Format: Oral History

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Doreen Noonan Interview

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Father Thomas Dunlea

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Woronora

Collection

Telling it as it was

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Doreen Noonan Oral History

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Collection SummaryDoreen Noonan (nee Perdrisat) relates the story of her love affair with the Woronora River where she has lived most of her life.BiographyDoreen Perdrisat was six in 1934 when her family left Forest Lodge and went to live on the Woronora River. She married Jim Noonan in 1948 and in 1984 they returned to live in Prices Circuit on the Menai side of the river, in the same place she grew up. They demolished her old childhood home and built the modern house where Doreen still lives.SynopsisIn this interview Doreen recounts a very happy childhood, swimming in the river from morning till night, but also taking on responsibilities such as milking their cow and helping her father with his trotters. With her siblings, and other local children, she crossed the river and walked up the steep path to attend Sutherland Public School. Her childhood experience on the Woronora River during the depression was of a neighbourly community where a barter system operated amongst the struggling families, a sharp contrast to the well-heeled weekenders who had built many of the houses on the river in more prosperous times.

A strong interest in politics and the economic situation was evident in this community. Doreen's mother was a member of the local branch of the Communist Party and for a time worked in the offices of the party newspaper the Tribune, as did Doreen herself later on. Religion played no part in the lives of the Perdrisat children who were not christened, however, Doreen was baptised into the Anglican Church at the time of her marriage to Jim, a Catholic. She has fond memories of Boys' Town priest, Father Dunlea who regularly visited her family as well as Catholic families on the river.

Since her teenage years the Woronora Life Saving and River Patrol Club, located directly opposite her home on the other side of the river, has played an important part in Doreen's life. She helped build the club in the early 1940s and remains active to the present.

PDF Document

Doreen Noonan Interview Profile

Doreen Noonan Interview Log Sheet

Audio

Doreen Noonan Interview

Details

Oral History AudioDoreen Noonan InterviewDate of interview29th November 2011IntervieweeDoreen NoonanDate of birth12th August 1928InterviewerPauline CurbySupporting materialDoreen Noonan Interview ProfileDoreen Noonan Interview Log Sheet

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PeopleFather Thomas DunleaPlaceWoronoraSubjectsNoonan, PaulineCollectionTelling it as it was