1945+
The end of the war in 1945 brings us into the current generation of the Brachers in Melbourne and, with it, comes the dilemma of which line to follow, as the base of the family history pyramid starts to spread wider and wider.
When George Henry Bracher died in 1945 he left a family of three surviving sons: George Reginald Alberto 1880-1972; Herbert Henry Gladstone 1886-1974; Lionel Wilfred 1892-1986), and three daughters: Louisa May 1882-1948; Amy Maud 1884-1965; Ella Dorothy 1883-1950.
This chapter outlines the lives of the children, grandchildren and great grand children of George Henry and Catherine (Kate) Bracher. We start with the children of Harry Bracher, being best known to the author, with the help of cousins.
(Descendants of George and Kate’s other children are invited to submit the story of their own family line for inclusion in this chapter)
The children of Herbert Henry Gladstone (Harry)
and Ethel Ashton Bracher
Herbert Henry Gladstone Bracher (known as Harry all his life) was the fifth born child of George and Catherine Bracher, and the second son of the couple.
Born in 1886, Harry was educated to lower secondary level and worked for many years in the stock and station industry before buying into his own real estate business in North Carlton in 1925 at age 39. The area was mainly rental properties and was largely inhabited by Jewish people before the post WW2 influx of Italians. He was a well regarded auctioneer and for several years was the local area president of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, then progressing to State President. He retired in 1961, having sold his business in the late 1950s, but continued to work in it for a few years.
His early life was spent in and around Footscray in Melbourne’s west. It was here that he met Ethel Ashton Parker through St Johns Anglican Church in Footscray, where they were married in 1915. The Parker family had established a reputation in the civic life of Footscray and because of the family’s large metallurgy business.
Ethel was an imposing, attractive woman with a warm personality. While Harry was small statured, he was outgoing and confident in both his career and his sporting achievements as a leading Victorian amateur cricketer.
They began married life in Footscray before moving in 1923 to 4 Dillon Grove, Hartwell - one of Melbourne’s newly developed eastern suburbs. Around 1935 the family moved into a large, fine Federation-era home at 12 Cowper Street, East Hawthorn. This home was the centre of Bracher family life until it was sold in 1974, following the death of Ethel in 1972 and Harry in 1974.
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Harry and Ethel Bracher pictured in their home late 1930s with children (left to right) Marjorie, Valerie, Geoffrey, Audrey, Lloyd.
Harry was immensely proud of his family – “Best looking family in Hawthorn” he would often boast around the table. He was very car-proud (Morris, Oldsmobile, Dodges, Rover and Peugeots), and proud of his self-made career and sporting achievements. Youngest son Geoffrey described his parents as ‘Victorian’ in their attitude.
“ Mum was very calm and loving; dad was calm but stricter…he really hounded off one of Marjorie’s boyfriends who he thought didn’t have much future – threatened him with fisticuffs….but I have seen him quite emotional. When Val was in England he phoned up and just about burst into tears. There was always lots of discussion around the dining table.” (interview 2005)
Ethel and Harry had five children: Audrey (1916-2015); Marjorie (1919-2021); Valerie (1920-2017); Lloyd ( 1922-2006); and Geoffrey (1928-2013). All were born in Footscray, except for Geoffrey who was born in Hartwell. The following is the story of those children.
Audrey Ashton Ware (nee Bracher), 1916-2015
Their eldest child, Audrey, was born at home in Hyde Street Footscray on 8.8.1916. At age 6.5 years Audrey started at Hyde Street State School, but shortly after she transferred to the new State School in Hartwell when the family moved there in 1923. There were about nine high schools in Melbourne during the late 1920s, which meant that only the more academically inclined were accepted into secondary schooling, if they were not required to start work to support family finances. Having left school at 13 or 14, Harry was keen for his daughter to be better educated.
Audrey sat the entrance exam for Melbourne Girls’ High School, which was located in a dilapidated building in East Melbourne. It had been built in the 1800s as the ‘Model School’, but by Audrey’s time it was anything but ‘model’. She remembered sitting their French lessons under umbrellas because of a leaking roof. She had four years of secondary schooling, two of which were spent at Government House in South Yarra, which became the temporary Melbourne Girl’s High School during the Great Depression because the Government could not afford to build a replacement school. Audrey would catch the train at Burwood Station, change at Camberwell, then onto Flinders Street in the City, from where she would walk the 2 km along St Kilda Road to Government House. Her education emphasised the classics: a heavy dose of Shakespeare, Latin, ameliorated by classes in classical dance, art and singing to lighten the academic load.
Audrey left school at 16, towards the end of the Great Depression in 1932, when unemployment still stood at about 30 percent. She joined her father’s real estate office in Rathdowne Street, Carlton to assist with secretarial matters and office management. The company’s business was anchored in rent rolls, so much of the work involved maintaining property records and ensuring that rents were paid. She took lessons in shorthand and typing to increase her skills. After working for her father for some years, Audrey moved to the firm of Warburton Frankie, who were Melbourne agents for a number of companies, including Frigidaire.
When the family moved to Upper Hawthorn in 1935, the nearby Anglican Church in Burke Road, St Mark’s, was a thriving hub of religious and social life. Audrey became a Sunday School teacher at the church. In 1936 she met a fellow Sunday School teacher Edwin (Ted) Ware (1919-2010). Their friendship blossomed into romance over the following years and they were married at St Mark’s on the 18th April, 1942.
Ted Ware was born at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane in 1919 and moved to Melbourne at 18 months old. His father had trained as a printer and was the manager of paper merchants B.J. Ball in Brisbane. He was posted to Melbourne when the company opened a new branch, but in 1929 Ware snr joined the Ramsay Publishing Company and later became a partner, resulting in Ramsay Ware becoming one of Melbourne’s larger name printers for many decades, before being sold to Stockland Rural Press.
