Gladys Murrell & Flora Wright - Late-1950s

L-R: Gladys Murrell & Flora Wright

Late-1950s

My mother, Flora Wright (R), with her sister, Gladys Murrell (both nee Glover), taken some time in the late-1950s. I seem to remember Mum’s stylish, double-breasted suit was a pretty shade of green. Mum was very fond of the colour green, as am I. 

Aunty Glad was born on 26 July 1906 and Mum was born on 16 July 1911.They remained very close throughout their lives. They grew-up at Crows Nest on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. Mum was the youngest of five and Aunty Glad was the middle child. Their mother, Louisa Mary (known as May) Glover was an asthmatic. Being the youngest, Mum lost a great deal of school in staying home to look after her infirm mother. After just three years at Willoughby Girls’ High School, she was sent out to work. 

Probably the most memorable of Mum’s early jobs was as a doll-stuffer in a doll factory in Sailors Bay Road at nearby Northbridge, where Aunty Glad also worked, sewing the eyes on the dolls. Sounds positively Dickensian, but at least it wasn’t heavy work and they were indoors, out of the elements. 

In the 1920s, the family relocated permanently to Narrabeen, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, where they had holidayed for many years previously. It was there that Mum and Aunty Glad were to meet their respective husbands to be, Ray Wright and Eric Murrell, and live out the remainder of their days. Mum died on 19 November 1991 at age 80, followed just 15 days later by Aunty Glad on 4 December 1991, aged 85. Close even in death.