My husband Rob’s maternal grandparents, Harry and Malinda (Linda) Atkins, are a bit of a mystery to me. They have been in my thoughts a lot recently, as we inherited some lovely old pieces from them. The items were in storage for a long time while we were building a new house and it is only now that I can appreciate how special they are. There is a longcase clock in an Australian, silky oak case, gorgeous pieces of alabaster, boxes of silver cutlery, and a vast collection of St.Val. Belgian crystal.
My mother-in-law Jean told me that the alabaster was purchased from one of her father’s business associates, an Italian importer.
Harry died long before I met Rob, but I knew Nana Linda as an elderly woman. She was a funny, fiery lady of Irish extraction. Her maiden name was Hearn. Her parents were James and Laura Hearn, from the South Australian electorate of Frome. She was their first born, and I think their only child.
The earliest Atkins item we have is a Christmas gift presented to Harry by his employers in 1920.
He managed an Adelaide tobacconist shop, owned by Arkbruster & Uhtlman.
Jean was born in 1924 and by all accounts she and her elder sister Lila enjoyed a privileged upbringing.
The family lived in the leafy suburb of Leabrook. Malinda was a very substantial property. It seems slightly odd to name your house after yourself, Linda, but never mind.😎 There is no record of inherited wealth in either the Atkins or the Hearn families. This raises an interesting question, How did tobacconist Harry afford such a home? Remember, his ownership spanned the years of the Great Depression. The longcase clock was purchased in 1937, when many Australians were struggling to make ends meet,
Here is another strange thing. In 1943 Harry was awarded damages for having suffered lead poisoning while working at the Holden factory in Woodville.
Lead poisoning sounds dreadful, and factory work was hardly lucrative. However, life at home seemed to go on as delightfully as ever.
During the war years Jean and Lila ran a social club for serviceman. The young men were welcomed to Malinda for tennis parties and dances. One dashing RAAF pilot was Alan Conolly from Sydney, who fell in love with Jean.
In 1946 the home was sold. The advertisement gives a very good description of the house and grounds;
The family moved from Adelaide to Sydney. This may have been because Jean and Alan were married that year in Manly. Also, Harry’s brother David was already in NSW, having brought Luna Park to the harbour city from Glenelg (that’s another story!).
HARDER TIMES FOR THE ATKINS
Harry, Linda and Lila moved into a rented flat at Sydney’s Bellvue Hill, which suggests the sale of Malinda may have been forced. The couple were left with no capital whatsoever.
Some years after Harry’s death in 1954, Lila and her husband won the lottery, They purchased a unit for Linda in the city’s inner west. There she remained for decades, always slightly resentful about living ‘in the sticks‘ . The only clue I have to the whole story is that Jean told me her father Harry was a gambler, as was his brother David, who owned racehorses. It is possible that Lady Luck was responsible for Harry’s wealth,, but such a sustained run of good fortune seems highly unlikely. And was gambling also behind the family losing almost everything? It’s a complete mystery, 😪
The only personal item we have of Harry’s is his Ancre Sport wristwatch, which Nana gave to Rob when he was quite young. She included a touching message in the box;
I can’t resist adding the following photo. It was taken in 1978, at the Sydney townhouse Rob had bought before we were married in 1977. It appears I was bonding with Jean and Linda over a little too much wine!
Here cheers Nana Atkins. Your beloved clock, the alabaster lion. the lamp lady and so many other pieces from Malinda are still looking great. They were treasured by Jean after your death and are in turn taking pride of place at our home in the Blue Mountains. How you accumulated them I will probably never know.
CLICK ON THE LINK FOR INFORMATION ON LUNA PARK, GLENELG.