When the senior Wares first moved to Melbourne they rented in St Kilda, then Surry Hills, before buying a house at 7 Waterloo Street, Camberwell. Ted started at Camberwell Grammar in Burke Road at age 4.5 years. Ted and his elder brother Frank were the first two enrolments in the new St Mark’s Camberwell choir in 1928. They both won choir scholarships to assist with tuition at Camberwell Grammar. He remained at Camberwell Grammar until 1934 when he moved to do his final two years at Scotch College. However, he only spent one year at Scotch because he started his study in Dental Science at age 15 in 1935.
A legal or medical career were considered for the obviously academic Ted, but a discussion between Ted’s father and the family dentist prompted Mr Ware to enrol his son at Melbourne University’s Australian College of Dentistry. Dentistry was the university’s most expensive and one of its longest courses. At the end of the six year degree, WW2 had been running for three years and Australia’s previous remoteness from action was shattered by the Japanese invasion to the north. Ted’s younger brother, Robert, died at Alamein on 10th July, 1942, which may have been a factor prompting him to enlist as Flt. Lieut. Ware in the RAAF. He served as an Air Force dentist at RAAF Richmond (Sydney) until his commission was withdrawn because of severe migraines. He was denied entry to the Navy and the Army.
A severe shortage of dentists during the war enabled Ted to buy a dental practice in 1942. The suburban Balaclava practice was busy and lucrative, but the most important event for him in 1942 was his marriage to Audrey Ashton Bracher, after an eight month engagement. They lived in East St Kilda, then Malvern Road, Malvern before moving into his parents’ home at 7 Waterloo St, Camberwell for 18 months while his parents were overseas. Audrey had frequently walked past a house since her parents had moved to Cowper St in Hawthorn. It was a large, run-down home on the corner of Burke Road and Harcourt Street, Upper Hawthorn. ‘Lymwark’ had been built in 1881. At a time when Victorian era homes were not valued, they were able to buy the home and its extensive gardens for a reasonable price, especially given its run down condition and rat infestation.
Ted ran his dental practice in Balaclava, while converting a section of ‘Lymwark’ into a dental surgery, so that he could move the practice into their home. Audrey handled appointments and administration for the practice, until it closed in 1977.
Audrey and Ted were both of great faith, integrity, intelligence, and of practical and artistic ability, with a love of reading and music. Audrey had a particular talent for colour and design – especially textiles - making most of the girls’ dresses and all the curtains, etc., for their home. They took active roles in the church and community – Audrey as a long-term contributor to groups such as the Mission to the Streets and Lanes and Mother’s Union, as well as being head of the flower guild at St. Mark’s, while Ted served on both the Parish and School Councils.
Audrey and Edwin Ware pictured at ‘Lymwark’, Hawthorn late 1960s with their children (left to right) Felicity, Claudia, Josephine, Elisabeth and Alison (front).
Lymwark was also a beloved home for Audrey and Ted’s five daughters: Felicity Margaret (1943-), Elisabeth Ashton (1946-), Alison June (1949-), Josephine Fredericka (1953-) and Claudia Valerie (1954-).
Felicity Margaret (1943) enrolled at Melbourne University and spent a few years teaching at secondary schools. She married William Kelsham Fullagar (1928 - 2012) in 1969. They had four children while living in Kew, then moved to Mount Dandenong before Bill’s diplomatic postings to India and South Korea. In 1982 they returned to Australia and moved to Canberra for Bill to continue his career. There Felicity completed several qualifications and became a piano teacher and an examiner in ESL. In 1996 she and Bill founded the Homer Reading Group at the Australian National University. Felicity was also pianist/organist for three churches, served as President of the Klavier Music Association and on the Committee of the ANU Friends of the Classics Museum, and set up a small jam-making business. She continues to live in Canberra.
Elisabeth Ashton (1946- ) trained at the Alfred Hospital and later qualified as a midwife at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London. She pursued a nursing career before marring grazier Bruce David Cuming (1942-2023) in 1969. They settled at ‘Stirling’, Glenthompson and raised seven children. Together they established a successful sheep dairy business, which featured prominently in ‘women in agriculture’ publications.
Alison June (1949-) pursued a classical ballet career in England and France returning to Melbourne in 1978. While working as a museum curator she studied at The University of Melbourne, graduating B.A (Hons) and awarded a Ph.D. in late medieval history. She retired to Haddon, Victoria, in 2021.
Josephine Fredericka (1953-) graduated in Arts from La Trobe University and later married Environmental Engineer David Scot Forman Atkinson (1950-) in 1981. They lived in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney before returning to Melbourne in 2008. They have 5 children. Now retired, they live in Staughton Vale, near Bacchus Marsh.
Claudia Valerie (1954-) attended Invergowrie in 1972, married Peter Raymond Bruce Banks (1952-) in 1976, raised 4 children in Ferntree Gully, then Balwyn. They ran a wholesale picture framing materials business. Later Claudia lived in Point Lonsdale with her ageing parents and worked in hospitality, while training as a nurse in aged care. She retired to Point Lonsdale.
For the entirety of their schooling the Ware daughters attended Camberwell Girls Grammar. Ted and Audrey were committed, active members of the school and church communities serving in many different roles.
After closing his private practice in 1975, Ted was appointed as a dentist at the Longreach Hospital, Queensland. It was a role that required flying into remote locations such as Junda and Muttaburra with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Audrey and Ted threw themselves into Longreach community life, including the Anglican church, Synod, musical and dramatic performances, as well as serving on the early establishment committee for the Stockmans’ Hall of Fame. They prematurely returned to Melbourne and ‘Lymwark’ after 19 months in Longreach to attend to Ted’s ailing mother.
Ted then briefly joined the School Dental Service in Melbourne. After retirement they sold their beloved home in the early 1980’s to relocate permanently to their holiday home at 5 Loch Street, Point Lonsdale, where they remained until their deaths in 2010 (Ted) and 2015 (Audrey). Both their funerals were held at St. Mark’s in Camberwell.
