May Mundt a Biography

sew, crochet and so many other life skills. These tasks were what was expected of women. An endless cycle of attending to the daily rounds. Later in the day, there were errands to carry out and yard clean up. Washing clothes was an extreme physical activity with the use of the Copper and the use of boiling water. But in all this, this simple ritualised life, there was warmth and love and fun. May was best friends with her sister Melvie, who sadly passed at age 60 from pancreatic cancer. They played together, they learned together, they fought and made up. Theirs was a sisterly love. May, the active one and Melvie, the “bookworm”. May’s first boyfriend was 17-year-old Marley Carberry. Jacob Marley was a character from “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, and of course you have Bob Marley, Reggae legend. But this was Marley Carberry, May’s first beau. Marley’s claim to fame was his big, trusty and thrumming motor bike. May, at 17, would sit on the pillion and they would speed into Maleny to watch the movies like “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, “Bambi”, and of course that Rom-Com to top all Rom-Coms, “Casablanca”, with heartthrob, Bogey (Humphrey Bogart) and Ingrid Bergman. This was a relationship that lasted a year and the one vivid detail that May remembers about Marley’s family is that his father was fatally gored by a bull. It was a brief and liberating liaison. It was the lull, before marriage for May. One interesting aspect that May spoke about was the wages in 1942! Her father, Pinky, worked for the Council after the farm. He was paid 37 Shillings and 6 Pence per week. I think, approximately, that converts to $13.75 per week, according to May. That would buy you two perhaps three cups of coffee at a

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