Pear Juice

By Leon M Davis

The life of a German horticulturalist in Australia and the consequences of return to Europe

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483549804

Book preview

Pear Juice.

by Leon. M. Davis.

Chapter 1 – The peaceful village.

In the Autumn of 1912 at Welreagh, a pleasant village west of the Great Divide in the central west district of New South Wales, the villagers welcomed the pendulum’s swing to the cooler times in Nature’s Australian seasons.

On a balmy April Saturday afternoon Mayor Allan Cunningham and his wife sat at a small table on the rear verandah of their Welreagh home and prepared a guest list for the musical evening they were to stage later in the month. It was their custom to entertain their friends in the Autumn of each year. They had done so each year since they married and deliberately chose that time of year because they knew their guests would be refreshed by the cooler enjoyable Autumn weather that follows the enervating excessive heat so common in the Australian summer months.

The Cunningham’s friends learned to expect the annual musical evening at the Cunningham house would be, as usual, entertaining and unconnected with any of their hosts’ political desires or motivations. The Cunningham’s loved and cared for those they held close and the diversity and number of that coterie reflected the couples’ capacity for friendliness and interest in those around them.

Megan Cunningham liked her position as wife to the owner of Welreagh village’s largest and diverse emporium and drew quiet satisfaction from husband Allan’s election as Mayor of the local municipal council ‘though none of those factors dominated her social relationships. Allan was similarly blessed. Highly regarded for his integrity and commonsense he had now been the senior political figure in the village for over five years and although the end of his second term was drawing to a close, family Cunningham were confident that a further term would come after the next October election.

The guest list for the musical evening was not difficult to prepare. It varied little from year to year and was altered only to contend with deaths, current known inabilities to attend and new inclusions.

The year 1912 had seen the arrival of a new teacher at the Welreagh School to replace poor old Wallace McGregor who had become a little too mad and inconsistent for the parents of Welreagh’s budding scholars. A pension having been arranged, Wal left the village at the end of the 1911 school year and to Welreagh’s surprise his successor arrived in early 1912 in the shape of a very young and pretty female named Henriette Camie Cartier or Retta as she asked she be known. Despite the expected questions as to her youth and the inherent dangers attaching thereto she proved energetic, thoughtful and skilled in her chosen profession. It took a few weeks and Welreagh fell in love with her.

Of course Allan Cunningham was persuaded by his wife to invite the energetic and charming young school teacher to the musical evening. Rumour had it that Retta had a trained and amazing singing voice but Megan Cunningham took great pains to instruct the Mayor that he was not to frighten Retta away from the party by foreshadowing that she may be asked to sing for the assembled friends. That possibility would rely on any indications Retta may give as to her willingness to entertain on the evening itself.

Chapter 2 –Movement with the concord of sweet sounds..

On the last Saturday in April the Cunningham’s musical evening began at six in the afternoon. The day had cooled as the sun sank to its nightly rest and small groups stood about the Cunningham’s copious drawing room. Cosy fires glowed at opposite ends of the grand room and the subdued atmosphere common to the early moments of most parties found an ideal companion in the piano in one corner which was being played ever so softly by a young conservatively dressed teenaged female.

The piano player was Vanessa Holder, the younger sibling to Jack Holder. Now nearing the age of sixteen years she had been learning to play piano since she was five years old. Her intellect and capacity for practice gave promise of an exciting career for her in music.

Vanessa and her brother Jack had been asked to play a few items for the gathering. Jack handled his violin with a fair degree of competence, enough to encourage listeners but perfection and a professional life in music were not in his purview. He played to entertain himself or any close friends who needed the efforts of a fiddler, as he described himself. Tonight he had promised a few items accompanied by Sister Vanessa but Vanessa would also play a solo programme of her own choosing.

Vanessa and Jack played successive Stephen Foster works, Beautiful Dreamer then Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair. As its final notes rang out Retta Cartier entered the drawing room. She had been welcomed at the front entry to the house by Megan Cunningham who now shepherded her around the drawing room to ensure she knew all of the other guests. Those that were new to Retta were given an ever so brief introduction like Let me introduce you to our school mistress, Retta Cartier. Allan and I hope you will get to know her well and make her feel at home here in Welreagh or Please meet our school mistress, Retta. This is her first music evening with us. We hope our music will please her and she will continue to come to us in the future.

