The Chilli Explosion

Some years ago a kindly colleague gave me a bottle of her homemade chilli sauce. We opened it and enjoyed the flavour with our barbecued meat. Living in a cool climate at the time, I thought nothing of storing the bottle of sauce in the pantry alongside the other sauce bottles.

My husband and I finally finished repainting the kitchen/family room area a lovely white. We had a white round kitchen table with what were at the time, stylish red chairs. Here we ate our meals with our two primary school aged children.

It was a sausage night. Table set, food cooked and served. My husband shook the bottle and took the lid off the chilli sauce! It had fermented and the released pressure resulted in the sauce splattering far and wide, on the ceiling the walls and then it dripped back down. We were not spared.

In the end all we could do was laugh. It took weeks for us to get rid of every last spot and splodge. Yes, he had to repaint the room!

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin

A smithy by name and trade

Patrick Sylvester Smyth 

Patrick Sylvester Smyth was the third child born to James Smyth and Catherine Mulvaney at Alma in South Australia in December 1880. Patrick joined his sister Mary and brother John who had been born in the previous two years. 

Little is known of his childhood but as they were a farming family he would have been expected to help with the daily chores in the farmyard.

Four more boys were born after Patrick, but little brother James died at just nine months old and another baby also named James. died in infancy.

Blacksmith generated by AI

His older brother John may have been destined to take over the farm and without enough land to support all the boys, Patrick took on work as a blacksmith. Jobs completed in the Alma smithy would have included farming equipment repairs, horseshoes, household pots and pans along with any task brought in from the neighbourhood farms and houses.

At age 29 he became the owner of the business as recorded in this transaction.

Account J. Pearce and Son, Alma— Blacksmith's business, with 2 cottages, in township of Alma, to P. Smyth, Alma.[1]

It appears that Patrick never married and he died a single man. He outlived all of his family and died in November 1963 just two weeks short of his 83rd birthday. He is buried in the Cheltenham Cemetery.

Patrick Sylvester Smyth - 1st cousin twice removed.

------------------------------------

1911 'LAND SALES.', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), 1 July, p. 37. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88689904

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin

Father Frank Smyth

45 years dedicated to Thebarton Parish

AI created image - Sept 2024

Francis Smyth was born at Alma on March 8, 1884 in the mid north of South. Australia, some 93 kilometres from Adelaide. His parents were James Smyth and Catherine Smyth (nee Mulvanny).
James had followed his brothers John and Edward Smyth from County Westmeath in Ireland. James arrived in South Australia in December of 1864 aboard the ship "Tarquin." In 1877 he and Catherine married in Adelaide.

Francis was the fourth of seven children born to this couple. He was baptised in the Gawler Catholic church. In 1900, at the age of 16, Francis joined the Institute of the Brothers of St John the Baptist, founded by Fr Healy. He later studied for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Manly, and was ordained in Sydney in 1910. After returning to Adelaide, he worked alongside Fr Healy at Thebarton, eventually succeeding him as Parish Priest of Thebarton in 1921 after Fr Healy's death. In 1922 he was appointed by the State Children's Council as superintendent of the Brooklyn Park reformatory for boys. [1]

Fr Frank as he was known, spent his entire ministry in Thebarton, dedicating 45 years to the parish. He was known for his simplicity, devotion, and tireless work, particularly during the Great Depression when he provided aid to those in need. His contributions included building several schools and support for the parish's charitable efforts.

He died on May 21, 1955, and was remembered as a "great and worthy priest."[2] He was buried in West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

Partial view of tombstone

1. 1922 'Personal.', Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), 1 February, p. 7. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212245134

2. Biography of Francis Smyth https://adelaide.catholic.org.au/view-biography?guid=10354

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin