FROM city to country to cities all over the world, Rita Ward has lived on both sides of the bridge, and aimed to close the gap between two other parallels, Life and Death.
Rita (nee Brown) was born in Sydney in 1936. Her family had previously lived in Mt Isa until her father suffered from lead poisoning and returned to his family.
With her mother, father, and two siblings, Rita’s family lived with her grandparents and their two younger children, as well as her aunt, uncle and their two boys.
They lived in the house her grandfather had built in 1916 – the house which still remains in the Brown family today.
“As a child, I thought it was such a big house, but I realised it was the big hearted people in it who gave me this impression,” Rita said.
During the Depression, Rita’s father, as a miner, worked on the tunnelling under many towns.
In 1940, her father was contracted by Mt Isa Mines to open up mines which had closed after World War I.
“So, with a wife and six children (one a newborn baby), we left with men assigned to [my father] from man power in a convoy of trucks, cars and equipment,” she said.
“The trip took six weeks and we arrived at Mt Cuthbert, north of Cloncurry and east of Mt Isa.
“Dad had made a previous visit and assumed the house he saw was a part of the agreement. We arrived only to find it wasn’t and had been purchased and a hotel in Kajabbi was built out of the material.
“So mother, with her young family, had to set up house in a three-sided railway waiting shed. She had to cook for the men and her family using two iron bars set on four bricks.
“We used carbide lights; water was delivered once a week by the railway into a large iron receiver and we bailed it out with buckets.”
Soon after a house was built and a wood stove installed, Rita’s father came to acquire a new Chev truck. Rita was incredulous at how this came to pass when she knew her family had little money for such luxury. Later in life, her father shared with her the story.
According to him, the American manager of Mt Isa Mines, Jack Hilton, had come to visit and saw the Browns’ worn, old truck that had come with them from Sydney many years previously.
Mr Hilton proceeded to purchase a fully imported Chev truck from America with Mr Brown making payment in instalments – every time he sent copper to Mt Isa; they took out one ton to pay for the truck.
Rita’s family moved on from Mt Cuthbert to a mine close to Dobbyn.
Her family now numbered nine, although in 1945 her brother Maxie died.
The school in Dobbyn had closed due to a lack of pupils, but with six Brown children ready to enrol, it re-opened and Rita would set about each morning and afternoon making the five mile walk to and from school.
At the end of World War II, when copper was no longer needed, Rita’s family moved into Dobbyn. Her father took over the store, the post office, and became station master at the railway, while also delivering goods to stations along the Leichhardt River. Her mother opened a café to feed travellers as well as the policeman and schoolteacher.
In 1946, Rita and her sister Kath were sent back to Sydney where they stayed with their grandparents to be educated.
“This did not suit me, and in 1947 Dad came down with two more sisters and I was packed and ready to come back with him.”
Rita attended St Patrick’s in Townsville as a boarder in 1950 before she graduated and began work as a teacher.
She first worked for the sisters at St Frances School in Railway Estate, Townsville, before teaching for the sisters at Cloncurry, and then ended up as a governess to children she had already been teaching at the McKinlay Hotel.
“When the convent in Julia Creek opened to take boarders, these children went there and I got a job as governess on Kamilaroi Station on the Leichhardt River.
“This was a great time as wool was pound a pound, and there were parties and picnics and dances. I was Belle of the Ball at the McKinlay Masonic Ball because I wore mittens and the other girls did not.”
Kamilaroi Station was where Rita again met Jack Ward, who was the head stockman for the Australian Estates Company.
“I had met him when I was 13, but I was now 18 and things were different.”
The pair was married in 1956.
“I spent the first 12 months living in a 12mx12m room in the manager’s house while the company decided whether to build us a house or transfer us to another station.”
Rita gave birth to her first son, John, in these crammed quarters before a house was built and her second son, George, was born in 1958.
In 1960, Jack was transferred as manager to Alcala Station, and Rita became his bookkeeper, a position that lasted until they left the company.
“It was here that I became the Foundation President of the CWA of the Air; this went out over the Flying Doctor Service in Mt Isa and covered many thousands of square miles.”
Rita’s sons were sent to board in Julia Creek, where Rita’s sister taught as a nun. They became weekly boarders when Jack and Rita were relocated to Dalgonally Station, near Julia Creek, in 1966.
While the pair only had two biological children, they took in many kids throughout this time, including Marion and John Kelly – Rita’s “adopted” daughter and her brother.
Six years later, in 1972, the Australian Estates Company insisted Jack take his long service leave after 21 years and paid for Jack and Rita to go to New Zealand and visit horse and cattle properties.
The following year, Jack fell ill but would not see a doctor until his bullocks were mustered and sold.
When he finally saw a doctor in October, it was the beginning of doctor visits, tests, operations and hospitals.
“It was obvious Jack was dying, so we went back to Dalgonally to pack up and came back to Townsville. I took our boys out of school to help me care for Jack, knowing it was the last thing we could do for him. He wanted to die at home.
“Jack died three weeks later; he was 47, I was 37 and our boys were 15 and 16. I bought a house in Townsville, our boys finished school and both got apprenticeships.
“I was not angry at Jack’s dying, but I was angry at the way the medical, nursing, and other professionals had treated him and us.
“As I am of Irish-Russian descent, I took them all on. The problem was that technology said he did not have cancer, despite his appearance and loss of weight. He had cancer of the pancreas – the most painful of all cancers.
“I decided that something had to be done to change attitudes of professionals and to educate the public on Death, Dying and Grief; it was no good waiting until it was happening to you.”
It was the start of a new career for Rita – one that would take her around the world.
CONTINUED HERE TOMORROW...