The Veness Family History

Frank William Veness I was born at Marrickville, Sydney, New South Wales, on 25 August 1917, the second child of Henry William Veness and Lilian Alice Keen. As well as myself, there was Kenneth Charles (b. 13 May 1916), Russell Frederick (b. 22 March 1923), and Norman Henry (b. 9 July 1924). We lived as a family in Croydon, Sydney, in a cottage owned by my grandmother. Brother Ken and I attended the Croydon Public School. I never liked school, because I found study hard, and consequently learned slowly. My mother and father had a new home built at Bexley into which we moved in 1925. It was a lovely brick home which we all appreciated very much. My mother and father lived out their lives in this lovely old home. Dad would spend all day Saturday mowing, cutting along paths with a big carving knife; the garden edges were done with a straight edge and shears! Sometimes I would help him, and other times it all fell to me as he would be working away. Perhaps this is when I gained my love of gardening. As kids we had to make our own fun, as there was no such thing as television and fun parlours. We would spend hours making and flying kites in the paddock opposite our house. Other times we would play cricket or football, have paper chases that would lead through gullies covered in blackberry bushes, and anywhere to make it more difficult and entertaining. Bexley Gully was a favourite haunt with us kids, as the wildflowers in the spring and the birds were beautiful, especially the whip-coach birds with their shrill calls. Unfortunately, as the houses and roads went in, the birds moved on. Another haunt was a gully near where the East Hills railway was put through at East Bexley. Here we had a swimming hole where we could swim, catch carp and water scorpions, and as they made the road approach for the bridge to go over the line, it created a beaut slope on the sides down which we would slide on pieces of tin and board. Great fun! Afterwards a swim was needed to get rid of some of the grime. 15 | P a g e