The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991
smaller one used mainly by farmers etc. for their weekly shopping expeditions. Shopping on horseback was a fairly common sight. Our first Christmas down under was different! It was very hot!. We went to Jean’s for the evening on Christmas Eve, Colin’s parents had arrived on the 19th. On Christmas morning we went to service then on to some neighbours near the flat for drinks after which we went to friends of Colin’s for a swim in their pool. A light lunch, games with the children and then the turkey and plum pudding in the cool (80 degrees) of the evening. On New Years Eve we went to service and then a swim at Brookfield and having made up our minds to look for a home of our own we went to look at one in Enoggera, that day it was 104 degrees! We had been invited to visit the Gold Coast with Harold and his wife but were unlucky with the weather because it rained but Harold and I went for a swim in very rough seas.
House buying We bought 110, Stanley Terrace, Taringa on January 3rd, fully furnished including a T.V. which we soon changed. Brisbane was surrounded by 7 hills with a Roman Catholic building on the summit of one of them. Our site was on the top of a minor hill with roads running down sharply on two sides. It was fairly rural with lots of trees and strange (to us) shrubs in our front garden. In the back garden we had avocados, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and a banana tree which produced lots of fruit which we had to gather before the flying foxes ate them. The house was set up on concrete pieces which were 8 ft tall at the back because of the steep slope and each was topped by a metal skirt to prevent ants and other crawlies getting inside. The construction was wooden framed covered on the outside with clapboard and on the inside with vertical matchboard, including the ceilings. The floors were polished hardwood. The roof was corrugated iron, perfectly watertight but very noisy when it rained ! 76
