Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Roy Manton Oakes was my grandfather. He died on my birthday, 7th of April 1963, when I turned six years old. I am not sure what he died of, but I assume it was related to his smoking. One of my vivid memories of him was his pipe and cigarette smoking. He used to sit on the front verandah of his home at 6 Woolwich Road, Hunters Hill in a "Smoking Chair", a comfy wood and leather chair with holes in the arms for resting pipes. We had this chair in our family home for many years after he died. The house in Hunters Hill also smelled of cigarette smoke especially the front lounge room with its bay window, where there was a divan and a small circular table with an ash tray attached to it. To get rid of the ash you pressed a small handle on top, which spun the tray and lowered it into the depths below! The other room I remember always smelled musty from smoke was the billiard room.

Roy Oakes only knew about four of his grandchildren I think, even though there were four others born after his death. He doted on the four grand children he knew, Philip Michael Oakes and Margaret Ann Oakes, children to his second son Hugh Roy Gilbert Oakes and daughter in law Lois May Oakes, and Graeme David Oakes and Kerrie Lorraine Oakes, children of his third son, Alan David Oakes and daughter in law, Heather Oakes. My sister Miriam was born on July 1st 1963, so he would have known that a third child was on the way in our family.

Margaret and I always called him "Grandfather", which seems a bit formal, but we did the same with our grandfather on my mother's side too.

Even though I was only six when he died I do have fond memories of him, too many to mention here. But I will mention just a few. When visiting Hunters Hill I remember Grandfather as being a bit of a joker. When dishing us up breakfast, for example, he would do things like putting only one rice bubble in our bowls and asking us if that was enough! He was very kindly and gentle, too. I remember going out into the back yard with him and showing us the bandicoots that used to hop through it! Not sure how many bandicoots are left in Sydney suburbs now! I also remember him picking mandarines for us (Margaret and I) from the tree that grew just beside the back door.

He visited us in our homes, both when we lived at Tumbarumba and also at Lake Bathurst. My father, Hugh, was an Anglican minister, so we moved around a lot. I don't remember Grandfather at Tumbarumba, but have seen photos. But I do remember him visiting Lake Bathurst at least twice. One time was at Christmas (probably 1962, not long before he died). We had some chooks, which Grandfather was going to slaughter for our Christmas dinner. It was rather comical witnessing his attempts to do this, and possibly because Margaret and I were watching, in the end he gave it up, and I think my father obtained some chickens for our dinner from a local farmer! I also remember getting a kite for one of my presents (probably from him). But I never got to fly that kite, because Grandfather had a turn first and got it tangled in the top of some pine trees near our rectory in Lake Bathurst, and it could not be retrieved!