FAMILY ON TREK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23166, 12 October 1938, Page 13

FAMILY ON TREK

NINE IN BAG HUMPY ?

STORY OF ADVERSITY j 1 [from oub own cobhespondent] SYDNEY, Oct. 14 A Btory of a family's struggle against adversity and a long six-months' trek by foot from Adelaide to Sydney, has been disclose by the , discovery of the v family in a bag and bark humpy at ~ Villawood by the police. . , Major W. A. Stringer, officer in(" charge of the Salvation Army at Banks- • town, said that when he visited the, humpy, which was in,a secluded part d% of the scrub at Villawood, he was >.r shocked at the conditions under which the family, comprising seven children —the eldest a Doy of 18 and the youngest a baby of nine months —were ;■* living. The humpy, he said, was a baric structure with bag roofing, and when he arrived the mother was spreading out ; some of the bags to dry after heavy rain. -The humoy was without bed- , ding, and the only blankets the family * had were those grven to them by the ; police. ~ , . vMajor Stringer said the father is a painter and sign writer and during the - war served with the Royal Navy. About A six years ago the mother conducted a dressmaking business in Adelaide, but. - it failed, and the family decided to come to Svdney. They were destitute . and had no alternative but to walk. ;< The father managed to obtain a little casual work in various towns on the . wav. and bv this means was able to » obtain sufficient money to pay the fares of tho children to the next town. Six of the children, m the charge of the eldest boy, would then wait at the - town until their parents, carryinK the ; voune babv, arrived on foot, bornetimes thev were given lifts by motorists Following this procedure the -■ family eventually arrived in Sydney, taking about six months to cover the Tho ° husband was unable to obtain - work in Sydney, and the family had lived in the flimsy shelter for about a < month before the police discovered - them.