‘Now,’ said Lavinia, with that fiery look which usually meant trouble, ‘I’ll tell madam my employer that I’m finished with her! Finished as of today, so I can help you set up.’
The sunny weather was perfect for washing. Even Harry helped with soaping up the water, while Mary sewed a large ruffle over the shredded lower half of Letty’s blue dress. When everything was ready, George placed an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette for Letty. She took the newspaper to Lavinia, who was giving the front room of their new place a final tidy-up.
The newspaper read:
Fresh Arrivals of New and Fashionable Goods
The Misses L Beddows beg to inform the ladies of Sydney and the colony at large that they have received several cases of lace and ribbon. The quality and style of goods is first rate. The prices are very reasonable, in keeping with the colony’s difficult times. A brief list of goods includes: collars, cuffs, shawls, ornaments and Midlands lace by the yard. Customers are invited to Number 3 Jamison St, from the 24th day of December, 1841.
‘“The Misses Beddows”,’ said Lavinia. ‘I like that. I like being in charge of our own store.’ She did a twirl about the floor.
Letty looked around her. The floor boards of their little shop were polished. The window panes sparkled. On the shelves behind the counter Lavinia had arranged the rolls of lovely, clean lace. She had left a short length of each lace trailing, soft as feathers, intricate as ferns. Letty thought the shelves were like a garden of white flowers. Above Letty’s head was draped a shawl of handmade Chantilly, the most expensive lace of all. It floated like gossamer, fine as a spider’s web, shimmering a little when the girls walked past. Their shop reminded Letty of the rainforest in a funny way – how there was something delicate and wonderful wherever she turned. It filled Letty’s heart with delight.
Out the back were more boxes – enough lace to last them for a year. Later, Lavinia said, they could see about ordering some more. ‘Business can’t be bad forever,’ she was sure. ‘New people arrive in the harbour everyday, and some of them want nice clothes.’
There was one thing missing, Letty thought. She went into the back room, opened the hope chest and took Abner’s rope mat out. Then she laid it at the front door, and they waited for customers.
Letty’s heart beat faster when the shop bell tinkled. She and Lavinia had put so much work into this shop, and used up all their savings. If customers didn’t come, her plan had failed. They would be living on the streets.
But the shop bell tinkled brightly over and over again. Many women wanted to buy things for Christmas; others wanted to see the new shop. All of them were pleased with the prices. Lavinia’s eyes sparkled like the silver coins she put neatly away in the cash box.
Late on Christmas Eve, a tall woman and a young girl with blonde ringlets came in.
‘Letty Beddows,’ said the girl sweetly. The instant Letty recognised her, Letty felt as if she had somehow shrunk inside.
‘You remember my Jemima,’ said the woman.
‘She’s pretty hard to forget,’ said Lavinia with a professional smile. Letty completely agreed.
‘Can I help you with anything?’ asked Lavinia.
‘Dear girl, we saw your advertisement. We thought we’d like to help out our friends, didn’t we, Jemima? Do you have any Chantilly?’
‘Certainly,’ replied Lavinia. Ignoring the shawl, she took down a couple of rolls to show Jemima’s mother.
Jemima fingered some of the costly lace. ‘Do you remember those ribbon rosettes you gave me?’ she asked.
Letty nodded. ‘Do you still have them?’
‘Oo no!’ said Jemima. ‘They were too old. My father’s bought me three new dresses.’
Letty said nothing. Those rosettes didn’t mean much to her now either. She had a whole shopful of her own trimmings. She didn’t want those roses or Jemima’s type of friendship anymore.
‘This is nice, Letty,’ Jemima said, holding a length of lace against her skirt. ‘Can I have some? Or –’ Jemima’s eyes fixed on the shawl. ‘What about that?’
‘Certainly,’ said Letty, just like Lavinia. ‘The shawl is ten pounds. The edging is nine shillings a foot.’
Jemima put it back on the counter. Her mother chose the cheapest pair of machinemade cuffs, then asked Lavinia for a large discount. Lavinia arched her eyebrows, but agreed.
‘As a gift,’ she said, showing Jemima and her mother to the door. ‘Merry Christmas.’
‘And never again,’ she added, once the door was shut. ‘Don’t be unhappy, Letty. We can afford it. We’ve earned a month’s rent today.’
10
Christmas Day
THE next morning, the two girls tidied the shop again.
‘Nobody will come today,’ said Lavinia, when they’d finished. ‘They’re all getting ready for Christmas lunch.’
Letty rested her arms on the counter. ‘Imagine what our family is doing now,’ she said. In her memory, Letty could see them crowded around a table set with the best china. ‘I wish they were here,’ she said.
‘I’m here,’ said Lavinia. ‘We have a very fine business and our own home in Australia.
That’s something to celebrate. Though I wouldn’t mind a plum pudding, you know. We’ve been so busy I forgot about food.’
On this day, especially, Letty missed her Papa and her little brother and sisters badly. Even though the shop was a success. If she and Lavinia had never left England, thought Letty, they would have a roof over their heads, plus pudding to eat, and more loved ones to share it with. To Letty that still mattered more than all the pretty things around them and the shillings in the drawer.
