Rachel Neaner Nina (Neaner) Hope

Rachel Neaner (Shadlow) Hope - Born 28th March 1889 - died 20th May 1971

Rachel was the fourth child of George and Rachel Shadlow and was born at Shrivenham, South Creek, St Marys.

She and Sidney were married on 28th December 1910 at St Marys and had eight children:-

Ernest Sidney - born 13/1/1912 (weighing 14 pounds!!!)

Ronald George - born 2/11/1913

Bertie William Shadlow - born 28/10/1915

Cecli Darcy - born 15/4/1918

Phylis Nina - born 21/1/1921

Donald Lees - born 1/6/1923

Raymond - born 24/6/1925

Betty Henrietta - 7/9/1928

Rachel (or Nina as she was well known) was a very good cook and needle-woman. She was particularly talented at crocket. She won many championship prizes at P{enrith and at Sudney Royal Show. Nina was very good at handling horses, She had her own horse, a trotter, well bred as her father only owned quality horses. A two seater rubber tyred gig was with road wheels was her main transport. She drove on the 7 miles of track which existed either side of the road. (The Western Highway) from St Marys to Penrith. The road was two vehicles wide, with a solid gravel surface used by bullock wagons, horses, drays and wagons. The young people used to race on the tracks beside this road between St Marys and Penrith.

Nini was slim in build with an 18 inch waist and bright long hed hair. She would challenge anybody to race and nearly always won. There would be one sulky either side of the road as they thunder along, crossing Ropes Creek along the way.

Years later, when the family had arrived, Sunday lunch was always a roadt dinner, placed in the overn before leaving for church and cooked upon arrival home. On Sundays the home would be full of friends visiting as we all partook of high tea. The table overflowed with scones and cakes loaded with cream and jam. There were lem cakes, lamingtons and cream and fruit galore.

During the depression years from around 1925 to 1935, Nina ran the barter system. Clarencetown, 40 miles upstream of Newcastle suffered from the depression like all other towns. The idea was that everybody could conribute something. We gave butter and cream (for special occations) and we reared bull calves as vealers. We gave these to the butcher who would give them out to the participants. In return for fish, which we received twice a week from the Aboriginals who lived nearby and were good fishermen, we gave butter. milk and vegetables from our home garden. The system worked very well and nobody ever went hungry.

Nina wa a feisty woman who kept all the ministers in check if they tried to reach the kids what she considered fables. She had a saying "Fables are stories and mislead. A fable is a fiber and a fibber is a lie, so why teach them." This used to send some ministers off their brain. They never won an argument with Nina, who was usually th chair-person in the ladies ausiliary. No minister could rail-road her. Ray Hope remembers in 1937 when money was very scarce, the minister wanted a new car. He was offered a push bike. About this time we lived at Blacktown and Allen Walker, head of the Methodist ministry, would send any wayward ministers to our place for Nina to pull them into line for being off the rainls with "fire and brinstone sermons". The kids would get under the house and liste to Nina telling them where they were wrong. The ministers never won. About 1943 a friend of the family, a boy of 16 was dishonourably discharges from the army because of desertion. He went A.W.L. . This boy had spent two years in the African campaign and was crying about the discharge. Nina took his discharge poapers to Allen Walker who was an officer chaplain in the army and made him drop everything and go with her to Victoria Barracks to see the general in charge. She came away with the boy's honourable discharge on the same day. The boy was only a child and he ran away to join up and should not have been there in the first place.

When Nina's children grew up she woul dvisit Dalma Children's home once a week to mend the childrens' clothes. Sid made wooden toys for the children and gave them away. There was always somethnig that the Grandkids could raid from Sid's garden at Blacktown. We had moved to Blacktown in 1935 when it was a quiet town of 184 people. The blocks of land were mostly 2 to 5 acres and everyone knew each other.

Nini died on 20th May 1971 at 82 years of age. Sid died on 24th November 1972 at 85 years of age. Both are buried at the Methodist section at St Marys General Cemetery, The Blisset family are buried at the Church of England Section of St Mary's General Cemetary about 50 yeards away.