One of Audrey’s many passions during her lifetime was the pursuit of family history, which she started in 1943 before handing it over to her nephew Timothy Bracher in 2005. In 1986 they took an extended trip to England to boost their knowledge of the Bracher family tree.
Marjorie Ethel Taylor (nee Bracher) 1919-2021
Ethel and Harry’s second-born, Marjorie, had the dubious distinction of having her life book-ended by worldwide pandemics.
She was the longest surviving of the children and like her sisters, Audrey and Valerie, she was a stalwart of the Bracher family. She was born at the family home in Hyde Street, Footscray during the second year of the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu, which began spreading in Australia from early 1919 and which eventually infected about 40% of the nation. When she died at home, aged 102 in mid 2021, Victoria was again in lockdown resulting from the worldwide COVID 19 pandemic. Her funeral at St Margaret’s Eltham could only be attended by a small group of family members, which was in contrast to the very large extended-family gathering held at her home two years earlier to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Despite her tender age, Marjorie clearly remembered moving from Footscray to Hartwell (Burwood): “ I know that dad wanted to get us out of Footscray, which was a smelly place in those days, so we went to countrified Burwood, with paddocks all around us. Lloyd and Geoff used to go off to a dam to get yabbies. I think our street was on the edge of the development and then there was what they used to call the Big Paddock; trees, bracken fern and stuff, but that was developed while we were there”. (interview 2006).
Her primary education was at Burwood Primary, then Camberwell Central, before passing the entrance exam to attend secondary school at Melbourne Girls’ High School, which had been temporarily relocated to Government House. “It was lovely; we had the ballroom for our assembly hall, we could use the state rooms, drawing rooms, the maids’ rooms, the kitchens” (interview 2006). The school briefly relocated to North Melbourne and then into new buildings on Albert Road in Albert Park, financed through the philanthropy of the chocolate king , Sir Mc Pherson Robertson. It was called McRobertson High School in his honour, or just ‘MacRob’ as it became colloquially known.
Marjorie liked school and described herself as a middling scholar, particularly enjoying history and geography. She had no real career ambition until father Harry suggested a hairdressing apprenticeship at a Hawthorn hairdresser he knew. She started her four year apprenticeship at 17. After six years she joined a salon run by her cousin Joan Bracher (daughter of George Bracher) in Howey Court, just down from the Manchester Unity building in Collins Street. While working for Joan, Marjorie heard of another salon for sale in the same building. Father Harry established her in that salon on the third floor of Howey Court.
It was wartime and working and personal lives were somewhat strained. Many men were overseas fighting or in training. There was a shortage in the shops and there was little night life.
“There was a constant state of tension within the family with Lloyd at the war...the letters were eagerly awaited…then Valli joined up and she was all over the place at camps and things. I think mum was very proud of her and proud of Lloyd. Every Sunday at St Marks Church there was a great list of names of boys read out who had left the area and another list of those who had lost their lives.” (interview 2006).
While working in the city, Marjorie met Benjamin Taylor (1917-1988) – a friend of a friend’s brother. Ben would come into the salon, take her for supper and then to her home in Hawthorn. Ben was from a large farming family at Wagga Wagga and had attended the local Christian Brothers Schools. At 18 he hitched a truck ride to Melbourne with 10 shillings borrowed from a brother and initially stayed with a married sister. His uncle, Headlie Taylor, had invented the harvesting header machine, which had revolutionised agriculture in Australia. He had sold the manufacturing rights to Mackays Harvesters in Sunshine. Ben approached his uncle Headlie for work and so began sweeping the factory floors at Sunshine while attending night school for many years at the Working Mens’ College (now RMIT University).
Ben was in a reserved industry during WW2. He worked at the aircraft factory and then moved to an armoured vehicle manufacturer in Fishermens Bend.
Marjorie said she was attracted to Ben’s ambition and his ideas. She also felt that he was a little bit different because of his country upbringing. A two year courtship preceded a wedding at St Marks Church, Camberwell towards the end of the war. Marjorie was 25. After three years living in a Kew flat, they made the move to land in Eltham, which was then a small bush village many miles north of Melbourne. Their block was a portion of a larger slice of land bought by Harry and Ethel Bracher.
Harry’s big plan was to eventually relocate all the Bracher ‘clan’ from suburban Melbourne to the country, but only Marjorie and Ben took-up the idea with any relish, purchasing 10 acres for their use. Harry eventually sold the remaining land in the 1960s. Marjorie and Ben remained on the same site all their lives, watching Eltham grow up during the 1950s to 1970s as a famed bush retreat for creative people, including the establishment of the artists’ retreat Monstalvat, just down the road from their home ‘Robin Hill’.
“When we first came here it was lovely..there were fewer people of course and everybody seemed to be a distinct personality..a lot of arty people around…there was an Eltham Rural Group, which I belonged to for 25 years. We raised money for local charities. There was some very interesting people around Eltham at that stage”. (interview 2006)
Ben’s farming background and his natural affinity for engineering saw him experimenting on two lathes in their Eltham garage. At one stage they also ran poultry on the land, but Ben’s love of engineering and constructing things trumped everything else. He rented a factory in Clifton Hill, then in Fairfield Road, to not only manufacture tools and other small items, but also to import goods from England. Notwithstanding the ups and downs of a business life, Ben’s endeavours were successful and he operated the business until they sold it in 1978.
Before WW2 Ben had been attached to the 21 RAAF Squadron in Wagga and he would spend all weekends servicing the planes. During the 1960s his passion for new things saw him learn to fly, then buy a small aeroplane. He would fly interstate regularly with friends and family. One plane eventually grew into four planes, which he hired-out from Moorabbin airport, where he also started a flying school with some other business people.
