A party at the Aged Care Facility

In Brisbane, Aunty Alice lives at the Sunnybank Hills Carramar Aged Care Facility, where she was given a birthday party on March 3. She looks very happy here.

A centenarian in the family!

Aunty Alice Nicol, the fourth child of my grandparents, turned 100 on March 2. On that day, a rather low-key "birthday party" was held at the Anglican Church Hall in Springwood, Brisbane, not far from where aunty lived for many years.

With daughters Maureen, Virginia and Heather

We have 31 cousins. Ten, including the three daughters, turned up. Seven are resident in Australia, five in Brisbane or within driving distance. 

Standing: Lloyd, me, Gordon, Roy, Virginia, and Stan. Seated: Beaula, Heather, Delphine, & Maureen

Cousins with aunty

With Beaula

Greeting from the Queen. Aunty also received greetings from the Governor General of Australia, The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Governor of Queensland, the PM of Queensland, and other political figures.

Along with the Queen's greetings, aunty would have been happiest with the collage of Braine parents and siblings presented by second cousin Jenny (Delphine's daughter). Aunty seems to most enjoy recalling her childhood with her parents and siblings, so this was a thoughtful gift.

"He knows everything"!

Beaula and I with Aunty Alice

A few days before she reached 100, my sister Beaula, cousin Stanley, and I visited Aunty Alice at the retirement home in Brisbane where she lived. We went around 10 in the morning and stayed past her lunch hour. Aunty was in god spirits and her memory was clear.

I had done my homework. I recalled what Aunty Bee and my dad had told me about their childhood at Boralessa and at nearby Mawatte Estate, where grandpa lived. I also reread what Sinniah had told me about the family. In the previous blog post, I described Sinniah's first visit to me (he as visited twice more since then) and his recollections of grandpa, grandma, and the children.

So aunty and I talked, she recalling and I matching her recollections, for two hours. We talked about Boralessa, Mawatte Estate, and "Stanlodge", the house in Negombo that grandpa had bought for his children. Near the end of our conversation, aunty turned to cousin Stan, and referring to me, said "He knows everything"!

For all the time and effort I have spent on this blog - finding information, documents, photos, and uploading them - aunty's comment was reward enough.

Aunty married in 1943 and left to join her husband at Aspokuna farm, near Digana in the Kandy area. She would have been 27 years by that time. She worked as a nurse, and would have therefore left her parents' homes even before marriage. But her fondest memories seem to be of her childhood, spent at Boralessa and Mawatte. She barely referred to her long life after 1943, at Aspokuna, Melsiripura, and Brisbane. Perhaps the most enjoyable period of her life was spent with her parents and siblings, and that is what she remembers best.

Sinnaiah, who remembers our grandparents

Sinnaiah came to see me recently. He is 98, and still lives, with his youngest son, at Mawatte Estate, where he has spent his entire life.

Sinnaiah remembers our grandparents. About how they met, his father, who also worked on the estate, told him that grandpa had seen grandma (who was called “Engo”) at the coir factory and arranged for her to move into the bungalow, with her own room and a servant to take care of her! 

Sinnaiah says grandpa took a liking to him, allowed him to hang around the estate bungalow, and also took him to other properties. He remembers the Lewis Place house in Negombo, the 50-acre Greenwood property at Hettirippuwa, and “The Meet” at Boralessa. 

In order to collect cash to pay salaries, grandpa came by car or cart to Boralessa and took the rail car to Colombo, where the nearest bank was. Salaries were paid with coins, with sovereigns (equivalent to Rs. 12/ those days) and silver coins. Sinnaiah remembers coins piled on the office table on pay day. He says the large bungalow, with spacious verandah running around and hanging lamps in every room, was demolished and the smaller bungalow built more recently. The estate, which was 540 acres during grandpa’s time, is reduced to 300+ acres now.

Sinnaiah remembers the pond being dug on the property where I live now ("Pondside"), for grandpa’s children to swim and have fun. On the estate, grandpa provided lunch for the children of the laborers. He knew enough Tamil to communicate with the Tamil laborers, their children, and grandma.

Mawatte Estate owned two padda boats (small barges) that plied the Hamilton Canal, to transport copra to Colombo. On the return journey, they brought provisions (groceries) for the estate laborers. The “captain” of the padda boats was called Thandaley. [Basil Fonseka, son of the Thandaley, was my dad’s close friend. That’s how Basil became my godfather.]

Sinnaiah remembers the accident grandpa had while riding around the estate, on a Tantuwa, a fast, open cart. The cart was pulled by a tall, white bull, and the carter was named Antony. Grandpa, who already had a limp and used a walking stick, was badly injured by the accident. The laborers gathered around, wailing for “Rajah”, which means boss/king in Tamil.

Grandpa died in 1944, seventy years ago. Not many people who remember him are still alive. Aunty Alice, of course, is a witness to what I heard this morning.

Later, my dad had hired Sinnaiah tor contract work on one of the estates where dad worked.

Group photos of Grandpa -

Grandfather C. S. Braine. Perhaps his passport photo, which he has signed, dated 1910. He would have been 38.

In this and the photo below, we see grandpa's sisters, Muriel and Delphine. May have been taken when one of them got married.

Looks like the back portion of an estate bungalow in the background. Lush vegetation. Low country (coconut estate)? 

May have been at Mawatte Estate, or at Yakwila, or at Andigama. Who are the others? Is Herbert Brett here? 

Aunty Alice at 99

At Brisbane, on March 2

St. Stephen's Church, Negombo

The lovely St. Stephen's Anglican Church atop the Old Dutch fort in Negombo. When my grandfather C.S. Braine resided in Negombo towards his last stages, he is most likely to have attended this church. It's still in pristine condition.