The last to be introduced were Vanessa and Jack Holder. Megan and Retta approached as the two were at a small occasional table near the piano. Vanessa was leafing through her sheet music for their next item while Jack stood next to his sister looking down at the table as she flicked through the papers . Jack sensed the approach of Megan and Retta and turned to meet them. His face lit up with pleasure, an appreciation of Retta’s beauty that he did little to hide. Despite an uncontrolled blush she met his gaze with equal interest as it was not often that you could meet with young handsome men as presentable as the one now in front of her and who, most interestingly, was musically inclined enough to actually learn to play an instrument as demanding as a violin.

Vanessa Jack, I’d like you to meet Retta Cartier. You will probably have heard that she has come to live in Welreagh to teach some manners and other skills to the urchins of our village. She is happily about your age and doesn’t need the rheumy talk of us older codgers. I plan to leave her in your care for a while as I need to get a few eats out to the hungry horde. Will that be alright? Megan’s question went unanswered. I have heard from a reliable source that Retta has a pleasant singing voice, you three may have shared musical interests. She hurried away leaving Retta to establish the relationship with the Holders.

Jack was the first to speak, That reliable source that Mrs. Cunningham mentioned; do you like to sing Miss Cartier?

The colour came to Retta’s cheeks again while she responded, Yes, but my singing voice is not for everyone. My limited experience has proven the mezzo soprano range to have its difficulties. Suitable performance items are reckoned few and far between in the popular range of songs. I must admit that the children do not seem to mind as long as I keep the songs simple, understandable and rhythmic. (As she is protesting her position Jack flicks through the pile of sheet music.) Maybe Mr. Dresser’s song, ‘On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away’ would be suitable to your voice Miss Cartier. We have the music here and the lyrics seem well known. Are you familiar with the song?

Retta replied with happiness, Yes, oh yes.

Jack asked, Should we have a quiet run through then?

Vanessa, seemingly excluded from the conversation, divines that her brother is smitten by the gorgeous school teacher and further divines that the object of her brother’s interest is plainly not doing or saying anything to discourage his attention. When the two decide that a quiet run through the chosen song would be appropriate Vanessa resumes her seat at the piano, positions the music sheet while Jack draws up a chair for Retta to sit close by the pianist. Sotto voiced Retta sings the first stanza of the song as Vanessa plays and adjusts her rendition to concord with the key appropriate to the singer. The three agree that the song would be suitable and decide that Retta will be kept in reserve to brighten proceedings when the audience is perceived tiring of the piano and violin. Megan’s cunning plan to have Retta involved in the musical scene had succeeded brilliantly. The unintended results of the plan were to be found in the long term ramifications of romance, loss, seclusion, adventure and a lot of unexpected side issues but for now two attractive and talented young people had found each other, Henriette Cartier and Jack Holder recognized mutual interest which would lead to love and passion.

The enjoyable evening went on. Vanessa played with brilliance. Jack entertained and Retta surprised and pleased all with her singing of On the Banks of The Wabash Far Away and subsequently Marguerite’s solo D’amour l’ardente flamme from Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust. Retta delivered D’amour in the French of its origin. Jack and Retta were close to each other for the remainder of the evening, close enough for Retta to be escorted to her lodgings in Jack’s horse drawn sulky. Vanessa accompanied them as a very reluctant chaperone.

Here the cautious may pause and consider Retta’s personal choice of musical item in D’amour l’ardente flamme. Was she sub-consciously warning Jack of the dangers of Faustian bargains that he could have her love but that love may have a cost to his person. Only time would tell that the lead-in leg of a sad coincidence took its first tentative step on the evening of Megan Cunningham’s musical soiree in the autumn of the year 1912. Jack Holder, the besotted lover would remain blissfully ignorant of any such warning until the second leg of the action moved and the sad dénouement of the anticipated story serves to crush his peace.

For now the future looked bright and before Retta went indoors at her lodgings Jack asked her to accompany him to the up-coming picnic races that are an annual event of the horse racing fraternity of Welreagh. The races were to be held on the next Wednesday in the afternoon when, as usual, the shops, state and municipal offices and the village school would be closed. Retta agreed to accompany him to an event which would be new to her because she had never been to a horse racing event before even though she knew the racing to be an entertainment typical of those that brightened life in country villages.

Chapter 3. Retta Cartier and her family.

