By Karlene Brummer
Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers, Step-Mums, Foster Mums and Fur child Mums in our community! I thought that I would pay tribute to my own Mother in this edition.
My Mother was born in 1937 in Leeton to parents Charles and Olive Keating. She was christened Mabelle Dawn but has been known as Dawn for most of her life. By the age of five the family moved to Bondi Junction and she completed her schooling at Sydney Girls High.
Her father was conscripted to WW2 in 1939 and on his return was a changed man. He died tragically when Dawn was only 14. Her mother, Olive, continued living in the Bondi Junction terrace, taking on several paying boarders as well as four of her nieces and nephews whose family was no longer able to care for them.
After matriculating, Dawn enrolled in Teachers College to become a Primary School teacher and soon met a handsome young German immigrant named Rudi Brummer, who lived across the road from her. She helped him with his English, and they eventually fell in love and married in 1961.
Dawn’s mother was able to get a bank loan for war widows and bought four acres of land in the little-known suburb of Glenhaven. With a dirt main road, the area was predominantly one of orchards, chicken and pig farms. They built a small ‘shed’ and the family would travel the long way from Bondi to the Hills and stay there on weekends.
Eventually a house was built on the property and Olive, Dawn, Rudi and some of the kids moved in permanently. I was the first of three children – born in 1966 followed by Richard (1969) and Dieter (1976).
Dawn was posted to several teaching positions across Sydney, including spending many years at both Annangrove & Glenhaven schools, teaching all of us kids at some point or another. We were allowed no special treatment and had to call her “Mrs Brummer”! After retiring from teaching, she worked at Koala Park as a visitor hostess and spent nearly 20 years there.
Dawn had been a dancer in her youth and continued to be involved in the dance scene throughout her life. She spent many years involved in the Rookwood Rockers – a troupe of mature ladies who would perform concerts in Retirement homes across Sydney. Dawn was also a capable seamstress and sewed most of the ladies’ performance costumes.
When local Dance teacher, Alison Gold, started tap dancing classes at the Dural Club some years ago, Dawn joined for some exercise and social interaction and soon found herself once again making costumes for this new group. Losing her husband in 2017 followed by the untimely death of her youngest son in 2021, she suffered some understandable health issues which was quite a worry for my brother and myself.
Now 88, Mum has bounced back and is still unstoppable, attending Tap lessons at the Galston Club each Thursday night and sewing the multitude of costumes for the group, known as Alison’s Tap Dazzlers. She is also passing on her sewing skills to her 12-year-old granddaughter, Ivy, who seems to have inherited the dressmaking gene.
Still living happily in Glenhaven after some sixty years, but no longer driving, she walks to the local shops and if she needs to go further afield, she is a dab hand using the Uber app! She enjoys gardening, old movies, going to the theatre, crafting and reading, and as she often says, “Age is just a number!”
Happy Mother’s Day Mum!