But she didn’t want to start a row by explaining that to Lavinia. She laid her head on her arms.
A muffled thud shook the front door. Letty looked up.
‘Is that a customer?’ she said doubtfully. Surely everybody but them was celebrating Christmas?
Lavinia raised her eyebrows. ‘Maybe it’s a rich young man who forgot to buy his sweetheart a gift for Christmas,’ she whispered. ‘Shall we charge him double?’ She smoothed her dress, arranged her curls and opened the door.
George stood there, spruced up in a clean shirt and waistcoat. A grin hovered on his face. He was holding something heavyish. A clean white tablecloth covered both the object and his hands.
‘What –’ said Lavinia.
‘I’ve come to wish the Misses Beddows compliments of the season,’ George said. ‘I’d take my hat off to you, but I’ve got my hands full.’
‘Come in!’ said Letty.
George wiped his feet carefully on Abner’s mat. He carried the object through to the kitchen, placed it on the stove and dabbed at the trickle of sweat running into his collar. Then he whisked the white cloth off and flicked it over the table.
‘Christmas dinner!’ he announced.
‘George!’ Letty exclaimed. The object under the cloth was a beautiful pie, decorated with holly leaves and an angel, all cut out of golden pastry.
‘That’s quite something,’ said Lavinia.
George nodded towards the front door. ‘Mary’s got the china and a pudding.’
‘Oh!’ said Letty and Lavinia together, as Clem appeared, loaded with plates. With Victoria on one hip, Mary steered Harry inside. Last came Abner, barefoot and carrying a sack over one shoulder.
Abner held the sack out to Letty. ‘Oysters,’ he said. ‘Fresh off the rocks, they are. I got ’em at low tide.’
‘The rest’s all my work,’ George added, his chest puffing out the brocade of his waistcoast.
‘We hope you don’t mind company,’ said Mary.
‘As our Christmas dinner has gone walkabout,’ Clem said, ‘we thought we’d better follow.’
Letty and Abner laughed. She was delighted to see them.
‘I guess you’d better sit down,’ said Lavinia.
There weren’t nearly enough chairs, but Abner and Clem fetched one of the crates the lace had come in. They put th
at on one side of the table, then pulled the hope chest up to the opposite side.
Lavinia frowned a little. ‘I’m sorry it’s not quite a proper Christmas setting,’ she said.
‘I’d say it is,’ grinned Abner. ‘We could call the crate a manger.’
Letty was glad for Abner’s odd way of looking at things. She sat down on the brassstudded chest next to him. Mary and Clem shared the crate with their children.
George pulled out a chair for Lavinia with a flourish.
Lavinia swept elegantly into her seat.
‘Thank you for this lovely spread,’ she said.
George beamed. Letty thought how handsome he looked when he was happy.
‘Ahem,’ said George. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Struth, if you’ve a mind to it, I’ll happily share a lifetime of dinners with you.’
Clem and Mary exchanged smiles. Victoria gurgled.
Lavinia went pinker than her dress. She looked both embarrassed and extremely pretty, Letty thought.
‘I can’t ask your father’s permission as he’s not here,’ George continued, dropping to one knee. ‘But I’m sure I’ve got Letty’s.’ He winked.
Letty could hardly breathe, let alone speak.
‘Oh, you oaf,’ said Lavinia, twisting a curl rapidly around one finger. ‘I don’t want to marry. I came to Australia to find some independence. Now I’ve finally got it, I’m not giving it up.’
George heaved a sigh. He bent over to Letty and whispered in her ear.
‘That’s what makes your sister such a damn fine woman,’ he said, just loud enough that everyone could hear. ‘I’m not giving up, either.’
Letty laughed. If George kept trying this hard, Letty thought, her sister would soften. One day, she would become a very lovely bride, in a big dress with lots of lace, Letty was sure.
Harry slipped off Clem’s knee. He climbed under the table, then wriggled up next to Letty on the hope chest.
‘We made it to Christmas, Letty!’ he said. Letty put an arm around him and held him close.
Abner bowed his head to say grace. ‘We thank thee, Lord, fo-er this Christmas Day,’ he said. ‘We thank thee fo-er light in dark times, and fo-er friends in lonely places. Fo-er this year that’s been and the ones to come. Amen.’
Letty nearly cried. She thought how it had been very hard since she left her home in England. She had often been so lonely and so frightened. She’d lost family and friends, and all their belongings in the hope chest. So much had gone wrong.
Letty didn’t understand why she had been through all these painful things in one year. But she wasn’t too sad. Now she had so much. She had a shop full of beautiful lace and a plan for the future. She had a plate full of Christmas dinner. More than that, she had courage, she had Lavinia’s respect, and a parlour full of true friends. Through her worst days, she had found love.
She watched Harry run his fingers round the brass studs of the hope chest. ‘You know …’ Letty said.
‘Aye?’ Abner shucked the last of the oysters.
Lavinia stopped pouring tea for George, and looked at her.
