My job lead me into the criminal underworld of Victoria

I could have never found a more difficult profession for a women back in those days. But somehow, I managed! It stated out by accident as well. I was a very quiet girl in those days being well raised by a lady and a school teacher. This meant church or sunday school every week. I wasn’t allowed out unless it was to a church function but luckily there was lots of them and I did enjoy them .

Years past and  I married. I was working in the bank at the time (a safe job for a girl in those days). My husband had to move with his work to country Victoria and there was no bank there for me to transfer to. So I had to get work. An ad was in the paper for a job in a hotel so off I went to see about it, thinking in my innocence that it was an office or reception job. But no, it was for a waitress in the lounge bar. I got the job (she liked my face… lol!) but I had to learn to pour a beer with a gun and mix a few drinks. Little did I know this would be part of my life for many years and it ended up feeling like I was made for the job. Needless to say my parents were not at all happy about me working in a pub.

That was the start of many happy, sad and interesting days and I loved every minute of it. But working in a bar in those day you got a bit of a name which is unfair but it stems back many many years when the barmaids were giving out more than just drinks! I found it hard to make friends as the women thought I was after their  husbands, but I saw their husbands differently to them and they were probably nicer to me than their wives! You had to be  a friend, nurse, confidant and psychiatrist. I got to know men and people very well. All of the hotels I had were in the country as I was bringing up kids so I needed to be careful what hotels we brought.

Saying that right at the beginning of my pub days we managed a hotel right in the middle of South Melbourne. It is very different now to what it was then. I cooked in the old kitchen… had to close the oven door with a piece of wood! It  was scary then, as we had all the men who had just got out of Pentridge (the old gaol closed now and I think most of it is pulled down) staying with us upstairs. They were very protective of my two kids who were only little at the time. As we lived very close to all the red light ladies I had the pleasure of giving them lunch. They would send someone over to get their  meal with their own plate and all. One of them sticks in my mind she would always have my rissoles saying they were the best she has ever had. I only met her the once and she was very pleasant. Also every friday we would have the gang leaders come in to talk.  They sat down with their scotch and water and chatted for a couple of hours. I was always a bit scared as my husband was the bar man serving them. In those days the unions ran everything and because it was so close to the docks we got all sorts. But being young I was confident all would be ok. We lived in an awful old flat upstairs (the start of many old flats upstairs) and I had to get babysitters when I worked in the bar myself and I had no idea how silly they were either until my daughter informed me. But nothing of the dangers like today, just a bit of fun.

What I did love was living so close to the markets because I could get everything fresh from the farms for my cooking. Every morning off I would go with the little man who helped out, they used to call them The Boots. He did a bit of everything like carrying all my shopping home from the market and helping my husband clean the bar. His name I think came from the days in England years ago when you put your boots outside to be cleaned. He was a dark little chap from Malta and we called him Niggar, you could never do that these days but  Aussies have always changed peoples names. He had been in Pentridge  Gaol as well but he was great to me and wonderful with the kids.

Then one morning we heard of some gang killings and one of them was the boss who used to come in for a scotch Friday mornings. Then we thought that is it. Lets get another Hotel in the country, it is to dangerous for our kids here. So there ended my time with the underworld criminals of Victoria.

Did you have jobs that lead you into interesting circumstances or lifestyles? Tell us about them in the comments below…