Francois Cartier and his brother Phillipe had migrated to Australia in the early eighteen seventies in the confused times following France’s capitulation to Germany following the Franco-German war. Although they missed their birthplace, Metz, they soon settled into the Australian way of life, entered business, found themselves wives and prospered. Francois and his wife Coleen became parents of three children, the last born being Henriette..

Henriette Camie Cartier known to all as Retta was born in the May of 1893, the third child of Francois and Coleen Cartier. She had rich cultural input to her upbringing from her Irish-Australian mother and her French father and as the only girl born to her parents was openly indulged. At the same time she was schooled in responsibilities to her family and to society at large. From the awkward years of childhood she developed into a handsome teenager with more than a passing interest in her mathematical and science studies and musical expression which culminated in a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. Inspired by the nature of her family’s business she had hoped to study engineering at university level but academe Australia was then not quite ready for young ladies aspiring to careers as engineers and she elected to find her intellectual outlet and life purpose as a school teacher. She did her six months of training at Hereford House in Sydney’s Glebe and was qualified to teach in a country school. When at last in service as a teacher she was glad she had found her profession. It was a fortuitous alternative, both challenging and personally enriching.

Retta Cartier was a strikingly good looking young woman. Her naturally wavy auburn hair crowned a rounded lightly olive skinned face, two brown alert eyes, a set of extremely white well formed teeth between an ever smiling pair of ruby red lips. She was five foot and four inches tall, slim and well formed. Her clothes sat stylishly on her slim figure and she exhibited grace, confidence and sociability. Her duties as a teacher were to come easily to her. Retta’s students would feel her caring nature and would respond with love and interest in learning through her. Like most humans she had her likes and dislikes. If they were flaws in an otherwise contented life she didn’t obsess too greatly when they came to the surface. Her rarely spoken dislike was for cant and overweening religiosity, a dislike that grew from the opinions and attitudes of her loved and respected father, Francois. He was a Huguenot adherent to the French Reformed Church in his days in Metz. The years and divorce from his birth locale had forced an appraisal of his spirituality. He now saw little need for churches and the organisations that went with them. Very early in her life he spoke to her of her path to belief and spirituality. He saw many ways to God; he suggested that climbing a tree to get closer to God was just as reasonable as regular attendance at some brick or timber building to get close to the same deity. He had said to her I do not believe that a thinking purposeful God would opt for a particular building to facilitate the communication between the God and the God’s friends. If God is in the universe then anywhere is a place to be with God. The mind itself is the pathway and the heavenly wind the medium. Put your love and spirituality into the stream of life. There you will know it will reach its true destination. She trusted his opinions.

Her other possible flaws, the usual feminine fussiness with fine clothes, attention to looking nice and an insistence on politeness and observance of social proprietary in her acquaintances, were easily tolerated in one so attractive.

Above all Retta was a proud second generation Australian, imbued with loyalty to her birth country, a choice reinforced by her every day ministration of the elements of that creed to the grubby faced crew that greeted her each morning of the week at Welreagh’s school.

Retta was not prepared for an affair of the heart when she began her life in the village of Welreagh. Her preoccupation with her preparations for the daily encounter with the children of Welreagh initially left her little time for other social contact and it took a few weeks for her to settle into a routine that allowed for lesson plans and relief from commitment in walks around the village and the occasional visit to the homes of her students. Many parents were amazed that this vibrant nineteen year old had been accorded freedom by her own parents that allowed her to live an independent mature life at a time when society hid the average young female away, cosseted and tucked into the bosom of their family until some starry eyed lover could extract her from their clutches.

Welreagh’s inquisitiveness and Retta’s obvious charm led to invitations to dinner from the majority of her parental retinue. The number of invitations increased to the point where Retta had difficulty in making sure that she did not offend by favouring some invitations to the disadvantage of others. She did her best to spread her friendship and comfort to all and won the hearts and minds of Welreagh with ease.

Chapter 4. Life can be pleasant

Race day came with sparkling Autumn sunshine. The village turned out in its finery. Ladies Retta had witnessed in dowdy day wear were now clothed in fashionable gowns and bedecked with large hats, fine jewellery and there was the occasional fur, mostly swung over the shoulder, there in readiness should the day turn cooler. The men wore their best suits over elegant waistcoats. Those in grey morning suits wore top hats but the greater part of the male contingent favoured tweed fedoras or Donegal caps.

