DescriptionThis interview consists of four audio recordings and transcripts. Shirley Rengger was interviewed on 28 February 2004 at the Whitlam Library, Cabramatta by Shirley Kingsford McLeod.
The interview was for the "War Veterans oral history project" in partnership with Fairfield RSL. Interview SummaryShirley May Burte was born at Moore Park in Sydney in 1927, her parents being Dorothy May and Selwyn Burte. They lived at Moorebank when World War II broke out.
Shirley has many memories of the nearby Army camps and of what it was like to live in that area during wartime, discussing the fact that the soldiers camped nearby came from Britain, France and America, as well as Australian men. One of the Americans that her family had befriended was killed in action.
Her father had built an air raid shelter for the family as most families did but on the night the Japanese submarines invaded Sydney, she and her mother remained above the shelter to watch the searchlights and other activities. Her father, when he heard of it, was not impressed. He had joined the army in 1942.
Shirley worked in Sydney at the office at Mark Foy’s to where she commuted by train. Liverpool at that time was at the end of the electrified railway line.
Her nights were spent dancing, which she loved. Her story tells of the rationing of food and clothing during the war years and the shortages endured.
She tells of the wedding dress that was handed from one of her friends to another then to her sister when each married, as it was not at all easy to obtain a dress. Her 21st birthday dress had been sewn from curtain material as it was not necessary to use coupons for furnishing material whereas it was for dress materials.
On 8th January 1949 Shirley married an ex-serviceman, Jack Rengger, at St Luke’s Anglican Church at Liverpool and due to the post war housing shortage they lived with Shirley’s parents until they were able to build their own the following year in Middleton Avenue, Fairfield where Shirley is still living at the time of this interview. Their first son was born in 1951 and a daughter was born two years later. It was while she was expecting their second child that Shirley’s husband was stricken down with Polio in one of its most severe forms and he became permanently paralysed as a result. Although he was never to walk again, he, as a result of physiotherapy, was in time able to return to work.
At around the same time her mother suffered a stroke. Shirley’s life had completely changed and she devoted all her attention to her mother, children and her husband. She managed with a lot of support from friends and her appreciation to Dr George Gregory, for his support in the case of her husband, is something that she will always remember.
Jack's incapacity did not stop them from travelling to most states of Australia when possible but at the time of this interview Jack was living in a Nursing home.