For 75 years Marjorie was a backbone of endeavour in the Eltham community. She was a member of the Eltham Rural Group and had a lifelong involvement with St Margaret’s Anglican Church. Ben had served as a Shire of Eltham councillor and an early school councillor of Eltham College, before his premature death in 1988.
Following retirement, in 1978 Marjorie and Ben bought a Murray River grazing property at Brimin, near Rutherglen on the Victorian border. Marjorie outlived Ben by 33 years and continued to operate the farm under third party management until her death. The family home and the farm were sold in early 2022.
Marjorie and Benjamin Taylor at home in 1988 with their children (l-R): Helen Robertson; Rosemary Crosthwaite; Mark Taylor; Philip Taylor.
Marjorie and Ben had four children, all of whom were raised in the semi-rural atmosphere of Eltham.
Helen (1945 -) married Frederick Robertson (1938-1985), a journalist, in 1966. Helen worked as a secondary teacher and later in life she undertook extensive volunteer work in hospitals and related charities. Helen has two children: Yolanda (1970-) and Finton (1974-). Yolanda worked in professional theatre for many years designing props and running the props departments in Melbourne and the UK, including at the Australian Opera. Later her studies as an Art Therapist have redirected her into therapy in schools. Finton had a passion for the environment and sustainability . This took him to London for 10 years working in high profile construction companies. Since returning he has worked with large corporate companies and government as a sustainability consultant managing some of Victoria’s bigger infrastructure projects. Yolanda has two children Ruby (2000- ) and Ben (2004 - ). Finton has two boys Maximus (2008 - ) and Frederick ( 2011 - ).
Mark (1947-) married Pauline Hussey (1948-) in 1971. Mark worked as a commercial solicitor, spending many years with Mercedes Benz. They have three children: Jolyon (1979-), Christopher (1982-) and Kim (1985-)
Rosemary (1950-) married Alan Crosthwaite (1946-) in 1972 and they have lived in Melbourne. Rosemary has worked as a teacher in schools, TAFEs and universities in Melbourne, and as a tapestry and cloth weaver. She completed a Masters degree in education in 1998 and a Phd in Fine Art at Monash University in 2020. Alan has worked as a consulting Urologist in Melbourne, in both his own practice and at Box Hill and The Royal Melbourne public hospitals. They have three children: Amy (1978-) who is a physician married to Lucas Turner, an engineer, and they have three children: Kieran (2011-), Oliver (2013-) and Connor (2017-). Hugh (1982-) studied both Music and Law. He works as a barrister and has his own composing practice. His partner, Korana Musicki works as a Vascular Surgeon in both her own practice and in public hospitals. Fiona (1986-) studied Arts and Social Work and works in the Public Service. Her partner, Ben Saunders, is a Landscape Designer with his own business and they have two children: Bonnie (2018-) and Scarlett (2021-)
Philip (1952-) married Beata Frey (1956-) in 1981. He worked as an accountant, primarily in his own business, while also establishing a Yarra Valley vineyard, which they still operate in retirement. They have two children: Nicki (1981-) and Anna (1986-).
Valerie Mildred Bracher 1920-2017
Like her two older sisters, Valerie (Val) was born at home in Footscray and – also like her two sisters - she lived to a great age (97). Val did not marry and lived at the Cowper Street, Hawthorn house until the mid 1970s. She nursed her mother and father during their final years.
However, unlike her sisters, Val claimed not to have enjoyed her schooling. She attended the local primary school in Hartwell, then followed her sisters to MacRobertson Girls High School in Albert Park. After schooling she enrolled at a chiropody school at Albany Court, 228-232 Collins Street, with the idea that upon graduation she would join her sister Marjorie’s hairdressing salon in nearby Howey Court.
“Uncle George’s wife had heard that it was much the thing to do – matching up feet with hairdressing, but I didn’t ever enjoy the feet that much.” (interview 2005).
Upon finishing the course she joined a chemist in Burke Road Camberwell, where she stayed for four years before enlisting in the Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS).
“It was something I wanted to do, but it was also a bit fashionable at the time. I wanted to do something medical. It was a very exciting time - everything moved so quickly.” (interview 2005)
Initial training was at Darley, just outside Bacchus Marsh, then a stint at the 115 (Heidelberg) Military Hospital, followed by a nursing orderlies course before “ being turned loose on the Army to cure them !” (interview 2005). She served another seven months at the repat’ hospital before signing-up for a posting to New Guinea in March 1943
From Melbourne the journey required a train trip to Townsville, then three days by boat to reach the big tented hospital in Port Moresby – the 2/1 Australian General Hospital. It was one of three large hospitals in the town, plus a Casualty Clearing Station. VFX91679 Corporal Valerie Bracher worked for eight months in Port Moresby, while her brother Lloyd was fighting over the Owen Stanley Ranges near Lae.
“We worked desperately hard. It was terribly hot and they had those awful sandflies, but we had a lot of fun. We were in six person tents. It wasn’t very scenic..the sea went out for miles during the day, crocodiles were everywhere and everyone was plunging into the rivers. You‘re young and everything was exciting” (interview 2005).
She returned home for about two months before deployment to Darwin, where she remained until January 1947. It was a torturous trip by train and truck to get there, and she would often laugh about the gallant soldiers required to hold up hessian sheets along the roadside to allow the women to perform ablutions.
“We were at the tented hospital, 12 miles out. If we had a day or night off duty there was much smuggling of cars and other things so we could go on picnics.
“We were paid three shillings, four pence a day, which was pretty low, but then I got a couple of stripes (corporal) and it went up to seven shillings a day” (interview 2005)
Later in her life Val would somewhat guiltily say that despite the hardship and trauma of the war years, it had been the best time of her life. She would talk about the incredible comraderie and lifetime friendships made in the field. Later in life she donated her full uniform to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Back in Melbourne, life after the war seemed very flat. It took her about a year to settle into a routine. She took a temporary job with a florist before starting her long career as a medical receptionist and practice manager for a series of Melbourne doctors.
