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Young Rae Shackleford, a 'friend of the eels'
By Bruce Phillips
THEY bred them tough, resilient and resourceful high in the forested hills around Glen Forbes in the early part of the 20th century.
Some were timber cutters who became farmers. Rae Shackleford was from one such pioneering family. The youngest of five children to Alexander (Alec) and Millicent (Milly) she was born in the winter of 1934 and now, aged 92, still has crystal clear memories.
“Our farm was large and covered in trees. My grandfather was a timber miller and a lot of it was sent by rail to the Wonthaggi mines.”
What the country looked like around Glen Forbes before the land was cleared
Electricity, hot running water, flushing toilets and soft beds were years away.
“Our house was the oldest thing I’ve ever seen. It was never painted and the most ugliest grey thing. By the time I was born we were milking cows by hand – no milking machines.
“For a child there wasn’t much to do on the farm. In summer when the grass dried, we would slide down hills on a sled. I had ‘friends’ in the creek, the eels. I would go up there and feed them worms and they would slide through my hands.”
In the cooler months Rae and sister Marj picked and packed mushrooms which were sent to Melbourne by train from the nearby Glen Forbes station. The money helped pay for their shoes.
The primary school was built next to the railway line in the front of the property on land donated by the Shacklefords and stands to this day.
The first school bus arrived in 1947 to take Rae and other children to Wonthaggi Tech.
Alec Shackleford believed in God, King and Country, fought on the Western Front in the first war and was mentioned “in dispatches”. He served several terms as a Bass Shire councillor and was a coast watcher at Kilcunda during the second war.
Rae's father Alec Shackleford fought on the Western Front.
“If you did the wrong thing he’d certainly let you know – a bit fiery.”
Alec and Milly instilled strong values into their children, which prepared them well for the challenges and hardships ahead.
Rae left school at 14, worked in the Bass General Store then picked oranges near Wangaratta. By 17 she was with Marj in the offices of the Archies Creek butter factory paying farmers for their milk.
1954 proved a momentous year: she was now boarding in Wonthaggi and met Chris Haines at the town hall dance.
“I danced. I’m a mad dancer. I loved it. Chris would come to the dance – but he didn’t dance.”
Rae had an inkling Chris had romantic designs when he drove her home from the dance but dropped his then girlfriend off first. They married that year. Such was the practice at the time, the marriage meant Rae had to give up her job.
Chris and Rae on their wedding day, 1954
As well as the dancing, Rae played piano, loved singing and made her own clothes.
While he was no Fred Astaire, Chris Haines more than made up for it through hard work, initiative and enterprise. He spent time as a linotype operator and journalist for The Powlett Express, drove taxis, was sales manager at Coldon Homes, owned greyhounds that won and had a successful sideline as a bookmaker. According to Rae he “came from nothing” and “worked hard all the time”.
Chris’s successful hounds helped buy their first house in Drysdale Street and a home for his mother in King Street. The couple's first child, Mark, arrived in 1956, Debbie in 1959 and Virginia in 1964.The union also delivered six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
When Rae joined the philanthropic Country Womens’ Association it opened a new world: she became a member of its choir - or choirs. She was part of the big choir, one not as big then a quartet and a trio. Jean Young, Iris Tinkler and the indefatigable Dawn Turner helped make up the quartet while Rae, Iris and Dawn formed the trio. They entered into a competition of all CWA choirs and won all four categories.
In the mid-seventies Rae and Chris bought JR Elkin Real Estate at 81 Graham St. They later remodelled an old butcher shop and operated from 44 McBride Avenue. “It was fantastic being in real estate because he liked it, I liked it – and we made a lot of money,” she says without a hint of hubris. Key staff were daughter Virginia, Phil Hanley and Richard Osborne.
Rae says Chris was always diligent, sensible and researched any business he took on. When she is asked if she had the same qualities Rae begins that she “was perhaps a little more . . . “. She pauses and it’s suggested the word she’s searching for is “cautious?” but she immediately fires back with withering self-deprecation: “No – stupid!”
The success of the business meant the couple could retire earlier than many. Fishing became a great love for them both and Rae even won the prestigious “Queen of the Tambo”. Neighbors and friends were often recipients of their catch.
In the early seventies Rae took up golf. “I love golf. It’s a beautiful game.” She then tried her hand at lawn bowls and played both sports for many years until it was just the bowls.
Rae’s involvement in - and leadership of - various community organisations is extraordinary: she was president of the local CWA, Wonthaggi Ladies Golf Club, the hospital’s Satellite fundraising committee and the Angling Club and a Wonthaggi Bowls Club committee member.
She was also deputy mayor of the old Borough of Wonthaggi. just its second-ever female councillor, and a life governor of the hospital.
“I didn’t look for it but always seemed to get myself into positions of leadership.”
The sense of social responsibility and a desire to help others has been a constant in Rae’s life: “Well that came from being born out in the country because there was always someone there to give a lift to somebody in distress. My mum and dad were an inspiration. They were kind and generous and I like to think that was passed down.”
Rae and Dawn Turner in 1974 delivered some of the first meals on wheels in Wonthaggi.
Such generosity had a way of coming back karma-style. After John Henry Armitage (known as Harry) emigrated from Britain Alec provided a house for him and his family for free at Glen Forbes. Harry eventually took on a 350-acre farm at West Creek but sadly his two children and wife predeceased him. Rae was instrumental in securing a bequest of more than $300,000 from Harry to the Wonthaggi Hospital which led to the construction of what is now known as Armitage House.
"You can’t go through life with everything going rosy. Whenever anything came up you did your best to work through it."
Rae Haines
In 2013 Rae’s son Mark died after a long illness and within six months her beloved Chris was also gone. When asked how one copes with such adversity, she says: “At times it can feel like a war and you just have to find a way out of that war. You can’t go through life with everything going rosy. Whenever anything came up you did your best to work through it.”
After talking to Rae – and notwithstanding all her achievements - you are struck by how humble she is and reminded of the word humility – “the quality of having an accurate, realistic view of oneself without arrogance or excessive pride”. The girl from the hills has that in spades.
The author is indebted to Debbie Haines Wells, Virginia Haines McEntee, Frankie Belsar, Teresa Coldebella, Caroline Donohue, Lenore Tinkler, Geoff Taberner, Terri Burns, Maxine Cummings and Don Paproth.
Beautiful story on her life