Helen Pretty...A Life of Service (1939).
Helen Pretty lived in Subiaco in the later part of her life and devoted much of her time to helping others in the area including raising funds for the Children's Hospital. She shared her memories with the the West Australian newspaper in 1939 just after her 91st birthday. The article is copied below.
Helen Pretty's husband, Edward Pretty was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1850. He married Helen who was born in Australia and settled in Queensland in 1884. Together the couple had five sons and a daughter. By 1895 they had moved to Western Australia when Edward obtained a position as manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company. After Edward retired the couple settled in Mundaring.
"...around c1926, Helen Pretty left the house (at 6825 Great Eastern Hwy, Mundaring) and settled in Subiaco following the death of her daughter. Edward and Helen Pretty were active in the Mundaring community. Edward was a Justice of the Peace in the district and he was a member of the committee which former the Mundaring Horticultural Society in December 1909 which was a break-away group from the Darling Range Horticultural society (formed in 1906). Helen Pretty continued her charity work in Mundaring following her central role in fund raising for Perth’s Hospital for Children in the late 1890s. She contributed to the local school and Anglican Church, most notably through the donation of an organ for the Anglican Church of the Epiphany..." (inherit state heritage database).
In 1938 Helen Pretty celebrated her 90th birthday. The West Australian published the following article and published a photograph... "A Ninetieth Birthday. There will be a happy luncheon party at 166 Townshend-road, Subiaco, today, when relatives and friends of Mrs. Helen Pretty will gather to wish her many happy returns of the day on the occasion of her 90th birthday.
Mrs. Pretty, who is the widow of the late Mr. Edward Pretty is a well-known Perth identity and a familiar figure with her snowy head surmounted by a graceful mantilla, which she has for many years preferred to hats. She has also a reputation for being a great conversationalist, fund of stories and her remarkably retentive memory making her an asset to any gathering at which she happens to be present.
Notwithstanding her great age, there are few incidents in her eventful life which she cannot recall, one of her earliest memories being the finishing touches to her father's home in Camden, New South Wales, when workmen had to be brought from Sydney to complete the construction at the rate of £I a day a man, those who had commenced the job having downed tools to participate in the gold rush. That was when Mrs. Pretty was five years of age, three years after her arrival in Australia.
Her father, Dr. Walker, had come out as surgeon and chaplain on an immigrant ship five years before, his journey taking eight months. His wife and children (Mrs. Pretty was the youngest of seven) came 18 months later on a ship that accomplished the journey in six months. Mrs. Pretty returned to England at the age of 22 and there married her cousin, Mr. Edward Pretty, with whom she returned to Australia. About 43 years ago they settled in Western Australia.
Those who have been invited to her luncheon party today will partake of a repast prepared under her own supervision as she spent all yesterday morning in her kitchen helping with the cooking. She will also cut a cake, ornamented with 90 candles, presented to her by two former servants" (The West Australian 10 June 1938).
In 1938, The Daily News published a story article titled 'Jewels from a 90-year-old' where Helen provided some cooking advice..."Mrs. Helen Jane Pretty, of Townshend-road, Subiaco, 90 years old, has a marvellous memory, in which many pieces of housewifely knowledge are neatly stored. And she still supervises the cooking for special occasions. Points of housewifery tried and retried during a life-time of 90 years have a rare value. Most women who live to that age have either ceased interest in the domestic side of life, or their memory has failed them.
Here are some gems from from her treasure house: — "Put some pieces of finely cut chilli in the before-dinner sherry. It makes an excellent appetiser, and is better for you than a cocktail." "Always use bacon bones for stock for tomato soup. And make it with cream. It's more nourishing and appetising." "To make tripe go further and taste better, put the tripe through a mincer with a large onion. Make the mixture into balls, dip them in batter made from one egg and three-quarters of a cup of flour, and fry them in boiling fat. Try it, and give the family a treat." "Put all salads possible, especially beetroot, in jelly. It saves accidents to table cloths." "Press the streaky part of bacon and use it instead of ham. More economical and just as tasty." "Rub fresh meat with vinegar. It will keep for a week." (The Daily News, 14 June 1938).
