Mrs Freya Booth

Photo c1937, North Adelaide

Freya Heysen was born into an extraordinary family on 20 February 1908. She was the second child of Hans and Selma (Sallie) Heysen, her father being one of Australia’s most outstanding painters.

Freya was born at home while her parents still resided with Sallie’s parents, Adolph and Anna Bartels on the south-western corner of Hurtle Square in Adelaide. Her parents were 30 and 28 respectively, and had been married since 1904. When her birth was registered on 31 March 1908, her name was listed as Elfreda. However, she had always been called Freya, and did not even find out about her original name until she saw her birth certificate in 1967. It was then that she also discovered that her birthday had always been celebrated on the wrong day. Before her marriage, her birthday had been celebrated on 1 March, on the same day as her mother and eldest sister Josephine. Later she reverted to her ‘actual’ birthday of 26 February, and it wasn’t until she was in her late 50s that she actually discovered the true date - 20 February. She immediately changed her official name to Freya, and thereafter reverted to her correct birthday.

Freya was less than nine months old when her parents achieved their dream of moving to a cottage in the hills. By 1912, Hans Heysen’s success as a painter enabled the family to purchase The Cedars, a 36-acre property near Hahndorf which included an 1870s cottage. There, Hans and Sallie created a beautiful home for their growing family.

The children were brought up to be self-contained individuals who could turn their hand to most things. They tackled the many domestic chores together, as well as activities such as reading, drawing and painting. Their father was a consummate artist and had an inspired relationship with the natural world. Their mother was a very well read and intelligent woman who devoted herself to helping her husband pursue his career. They had always dreamed of an idyllic country lifestyle with children running free in natural surroundings. Colin Thiele summarises their lives as ‘a rich and closely integrated family life, with a cultured mother, a humane father, and all the freshness and vigour of country life at its best’. However, not all was idyllic. The family faced several vicissitudes, including the tragic death of the third child Lilian at the age of fifteen.

As Sallie was often busy helping Hans with his public relations, travelling to exhibitions and playing hostess to their many interesting visitors, the eldest girls took on a lot of the management of The Cedars. Josephine, the eldest, was the outdoor manager of livestock and orchard; while Freya was the quiet worker in the house. From an early age, Freya played a key role in the domestic affairs of the house. She helped to run the house and to bring up her younger brothers and sisters. She was also the governess of her two youngest brothers until they went away to high-school in their teens. Her family knew her affectionately as Fifi, and she was described as ‘shy, quiet, reticent, [and] reliable’.

Freya and her sisters were educated at home by governesses and a tutor, until they later went to school in Mt Barker at the Convent of Mercy. By the age of 14, Freya had achieved a high school certificate in English, Arithmatic, Latin, French and Algebra. Also in 1922, the AMEB awarded her with a Grade 5 certificate for piano studies. In her late teens, Freya went to business college in Adelaide. She was also the first of the children to get her driver’s license, and was much relied on for family transport. When Sallie was unwell in 1932, Freya took over the running of the household, including hosting up to 40 visitors at a time. The house was a wonderful haven for all sorts of people - not only family and friends, but other artists, thinkers, and celebrities such as Anna Pavlova and Dame Nellie Melba.

It was to one of these dance parties that a teenaged Edward Stirling Booth came in about 1927, where he first met Freya. By the end of 1929 he began regular visits to The Cedars, which culminated in his marriage to Freya in 1938. The courtship was interrupted in 1934 when Hans and Sallie and their four surviving daughters travelled to Europe by ship. The eight-month trip made a big impression on the 26-year-old Freya who visited Malta, Morocco, Antwerp, then spent some months in London, followed by travels through Germany including seeing the Passion Play at Oberammergau.

On 25 August 1938, Freya married Edward (Ted) Stirling Booth in Hans Heysen’s studio at The Cedars. The ceremony was performed by the Anglican minister, the Reverend Cedric Noon, and the witnesses were the fathers of Freya and Ted. There were only about 25 guests at the informal occasion, after which there was a tea in the house.