The whole picture of a green race track with its pretty white painted fences, roses in abundance in well tended flower beds, lovely fit equines with riders decked in blinding colours and a crowd of well dressed people all happily contributing to the day thrilled Retta immensely. She could not contain herself and thanked Jack for bringing her to the occasion. She even ventured a two shilling bet on Plato’s Choice a filly that won her race in a canter and rewarded Retta’s successful bet with sixteen shillings profit. The two had fallen in with Megan and Allan Cunningham during the afternoon and with Allan’s help were introduced to the Governor of New South Wales, King George V’s representative. The King’s man claimed an avid interest in horse racing and was enjoying his day at Welreagh. He tipped Plato’s Choice to Retta when he perceived an omen in Plato and Retta each having the teaching role as their chosen profession.

Retta was so happy with her race course and its inhabitants that she wished she were skilled enough with brush and colours to paint a decent rendition of the memorable scenery. Jack laughed happily when she expressed this desire and promised to locate a competent painter for her to do a painting on the next picnic day. She declined that offer as she said she was conceited enough to know that another human would be incapable of seeing the course as she saw it, an exhilarating dream in a cornucopia of colour. Jack had little choice but to agree. He smiled mock ruefully as he concurred with her vision and the world’s inability to duplicate it on canvas. The day finished with Jack firmly placed in her affections and Jack’s commitment to his lovely companion deepening by the minute.

As winter came and went Retta and Jack met frequently. Most Sundays they went to the village park to hear the Welreagh Brass Band perform or they would sit for afternoon tea at O’Shaunessy’s cafe to watch the villagers as they went about their affairs. By now the village acknowledged them as an established pairing and a wedding was anticipated for the near future. A week prior to Christmas when the last days of school were over for the year Retta, Jack and Vanessa boarded a south bound train and headed for Retta’s home. Retta often longed for her parents and siblings and was not prepared to pass up the opportunity to see them during this school recess. She welcomed Jack’s desire to meet her parents and family. He claimed he could spare the time away from the farm for a short holiday and Vanessa was already looking for something to occupy her time as her tutor was absent in Sydney and would not return to Welreagh until the second week in January.

The three spent a happy time at Katoomba with visits to the Three Sisters, the Jamieson Valley, the Zig Zag Railway and various look-outs. Jack and Vanessa returned to Welreagh after a week at Katoomba as Christmas Day was approaching and the two Holder children had one week in which to choose or make presents for their parents and each other. With the help of Retta’s father Jack had been able to slip away from the Cartier household to do some Christmas gift shopping. Francois Cartier, or Frank as he now styled himself, drove his magnificent Oldsmobile touring car to his foundry and later the shopping precinct with Jack sitting proudly in the passenger’s seat. It was Jack’s first ride in an automobile and the speed and audacity of movement won his admiration and an unspoken promise to himself that he would acquire one of these marvellous machines.

Francois was not a fool. He believed that Jack may have wanted a private time with him to speak on the delicate subject of marriage to Retta and his offer to take Jack to see his foundry was in fact a means of facilitating the anticipated conversation. Francois had already made up his mind about Jack. He perceived him as well educated, cultured, gregarious and strong minded enough to make his way in life financially and in society. Francois saw most of the young affluent men of Katoomba, those rich enough to be the automobile owners and who brought their machines to him for maintenance. He recalled none of those young men as favoured to be as eligible a son-in-law as Jack.

They first went to the foundry where Phillipe was repairing a vehicle that had suffered a bent axle. Phillipe condemned the manufacturer of the particular vehicle and warned Jack to be careful of the brand should he ever venture into automobile ownership. Francois showed Jack how they worked on the under-side of a vehicle while standing in a pit over which the vehicle had been placed. He demonstrated the pump they used to fill an elevated glass cylinder with petroleum which was to be placed into the fuel tank of the automobile through a vulcanised canvas hose that facilitated the gravity induced transfer. There were other aspects of the automobile works that Francois showed in the hour Jack spent at the foundry. He was an interested and curious visitor and Francois appreciated the measured and intelligent questions Jack asked throughout his guided tour. Despite the young man’s curiosity regarding motors Francois found it curious that the one question he expected went unasked during the time they were together and separated from the rest of the family.

Jack was no Parsifal who failed to ask the question because he didn’t have an understanding of what was required. For Jack’s part the question could have been asked with ease and it was not the father that inhibited the question it was Retta herself as Jack had not proposed and been accepted or refused at this stage and he thought discretion a wise choice until Retta could put her seal of approval on a quest to the parent.