She began with the Doctors Littlejohn in Collins Street for five years before heading to England, where she secured a poorly paid job in a London hospital, while living in a crowded flat near Holloway Prison. Her time in London coincided with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11, and also with a working holiday by her youngest brother Geoff. Val did a lot of touring around England with Geoff before she returned home and then took a job with Doctor Glynn White for five years.
The lure of running her own business saw Val use all her savings to take out a three year lease on a shop on the corner of Burke and Malvern Roads, selling primarily baby wear, underwear and stockings. It was against her father’s business advice and the shop was located on the ‘wrong’ side of the road because the afternoon sun faded all the goods in the window. She lasted eight months as a businesswoman and it was only because of a legal technicality regarding the lack of a toilet in the shop that she managed to extricate herself from the lease.
Thus, having satisfied her shopkeeping crave, she went back into medical practice management. She worked in about ten practices during her career, finishing with Dr Peter Colville for 12 years at 26 Collins Street and then seven years with Dr. Peter Berger, also in Collins St, before retiring at 62. She loved working in the medical field and her care and attention to detail made her a highly valued member of each team she worked with. Val would often say that if she’d had the brain she would have loved to have been a surgeon. She watched all the medical reality TV programs and relished the onscreen surgical procedures.
Before the death of her father in 1974, Val secured a mortgage on a unit in Kenilworth Parade, Ivanhoe. A generous scheme for returned service people meant that she only needed to borrow a small amount from her reluctant father, which she quickly paid back by renting it out. At the time it was virtually impossible for a woman - and a single woman at that – to secure a bank mortgage. She remained grateful throughout her life for the financial assistance the Commonwealth Department of Veterans Affairs had extended to her.
Soon after the sale of the Cowper St Hawthorn home in the mid 1970s Val moved into her Ivanhoe unit. Over the following forty years she also lived in Glen Iris, Burwood, in assisted accommodation in Hawthorn and Canterbury during older age, and then ending the last two years of her life in an RSL aged care facility at Heidelberg Heights. It was situated alongside the old Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, where she had trained and worked 75 years earlier.
Val’s generous, outgoing personality gained and retained many friendships of all ages. With no children of her own, she became the backbone of the Bracher family, taking a great interest in the lives of her nieces, nephews and their children. The arrival of Aunty Val in her VW Beetle at a family event was always a highlight. During retirement she was also able to further extend her involvement with an already long list of charitable organisations. Anyone wishing to visit needed to book into her diary well-ahead.
Her funeral at St Marks Camberwell in February 2017 attracted friends, colleagues and extended family. She had long planned and paid for her funeral, attending to most of the detail, including instructions to not have her coffin in the church because she didn’t like the idea of people staring at her. Instead, she chose to wait in the hearse outside the church doors, and be greeted by the mourners as they left. A colourful person indeed !
Lloyd Gladstone Bracher 1922-2006
As the eldest son - and being named after two British Prime Ministers - Lloyd was always accorded seniority among Ethel and Harry’s children. Tall, handsome, and outgoing, he was the first in the family to sign-up for WW2, he was a leading amateur cricketer, a senior manager with Royal Insurance, and the executor of his mother and father’s affairs. Lloyd easily wore the mantle of ‘Number One Son’ in the Bracher family.
Born in 1922 just before the family moved to Hartwell, he was schooled locally and attended Melbourne Boys High School until shortly before WW2. With a Leaving Certificate to his name, in 1939 he looked for jobs in a tight job market. Out of 50 application letters he scored only three interviews, one of which was with the Royal Insurance company. The fact that his father knew two of Royal’s senior executives from cricketing days probably secured him the role. “They said ‘Oh, you’re Harry’s son; we can get you in here’…” (interview 2006). He worked with the Royal until enlisting in 1941.
You could enlist at the age of 18 with written consent from your parents, but this was blocked by father Harry, who remembered the carnage from WW1. However, Lloyd received his long-awaited ‘call-up’ papers on his 19th birthday and he enlisted on 30th December 1941, being 3 weeks after Japan entered the war.
“I was an infantryman and that means you were in the front line being shot at, but there was also a lot of sitting around. If you didn’t get a job for the day, you just lay on your bed and read or wrote back home….Val used to say to herself that her little brother was there, just over the mountains. It was a marvellous experience and one that I wouldn’t have missed.” (interview 2006).
He was initially assigned to a training company at Woodside in S.A. His platoon (part of the 6th Division) was on its way to Ambon. Before they arrived, news came through that his parent battalion had surrendered. So for the next 10 months, his platoon performed guard duties and aircraft spotting at Daly Waters and Alice Springs. He then entered intensive training in Darwin for 5 months with the 2nd/8th battalion. “It was after the bombing, the civilians had gone and the place was a bit of a wreck” (interview 2006). He was then posted to the Atherton Tablelands (Qld) for training in jungle warfare and beach landings, followed by intense frontline service in Aitape on the north coast of New Guinea for the final 16 months of the war.
“The conditions in which you lived were very nasty…..mud up to your eyes. My feet are always sore now. I remember when we would come to a river, you never took your shoes and socks off….you just walked through it and then dried off….as a result, the bottoms of my feet just came off.
“I got malaria about 15 times. I only got it a couple of times there, but then one after the other after I got back. I also had hookworm and dysentery while over there.
“ By the time we had been in New Guinea for 9 month I was worried that my kid brother would be caught up in it. I would imagine Geoff would want to match it with me and join the infantry. I didn’t want him to join the infantry” (interview 2006).
Lloyd was better educated than most of his fellow soldiers and even some of the officers, but despite being offered stripes, he elected to stay with ‘the boys’.
“I was only 19 and to be in charge of the lives of fellas 25 years old I thought was not a fair go. Your judgment at 19 or 20 is not good, so I stayed a Private the whole time.