After their marriage, Freya and Ted lived in the Booth family’s sea-side cottage at Tennyson for almost a year. Early in 1939, Ted’s father Sydney Russell Booth (Russell) purchased a 10-acre property between Stirling and Crafers, which he called Arbroath. Ted’s mother, Anna Florence Booth, died in May of that year, after which Russell arranged for the construction of a large house at Arbroath. The house was completed by the end of 1939 to a design by Russell in collaboration with architect Mr McMichael. While the house was being built, Ted and Freya lived in the existing small cottage at Arbroath, from where they started to plan and plant the large ‘botanic’ garden. They were able to move into the big house in December 1939, where they were joined by Ted’s father Russell, who then lived with them until his death in 1949.

On 8 September 1939, Freya gave birth to her first child, Andrew Stirling Russell Booth, in the Quambi private hospital, which was run by her aunt Mrs Bartels. This was only a few days after the outbreak of World War II, and unfortunately Ted was posted into the militia and based at Woodside and Keswick for much of the latter part of 1939. Freya had several problems after the birth, and by the end of 1941 she had become seriously ill due to an abscess on the lung.

In February 1942, an operation was urgently required, before which they had to deliver her second child by Caesarean section. Although six-weeks premature and forced to spend his first weeks in a humidicrib, Edward Heysen Stirling Booth was a healthy child. Unfortunately, though, it was some time before Freya was able to resume her normal active life. She did not even see her new baby Edward until he was 3 weeks old. She then faced another serious operation, followed by another 8 empyema operations during the next four years. During this difficult period, she had a nurse at home to look after her, her young children, and her aging father-in-law.

It wasn’t until 1946 that she was recovered and able to start making her own stamp on the house and garden of Arbroath. While Ted was a trained zoologist and botanist and had planted many of the large trees in the garden, it was Freya who planted the smaller trees, flowers and shrubs. She was also responsible for much of the garden maintenance, and for running the large house. She devoted herself to the care of her husband, who was the highly intelligent and talented product of a relatively-privileged background. Freya shouldered almost all of the domestic running of the household so that Ted could pursue his many intellectual and artistic interests without interruption. Looking after her two sons, her extended family, and their many friends and visitors were other important challenges on the domestic front.

In addition to all these domestic achievements, Freya made an important contribution to the local community. She had joined the Stirling Branch of the Mothers & Babies’ Health Association in 1949, and served as its secretary from 1954 to 1972. She was also one of the founding members of the Stirling District Kindergarten, at which her children Andrew and Edward were two of the first attendees. She was involved with the founding of the Stirling Child Centre Inc. during the mid-1950s. One of the major fundraising efforts of the SCC was the annual Stirling Petticoat Lane fête, of which Freya was co-founder in 1956. For 22 years she ran the significant plant stall at the fête, always raising the most funds for the SCC. Many of the plants sold at the stall were potted and nurtured in her own small plant nursery near the house at Arbroath. In addition to her work for the mothers and children of the area, she was also a member of the Auxiliary of the Stirling District Hospital for 17 years, including 11 serving on the Board.

Other important events in her life included the birth of her five grandchildren from 1968 to 1972, and two trips to Europe with her husband, one in 1969 and one in 1972. Her husband and many of their artistic and intellectual associates recognised Freya’s practical intelligence and artistic integrity, and relied on her quiet but accurate assessments of life and art. Tragically for the many who loved her, her busy life was cut short at the designated three-score-and-ten years when she died as the result of a stroke on 5 May 1978.

These facts do not really give a true indication of the significance of this remarkable person. She was an inspiration to all those she touched, whether or not they were able to appreciate her extraordinary qualities. She was many things to many people, but most of all she was an embodiment of selfless love. She was a home creator who made a special place for friends and family, and was an exemplar of nurturing who inspired confident individuality in those around her.

