Interviewee: HELEN AUDREY SELBIE

Interviewer: JENNY CAMPBELL

Abstractor: Barbara Gillam

Track 1

0.35 Born Helen Audrey Collis-Brown. Married name Selbie. Born in 1920

2.18 Born in Bairnsdale, Gippsland in Victoria, Australia. Father was a magistrate

3.16 She had 4 sisters and 1 brother.

4.15 Mother was VIOLET BERGER. Father was GEORGE HENRY BROWN

5.00 Father added COLLIS to his name after being asked to by a woman who had no sons.

7.00 They had a luxurious lifestyle with servants.

7.50 Val was the eldest sister and very musical.

9.10 Val joined the MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 2nd Cellist.

10.20 Moved to BRIGHTON, MELBOURNE after birth of Helen's last sibling.

12.30 Father built onto their new house, BAINDALE HOUSE, so they could have a live in governess, MISS HAMILTON.

14.50 Went to FIRBANK C of E GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

TRACK 2

1.38 There was always music in the family.

2.10 Sport in the family as well.

2.30 Mother suffered from a type of depression and she had to get rid of some of the staff.

3.00 Mother had RHEUMATIC FEVER at 9 that affected her health and she had a heart attack.

4.00 Lots of relations in Melbourne

6.36 For Helen ballet was her dream and did all her exams up to teaching level.

9.24 Val married, had one daughter and moved to Sydney.

10.50 Lucille was the sister who was next after Helen. She was a violinist.

11.40 Married an RAF officer.

12.30 Settled in Melbourne. 14.25 Youngest was Dulcie who danced in the Corps De Ballet in Melbourne.

Track 3

0.08 Dulcie married and worked in the ELECTRICITY COMMISION and transferred to HOBART.

0.55 Father lived to 83.

Track 4

0.10 Val is in a home in BANNOCKBURN and is 98.

1.14 Was at Firbank from aged 7 to leaving.

2.35 Wanted to be a doctor but it was too expensive so picked PHYSIOTHERAPY.

4.00 Course was part based at University.

5.45 Married at 30.

6.30 Dulcie and she went to AUCKLAND for a visit to relatives.

8.45 Dulcie was a SECRETARY in a lawyer’s office in Auckland.

10.00 She travelled through NZ

14.00 Met her husband on the ferry going back to Australia.

Track 5

0.40 John Selbie followed her to Melbourne.

2.40 They had 3 boys, JOHN LAWRENCE, DAVID GEORGE and PETER BERNARD.

4.10 Youngest married and living in Melbourne.

5.06 Peter has two children, Emma 16 and William 14

6.00 Eldest married on CAROLYN HESHEN. They have 2 girls; Katrina and Juliet.

9.18 Had a daughter called DIANA.

12.20 Helen married in 1952.

Track 6

2.00 Helen had to cook for the men on the farm.

3.50 The homestead on main Queenstown/Lumsden Road almost opposite the Lowther Road.

6.20 Had a lot of modern appliances in the kitchen.

7.50 Had help from the WOMENS DIVSION OF FEDERATED FARMERS. They could supply a live in housekeeper.

9.10 Made jams and did a lot of preserving.

10.31 Her sons went to JOHN MCGLASHON SCHOOL in Dunedin.

11.00 John Selbie died in 1996 aged 83.

11.21 LUCY AGNES SELBIE, John's mother lived with them.

14.05 When Lucy was 95 she moved to NELSON. She died in a home when she was 102.

Track 7

0.20 Australian family visited.

3.00 Helen likes to read.

3.20 She had to leave ballet/music behind. She feels music starved.

4.05 She taught son David rudiments of music. He has two children in Melbourne who are doing very well with music.

5.30 She saw MARGOT FONTEYN in Dunedin.

-8.20 They had a FORESTRY block on the farm. Suggested by John's brother, (Garth)

10.00 They planted thousands over a number of weeks. They planted PINUS RADIATA which is MONTEREY PINE.

11.05 Brothers worked as partners until Garth died.

11.50 John unable to serve due to his feet.

13.20 John had to leave school.

14.50 John had sister DULCIE.

Track 8

0.20 Dulcie Selbie married man from BLUFF and moved to Bluff.

4.50 The Selbie farm grew FESCUE SEEDS.

6.05 Fescue seed sold for a lot.

6.30 Also grew COCKSFOOT GRASS and RED CLOVER.

11.50 Her social life centred around the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers.

13.20 FERRY from AUCKLAND to SYDNEY took 2.5 to 3 days.