“They wanted somebody for the I.O. section – map reading and all that - so they said ‘Bracher looks the one’, so I thought I would take it. I got my gear together, but when l looked around at the other fellas who didn’t have the same education, I would never have forgiven myself for having taken it… It was an easier task; you’re at headquarters rather than being in a platoon, but I stayed the rest of the time with the fellas. I know that mum used to cry about it. I was a silly young bugger. I could have gone into a more cushy job, but I didn’t, and I’m still proud of that “. (interview 2006).
Lloyd was held in high esteem by his army mates and after the war was elected by them as vice-president of the Association.
Just prior to signing-up Lloyd had met 17-year-old Nancy Maher from Box Hill.
“When I was in Daly Waters you had to have a girlfriend. I had always liked Nance. It was the religion that held me back, but it was my experience in the army with all sorts of different blokes…Catholics and Protestants…we all got on well together, so I wrote a very humble letter to Nance. She wrote back and from that point onwards she wrote 400 letters to me and I wrote about 400 letters to her.
“She was so true to me. I expected too much of her…at the age of 19 she did not go out with anyone. She stuck with me even though she could have been a widow…. and I loved her for it. For the whole war I only had 45 days of leave. When I came home on leave I went up and saw Nance straight away. My second leave was in 1944 and at that stage we virtually became engaged.” (interview 2006).
In the socially structured society of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in those days Lloyd’s engagement and subsequent marriage to a Catholic caused ructions among the protestant Bracher family, which Lloyd remembered with some pain till the end of his life.
“Mum wasn’t very happy, but she got used to it…I can remember saying to mum in my semi anger ‘I’ve been away 5 years at the war and I want to do things that I want to do, and I don’t think you or anyone else has the right to stop me’. She thought the world of Nance later. Uncle George over in Malvern was a big chief in the Masons. He made a few snide remarks when I married Nance about being a Catholic, so I just wiped him.” (interview 2006)
When Lloyd was demobbed after five years of service he needed time to re-adjust to civilian life. Despite being able to get his old job back at Royal insurance, he felt the need to work outside and so took a job at a North Blackburn orchard. However, recurring bouts of malaria led to multiple hospital stays at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and interrupted his orchard work. After 18 months he returned to the Royal Insurance company where his position would be more secure if he was sick. He remained with that company for the next 32 years.
He had received a 300 Pounds gratuity when he left the army. After earning more money in the orchard, he married Nancy Maher in April 1948. They started their married life in a small cement sheet house in Ferntree Gully.
Lloyd rose steadily through the ranks at Royal Insurance. He was transferred to Horsham in the role of Insurance Inspector and stayed for 7 years before being promoted to Manager of the Bendigo office. With experience and capability under his belt after five years he was invited to become the Assistant Manager in charge of the region's Insurance Inspectors, based at the Royal Insurance Company’s head office in Collins Street, Melbourne. They moved to Court Street, Box Hill in 1965, but they both agreed that Horsham and Bendigo had been the best years of their life.
“It was a beautiful life. I was in charge of my own little domain. Nance always said it was the best time of our lives.” (interview 2006)
Lloyd was an excellent sportsman. As he says in his war memoir ‘The Long and Hard Road’:
“I am rather diffident to mention my own activities in this regard, but the fact remains that I was one of the few to represent the batalion in football, cricket, basketball and athletics. We had 800 troops all very fit and mostly under 30 years of age, so competition was pretty keen”.
After the war he played football and cricket for Upwey Tecoma and represented the Ferntree Gully Association at Country Week cricket. At Horsham his cricket prowess continued, playing for Jung and St Michaels and he captained the Horsham Association at Country Week level and other representative matches. During his time in Bendigo he played for Sandhurst and later captained and coached Maristians.
After returning to Melbourne he continued with his cricket at Mont Albert Cricket Club until 1973 when he was aged 51. He captained the Mont Albert 2nd XI that year to a premiership, after making a century in the semi-final.
He was described as a hard hitting, stylish right-hand batsman who made many centuries and he won a number of team and Association awards.
He was also known for his skills as a handyman and builder. He added an extra room at both Horsham and Box Hill, a garage and workshop at Bendigo and an extra bathroom at the Beleura Hill home. He will also be remembered for his gardens and vegie patches (in particular for his tomatoes and beans !)
Lloyd and Nancy retired to a home on Beleura Hill, Mornington in 1980 and later downsized to a unit in Barkly Street, Mornington. Lloyd died from complications of lung disease in 2006, while Nancy died in aged care in 2008, following several years of dementia.
​
Lloyd and Nancy Bracher with their children in the 1980s (left to right) John, Mary, Cathy, Anne, Margaret (Maggie), James (Jim).
While in regional Victoria, Lloyd and Nancy raised six children: John (1949-), Anne (1951-), Catherine (1953-), Mary (1956-), James (1958-), and Margaret (1961-)
John Phillip Bracher married Judith Sinclair (1949-) in 1971. He met his wife whilst studying at Melbourne University where he majored in Mathematics and Geography and qualified as a teacher. He joined the Royal Australian Navy as an Instructor Officer. Later in his career he taught at Albury Scots School and then held the role of Business Manager at Xavier Catholic College in Albury. They produced 5 children: Phillip (1972-), Mark (1974, died after 1 day), Michelle (1979-), Andrew (1981-), and Leanne (1983-).
Anne Valerie Bracher married Paul McCann (1947-) in 1970. Anne worked in banking before joining her husband’s Optometry business as office manager. They produced two children: Gregory (1971-) and Rebecca (1975-2006).
Catherine (Cathie) Joan Bracher qualified as a registered nurse and midwife at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. Her first marriage to Ross Hurst (1953-1978) in 1975 produced one son, Paul (1975-). Ross died in a motor car accident. Her second marriage in 1980 to Scotsman John Sutherland (1949-2018) produced 5 children: Sarah (1980-), George (1981-), Robert (1983-), Caitlin (1986-), and Thomas (1989-). Cathie and John lived in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland, before returning to John's hometown of Wick, Scotland in 1985, where they ran businesses in property development and hospitality.
