‘Twas Christmas morn, and we dashed to Bondi Junction to catch the train that would whisk us up to Castle Hill for our first Aussie holiday celebration. La Niña had relented for a moment, erasing the previous month’s cold and rain from our memories and filling us with the joy of the warm Aussie sun.
One transfer and an hour or so later, we disembarked at the station and made our way to the car park to wait for our ride. A white sedan pulled up shortly after, but not anticipating us for another 10 minutes, the driver did not get out or look up. I made my way carefully over towards the car, pretending to look at the nearby brush so as not to startle the man inside who may or may not have been our awaited chauffeur. But the likeness was unmistakable: Frank Conrow looks just like my Uncle Brown.
I’ll back up a bit. My great Uncle Brown (whose full name is Randsome Brown Conrow) is American by birth but an Aussie by up-bringing. His family moved to Australia when he was 9 months old, and he did not return to the States until after his mother’s death, when he was 25. Sometime after his return, he met my Aunt Claire (my maternal grandmother’s younger sister), and they married. Jobs for chemists were scarce in Australia, so Brown and Claire remained in the US but often traveled out here to visit his brothers and their families. Pam Conrow, pictured with me in an earlier post, is the wife of Brown’s older brother, Bob, who passed away 2 years ago. It was Pam and her children (Brown’s niece and nephews)–Jane, Frank, and Neil–who invited us to join them in a real Aussie Christmas.
One of the first things that Pam explained to me upon presenting the invitation was that it was to be a true Aussie Christmas dinner–all cold foods! Pam, who is now in her mid-80′s, elaborated:
“When I was young, I would watch my mother struggling every year to put together a hot Christmas dinner though it was boiling hot outside. I swore that if I ever got married, I would never make a hot Christmas meal. And I never have!”
More on that soon…
Finally being certain of Frank’s identity, we greeted him and made our way to Jane’s house, passing Santa on the road…
…and within a few minutes, pulled up to this sweet bungalow–Jane and David’s home.
Jane and David are an eclectic pair in the best sense. Jane’s a local physio and David an old drover who’s spent years herding cattle through the outback. He’s retired now, and they often take long camping trips through the outback, going from watering hole to watering hole, rolling out their swags (bedrolls) at night to sleep under the stars. Their home is filled with artwork and Aboriginal artifacts that they’ve discovered on their journeys.
A few pieces, such as the grinding stones they shared with us, they suspect to be thousands of years old. Given that the Aboriginal peoples have inhabited this continent for some 50,000 years, it’s probably a safe estimate. These two know Australia like few modern Aussies do… the birds, the plants, the cattle tracks, surviving in the outback… and they are filled to the brim with stories just waiting to be told.
One fascinating story that David (Allworth) shared over dinner was a recent project that he took part in to document the lives of a few of the remaining drovers. The project was conceived by a local singer/songwriter whose interest in droving lead him to write an album about the business. He then looked for a way to tour with it, and it led to a larger project called, “A Ride to Remember.” For six weeks, David and a few others took to the outback on a journey from the western edge of Queensland through the Northern Territory to the eastern edge of Western Australia. I greatly encourage you to check out the following links and listen to the Steven Schubert interview with David and the other drovers.
ABC Rural: Bush Telegraph
A Ride to Remember
Besides the stories, dinner itself was a sight to behold and entirely different from the Christmas dinners back home. First course, seafood: lobster, prawns, and Sydney rock oysters, all of which I graciously left for David to enjoy, though Mike bravely partook of each.
Second course, cold turkey, ham, rice and salads. But the crème de la crème of the day was truly the brandied fruit Christmas pudding ice cream cake (need more descriptors? I don’t know quite what to call it…), pictured here:
And yes, it tasted as good as it looked.
Overall, it was a brilliant day. We learned some new family history and even had a hot debate about Uncle Brown’s accent. I claim it’s more Aussie than American, but the Aussie Conrows claim the opposite. Weigh in back at home. What do you think?
L to R: Neil, Ika, Frank, Pam (seated), Jane, David, Andrea, Michael
By the time we all said our good-byes, both Mike and I felt as if a new family bond had been formed. And we’re already looking forward to next year.
