Gloria Elaine Davis
Birth
Death Marriage Spouse Father Mother Siblings Children |
3 July 1930
7 July 1993 18 June 1949 Norman Allan Vining Sylvester Henry John Davis Elaine Maude Maitland Joan Doris Davis Laura-Sue Vining Marc Allan Vining Jason Scott Vining |
Location
Location Location |
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Gloria Elaine Davis was born on the 3rd of July 1930 in Sydney to Sylvester Henry John Davis and Elaine Maude Maitland.
Gloria went to SCEGGS, Darlinghurst High School. After High School she attended East Sydney Technical College.
She worked at the Max Factor Plant in Woolloomooloo. Max Factor is a cosmetics company that was founded in America by Max Factor in 1909. They created an Australian factory in 1946.
Both Gloria and her sister Joan did some theatre acting in their youth.
She married Norman Allan Vining on the 18th of June 1949 at St John’s Church in Darlinghurst. The reception was held afterwards at Gloria’s mother’s place in Hughes St, Potts Point.
They had 3 children; Laura-Sue Vining, Marc Allan Vining, and Jason Scott Vining.
Gloria worked at an Indonesian restaurant called Selamat Makan, which translates to Enjoy Your Meal. It was one of the first Indonesian restaurants in Sydney and was located close to where the family lived in Victoria St, Darlinghurst.
It was owned and run by Mr. and Mrs. Kruger. They were Dutch refugees who arrived in Australia sometime in the 1950s after Indonesian independence. Gloria would often bring food home, setting up a life long love of spicy food for her children. |
After living in Darlinghurst the family moved to 16 New Orleans Crescent, Maroubra.
The family would often holiday at Boat Harbour in southern Sydney. It was about an hour long drive to Kurnell then a sandy track to access Boat Harbour.
Just up from the beach was a series of shacks made from corrugated iron and shipping containers. At its peak there were 200 homes there, down to about 25 in 2014. The area still to this day has no mains electricity or town water. The shack that the family would stay in was basically just one big room with a bedroom section curtained off. There was a smaller shed next door which would be used for sleeping. There was an outdoor toilet and shower. There was a wind up gramophone that would play 33⅓ albums as well as the older 78s. Such albums as Lonnie Donegan and the Rock Island Line, a Danny Kaye album, and a Disney Peter Pan album.The wind blowing through on stormy evenings. A can of vanilla creamed rice and canned peaches were considered a dessert treat. There was no shop at Boat Harbour, only an old guy called Charlie who used to sell beer and things from his house which was on the flat down toward the steps to the beach via the waterfall that served as a cold shower. There was also a very large midden (a pile of shells created by Aboriginal people) just before these steps. Charlie used to take the horse and cart across the beaches to Cronulla pub to get supplies. Laura remembers going with Charlie quite often on these errands when she was young. She would ride the bony old horse bareback while he walked alongside. When they pulled into the car park they got a lot of stares as Laura had salt encrusted hair and usually wore just a swimming costume and Charlie looked like something from a Roald Dahl book. At night the adults would sit in Charlie’s kitchen and drink while the kids ran free collecting the small green frogs that were everywhere as they would jump up onto your torch. Also at Boat Harbour there would be communal type gatherings where kids would put on talent quests whilst the adults sat and drank. Marc remembers Laura and himself doing a marvellous duet of "There's a Hole in My Bucket" to the thunderous applause of the crowd. In January 1965, 2 fifteen year old girls (the same age as Laura) were murdered nearby at Wanda Beach. After that the Vining children were kept in closer check and any thoughts of walking over the dunes to Wanda beach were quashed. |
The area is known for its large sand dunes. The kids would spend hours sliding down them on pieces of cardboard. Because of the enormous expanse of sand and the sensation of being isolated in a remote desert region these dunes were used until the 1980s for movies such as 40,000 Horsemen, Rats of Tobruk, Thunder in the Desert, Phar Lap, and Mad MaxBeyond Thunderdome.
In the 1970s Gloria worked at the Big Burger Bar at the Showground during the Sydney Easter Show.
She also worked in a number of kitchens and restaurants such as a pub in Alison Road, Randwick, The Golden Grove Hotel in Maroubra Junction, an Asian restaurant down the road from the Maroubra Junction Hotel, and a Chinese Restaurant across from The Bay Hotel.
The family were regular visitors to the Chinese Restaurant. Norm would drive down with empty pots from their kitchen and bring the dinner home in the pots as this was before plastic takeaway containers were in use. When the restaurant closed the Vinings were invited to the farewell dinner. They mistakenly thought they had been invited as honoured guests and loyal customers only to have to scrape some cash together to pay when they were presented with the bill at the end of the night!
She also worked in a number of kitchens and restaurants such as a pub in Alison Road, Randwick, The Golden Grove Hotel in Maroubra Junction, an Asian restaurant down the road from the Maroubra Junction Hotel, and a Chinese Restaurant across from The Bay Hotel.
The family were regular visitors to the Chinese Restaurant. Norm would drive down with empty pots from their kitchen and bring the dinner home in the pots as this was before plastic takeaway containers were in use. When the restaurant closed the Vinings were invited to the farewell dinner. They mistakenly thought they had been invited as honoured guests and loyal customers only to have to scrape some cash together to pay when they were presented with the bill at the end of the night!
Gloria died on the 7th of July 1993 in Sydney aged 63 years. Her ashes are in the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (Crematorium, Rose Gardens, Garden L8) alongside those of her husband Norman.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_Harbour_(Kurnell)
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/sydney-shanty-town-paradise-where-residents-have-no-electricity-or-running-water-could-soon-be-wiped-out/story-fni0cx12-1226842290788
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Beach_Murders
http://www.ssec.org.au/our_environment/our_bioregion/kurnell/history/occupation/sandhills.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Factor,_Sr.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18468560?searchTerm=max%20factor%20plant&searchLimits=l-decade=194|||l-state=New+South+Wales|||l-year=1949
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/sydney-shanty-town-paradise-where-residents-have-no-electricity-or-running-water-could-soon-be-wiped-out/story-fni0cx12-1226842290788
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Beach_Murders
http://www.ssec.org.au/our_environment/our_bioregion/kurnell/history/occupation/sandhills.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Factor,_Sr.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18468560?searchTerm=max%20factor%20plant&searchLimits=l-decade=194|||l-state=New+South+Wales|||l-year=1949