Francois took Jack to the Katoomba shopping precinct where he did some pre-Christmas shopping, an album of music scores for Vanessa, a shawl for mother, a corn cob pipe for father and last of all a gold bracelet for Retta that the shop owner assured him was easily adjusted for wrist size. Shopping accomplished he returned to the Oldsmobile and Francois and they went home.

Vanessa and Jack caught a train the following morning to get home to Welreagh on Christmas eve. The Holder family kept to an established ritual during the celebration of Christmas and neither of the children could contemplate the festivity without their being with their loving and loved parents.

Retta had about four weeks before school resumed. She intended to spend at least another week and a half at Katoomba and allow herself plenty of time in Welreagh prior to school recommencing. There were a few essentials to be organised prior to reopening the school. Provision had to be made for little ones starting afresh and term lesson plans for all had to be organised along with an audit of school stocks and replenishment of materials where appropriate.

To keep herself active Retta got herself deeply involved in the daily household chores of the Katoomba home. One afternoon a week after Christmas as she and her mother ironed and pressed the family clothes she spoke with her mother about the wisdom of marriage at her age and the certainty that she would lose her teaching position should she marry. Coleen, the mother, professed herself of the old school that advised having your babies while you were young and could grow in knowledge beside them. She could see no problems about marriage as an eighteen year old. Retta was approaching twenty years, if she left it much longer she could end up left on the shelf like some old maids that Coleen was aware of in Katoomba. Coleen was particularly dismissive of old maids. She saw their lives as barren and unproductive. Some like that Angelina Morris who was a clerk with the local council even took jobs that could be done by family men. Retta moved the conversation on with a quick observation on her accommodation at Welreagh and how she enjoyed sharing the family life of her hosts Pearl and Rafe McLeish however Coleen was not to be turned now that the hint of marriage was in the air. She was ready to ignore Retta’s diversion but used it conversationally saying, You could have your own happy household with that fine young man that you brought home with you.

Retta did not respond to the point made by her mother. She finished ironing a work shirt belonging to her father who had just come home from the foundry and as he engaged the mother with some gossip he had accumulated that day she used the break to escape to her bedroom where she sat on the side of her bed and took time to reflect on the last hour. Retta gathered from Coleen’s enthusiasm for marriage that the question of a union between herself and Jack was acceptable to the mother. She had no indication of her father’s attitude and thought it unwise to raise the subject with him before Jack asked for her hand. If that time came she would request Jack put his request to Francois even though the expected course would have him asking for Francois approval before formally requesting her commitment. She decided not to concern herself too much with the customary procedures.

A week later Retta returned to Welreagh. She had examined her relationship with Jack and wanted to continue with the association. If he proposed marriage she would have to give it serious consideration but if she accepted the proposal she would insist on a period of engagement which would allow her to complete the school year. By now thoroughly committed to teaching she enjoyed her relationships with her students and had ambitions for them all. She would very much miss the daily contact should she be required to relinquish her involvement with her school.

Chapter 5. The Holder (Holderlin) family

Martin Holderlin, was a skilled botanist/horticulturist from the Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany .He had contributed management and scientific skills to the famous botanical gardens at Halle and from there was persuaded to Australia to help in the development of the Australian pear industry. Martin needed little persuasion. He was an admirer of the work of Johann Reinhold Forster the eminent German natural scientist who sailed with Cook on his 1772/75 second voyage into the Pacific and the Antarctic and the vague opportunity to follow in Forster’s footsteps was a possibility Holderlin could not resist.

Holderlin brought a pretty and pregnant wife, Vivien, to Australia with him and in December 1892 she gave birth to a boy who was called Johann by his father but who, for his own reasons, had his son baptised and recorded in public records as John Martin Holder. The Anglicisation of the family name to Holder, was a suggestion family friends pressed on the father to assist in his family’s comfort and acceptance within the Anglo/Irish culture that prevailed in their new milieu. Martin’s preference for the German name for his son rather than John or Jack when addressing him was later to have singular effect on Jack’s relationship to the girl he loved and intended to marry.

The Holder family was increased by the arrival of a daughter in 1896. The girl Vanessa was the last addition to Martin and Vivien’s little family.

The agreement that brought Martin to New South Wales and Australia provided that he be given title to an area of productive land to allow the creation of an income and to give him access to the means of experimentation with pears. The chosen farm was of thirty acres of riverside land about a mile to the south of the village of Welreagh. The agreement required him to experiment with and develop varieties of pear suitable to the Australian climate and soils and to pass accumulated knowledge, developmental root stock and budding material on to New South Wales farmers prepared to grow pears commercially.

