December 1943 School Magazine

December, 1943

December, 19 4~

llrisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

PERSONAL NOTES. Our congratulations to FLORA LETHBRIDGE: who has obtained her final medical degree and who is now at the Childrens' Hospial. Early this year we had news of ROMA BARTON and MARIE PARSONS. who have gone to Melbourne to train for two years in Pre School and Child Psychology work . This lucky pair are two of five only chosen from this State and we extend to them our best wishes. , ' We hear of RENEE COTTEE (nee Allen) in Adelaide when her husband is. working with the Pacific Cable Company. HILDA TRUESDALE is teaching Moths. and Modern History at the New- castle Church of England Grammar School for Girls . Friends of PATRICIA and RONA VOLLER will be interes ted to hear that they are both members of the W .A.A.A.F. Pat, who is a Section Officer is. stationed in Townsville whils t Rona, who topped her course, is down South wait- ing to be posted. Extracts from letters to their Mother, Mrs. U. G. Voller of Taringa, appear in this issue. We still hear from ENA DALTON who after surviving the first Darwin iraids is now resident in Alice Springs. News comes of MARIS KING who is now in Chungking having secured an appointment with the Australian Legation to China this year. Maris, who will be 21 in December, was formerly a Cables Clerk in Canberra and we would like to take this opportunity of extending our congratulations to her on thi s. splendid appointment . She writes: "My first impression of Chungking, gained as the transport plane in which I had flown from India began to lose al titude in readiness to land, was one of great beauty; the ci ty is spread over range after range "of hills, dotted with buildings just visible amongst the green trees, the slopes cultivated in terraces, a method of farming which lends them a peculiarly Chinese love liness . The great yellow river which in Chungking is 1.100 miles from its mouth, became v isible as a broad, fast-flowing stream of muddy water on which were to be seen numerous Chinese junks, p icturesque craft if not viewed at too close quarters. "I had barely time to gather this impression before we landed on the aero- drome, a tiny island in the middle of the Yangtze. From here the outlook was. less pleasing-it was a depressing vista of gray-gray skies, (as usual in Chungking the day was dull and cloudy), grey houses, grey mud on the areo- drome nad the grey river water and this impression was later heightened as I drove past the grey shops and houses in the city. "I was met at the areodrome by our secretary and his wife and with them crossed the river in a sampan. When we 1arided on the other shore, I gazed in horror at a huge flight of stone steps winding up the steep hillside to the city, (I learnt later that there are approximately :250 steps there and they are one of the steepest of the many flights in Chungking) but was considerably relieved when informed that being a newcomer to Chungking, I must follow the customs of newcomers and mount the steps in a public chair. These chairs are light bamboo structures which according to their size are carried by eithef" two, three or four coolies. The public chairs are small and carried by two only. "This was my first ride in a chair and I shall never forget it. Going up the stairs the chair was at an angle of more~ than forty-five degrees and I W.as afraid to sit back as I should have done for fear of an accident. Looking back now, I can laugh at my fears as I am well-used to a chair and have learned to trust the sure-footed bearers absolutely. 46

"At the top of the stairs the car was waiting and we went to the Legation where I spent my first night and the next day I moved to my hotel. "I have now been here for four months and those months have been full of interest. I have become very attached to the Chinese--! find them a warm-hearted, impulsive race, enduring the p rivations forced upon them by the war with the stoicism of their kind. "Chungking is lovely. · lt stands on the junction of the two great rivers, the Yangtze and the Chialing. My hotel overlooks the latter and from the ]ounge windows can be seen range after range of hills, the last one a series of · high blue -pea-ks --behind which the~. sun, . .on.. lhe rare. occasions .when. U :favours Chungking, sets in sheer glory, lighting the river, the fields and the d rab grey buildings with a wonderful light. "The city itself is far from lovely . Tiny houses and shops, which are :for the mos t part built of bamboo and mud, line the streets, heavily laden buses stir up clouds of dust and v ile smelling fumes, footpaths and s treets are crowd- €d and the heavy traffic makes every street crossing a dangerous adventure . "Living conditions are poor. The city was no more than a small country town before the war-not even the provincial capital-and the crowds of refugees and Government officials here have caused a great deal of overcrowd- ing. Europeans who have not houses of their OWl"\ have the choice of one of two hotels, both of which, in common with everything else in Chungking, are very expensive. However they are on a par with the a us tere cond!tions e lse- where in the country. "However it must be remembered that the hotels and residential quarters shared the suffering of the rest of the city during the bombing and it is almost impossible to replace destroyed furnishings . Many of the buildings which were damaged by bombs have been rebuilt but there are still many t races cf destruction to be seen. A characteristic of Chungking is the fact that the hills are undermined with hugh tunnels fitted out as air raid shelters and although there has been only one raid in the last two years, the building of lhese is still going on. Everyone is allotted to a particular shelter and the one used by the Legation staff is in the side of a hill underneath fifty feet of ··solid rock. It would be hard to find a safer place. . "To set against the discomforts is the interes t and variety of life here . "Everyday there are new customs to observe, customs strange to my inex- perienced eyes, and new and interesting people to meet. The foreigners here are mostly well-travelled people, many of them old China hands who were interned by the Japar.ese and were either exchanged or -escaped through Occupied China and the stories they have to tell are very interesting. I was particularly delighted to meet an Australian girl who was with the British Ministry of Information in Singapore, fled from there to Burma and againto Tndia via the Burma road with the Japanese or.tlY a few hours behind her . From India she was sent to the British Embassy in Chungking, met and married an Englishman from the Embassy and has now gone to England with her husband. "Then too there are the distinguished visitors who come here. Miss Irene Ward, a British Member of Parliament, has been here for some time and recently Lord Louis Mountbatten and his s taff were here for a few days. Then there are often American scientists here who have come out to help the Chinese Government and they are a very interesting body of men. Also, there are all kin~s of foreign diplomatic missions here, British, Canadian, Indian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, French, Mextcan, Amencan, Dutch, and Turkish. 1 find myself ccnstantly mingling with people of various nationalities and as a result of this I fi nd my outlook on world affairs has changed considerably and my knowledge of other parts of the world has been greatly enlarged." 47