Beryl Mary Creyke Talbot
Birth
Death Marriage Spouse Father Mother Sibling/s Children |
Location
Location Location |
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Cherrybrook, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Beryl Mary Creyke Talbot was born on the 11th of January 1890 in Sydney to Charles Chetwynd Langley Talbot and Gertrude Elizabeth White. She was known as B by her close friends and relatives.
In 1904, aged 14, Beryl won a scholarship to Sydney Girls High School.
After High School, B had secretarial training at Stott’s Business College. On graduation, she remained there for a few years as a teacher. Although her two older sisters, Ruby and Pearl, were already teachers, B was more attracted to the world of affairs and joined the Public Works Department.
Here she soon made her mark, being for many years personal secretary to the head of the survey branch and principal clerical officer. Apart from a grand tour in Europe in 1928, B remained with the Public Works Department until her retirement in 1964 (an employment record of 44 years). At 74 years old, she was past the statutory retirement age, a clear indication of her own loyalty to the department and the department’s appreciation of her services.
After the death of their mother in 1925, B and her eldest sister Pearl set up house together, initially in rented accommodation in Short St, Lindfield and later, just around the corner in their own home “Dimity” at 9a Valley Rd. This house became the Mecca for friends and for at least two generations of nieces and nephews. Their ability to inspire confidence and affection is dearly remembered by all the younger generations, as is their fostering and enthusiasm for things of the mind.
B had many hobbies and she was competent or excelled at all of them. Perhaps the most enduring was gardening. “Dimity” was always a picture.
She was also a more than adequate carpenter, potter, and water colourist. In the more public domain, she contributed poetry to the Sydney Morning Herald, usually under the pseudonym of Mary Creyke.
Here she soon made her mark, being for many years personal secretary to the head of the survey branch and principal clerical officer. Apart from a grand tour in Europe in 1928, B remained with the Public Works Department until her retirement in 1964 (an employment record of 44 years). At 74 years old, she was past the statutory retirement age, a clear indication of her own loyalty to the department and the department’s appreciation of her services.
After the death of their mother in 1925, B and her eldest sister Pearl set up house together, initially in rented accommodation in Short St, Lindfield and later, just around the corner in their own home “Dimity” at 9a Valley Rd. This house became the Mecca for friends and for at least two generations of nieces and nephews. Their ability to inspire confidence and affection is dearly remembered by all the younger generations, as is their fostering and enthusiasm for things of the mind.
B had many hobbies and she was competent or excelled at all of them. Perhaps the most enduring was gardening. “Dimity” was always a picture.
She was also a more than adequate carpenter, potter, and water colourist. In the more public domain, she contributed poetry to the Sydney Morning Herald, usually under the pseudonym of Mary Creyke.
Her colleagues at the Public Works Department remember her for her love of language and for her contributions to the staff magazine.
The Mecca of Valley Rd, Lindfield was shaken though not disrupted by the death of Pearl in 1970. Beryl managed to continue her life at “Dimity” for another decade or so with the help of nieces and nephews (especially her niece Beverley, who, herself, passed on in 1984).
One day when B was quietly walking on a pedestrian crossing in Lindfield about to do her routine shopping, she was frightened by an aggressive motorist. She fell and broke her hip, always a serious hazard for the elderly.
After periods in Dalcross Private Hospital in Killara and a time in the home of her nephew, Geoffrey Cleland, in 1983 she entered Unit 156 in the Woodlands Retirement Village at Cherrybrook.
Apart from relatively minor injuries, all went fairly well until B suffered further hip injuries which needed treatment in Hornsby Hospital.
On turning 100, Beryl received the following documents.
After periods in Dalcross Private Hospital in Killara and a time in the home of her nephew, Geoffrey Cleland, in 1983 she entered Unit 156 in the Woodlands Retirement Village at Cherrybrook.
Apart from relatively minor injuries, all went fairly well until B suffered further hip injuries which needed treatment in Hornsby Hospital.
On turning 100, Beryl received the following documents.
Beryl died on the 18th of May 1991 at Woodlands Retirement Village, 2 Kitchener Road, Cherrybrook, Sydney aged 101 years.
The following memory of B was written by her eldest niece Beryl Corlette (nee Talbot) in 1976:
“To have an aunt, a darling aunt is rather like having a third parent, better really because she fills a different need. In childhood the receiver of secrets and fears, she explaining the fears and so banishing them. Fun to be with – a few days joy. Bush walks and holding her hand and talking together about birds and trees that we passed. In later life a counsellor and adviser of things one hesitates to confide in a parent. The certainty that in all things she will give a fair, considered and loving opinion. An aunt to so many and the same loving care for each one. An aunt who fits so beautifully into her dear little house. And her garden – so like her – filled with beauty and usefulness. In spite of her age, her beauty unspoiled but enhanced with the years. Her step sure and confident and she so modest and yet so serene. A true darling aunt!”
“To have an aunt, a darling aunt is rather like having a third parent, better really because she fills a different need. In childhood the receiver of secrets and fears, she explaining the fears and so banishing them. Fun to be with – a few days joy. Bush walks and holding her hand and talking together about birds and trees that we passed. In later life a counsellor and adviser of things one hesitates to confide in a parent. The certainty that in all things she will give a fair, considered and loving opinion. An aunt to so many and the same loving care for each one. An aunt who fits so beautifully into her dear little house. And her garden – so like her – filled with beauty and usefulness. In spite of her age, her beauty unspoiled but enhanced with the years. Her step sure and confident and she so modest and yet so serene. A true darling aunt!”
References
http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/2113.shtml
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63385174@N06/6064006286/
“Beryl Remembered” by Kenneth Cleland, on the occasion of her 100th birthday
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63385174@N06/6064006286/
“Beryl Remembered” by Kenneth Cleland, on the occasion of her 100th birthday