The experimental pear orchard matured slowly and in the meantime Martin and wife Vivien grew vegetables for sale in Welreagh and Sydney. Welreagh sat alongside the railway line that carried people and produce to and from Sydney. The few hours involved in rail transport to that growing metropolitan market rendered their efforts practical but not as financially rewarding as they would want.

As the years passed the Holder children grew strong and healthy. They were educated at the local Welreagh school and Martin and Vivien made certain that they were competent in and comfortable with day to day German language against a future time when either of the two children might choose to live in or visit Germany. Mostly the children’s non English conversations were confined to their home and with their parents but the occasional German speaking visitor or friend accustomed to the language gave further opportunities to experience colloquial German. The girl Vanessa was taught piano from an early age and displayed eagerness and capacity for musical expression.

At the age of fifteen Jack Holder was shipped off to Ashfield, near Sydney, to learn the lore of farming as a student at the Hurlstone Agricultural Continuation School. It was hoped that John would progress to university and botanical qualifications similar to those which his father had acquired in Germany. At the age of seventeen he qualified for admission to the University of Sydney’s embryo School of Agriculture and Veterinary Science but a year in the academic world was enough for him and he opted to be a hands on practical farmer rather than an academic. The end of 1911 saw him back in Welreagh working with his father on the orchard and market gardening. Although father Martin was disappointed with John’s disinclination for an academic life he welcomed the added vigour that the young man brought to the orchard and farming enterprise. Martin was surprised but welcomed the improvements in the farm income that flowed from John’s enthusiasm for practical agriculture.

Jack, the first generation Australian matured a reasonably good looking man. He stood five foot eleven and a half inches tall; his square jawed face was capped with straight fair hair and his eyes were a deep blue. His hands though perceptibly large had a delicacy to them that belied his years as a farmer. Jack was an educated man with a family background associated with science and philosophy with space for a love for music. In childhood, his and maturity Jack had become known in Welreagh for his intelligence, patience and generosity.

Around this period the various orchardists of the Welreagh district had been meeting informally in large and small groups. The themes running through their discussions helped each to technical efficiency but their constant problems came with getting their produce out in front of the buying public. Folk who laboured out in the sun and the wind found the hassle of marketing difficult but aware that they were missing opportunities they looked for someone or something to relieve them of the burden of marketing and leave them to get on with growing, a facet they knew and could handle efficiently.

With an established orchard industry in Welreagh, Martin Holder now chose to turn his attention to marketing and preparation of products for the market. The pear industry had grown alongside an apple industry, the two products requiring similar habitat and it was now opportune to put together a formalised approach for their sale to the public. An apple and pear growers’ co-operative society developed from the initial informal settings and Martin became a director on its board of management. He became active day by day at the central warehouse where consignments were assembled and packaged for delivery to retail outlets. By now his concerns were with market relationships with customers, cost and invoicing procedures and the general affairs of a selling organisation. His days in the field as a grower were behind him and son John, now attended to the orchard and farm.

Chapter 6. Tea and crumbling biscuits.

In 1912, Jack Holder met Henriette (Retta) Cartier who had become Welreagh’s resident school teacher when she moved into the village late in the summer of that year. Although the pervasive influence in her upbringing was French she had been educated in an Australian educational institution and was more than competent to educate her Australian charges. Retta’s father, Francois and his brother, Phillipe conducted a foundry and blacksmith shop in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney. But for some years now had been involving themselves in motor vehicle repairs, a rapidly developing trade.

The relationship between Jack Holder and Retta Cartier grew in its intensity throughout the first year of their acquaintance. By the start of the 1913 School year those close to them were expecting an announcement of betrothal. By then Retta was a welcome visitor to the Holder farm and she, Jack and his teen aged sister, Vanessa had journeyed to Katoomba in order that Jack could meet with Retta’s family. Jack and ‘Nessa were welcomed with sincerity. The Cartiers were reserved and posed few personal questions to their guests. The answer to a question on the nature of their fathers occupation was answered simply by a statement that he was a director of the co-operative that marketed pears and apples from Welreagh.. They did not pursue that subject any further but Jack’s good nature and standing as a young well educated orchardist farmer with excellent economic prospects evoked some