Arthur Harold Stenning
Photo taken for his Mother just prior to leaving home for Australia in 1908.

This could not have been an easy trip in winter as the road is along the coast and the winds are strong and cold and the occasional snowfall. On the whole it appears to have been a fairly happy childhood. While Nelson seems to have been a firm parent, he was not a harsh one and probably had a sly smile at some of the tricks Charlie and Joe accompanied by their dog, Binks, got up to. One of the tricks was to tie a string to one of the door knockers in the street and the other end to the next door knocker (remember these houses fronted on to the street). They would then twitch the string and as each neighbour opened their door the next door knocker would knock. Although annoying -- their pranks were harmless and in some ways, compared to life today, it must have been an idyllic childhood.

Once at High School, he was required at weekends to lend a hand with deliveries, in these days as well as a regular 7 day a week bread delivery, if a customer rang with an order, they expected it delivered straight away. A phone had been installed in the shop, so no opportunity for custom was lost. If the horse and delivery cart was out, then the order was delivered by bicycle.

On completion of his High School days, Joe was apprenticed to the village carpenter. All the boys had been apprenticed to a trade, Ernest a blacksmith, Walter wheelright and Charlie I think a painter and decorator. Emily had gone into service (I think in London) and Rose was apprenticed to a dressmaker. In those days the village carpenter made literally everything people required in wood -- from cradles to coffins and everything in between. Many of the stories he used to tell of his undertaking duties. There was the body of a person with a humpback whom they couldn't lie flat in the coffin when they put the head down, the knees would come up and when they put the legs down the head would come up. Then there was the house where the stairs turned too sharply to allow the coffin round the landing, so they had to lower it over the bannisters after making sure the family were busy elsewhere. There were of course the sad times like making the coffin for his boss's three year old daughter. As well as this side of the business there was learning house-building from the foundations to the roof. All door and skirting mouldings were done by hand and there were of course no electric drills, nail guns and electric saws etc. which are commonplace and essential to tradesmen today. Cabinet making was another facet of the trade, and the apprenticeship took a full five years to complete. For the first year he received no pay. Normally in these days, a master tradesmen would be paid a sum of money by a parent to apprentice a boy and the lad would receive a small, very small wage, and this had been done with the other boys, but by the time Joe's turn came the system had changed to no payment by the parent, but no wage for the first year. The hours of course were long, a 10-12 hour day being the normal thing and only Sunday being a free day. I think the wage for the second year was 2/6 a week.

On completion of his apprenticeship the decision was made to emigrate. There was some talk of going to Patagonia but Nelson was against this, so Australia was decided on as Arthur's two sisters and their husbands had earlier emigrated there and settled at Belmont, just outside Geelong in Victoria. However his first job on arriving in Australia was working at Termeil near Ulladulla where he was employed with other men building cottages for the timber cutters. In those days this was a fairly isolated area and supplies were brought in by bullock wagon. On one occasion suffering an injury to his forehead and there being no medical service available, the gash was stitched up by a black lady using an ordinary needle and thread. Remarkably this left no more scar than if it had been attended to in the normal way. On completion of the contract he returned to Belmont and enrolled at the Gordon Technical College and completed a course in Trade Drawing.

About this time he joined the Christ Church Harriers and met Cyril, Clif and Syd Grenfell and their sisters Irene, who taught Sunday School and played the organ at St. Stephens Church of England Belmont. He obtained a job with the then Postmaster General's Department in the carpentry workshop where he was employed making the old red phone boxes and switchboards for country telephone exchanges, Irene or Rene as she was called taught shorthand and typing at Zercho's Business College. Had the war not intervened they probably would have married sooner, but after returning from the war Joe wanted to put a deposit on a house and furnish it.

On 20th June 1920 they were married at St. Stephens Church Belmont and after a honeymoon at Healesville in the Dandenong Mountains moved into 14 Empress Rd Surrey Hills where on 14th November 1922 their son Clifton Grenfell Stenning was born and 10th September 1927 their daughter Lucy Elizabeth (Beth) completed their family. Life continued on the peaceful way of the 1920's until the Great Depression of the late 1920's and like thousands of others Joe lost his employment. In order not to lose their house they leased it and returned to Belmont to live with Rene's parents, Richard and Catherine Grenfell and their youngest daughter Nell.

Catherine by this time had suffered a succession of strokes and was bed-ridden so an extra pair of hands in the house was very welcome. Nell had given up work to look after her mother. Joe obtained odd jobs, but work even for skilled tradesmen was very hard to come by. At one stage he was working breaking stones on the road for 2 pounds ($4.00) a week. That was work for the dole 1920/30's style -- no surfing and having the dole paid into your bank account. He was lucky enough about 1933/34 to get a job at Erskine House at Lorne as a maintenance carpenter through his brother-in-law Syd.

About 1936/37 the P.M.G.'s Department (Post Master General) started hiring again and he was fortunate enough to get a job back at the workshops at South Melbourne. This of course necessitated a move back to Melbourne and for some 9 months the family lived in a rented house at Ardyne St Murrumbeena, while they waited for the lease to expire at 14 Empress Road Surrey Hills. After a couple of years Joe became a permanent employee at the workshops (a much sort after term of employment in those days) and life went on in a pretty peaceful fashion. War broke out in 1939 which meant a lot of overtime and Joe was now travelling to country centres installing the switchboards he had made.

There would be very few country towns in Victoria which he did not travel to -- almost always by train which in winter must have been very cold and you can't suppose that accommodation and meals in some country hotels would have been 5 star in those days. He continued in this work until about 1951 when he retired.. By this time Rene had developed Parkinson's Disease so retirement became progressively harder as he gradually took over all the household chores as well as nursing care for Rene. Rene died on 10th May 1958.

Joe continued living in the house on his own occasionally visiting Clif in Kingaroy, Queensland or Beth in Sefton, Sydney but never staying very long. He always wanted to get back to his work with the R.S.L. He was a life member of the Gallipoli Legion of Anzacs and before the 2nd World War had spent an Anzac Day in Hobart and one in Sydney organised by his association. He would have dearly loved to have gone back to Gallipoli but this was not an option in his time.

His health started to decline in the early 1970's and he passed away in a nursing home on 3rd September 1976. He was a good father and husband and felt very deeply that during the depression he was unable to provide for his family as he would have wished. Although he was a strict father, there was never any doubt he loved us very much and I remember him with a great deal of love.

Rottingdean Drum and Pipe Band (c 1895/96).
Arthur Stenning seated 3rd from Right Centre.

Arthur (2nd from right) as a Foundation Member of Belmont Fire Brigade 1911.

Arthur visiting Stuart & Beth at their house
in Sefton, Sydney, 1958.