Shaffery, Joseph ¹²²

   Cause of his death was Bladder Cancer.

  General Notes:

Was a wardsman in Mossman, and Ann Morrison (nee Turner) thinks he was in New Guinea at one time. No children. Married in his 50s. She died (Joe inherited the Shaffery family house at Oak St, Bulimba/Hawthorn) and he married again. She is still living in Murwillumbah. (Ann Turner). Joe died of bladder cancer.

Reminiscences of Joe Shaffery, as told to Janice Holyoak wife of Barry.
"Uncle Joe had been sick with cancer of the bladder for several months and refused further treatment because the exercise was too painful.He was cheerfull and articulate to the end. All the Brisbane family were able to visit him and say their farewells. He talked a lot of the past. I wrote as he talked. Janice wrote her recollections of her conversation with him soon afterwards, and Anne Turner, (Mary Turner's daughter) contributed some recollections as well. Muriel Day also added her memories of Joe to the list.

Joe said he had a wonderfull childhood and was able to roam free through the bush that still remained in pockets around the suburbs. He remembers the family of aboriginals that lived somewhere along Lytton Road in a bark humpy. He said they were removed by the government and sent by train to reserves up north. He thought at the time that it was a terrible injustice.

When Roseanna Martin first came out she worked at Fewings at Toowong. Joe thinks it was a boarding house. She used public transport to get everywhere. When she was young she used to go to Sandgate on her day off. One day she accidentally gave half a Sovereign to a Salvation Army collector at Sandgate where they were playing their band. She immediately told them of her mistake but the collector would not give her her money back.

Nana did all sorts of cleaning but would never clean anybodies shoes. She also refused to be photographed in her later years.

Joe says that his mother was married at 19 and widowed at 32. His parents were married at St Stephens Cathedral, and payed 3 guineas for the wedding. This was a big sum of money for the time, but the priest was unhappy and said "they must cut the grass short where you come from".

Peter Shaffery earned about 25 shillings a week at the meatworks at Queensport. He brought home washing for his wife to do and woull deliver it to his mates when it was done. He often went to the pub, as did many men in the area. When other husbands were drunk and difficult, Nana used to let the wives and children stay at her place. Once when Peter was out of work he gave his last five shillings to a church collector who came to the door. Nana was very upset about it.

Nana did not know her true age so did not recieve the pension when she was first entitled. Some relatives from Ireland eventually told her, and her daughter, Rose, wrote to the department of social security asking for a pension for her. She was asked a lot of questions about her ownership of the house and land. This angered her as she had worked so hard to buy the house in the absence of her husband. They also questioned her income. So she signed the house over to Joe even though he was living up north at the time. Joe wrote and complained to the department and his mother was granted the pension.

Joe had a wife Lyn and lived with her at Bulimba. He rented the front flat to a woman who was estranged from her husband. One day the husband came looking for her with a gun, and Joe had to confront him. He ran off but not before he had terrified Lyn, and she died of a heart attack.

Joe used to walk in the bush when he was up north. He said he walked where "no man had ever been". He took his knapsack filled with tucker following the creek picking mangoes on the way. There were many varieties. He came to a point along the way and placed the mangoes in the cool water. He then stripped naked and swam up the creek as far as he could go. "I realise the risk I took because there were many wild pigs and cassowaries all over the place and they could have killed me".

He used to pull a hair from a horses tail to make a fly hook for fishing. He twisted a loop in the end of the hair. One day when he pulled the hair the horse reared up on its hind legs and the hooves just missed his head by a fraction of an inch. It was very close.

At one time he climbed a fence to get apples from a tree, lost his balance, grabbed a branch and came down on his bottom on a rock. It hurt badly. Some people helped him up and told him to go home and be sure to tell his mother. (Much laughter) But he never did. "Oh dear no, there'd be trouble." He said he could hardly move. He had to get under a fence by lying down straight and rolling inch by inch.

Another time "My wife Lyn and I were up in the top of Australia around the Daintree and we had our little row boat. We thought we would row around a bend and so we rowed and rowed and to our surprise it went on and on. Finally we reached the top and we stayed on the banks for two nights sleeping on the bank. There were crocodiles in the area but we didnt find that out untill later."

In the 1930's Joe met some Japanese up the Bloomfield river. They called him Alligator Joe and said they would own this country one day.

Muriel says that when Joe visited the Holyoaks he wore a grey suit and a hat and was spotless. He walked everywhere. Even if he arrived for afternoon tea he would never eat anything. He ate his own "tucker". He loved all 8 children, and particularly enjoyed the "babies", Adrienne and Eileen."

From Reminiscences of the Shaffery Family - Imelda Hutchinson (Holyoak).

"Joe was another joy in our lives. He and Elizabeth were kindred souls.He would walk to our place at Annerly and had an erect posture and lean figure. As a little girl I thought he was a fascinating person. We loved his productive garden. He took a pride in loading us with fruit and vegetables when we left. It was important for him to be as self sufficient as possible and spent little on himself. How a man with such healthy habits could get bladder cancer was a great sadness to those who loved him. He particularly loved his bee hives and had also a native bee's hive on the top of the chook run. I planted a May bush in my yard at Chappel Hill to remind me of the Shaffery home. Towards the end of his life he was offered free of charge another block of land adjoining the back of his property. But he declined. By that time he had decided that he had enough land to look after. He would take us to his opal cabinet and show us tins of them that he and Kitty had gathered. But I have never been able to buy an opal for myself. It would make me too sad to wear one." ^39,128

Joseph married Living

Joseph next married Living