6. My grandmother, Ivy Ellen Brown.

Above: My great-grandmother Charlotte Willett Brown with her daughters Lil, Marj and Ivy, my grandmother.

My grandmother, Ivy Ellen Brown (above) was born on Friday, April 27, 1917, at
Yarrawonga, Victoria. She was the sixth child and fourth daughter born to 44 year old John George Brown, labourer, and his 33 year old wife Charlotte Willett. Her siblings at the time of her birth were John 10; Edward 9; Lillian 6; Eileen dead and Margaret 2. Her birth certificate notes that her birth was attended by Dr. S.C. Jamieson and Mrs Smart.

Ivy attended Yarrawonga Primary School and Yarrawonga Elementary High, and when she
married in 1927 at the age of 19, her occupation was given as ‘home duties’, insinuating that she was still living at home. Ivy married 26 year old Norman Meabry Oakley at St. Cuthbert’s Church of England, Yarrawonga, on Saturday, April 24, 1937, just three days before the bride’s twentieth birthday. They were married by Anglican priest William Joseph Chesterfield, and Ivy’s brother Edward Semer Brown and Norman’s brother Harry Gordon Oakley signed the marriage certificate as witnesses.
Unlike her two sisters Lil and Marj, Ivy did not have her first child in the year following her marriage. In fact it was a long five years before first daughter Margaret would appear- she was born on Monday, May 4, 1942, at Lynch Street, Yarrawonga. Second daughter Helen Lorraine arrived seven years later.

It would not have been easy for Ivy to marry into the Oakley family-the two were
miles apart in every way. Ivy’s heritage was derived from hard working miners
and sleeper cutters, whose financial situations in every generation had necessitated
them sacrificing education for work just to survive.
The Oakleys were very well educated and had come from moneyed backgrounds, even though they may have struggled financially between the wars like so many others. Harry Oakley, Ivy’s father-in-law, had been born in Shropshire, England, and had emigrated with his music teacher sister Jean in 1887. His Oakley grandfather back in England had been very wealthy, and had been a part owner of the famous grocery store Fortnum & Masons until his death in 1861, after which his eldest son John Oakley remained a partner until well into the 1890s.
Harry’s wife, Olive Jessie Bishop, was born in Ballarat to English emigrant parents- her mother Bertha Hughan had been born in London and emigrated in 1850, and her father Henry was from Stamford in Lincolnshire, arriving in Victoria in the early 1860s.Both Henry and Bertha had received excellent educations, and had ensured their six children, including eldest daughter Olive Jessie, were also very well schooled. In turn, Olive placed great importance in making sure that her two sons, Harry (known as ‘Gordon’) and Norman, were also well educated. Norman had won a scholarship to Albury High School, where he achieved excellent results. When he left he followed in the footsteps of his elder brother and took up carpentry and building, over the years establishing a very successful business known as “H.G & N.M Oakley”. Many businesses and homes around Yarrawonga and Mulwala were built by the Oakley brothers during the period 1960s-1980s.

 Ivy died suddenly on March 3, 1982, at Yarrawonga Hospital.
A memorial service was held for her at St. Cuthbert’s Church Yarrawonga, followed by a family cremation at Albury. Her ashes were placed in a memorial wall at the Albury Crematorium, but are now being held in my father’s home at Albury, along with those of her husband Norman and her daughter Marg.