Dorothy Bartholomew

How interesting it is to see the different recollections of our days at Fort Street! My own memories are a mixed bag. I remember being a real loner (feeling like a misfit) and missing my old friends at Cammeray. The situation was made worse by the sudden loss of my adored grandmother, the death of a close uncle and almost losing my younger sister in an accident.

Still, I have happy memories of Fort Street. Singing at the old ABC studios with Terrence Hunt, wandering around exploring Millers Point and The Rocks after school, the Saturday picnics/field trips, and best of all, my first experience of the Sydney Symphony with Sir Bernard Heinze at the Town Hall. This concert enthralled me and began a lifelong passion for music. Perhaps not so inspiring, I remember little pieces of paper, rolled up, bent, dipped in the inkwell and aimed, with the help of an elastic band or ruler, (by the boys of course) at the luckless girls sitting further to the front of the class. And what about the eurythmics display for Education Week, freezing in wisps of cheesecloth while the lucky boys acted in a profound drama about Danny Decay. Remember Aco reading stories, perched on the edge of her desk; our efforts to distract her with a question about her time in the UK. “When I was in England…….”

After Fort Street I went to North Sydney Girls. I enjoyed the years there, fortunate in having some truly great teachers who inspired me to a life-long love of learning. English and languages were a joy, not so maths and science - a real struggle at high school level. I “discovered” physics at 20, and finally, aged 40, came to enjoy the magic of maths thanks to inspired tutors at Sydney Uni Maths Learning Centre.

After NSGHS I started nursing in 1959, training at Prince Henry Hospital. I became interested in Microbiology and may have eventually pursued this field. Meantime, I met and married my husband Raj. It really was not the done thing to “intermarry” in 1961, and all we heard were dire predictions of doom and disaster. We are still happily together 45 years later. Our son Peter arrived in 1963, daughters Bernie and Therese followed in 1968 and 1969. It was late in 1963 that May managed to track me down – married name and all. I and my family had a close relationship with May and Les until their deaths in 1986 and 1994 respectively.

After a year or so travelling in New Zealand and Fiji, Raj’s home country, we settled in Mosman, ten years later moving to Lane Cove. We started a business in Crows Nest in 1963 – photography, picture framing and retail prints and paintings, later expanding into manufacturing and wholesaling, also a gallery. We had a restaurant for a few years and later ran a coffee shop. I was active in the businesses until 1979.

For the next eight years I worked in part-time nursing, became involved in local community work and indulged my love of learning. I had started learning music theory and composition in the mid 1970s and continued for about twenty years. My teacher was composer Ann Carr-Boyd who moved to Bowral in the mid 1990s. She will always remain a dear friend to all our family and we still visit.

In 1987 I decided to quit nursing and explore other fields. There was a succession of jobs in sales and marketing, later expanding to a broader scope of business development. I did numerous courses on management, communications and marketing while working in retail management, hospitality, training and development, legal publishing and more . For a couple of years I ran a business as a training broker. I “retired” almost five years ago after developing a serious lung condition.

At present we are preparing to move to Terrigal to spend our dotage in a peaceful environment. Raj and I have both had a rich and enjoyable life, albeit with many challenges and mountains to climb. We have met many wonderful people and have had some unique experiences together.

We have not accumulated vast wealth – our greatest wealth is our family who are a constant joy to us. Our children are all involved in the arts; Peter has a gallery and framing business, Bernie is a printmaker specialising in solar plate etchings and Therese is a violinist performing and teaching. The kids have each given us one grandchild, the two younger ones look likely to be headed for careers in music and/or dancing.

My future life will see me hopefully able to return to bush regeneration (I did a course in 1997), and as health permits, I will be making a contribution to environmental and human rights organizations. Ideally I would like to study in at least one area of interest - I am an avid reader and I write a little. There are some music compositions to develop and also a new garden to create. Life will always be rich while there is so much to do and learn.

Sadly, Dorothy passed away on 24 January 2008

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