Ayneslie Dawson (nee Steeles)

PART 1 - GROWING UP IN GRANGE IN THE 1920s, 30s

This video captures a warm and vivid oral history of Ayneslie’s life growing up in Grange in the 1920s and 1930s. She recalls the family house on High Street, and the close-knit feel of Grange when it was just a little village. Her memories include singing at school concerts, attending Grange School, and later studying at Croydon Tech where she made uniforms. She shares fond recollections of Sunday school, roast dinners, and family drives to St Kilda for crabbing.

Other highlights include foraging for mushrooms at West Lakes (and the unfortunate encounters with a cactus plant), picking apples in the Adelaide hills, visits by the ‘rabbito’ man who sold rabbits, and listening to the Salvation Army band. Sunday nights were often filled with singalongs around the piano, and summers brought fun at Henley Beach with bands, fairs, and playground antics — including a sprained wrist at one time on the slippery dip.

PART 2 - WORKING AT WESTS THEATRE

In this video Ayneslie recalls her time working first as an usherette, then in the ticketing office and finally in the booking office at the new Wests Theatre in Hindley Street Adelaide, which opened in 1939. She was earning about £3.0.0 a week for her work there.

Wests Theatre closed in 1977 and later became the Grainger Studio of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, continuing its entertainment links.

PART 3 - MY WAR YEARS

Ayneslie, (or Anne to her friends) was one of the few women living in Henley and Grange during this time to join the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in response to the threat faced by Australia during World War II. She was deployed to various locations in the Northern Territory, including Alice Springs, Adelaide River, and Darwin, from November 1942 to May 1945.

Ayneslie was a trained singer, and while in the AWAS, she became the lead singer in “Wheels Within Wheels”, a concert held for service personnel in Alice Springs where she sang to 7,000 service men and women over 5 nights. She was also the first person to sing on the first radio station in Darwin, 5DR and was the lead singer in many concerts entertaining troops in Adelaide River, Larrimah and Darwin.

Ayneslie appreciated serving and being able to do her part when necessary. She reached the rank of signalwoman and was discharged in February 1946.

The Henley and Grange Historical Society had the privilege of capturing Ayneslie’s war time recollections in April 2024 thanks to the acquisition of new video recording equipment and editing hardware and sotware funded through the City of Charles Sturt and a MaC grant from the History Trust of South Australia. Joined by her daughter Julie, Ayneslie (now 101 years old) graciously welcomed society members into her home, sharing memories of her upbringing in Grange and her later experiences in the AWAS. This collaborative effort has resulted in the creation of a series of videos to honor Ayneslie’s remarkable life.

Other installments of Ayneslie’s life in Grange will be added soon!