Mary Frances Bracher (1956-) married Geoffrey Dean (1955-) in 1978, an accountant for Carlton and United Breweries. Mary majored in Biology and Geography at Melbourne University and trained as a teacher. She held various positions of leadership throughout her teaching career within the Catholic Education System. They produced two children, Kathryn (1988-) and Anthony (1990-).
James (Jim) Patrick Bracher partnered with Lisa Ferrazza (1968-) and produced four children: Thomas (1990-), Samuel (1992-), Harrison (1994-) and Chloe (1996-). Jim worked in banking before joining the Victorian Police Force.
Margaret (Maggie) Therese Bracher married Michael Bula (1958-) in 1990. Maggie majored in Languages and Fine Arts at Melbourne University, training as a language teacher in French and English. She later managed her own translation and interpreting company in conjunction with her husband’s law firm. They produced two children: Heidi (1997-) and Olivia (2001-).
Geoffrey Herbert Winston Bracher 1928-2013
The first four of Ethel and Harry’s children were born within six years (1916-1922), but it was another six years – 1928 - before the arrival of their last born, Geoffrey. As such, Geoff became the darling of the family and was mothered not only by Ethel, but also by his three sisters.
Like his older brother Lloyd, Geoffrey Herbert Winston also carried the name of a British parliamentarian. Harry was an Anglophile through and through !
Geoff was born while the family lived at Dillon Grove in Hartwell. He attended Auburn State School until Form 2, then Melbourne Boys High School for Forms 3 to 5. He said that for most of his teenage years he was, effectively, an only child. Audrey and Marjorie were married in the early 1940s, and his brother and sister Val were serving in the army. The age gap between he and Lloyd meant that they were never particularly close siblings. Lloyd was a teenager when Geoff was in primary school and by the time Geoff had started at Melbourne High, Lloyd had enlisted and then lived in Ferntree Gully upon his return.
For his last year of secondary school he attended Swinburne Technical College to study refrigeration and civil engineering. He emerged with a Diploma of Engineering during the late 1940s and took-up his first job within the municipal and survey office of the State Electricity Commission in Yallourn. He described it as a ‘dead-end’ government job but he managed to save enough money to fund his own way through the University of Melbourne’s Engineering faculty. The fees for the course were about seven pounds per term at the time. Because he lived at home, and had good savings, plus a weekly allowance of 12 shillings from his parents, and later had a part time job in the University’s Soil Mechanics laboratory, he was able to get through the three year course. His extra-curricular activity was centred upon the Melbourne University Choral Society. He travelled to several interstate camps and competitions with the choir.
During the early 1950s he emerged with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. He was the first in his family to attain a tertiary qualification.
“Dad didn’t show much emotion….but he showed his appreciation when I finished my course. He said ‘oh well, it hasn’t cost me anything’ and then he wrote out a cheque for at least a hundred pounds. I think it was just in appreciation because I had done it myself.” (interview 2005)
Sister Val had left to work in England the previous year and it was mother Ethel’s suggestion that Geoff join her and put his degree to use working for an English engineering firm.
“Through what I’d earned in the soil mechanics laboratory and what I’d earned through a bit of holiday work and the SEC… I had 500 pounds to go overseas. It cost 80 pounds to go over and 100 pounds to come back” (interview 2005)
After three weeks in London he secured work with Fitzpatrick & Sons Engineering. Over the following three years he worked on the Hammersmith Bridge, the Great Western Road and at the American controlled Mildenhall Airfield. He was there for the 1953 Queen’s coronation. He and Val arrived in the middle of the night to gain their place to watch the passing of the coronation carriage. They also travelled together around the U.K. and Scotland, gaining many lifetime memories in the process. Geoff fell for an English girl and they travelled to Austria for a summer holiday. However, the girl’s family’s social and political standing meant that a future life with a ‘colonial’ was probably doomed from the outset.
“I felt obliged to come back home for a while to see mum and dad, and the idea was that she might have followed me back, but fortunately she didn’t….I might have married her, but it’s just as well as I might have been divorced by now. I decided that your mother was a far better bet” (interview 2005).
He arrived back in time for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and gained work as a Senior Civil Design Engineer with Commonwealth Oil Refineries, which was taken over by British Petroleum during his two years with the company.
He threw himself back into a social life revolving around St Marks Camberwell, including the church choir, cricket and football teams. It was the church choir that introduced him to a newly arrived, homesick English girl, Dorothy Jones (1928-2022), from Manchester. She was living with a host family in Kew, who also happened to attend St Marks.
Their common interest in England and music soon saw them dating (or ‘courting’ as it was then known). They were married at St Marks in April 1958, with a honeymoon in Tasmania, and initially lived in a Camberwell flat. Dorothy had worked in Manchester as a library assistant and as a drawing clerk for British Railways. Two penfriends in Australia had motivated her to emigrate in 1956 on the ‘10 pound Pom’ scheme. She gained work in the drawing office of Melbourne engineering firm Riley Dodds, but - as was the custom of the time - she relinquished the job upon marriage, which was just as well because, within a month of marriage, she fell pregnant. Before the birth, they decided to move to Moe in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley; the heart of electricity production.
“I thought that being a Shire Engineer wouldn’t be a bad idea… you got a bit of office work and a bit of field work. I made enquiries through the appropriate people… I had to get a bit of experience so I went to Moe as Assistant Engineer with the Shire of Moe.” (interview 2005)
Geoff and Dorothy pictured at their home on the Barwon River in Winchelsea 1983 with children (left to right) Timothy (seated), Michael, Matthew and Christopher.
Timothy was born in February 1959 at the Yallourn base hospital, in the midst of a fierce summer heatwave that Dorothy never forgot.
