Lois Michel OAM is a living treasure of the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society. Lois has been the Secretary of the Society since the inception of the Concord Heritage Society in 1969 only stepping down this year due to poor health. The City of Canada Bay Heritage Society was formed by the amalgamation of Concord Heritage Society and Drummoyne & District Historical Society.
Displaying Lois’s wedding dress is not just about 1950’s fashion, it is a display of respect and celebration of Lois’s commitment to the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society.
Born in 1931, Lois grew up in Nyngan NSW, her father was a grazier and owned a sheep station outside of town. Her father enlisted in the army in 1940 to fight in the Middle East so Rose, Lois’s mother, Lois and her little brother moved into town. Lois has fond memories of life as a child in Nyngan, playing with her brother and cousins. There were no buses, so if you wanted to go somewhere you walked or rode your bike. Days were filled exploring , hot days by the river, swimming and catching yabbies. A time of innocence, taking off in the morning, coming home for lunch then going out again until teatime. No TV, so listening to the wireless, the wind up gramophone, playing board games, cards and reading. One day Lois and her cousins were playing near the railway tracks and found a “workers trike”. What else would curious children do but to hop on and travel up the tracks only to be caught by a railway worker and taken home to their parents – Lois was in trouble!
Lois’s father was killed in WW2 in New Guinea, early in 1942. Lois was only in year 6. Soon after, at the age of 11 Lois went to boarding school in Dubbo. In the meantime, Lois’s mother, brother and grandmother moved to Sydney with Lois visiting during school holidays. After two years at Dubbo, Lois moved to Sydney going to Fort Street Girls High School when it was located at Observatory Hill. Lois loved to fix things, repairing bikes, pulling them apart and putting them back together. Her dream of becoming a mechanical engineer was thwarted because “ladies didn’t do such courses”. If she couldn’t be an engineer, Lois had a dream of becoming a private secretary and working in a duplicating office. So off she went to Sydney Technical College studying shorthand and typing. Her first job was in a duplicating office then as an office manager and Private Secretary in a bicycle manufacturing. Lois was able to sneak into the factory and help to build the frames – general engineering work! This wasn’t her last office manager job, always finding one where she could still dabble with machinery.
In 1952 at the age of 21 Lois purchased for 2000 pounds an early 1900’s cottage in Flavelle Street, Concord. Her father had left her some money to help her buy the house. When asked why she bought in Concord, she said she just liked the look of the house! Today she would say the people, the village atmosphere, the community and a sense of belonging to somewhere special. Lois also bought a car. She doesn’t know how it passed registration because the doors were held closed with rope! Lois’s love of cars extended to being involved in starting the Motoring Club of Australia and being involved in a range of other motoring associations . Lois was active in the club buying a typewriter and duplicator to put out the monthly magazine.
Lois met Stan Michel in 1954 at the Crash Car Club in Parramatta. An invitation for a ride in a Vanguard to have a spin around the track resulted in a chance meeting with Stan. Stan was visiting the club and spotted Lois in the passenger seat of the Vanguard! He was quick to join the Motoring Club of Australia so he could spend more time with Lois. After a number of years courting and spending many dates at motor gymkhanas and sporting events, they married on the 15 June 1957 at St Andrews Church of England, Church in Strathfield. Lois described the wedding as modest with a Church service followed by refreshments and dancing in the church hall. She remembers a clear sunny, winter’s day. Her dress was purchased in the city, a soft pink and pure lace dress along with gloves, veil and garter. It wasn’t long before Wayne was born in 1958 and Michele in 1960.
Lois’s dream of having a duplicating office came to fruition when she left work and started her own business called Express Printing in 1959 from her home in Concord. She printed stationary, newsletters, receipt and order books and any other printing her clients wanted. Her ‘duplicator’ used metal plates that Lois created through photographic processes. The roller was turned manually and as the paper was fed through the roller it was printed with the letters and images on the metal plates. While Lois was creating Express Printing Stan during the day worked in his father’s pharmacy, he joined the P&C at Strathfield North Public school where Wayne and Michele attended and joined the Concord Rotary Club. They were active with everything the children were involved with – cubs, scouts, athletic clubs, soccer clubs, magic clubs, swimming clubs and the church. Lois said when we “join something we tend to get completely involved”.
At this point you are probably wondering how Lois came to be involved in the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society. In 1969 Sid Money, who was the Mayor of Concord held a public meeting to form the Concord Historical Society with the aim of preserving the history and heritage of the Concord Municipality. Lois reports that there were over 100 people at the meeting. When it came to electing office bearers Sid was nominated as the President. When they called for the position of Secretary Dot McMorrine, a friend who lived close by, grabbed Lois’s arm and raised it enthusiastically in the air! That was 55 years ago!
In the early days the Society wrote articles which Lois was able to print at Express Printing and once a year the Society would display objects and artefacts on loan at an exhibition in the Municipal Hall. In 1972 the museum was set up in the Joanna Walker Cottage in the grounds of the historic Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital. Lois and her family recall the working bees at the Cottage to repair and paint the Cottage that was in disrepair. Now at 1 Bent St Concord the Museum is home to over 3500 artefacts and photographs, it is open on Wednesday and Saturday and welcomes visitors from the City of Canada Bay, from all over Australia and the occasional visitor from overseas.
What’s important to Lois is the preservation of the history and heritage of the City of Canada Bay for both now and generations to come. Lois’s contribution has been outstanding, and we are grateful for her 55 years of service.
Sally Jerapetritis
