The story of Dorothy Baker
Dorothy was a daughter of James and Jessie Pacey. She grew up in the Kenmore area.
She can remember going fishing and swimming with her brother and sister in the creek alongside the aboriginal children. One day they wanted to see what went on in an aboriginal corroboree so they crept along the trees near the river to have a look. One aborigine who was on “guard duty” stepped out from behind a gum tree and sent them scurrying home by aiming a kick at her brother’s rear!
When Mrs baker was young, she went to school at Kenmore, with about 23 other children, in a one-roomed building. The teacher was Miss Palmer. The only store in Kenmore was on the corner of Moggill and Brookfield Roads and this was a favourite spot for children to get their lollies on their way home from school.
Before her marriage, Dorothy worked as a bookkeeper at a music store in the city. She used to travel to Indooroopilly Station by pony and sulky, and leave them in a paddock for the cost of one shilling, while she caught the train to town.
Dorothy married Bernard Baker in November 1921. They had 10 children. Mr Baker and his two brothers had a milk run in 1909 and worked on another milk run in Fig Tree Pocket too. He later worked on the Brisbane City Council before he retired.
Mrs Baker can remember all the special occasions in the area. There were picnics at the Rafting Ground, trips to Pullenvale and Moggill and the Brookfield Show. She said the children loved to explore the caves on Mt. Elphinstone. During the Depression years when times were really tough, the children had only one present each for Christmas and a type of cotton sugar bag was sewn together in groups of six to make double bed sheets!
The Pacey and the Baker families are great pioneers of early Kenmore.
She can remember going fishing and swimming with her brother and sister in the creek alongside the aboriginal children. One day they wanted to see what went on in an aboriginal corroboree so they crept along the trees near the river to have a look. One aborigine who was on “guard duty” stepped out from behind a gum tree and sent them scurrying home by aiming a kick at her brother’s rear!
When Mrs baker was young, she went to school at Kenmore, with about 23 other children, in a one-roomed building. The teacher was Miss Palmer. The only store in Kenmore was on the corner of Moggill and Brookfield Roads and this was a favourite spot for children to get their lollies on their way home from school.
Before her marriage, Dorothy worked as a bookkeeper at a music store in the city. She used to travel to Indooroopilly Station by pony and sulky, and leave them in a paddock for the cost of one shilling, while she caught the train to town.
Dorothy married Bernard Baker in November 1921. They had 10 children. Mr Baker and his two brothers had a milk run in 1909 and worked on another milk run in Fig Tree Pocket too. He later worked on the Brisbane City Council before he retired.
Mrs Baker can remember all the special occasions in the area. There were picnics at the Rafting Ground, trips to Pullenvale and Moggill and the Brookfield Show. She said the children loved to explore the caves on Mt. Elphinstone. During the Depression years when times were really tough, the children had only one present each for Christmas and a type of cotton sugar bag was sewn together in groups of six to make double bed sheets!
The Pacey and the Baker families are great pioneers of early Kenmore.