After two years in Moe they moved in 1960 to Gisborne, where Geoff took the job as Shire Engineer for the Shire of Gisborne, which also included jurisdiction over the town of Woodend. Gisborne was an established country town, but also one with potential because of the building of the nearby Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine. It grew steadily during their five years, during which time Christopher and Michael were born at the Gisborne Base Hospital. They lived on a reasonably sized acreage within the town, in an English style house, surrounded by trees and daffodils. Their home loan was financed by Harry Bracher, who was delighted that his son had married an attractive English woman, for whom he had great affection.
Tim had barely started school when Geoff obtained his next job as Shire Engineer and Water Supply Engineer for the Shire of Violet Town, in the state’s north east. By this time, city born and bred Dorothy had grown to like country life, and their six years at Violet Town were the happiest of their married life. They embraced the town and the town embraced them. Church, tennis, cricket, golf and a recently established repertory society were the mainstays of their recreation time. The highpoint of their years in Violet Town was the arrival in 1969 of their adopted son, Matthew, thus finalising the family of four boys:
Timothy Thomas Bracher (1959-) married Alison Perkins (1960-) in 1990. Alison was a secondary school English and English as a Second Language teacher. Tim had a career in journalism, public relations, marketing and tourism, finishing with many years as a business consultant, running a city business association. They lived in Geelong, Mt Martha, Mt Eliza and Mentone. They produced two children: Madeleine (1991-) and Andrew (1993-)
Christopher Geoffrey Bracher (1961-) married Suzanne O’Reilly (1965-) in 1991. Suzanne worked in retail and hospitality, while Chris began his career in local government recreation before moving into golf course management, the nursery industry, and finishing his career self employed as a community development consultant. They lived in Winchelsea, Drouin and Emerald. They produced two children: Maxwell (1994-) and Matilda (1997-).
Michael Ashton Bracher (1963-) partnered Afifi Said (1972-). Michael began his career in hotel management, then entered hospitality industry training, before spending much of his middle to later career as an International Development consultant for the Commonwealth Government, based for many years in Jakarta. Indonesian-born Afifi gained a degree in electrical engineering and information technology and worked with the State Electricity Commission in Indonesia and as an I.T. Manager in Sydney.
Matthew Bruce Bracher (1968-) married New Yorker Melissa Mejias (1971-) in 2001. They lived in Arizona and Australia before divorcing in 2008. He then partnered with Sanjot Kaur (1970-). Matthew worked in real estate before becoming an international tour guide. Sanjot worked in retail and administration.
Despite the near idyllic lifestyle in Violet Town, it was Geoff’s need to find a more challenging work environment, plus the need for better access to quality secondary schooling, that saw the family move in 1971 to Winchelsea, in the western district of Victoria. He took up the role as Shire Engineer and Water Supply Engineer for the Shire of Winchelsea, which embraced the famous holiday resort town of Lorne. He was also Engineer for the Lorne Waterworks and Sewerage Trust, but only after he undertook further study and exams at the Footscray Institute of Technology to obtain his Water Supply Ticket. Every Friday for 18 years Geoff would drive over the Otway Ranges to spend the day working in Lorne. Lorne’s terrain and many opinionated holiday home owners created exactly the challenge that Geoff was looking for in the middle to final years of his career.
“Winchelsea was the best by far because you had a lot of private street work at Lorne. Every street constructed at Lorne posed a problem because it was so steep, and quite a few buildings to design….. With the Building Surveying I had to inspect buildings and pass the plans. There was a lot of work in it. There was perhaps 40 and 50 houses a year in Winchelsea plus twice as many alterations and extensions, so that’s why I went back to the office at night a lot…..I used to look forward to Monday mornings and the end of holidays” (interview 2005)
All the children attended the local Winchelsea Higher Elementary School, before doing most of their secondary schooling at The Geelong College. Early morning rises to catch the bus for the 90 minute trip to the school in Newtown (Geelong), plus two nights and Saturday morning sport, kept Dorothy and Geoff busy on the school runs.
Once again, St Thomas’ Anglican Church and the Winchelsea Repertory Society, plus golf and the local newspaper, The Winchelsea Star, kept them both happily occupied. Dorothy was also involved with Red Cross, the Country Womens’ Association and Meals on Wheels., while Geoff laboured under an increasing workload, managing a team of fellow engineers and a sizeable outdoor staff.
When they left Winchelsea in 1991 there was a round of fond farewells and presentations. Their retirement years were spent in Daylesford, which they had been introduced to during the late 1980s when son Michael started a hotel job in the town. Michael, Geoff and Dorothy designed and built a cottage style house on the main road. Michael left for Ballarat and overseas, but Dorothy and Geoff spent 20 years embracing all that the town had to offer, including church life at Christ Church, Daylesford, with Dorothy often stepping-in as organist for the nearby church in Glenlyon. During their time there, Daylesford transformed from a small rural community into one of Victoria’s favourite tourist destinations and a magnet for people seeking alternative lifestyles. The family used to laugh about their ageing parents enjoying life among such a colourful and diverse community.
Geoff’s failing health in 2011 saw them reluctantly leave their cottage to move into a unit in Ballarat, to be close to Dorothy’s sister and near to major health facilities. They continued their croquet competitions and attended St Johns Anglican, Ballarat. Geoff continued his retirement hobby of wood carving and became very involved in the University of the Third Age until his death from bladder cancer in 2013.
Following Geoff’s death, Dorothy’s mental health spiralled. After two hospitalisations she was moved to an age care facility in Parkdale, Melbourne, minutes away from Timothy. She lived nine years in aged care, never really enjoying the experience, but realising that it was necessary because of her condition. For the last seven years of her life the ravages of dementia steadily eroded her confidence. She died from the complications of dementia in September 2022. Geoff and Dorothy’s ashes were scattered in the memorial garden of Christ Church Daylesford in 2013