Helen died in April, 1945, aged 97. Edward died in November, 1913 aged 65. They were both buried together in the Anglican section of the Karrakatta Cemetery.
The articles and photographs are from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended.
West Australian, 9 June 1939.
LIFE OF SERVICE.
Mrs. Helen Pretty's 91st Birthday Tomorrow.
ENJOYING good health and surprising vigour for her age, Mrs. Helen Pretty, who resides at 166 Townshend-road, Subiaco, will be 91 tomorrow. Interviewed recently she opened up a remarkable vista of memories back along the years.
She spoke of the Children's Hospital which she worked hard to establish in the nineties, and she recalled the happy days of service to the people of the Mundaring district, where the late Archbishop Riley called her "the mother of Mundaring." Service to others has been the prevailing motive of her life, frugality in her girlhood and life in rural districts having taught her how pressing can be the calls of grim necessity.
Mrs. Pretty was born in London, and arrived in Australia when two years old. Her father, Dr. Walker, had been surgeon and chaplain on an immigrant ship which had taken eight months to bring a large party of women to Australia to be married to earlier arrivals. Her trip to this country occupied six months, but her earliest recollection is of the erection of her father's home at Camden, in the Macarthur country of sheep fame in New South Wales. At that time there was an acute shortage of labour, owing to a gold rush, and her father had to pay men £1 a day to finish building the home when the carpenters had left in quest of gold.
Adventurous Voyage.
Barter prevailed in those days, money being scarce in her district, and often the clients of her father—the local doctor—paid their debts to him in produce or meat. The family had the plainest of food, and was content with it—an experience which taught her useful phil-osophy in later years. Every member of the family was trained to relieve the needs of others, and she was noted for the manner in which she helped mothers, washing and tending their babies, and scrubbing their floors. In her early twenties, Mrs. Pretty escorted her three young nieces to England. The voyage proved adventurous, for the ship was practically wrecked by a hurricane off Cape Horn, and limped about the high seas in a sinking condition, with almost the whole complement, including many passengers, in mutiny.
Her relief at landing her charges safely in England was so intense that she was overcome, and temporarily lost her memory. Eventually, the children's grandparents found her and took the four young travellers to their home. Restored to health, she went to stay with other relatives in Bedford, and there met and married the late Mr. Edward Pretty. He secured a position with the New Zealand Insurance Company in Queensland, Children's Hospital Founded. In 1895 Mr. Pretty was transferred to the Perth branch of the company, and the couple lived in a house on the site of the present office of the company in St. George's-terrace.
While there, Mrs. Pretty was struck with the deplorable conditions among the sick poor of Perth, particularly the children. Many families were camped under unhealthy conditions alongside the Causeway, and disease was rife. With considerable persistence, raising money by penny collections and fairs, with the aid of the late Mr. Charles Moore she secured the present site for the Children's Hospital. Another institution had sought to possess the land, but she formed one of a party who one Sunday morning went to the spot and started to erect a fence round it.
The hospital was started as a result of a fete which she organised and which raised £166. Her services for the hospital were recognised by the presentation of an illuminated address which she still treasures, signed by the late Mr. Charles Moore (founder of the movement), Rabbi D. I. Freedman (chairman), Messrs. H. Hocking and J. S. Battye (trustees) and Mr. W. Watson (honorary secretary). Mr. and Mrs. Pretty then went to England for a couple of years, and on their return erected a home at Mundaring, where for 20 years she carried on her philanthropic work.
She took a leading part in the establishment of the Anglican Church there, and among her many voluntary services in the district she was organist in the church, carrying on her work long after the death of her husband about 25 years ago. For the past 11 years she has lived at her present home.
All of Mrs. Pretty's five sons have served in the Empire's wars. Capt. Edward Percival Pretty and Lieut. Gerald Pretty served in the South African War, and, in the Great War, Capt. F. C. Pretty, M.C., was in the Royal Navy, Lieut. Norman Pretty in the 32nd Battalion, A.I.F., and Mr. Hardy Pretty in the Australian Field Artillery.
West Australian, 14 June 1938.
