BAYSNEWS: This month we’re talking to ELISABETH KIRKBY of Morning Bay.
BAYSNEWS: Can you first tell us about your early life.
LIS: I was born in Lancashire in 1921, in a remote part of the Pennines between Bolton and Darwen. In 1930, we moved to Blackpool, close to where my grandmother was living. Because of the Depression we then moved to Nottingham as the family cotton mill my father managed closed and he was now managing a lace dyeing and finishing mill.
I went to Nottingham Girls High School, and then, in 1938, joined the Oldham Repertory Company as an assistant stage manager, followed by the Manchester Repertory Company in 1939.
When we were bombed out of Manchester, the company moved to Rhyl, but during WW2, as all unmarried women were conscripted at the age of 21, I was posted to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Barracks in Wrexham in North Wales in the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) as a Training NCO.
Later I was transferred to “Stars in Battledress’ touring Army and RAF camps in southern England in a production of FLARE PATH, a very popular play by Terence Rattigan, then running in London. So I was getting used to moving around!
After the war, I met my husband who had served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Singapore, and we decided to return there, after the introduction of the National Health Service. After 12 months in Singapore we moved to Kuala Lumpur when he transferred to the Colonial Medical Service and I was transferred from Radio Singapore to Radio Malaya.
Kuala Lumpur was the capital of the Federated Malay States, recovering from the Japanese Occupation and aiming to become independent. The Japanese might have gone, but there were still guerrillas in the jungle, hoping to achieve total independence from colonial rule. When Malaya became an independent state in 1957 one of the first measures taken by the new Government was that all ‘expatriates’ would be replaced by Malayans. So we had to decide where we should live next. We visited Southern Rhodesia and also Canada, but neither country was as appealing as Australia. So, in 1965, we came to Sydney. By this stage we were in our forties.
My husband joined the University as Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology while my radio experience led me first to the ABC. A few years on my acting experience led me to the role of Lucy who ran the laundrette and was married to Alf, the whinging Pom in the television series ‘No 96’.
To escape the city, we bought a small property outside Morisset to raise a few cattle, have an orchard, grow roses and have dogs. By this time, I was a member of the Australian Democrats, and first stood for election for the Federal seat of Cessnock. But It was not until 1981 that I was elected to the NSW Legislative Council.
Becoming a member of Parliament was a great learning experience, it involved a great deal of travelling and made me realise the impact of climate change, the GFC, the changing balance of power in the southern hemisphere.
I also became involved in local government after buying a sheep and wheat property outside Temora. My intention was to grow fine wool after I retired from Parliament in 1998, and I lived there until 2012.
BAYSNEWS: What made you choose the offshore life?
LIS: I first moved here in 2012 in my early nineties. My 3 children were all living in Sydney. However, when visiting my daughter, Deborah Eastwood, in Morning Bay, it was love at first sight. I could never have imagined a more perfect place to retire so when the house next door was put on the market in 2012 I seized the heaven-sent opportunity to move to the Western Foreshores. (even though getting in and out of a boat is difficult.! Settling in was easy as I already knew all my neighbours.
I was still going back to Sydney every week for seminars at Sydney University, meetings of the International Commission of Jurists, the Dickens Society, also to go to the STC, Belvoir Street and the Opera House. Sadly the advent of COVID and the lockdown meant that all these outings stopped.
BAYSNEWS: For those who don’t know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself now?
LIS: Of course I’m ten years older now, at 102, much less mobile but I am very happy to stay in the Bay, watch birds, boats, grow orchids, sit in the sun and read. I have several neighbours who call in and see me when they are walking their dogs, I see them swimming, paddle-boarding, and canoeing. While the Bay is quiet and peaceful there is always something to watch and the view from my living room is the most beautiful I have ever known.
I keep in touch with friends daily by email, sometimes by zoom, I certainly don’t feel isolated (although I am a ‘blow-in’), and while I haven’t got the close connection to Pittwater that many people living here have – I have wonderful memories of family occasions here. Even in extreme old age, it is a good life. I can take delight in the Bay, I can read, old books and new books. I can write, I have crosswords and jigsaws, and a pot plant garden; so much to be thankful for and above all, to enjoy.
BAYSNEWS: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
LIS: Is there such a thing as ‘ perfect happiness’? Surely we should expect life to have ups and downs, I am supremely lucky that I still have so much to enjoy, and if there are problems, I hope I will be able to cope and overcome them.
BAYSNEWS: What is your greatest fear?
LIS: Obviously, as I am now 102, I know I have to accept that I must move carefully, I must guard against falling; equally I must try to be as independent as possible for as long as I can be.
BAYSNEWS: What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
LIS: A tendency to get into a panic when I have to cope with a stressful situation, only to discover that it isn’t half as bad as I thought it would be!
BAYSNEWS: What is the trait you most dislike in others?
LIS: An attitude that dismisses other peoples’ problems, in particular problems that affect us all, climate change, social inequality, a belief that as ’I’m all right, Jack’, there is no need to work for change.
BAYSNEWS: Which person (living or deceased) do you most admire, and why?
LIS: The many individuals all over the world who are working to help others, particularly those affected by devastating events; tornados, floods, war, religious intolerance. I try to read about them to counter my anger when I see how people in real need are ignored
BAYSNEWS: Which person (living or deceased) to you most despise, and why?
LIS: The so-called leaders who are motivated by personal ambition, who won’t admit their mistakes, who ignore the lessons of history and will not accept that the world has to change. We have to progress not cling to the past.
BAYSNEWS: What is your greatest achievement?
LIS: As a member of the NSW Parliament, I was able to influence a conservative government to make significant changes to the Industrial Relations Bill. The Minister of the day, John Fahey, came to the Legislative Council to debate the bill and accepted 300 amendments. I was also a member of the Social Issues Committee, visiting NSW prisons, nursing homes and hospitals.
On a personal note, I opposed the Vietnam War, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, I supported same sex marriage and believe in freedom of sexual orientation.
BAYSNEWS: What is your greatest regret?
LIS: Over my lifetime, there are too many to remember, but looking back, it was only as I grew older that I realised how silly some of my decisions had been. Not just political decisions, but decisions that affected my personal and professional life.
As I’ve grown older, I like to think my ideas are more balance, that I am more mature; but this could be wishful thinking!
BAYSNEWS: Which talent would you most like to have?
LIS: The ability to fully understand my laptop, how best to use computer technology, to master the internet (but I know it is not likely to happen!)
BAYSNEWS: What is your motto?
LIS: I don’t really think I have one, maybe ‘ If at first you don’t succeed…….
BAYSNEWS: What have been your goals & passions in life?
LIS: My goals have always been to fight for social justice, to oppose war and dictatorship, to accept the mistakes of the past BUT to work for change to best of my very limited ability.
Also to use my knowledge of history to help me understand how to be a better citizen, and not just blindly follow political/religious creeds either past or present.
Note: This Q&A was adapted from Antionette Faure’s 1886 questionnaire. It was made famous by its first contributor, Marcel Proust, and is now known as the Proust Questionnaire. Of course.