Claire Truscott

Canberra resident with memories of Acton
Born: 1922, Belfast
Interview: December 2013

“Well if you want to honest, my name is not Claire Truscott, its Clara Rosanna Truscott, the fifth in the Porter family. I’m the fifth of six generations with that name. But, my mother hated the accent in Ipswich, Queensland, and when I was coming to Canberra in 1942 she said for God's sake get someone to call you something else - with an Irish Brogue it's beautiful, but in Australia! A couple of people here started calling me Claire - and it stuck.

I was born in Belfast Northern Ireland in late January 1922. I came to Australia with my parents and sister in 1923. It took three months on the ship from Liverpool to Australia, and we settled in Ipswich Queensland where I went to school. From 1941 the Australian Government in Canberra was advertising throughout Australia to get girls to come as typists. Now it was very interesting why. When Canberra started in 1923, most people came with very young children. By 1939 they were not old enough to have learnt to become typists, and two thirds of the typists in Canberra were men. In 1940-41 these men were getting out of those jobs to join either the air force or the army. So of course they needed girls in Canberra as typists.

I arrived in Canberra on the 29th January 1942 and started work at Acton in the Department of Interior, Property and Survey Branch typing. After a year I got a much better paid job as a clerk, and was writing the letters myself instead of typing them. I did that until I left in May 1945. We were living in Boarding houses. Most of the girls went to Gorman House - there were 150 girls staying there. I had the distinction of being picked up and taken to Barton House, which was on Brisbane Avenue but no longer exists– there are flats there now. There were several married couples - one of them was a teacher, another one worked at the printing office – and there were lots of girls and young men who later on joined the army and the air force. It was much more interesting.

On Saturday and Sunday afternoons we would play tennis at the Barton courts or at the Acton Hotel. We would make up several foursomes and play doubles and mixed doubles. In 1943 softball teams were formed: a first in Canberra. Several of us joined, and played in the winter. Our home ground was York Park at the end of Brisbane Avenue. Other grounds where matches were held were the Kingston Oval, Ainslie and Reid ovals and at the race course below the old Canberra Hospital wooden building at Acton. If there was a lot of winter rain, the Reid Oval was flooded by the Molonglo River overflowing its banks. That area is now where the paddle boat hire company is located on Lake Burley Griffin. There was certainly a lot to do in Canberra, especially if you could ride bike or walk. It was a most enjoyable three years– living away from home and being able to do what I liked.”

Claire sadly died in February 2014