Hans Heysen had said that he hoped his family would always come back to The Cedars, and that it would provide ‘an anchor all through their lives and, let us hope, a stable influence’. Until his death in 1968, The Cedars was certainly a place to which the family flocked back regularly. Every year at Christmas time a large family party would be held which was attended by all available children and grandchildren. From the late 1960s, Freya established her own special home at Arbroath. It was a welcoming place which always felt like a true home for me, mainly because of my Granny’s unique spirit.

My own very personal and strong feelings about her were formed during the first decade of my life, as she died soon after my 10th birthday. We had a particularly close relationship, partly because I was her oldest grandchild and her first female descendant. I also spent a lot of quality time with Granny, and slept there regularly on weekends and during school holidays. Arbroath became the most stable home I ever had, during a period in which my parents moved several times. The two of us forged a very close bond which I have never forgotten. She was a very strong influence on my early development, and taught me so many things which I value to this day.

In the practical sense, she taught me many useful domestic things. How to cook: how to bake a cake or make custards from scratch; how to make pastries, biscuits, fritters and meringues by hand; even how to make butter by hand. Although I actually practise few of these methods myself in this age of time-saving gadgets, I learnt so many valuable lessons just by spending time with her in the kitchen. Most importantly, I learnt to be confident and comfortable as a cook, to have patience with the details to enhance the bigger picture, and that preparing and cooking with care and love achieves the best results; all lessons which are also valuable for life.

Other skills which she shared with me form further pieces of the mosaic which make up my own personality. She taught me to sing, to read, to enjoy games and puzzles, to appreciate art, and to enjoy music, all accomplishments which have played an important part in my life. Yet other skills she taught me were not ones I was specially good at or chose to develop. Although accomplishments such as knitting and sewing, flower arrangement, planting seedlings and growing fresh vegetables were important to her, she did not expect me to learn all that she could teach, but instead allowed me to develop my own interests and make my own choices. An art from which many parents and role models could learn.

But the most important gifts she gave me are much less easy to describe and categorise. It is difficult to explain why I have always remembered Granny as being one of the most wonderful people I have known, and why I have always felt that she was watching over me, both in good times and in bad. Her special spirit has pervaded my life and the lives of many of my family. Defining her special qualities is not easy. She had the gift of making those around her stronger, and of allowing them to be themselves. She created security and a strong sense of place in her home which enabled me to survive several major upheavals in my own life. She left behind her a legacy of love which has inspired so many of my actions and has encouraged me to strive to be a better person.

Looking back on her with a distance of more than 22 years, I realise that I am not at all like her, and in many ways I do not want to be like her. I will never be a ‘domestic slave’ who generally sits quietly in the background behind the ‘great men’ who are close to me. I will expect compromise from my partner, and insist on help with most of the tedious duties of life.

But no matter about the dated process of our lives, if I can continue the spirit of this great woman; if I can instil in my children, grandchildren, family and friends a similar sense of love, security, and self-worth, then I will feel privileged. It is not words which will survive to describe the greatness of Freya Booth - it is a spirit. This generous spirit was strongly manifested in this great Australian woman and will not die as long as we remember the importance of love. And as long as we never lose the art of giving of ourselves, or take for granted those who give to us.

Written by Anna Stirling Pope (née Booth), Goodwood, South Australia July 2000

References • Certificates recording birth, examination results, marriage, name change and death. • Family records held by AS Pope - files: ‘Booth, Freya’ & ‘Heysen, Freya’. • Hills Gazette, Wed. 13 March 1974, p 1. • Mt Barker Courier: 10 March 1974, p 15; 13 March 1974, p 10; 9 March 1977, p 2; 16 March 1977, p 27; 15 March 1978, p 3; 14 March 1979, p 4. • Oral history: ES Booth (SOHC/MLSA OH295). • Thiele, Colin 1968, Heysen of Hahndorf, Rigby, Adelaide. • Verbal: Deirdre Cowell (née Heysen); ASR Booth; EHS Booth; Jane Booth.