LIBBY WRITES ABOUT HER FATHER, RALPH (CHARLIE’S ELDEST SON)

I loved my Dad and each of us who knew him have different lived experiences. This is mine.

The family I grew up with was moulded by commitment to family, church and Mayne Nickless.

In the time after Dulcie died in 1985, Ralph lived in a grannie flat at Scilla and Tony’s place, two doors down the street from us. He taught himself to use an early version of word processing. Thankfully. His handwriting was illegible. I want to share some of his document.

Sowing the seed.

“D.J Draper committed himself to the lads at Were St. He was prevailed upon by Bob Waddell Senior to quit his weekend travelling as a local preacher to lend a hand at Were St where there was opportunity to a growing group of teenagers … DJD learned to play tennis, took us for a swim on Sunday mornings at 7am, took us for Cup Day picnics, Easter Camps and often to his home in Were St for Sunday evening tea.”

This era was all based around the Christian Endeavour classes and choir. The girls had their group led by Mrs Draper (soon to be Dad’s mother in law).

Later in Ralph’s writing:

“The wedding was fun. I was 26 and Dulcie 24. Mrs Draper was a great sport. She did not want to lose her daughter Dulcie. She was lovely. She wept on my manly chest on one occasion. Neither of us was aware that I had an indelible pencil in my waistcoat pocket. Her face was streaked with indelible pencil. Only Dulcie and I saw it. I promised to keep it in the dark. This is the first time it has been told.”

Their honeymoon on the way to Sydney:

“Talk about babes in the wood. We made it to the Yallourn Hotel for the night by about 10 pm. But there was no room. The hotel at Morewell accommodated us … On the Sunday we had lunch at Lakes Entrance high in the lookout area. We both went to sleep on a rug, and then could not find the key to the car (Dad’s Auburn). Spent an hour or more hunting. 5 days later found it in a special little pocket in the new suit I had bought for the wedding. Managed to get the Auburn going with a pair of pliers and a piece of copper wire. At Cann River that night we left a tier of the wedding cake in the car. It was destined for a repeat wedding party in Sydney with my relatives. When we found the cake in the morning, all the almond outside indicated that all was well, but on closer inspection we found that mice had eaten all the cake. In Sydney we still used it (for show).”

Over all this time Ralph, and others committed themselves to the wellbeing of the young people at the church. The picnics and camps were still going on.

Ralph, writing about the Linacre Rd Hampton house:“It was used for the monthly “CSSM Roundup” when we used to get 100 kids and oodles of CSSMers to help”.

The years we lived at 13 Linacre Rd were full of people. I cannot specifically remember a time when we were merely a nuclear family. There was:

Ted the gardener resident in a cottage in the garden DJ Draper our grandfather Missionaries from all over the world Visitors from Dad’s travels overseas Live in home help - some of whom were recovering from breakdowns.

Seldom did mum (Dulcie) cook for less than eight every night.Largely dad found the people and mum made them welcome.This was a pattern of our lives for many years

Quoting from “Hurry Back” the centenary history of Mayne Nickless by Brian Carroll:Ralph - “In 1947 he was appointed Assistant General Manager of Mayne Nickless reporting to his father. In 1952 he became a director and in 1954, on his father’s death, Managing Director, so he was well equipped to take over the responsibility.”

“It was well known throughout the firm, of course, that Ralph Davis was a religious man. It was just as widely believed that he practiced, but did not preach.”

This portrait of Ralph was commissioned by the company for supplying to the press with releases, but the press never used it!

RUSSELL, LIBBY’S HUSBAND ADDED THIS STORY:

In late 1980s Ralph was living in the flat at the back of Scilla and Tony’s place. I don’t remember a context, but he told me one day out in front of our house, that as a young man, he had been saving his money to go to Bible College to be a missionary in China. Then his sister Joan developed appendicitis, and there weren’t funds in the family to pay for her treatment. He used his savings to pay for her treatment, and then wasn’t

able to attend bible college. He subsequently believed that Joan was a missionary as he one day hoped to be, and he became a back-up to missionary workers in lots of places around the world.