‘Our chest isn’t really empty,’ Letty said. ‘It’s full of hope.’
Lavinia blew her a kiss. ‘Happy Christmas, little sister.’
‘Happy Christmas!’ cheered everyone else.
HOW I BECAME
AN AUSTRALIAN GIRL
by Alison Lloyd
I am an immigrant Australian girl, too. I came on a plane from the USA, with my mum, dad and baby sister, for my dad to start a new job. We moved into a new house, in a new suburb, in the new city of Canberra. We owned more stuff than Letty, but not DVDs, a computer or a colour TV. Our backyard was a bare slope of orange clay, which my sister and I used for making mud pies. I also loved reading, playing dress-ups and pretending to live in the olden days. Nowadays I live in Melbourne.
Writing Letty’s story felt a lot like those games I used to play with my sister and my schoolfriends. Writing is another way of travelling by imagination back into the past.
HOW I BECAME
AN AUSTRALIAN GIRL
Lucia Masciullo
I was born and grew up in Italy, a beautiful country to visit, but also a difficult country to live in for new generations.
In 2006, I packed up my suitcase and I left Italy with the man I love. We bet on Australia. I didn’t know much about Australia before coming – I was just looking for new opportunities, I guess.
And I liked it right from the beginning! Australian people are resourceful, open-minded and always with a smile on their faces. I think all Australians keep in their blood a bit of the pioneer heritage, regardless of their own birthplace.
Here I began a new life and now I’m doing what I always dreamed of: I illustrate stories. Here is the place where I’d like to live and to grow up my children, in a country that doesn’t fear the future.
The World’s First Christmas Card
This was the first commercial Christmas card, printed in England in 1843. Many of our Christmas customs, such as Christmas trees, Christmas cards and Christmas puddings, became popular when Queen Victoria was on the throne (1837–1901) – an era which is often called Victorian times.
DID YOU KNOW…
Abner means ‘the father is a light’
* * *
Alison means ‘of noble kind’
* * *
Clem means ‘merciful, mild or gentle’
* * *
George means ‘earth mover’
* * *
Harry means ‘home ruler’
* * *
Jemima means ‘a dove’
* * *
Lavinia means ‘mother of the Romans’
* * *
Letitia means ‘joy’
* * *
Lucia means ‘light’
* * *
Mary means ‘sea of bitterness’
* * *
Victoria means ‘conqueror’
* * *
Do you know what your name means? You could ask someone in your family or look it up online.
* * *
What Life was Like in
Letty’s Time
In the early 1840s, New South Wales went through a bad drought. Farmers took many of their sheep to slaughteryards, where the sheep carcasses were boiled to get tallow. Tallow was a kind of grease used for making polish, soap and candles in the days before electricity. During the drought, many Sydney businesspeople also went broke.
The Blue Mountains lie between Sydney and inland New South Wales. There are still large areas of wilderness there. A road was built over the Blue Mountains from 1814 to 1815. It was very rough, compared to today’s roads, so travel was very slow. Cars had not been invented and railways had not been built in Australia in 1841. People, furniture, food and wool were moved either on foot, on horseback or in vehicles pulled by animals. Teams of bullocks (male cows) were used to pull the heaviest loads, because they were so strong. Bullockies continued to live and work along Australia’s country roads, and cut timber in the bush, up until the middle of last century.
Just outside the Blue Mountains National Park are the stunning Jenolan Caves. They were first discovered, by white settlers at least, around Letty’s time. It’s a very long walk from Katoomba at the top of the mountains to the caves (although some people do it). But maybe there are more glow-worm caves in the forest, still waiting to be discovered …
the
OUR AUSTRALIAN GIRL
song
We are all Australian girls, each one unique
Reaching out across centuries, far lands and seas
And even though I might seem different from you
If you take my hand let’s share history too.
Each of our girls has a story to tell
An adventure, a journey, a growing as well
Each one of them shares part of our history
Each one an Australian girl like you and me.
If you’d like to he
ar the OAG song, you’ll find it on our website. Go to ouraustraliangirl.com.au
Nellie
1849
An Irish orphan in South Australia
by
PENNY MATTHEWS
Meet Nellie O’Neill as she arrives in Adelaide, full of dreams.
It’s 1849 and Nellie’s left the famine in Ireland far behind her and crossed the world to find a better life. Now that she’s come to South Australia, Nellie hopes she’ll never be hungry again. She has other hopes, too – to learn to read, and to be part of a family once more. Most of all, though, she wants to be seen not just as an Irish workhouse orphan, but as a person in her own right.
Brave, bonny and full of fun, Nellie is a girl you’ll never forget. Meet Nellie and join the adventures of an Irish girl with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself.
Alice
1918
A ballerina in World War One
by
DAVINA BELL
Meet Alice Alexander, at home with her big family in their house on the banks of the Swan River.
It’s 1918 and Alice’s deepest wish is to become a real ballerina. But as the war in Europe causes problems in Perth, her family is torn apart. Alice must make difficult choices between the thing she loves and the people she cares for most. Can she really give up on her dreams forever?
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