Ruth Parsons
| First name | Ruth |
|---|---|
| Last name | Parsons |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 9/29/2009 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1912 |
| Submitted by | Sharon Ede |
Story
Ruth Eliza Parsons was born on 29 September 1909 in Hammersmith, London, a true Cockney.
In 1912, Ruth immigrated to Australia on a ship called the Beltana with her parents, James and Jane, brother Albert and two sisters, Edith (Pat) and Ada. A third sister, Mabel, was born in Adelaide.
Ruth\’s father worked as a soldier, a labourer and a miner, and her mother was a laundress.
Ruth\’s mother died of consumption when she was nine. The Parsons children went to work, brother Bert as a printer for the government and the girls as maids in the homes of South Australia\’s wealthy.
One of Ruth\’s places of employment was Bungaree Station in South Australia\’s mid-north where she worked for the Hawker family. Shortly before the Second World War, Ruth\’s father also died of the effects of mustard gassing from his work as a tunneller (AIF, 3rd Australian Tunnelling Co) in France during World War I.
Ruth married Federico (Fred) Brustolin on 26 June 1937 and found work as a cleaner with engineering company T O\’Connor and Sons at Gepps Cross, South Australia. The couple had two daughters, Florence and Irene (Lil), but Fred was separated from them for two years, taken to a work camp in Berri, South Australia during the Second World War until he was naturalised in 1945.
Ruth worked with O\’Connor & Sons until her retirement, and then stayed on with her husband as a caretaker on the property, where she kept the garden beautifully. The couple eventually moved to Queenstown, South Australia.
After her husband Fred died in 1983, Ruth spent her time gardening, looking after her small dog and canary, and enjoying frequent visits from both of her daughters who lived close by. She moved to Mount Carmel, and later Phillip Kennedy Centre nursing home. She died in January 1996 after a battle with both cancer and dementia.
Ruth was a strong-willed, no-nonsense lady, but also kindhearted and loving, especially to her four grandchildren, Sandra, Raymond, Sharon and Tanya. She was in her 60s before she learnt to drive, and her driving was a constant source of anxiety for Fred, who would cross himself before getting into the car as her passenger.