretary.

During early 1957, a vacancy arose at Mt Gambier and so he was transferred there - he had applied for either Mt Gambier or Naracoorte but a vacancy came up at Mt Gambier first.

Between then and 1960, there were more exams to pass, to qualify for the various types of trains he would be driving, including the new electric trains, rather than the traditional steam driven ones.

He requested a transfer to Adelaide and finally towards the end of 1963, it came through - at last he could have his family together under the one roof again.

Lindsay loved his sport and played both cricket and Australian Rules football his entire life, only retiring when his body could no longer take the pain and strain of his beloved sports. Lindsay played footy with the Peterborough Railways Team, along with his best mate and his Fireman, Arnold Green. I'm sure they made a formidable duo!!!

LIndsay and Judy had honeymooned at Mt Gambier, in South Australia's South East and they loved it so much that they decided to get a transfer, within SAR to it, once his training days were behind him. And so, in the mid 1950s, they loaded the car (and probably a goods carriage on the train as well) and bundled all 7 of us off to Mt Gambier, where a new home awaited our arrival - and complete with an indoor toilet again, as part of the stipulation, no doubt! Lindsay had had enough of outdoor dunnies in his growing up years and if it could be avoided, never again!

I'm guessing life was pretty good for the next couple of years - he worked his way up the ladder a bit, securing various jobs, including the Blue Bird run to Adelaide 3 times a week. On the home front, the house accommodated his family and he developed a great vegetable garden, providing for everyone, as well as the obligatory chook house in the corner of the back yard, from whence would come our supply of eggs and every now and then, a chook for dinner.

With a passion for football, Lindsay signed on with the West Gambier Football Club and became a regular member of the 'B' Team, playing whenever his shift work would allow it. However, when he was in Adelaide and it was training night at the Glenelg Oval, that 's where one would find him - running around with their teams and going through whatever exercises they were doing - and the family from then on became staunch Glenelg supporters.

However, the life of he and his family was about to be shattered and turned on its heels, with the sudden death of Judy at the Mt Gambier Hospital in 1959. Yikes!!! Now what??? Lindsay was left with 5 small children to look after, to make sure all their needs were met - fed, washed, clothes washed, house to be cleaned and the list just kept getting longer and longer. The neighbours in our street were a marvel, doing what they could, as time and energy permitted, whilst running their own homes. And yet, life goes on and it did - somehow through the turmoil, the family was taken care of but what of his needs? Who was there for him? I know the parents in the street were and in particular Mrs Noble at Number 3 - she had 9 kids of her own and yet her heart was still big enough to take in the oversight of Lindsay and his children. A lady around the corner (we called Auntie Phyl) stayed with us when Lindsay had overnight trips to Adelaide, making sure all was in order for us - she slept in my room with me!

I was sent up to Adelaide to live with my paternal grandparents and the boys all stayed together, until eventually, they needed higher education than what The Mount could offer, so Lindsay transferred to Adelaide, so everyone could stay and be together, buying a house not far from his mother's home. I returned to the family home and for a short season we were all together again - but not for long - because on 22 September 1967, Lindsay suffered a fatal heart attack while driving home from work.

His life was over but the children were about to start a new life for themselves, with no parents and no grandparents close at hand. But we were a resilient lot and somehow managed to get through life with not many more bruises, bumps and lumps than what life itself dishes out.

Not long after the family moved to Adelaide, Lindsay took up golf and enjoyed that, in between his shifts on the suburban Red Hens.

Lindsay loved new "things"! Ours was the first house in our street (Mt Gambier) to get TV, once it could be received in the town. In Peterborough ours was one of the early few that had an indoor toilet and Lindsay was in there with the first few who owned a car and being a 'tinkler', he did all the maintenance on it.

His first vehicle was a 1927 Chevrolet which was followed some time later by a dark blue 1936 Chevrolet. After moving to Adelaide he purchased a smaller (second-hand) light green 1955 Hillman Minx. Lindsay and Silva had five children.