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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1920 | - 7 May 1920: Birth of Thomas Joseph William Hallam
Birth of Thomas Joseph William Hallam at Hamilton Victoria to William Frank & Marguerite Hallam
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| 2 | 1922 | - 25 Jun 1922: Birth of Theresa Mary Hallam
John Joseph & Lucy Troy celebrate with the arrival of a baby girl Theresa Mary Troy (later Hallam). Theresa grew up on our farm until she was 14 years. Life on the farm unrelenting with the milking of 40 to 50 cows and it was an irrigation property. Though Theresa enjoyed the farm and had a pet cow. Mum has noted she remembers when autumn came and it was time to plant crops after a fall of rain. I would carry this with a bottle of cold tea to my father.
There were nights when irrigating a paddock of crops when Dad would have to get up in the night and walk with shovel in hand to cut the water off or divert the flow.
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| 3 | 1927 | - Feb 1927: Thomas Hallam starts Primary school
Thomas was born in Hamilton and lived in Cavendish Victoria some 20 miles out on a sheep and oat farm. Dad started school at 7 years of age at Loretto Convent boarding school for girls but they also took boys also at Junior school up to 12 years of age. Dad (Tom)says he was a good student and as a kid would talk a lot. He went as far as intermediate year 8/9. Thomas's ambition as a child was to be a solicitor.
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| 4 | 1929 | - 1929—1936: Tom’s family moved to Port Fairy where his father still farmed. The Depression hit the family quite hard. His father William consequently started a small butchering business from 1929- 1934. The family stayed on this farm when in 1936 they moved to Portland.
- 4 Oct 1929—7 Sep 1932: Australia's Greta Depression
The Great Depression, generally accepted as beginning when the stock market
crashed in the United States in October 1929, was a time of hardship for many people in Australia. By 1932, about 30% of Australian workers were unemployed. The high unemployment and poverty during this period had a great social impact, with many families affected. Single parents as well as many married couples struggled to support and provide for their children.
Theresa Mary Hallam was 7 years old at the start of the Great Depression and states she does not recall great hardship. For her father John Joseph with his small farm had poultry, cows and grew some of his own produce. John Joseph and Lucy (mother) would barter with neighbours the essential items between them for their survival. Many unemployed men who had left their families in the big cities in search of country jobs.
Theresa remembers her Mum Lucy and Dad John Joseph being very hospitable feeding the men looking for work and at times giving them brief work. Theresa recalls her mother packing a lunch for the men as they moved on from their home in Kerang.
On the Myall farm Mum- Theresa has good memories of farm life-"I remember life on the farm unrelenting milking of 40 to 50 cows and it was an irrigation property.
I remember when autumn came and it was time to plant crops after a fall of rain. My father worked his team of horses through what would have been lunch time. My mother would cut slices of roast lamb onto a plate always with a tomato and cucumber (home grown).
I would carry this with a bottle of cold tea to my father. There were nights when irrigating a paddock of crops when Dad would have to get up in the night and walk with shovel in hand to cut the water off or divert the flow."
Mum had a pet cow and was quite attached to it.
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| 5 | 1935 | - 1935: Thomas started work at 15 years of age.
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| 6 | 1939 | - 1939—1942: Entry to WW2
The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin,[4] on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II.
**Thomas was at home when the WW2 started in 1939 and at 19 years of age enrolled in the Army Infantry as a Private.
**In 1942 Thomas Joseph Hallam joined the RAAF and trained as a Leading Aircraftman where for three years in Darwin he repaired damaged Australian planes returned from battle.
The Japanese New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded New Guinea (23 January) and the Australian Territory of Papua (21 July) and overran western New Guinea (beginning 29/30 March), which was a part of the Netherlands East Indies. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian and US forces. —Fifteen thousand Japanese Troops embarked on the initial Invasion and only three thousand got away.
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| 7 | 1940 | - 1 Jun 1940: WW2
The occupation of the Baltic states ( Latvia where Anita Hallam"s birth parents were born) involved the military occupation of the three Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in June 1940
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| 8 | 1941 | - 14 Jun 1941: WW2
Soviet Mass Deportations from Latvia
Historical Background
A declared neutral country during the early phases of World War II, Latvia fell prey to the realpolitik of both Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union, who concluded a Non-Aggression Treaty on 23 August 1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Pact allowed Germany to invade Poland on 1 September 1939. Among its secret provisions was the establishment of a Soviet Sphere of Influence in Eastern Europe, which included Latvia and allowed the Soviet Union under various pretexts to invade Latvia on 17 June 1940 and annex the country on 5 August 1940. The illegal takeover was never recognized de jure by major Western powers. Immediately after establishing its rule through its collaborators and proxies, the Soviets began deporting the elites to the Soviet Union, culminating in the mass deportation on 14 June 1941 of more than 15,000 people.
- 22 Jun 1941: Soviet arrest of Ernest Embrits
Ernest Embriks -(Anita's Maternal grandfather) was arrested 22nd June 1941,taken away at night from his family home in accordance with the Communist Party FR criminal code 58-10 by USSR Internal Affairs-Police & KGB.
Statement-
" negative attitude to the soviet system/State systemically continued anti soviet agitation, expressed dissatisfaction with Soviet State initiatives,praised the old fascist regime of Ulmanis. Continued anti soviet talk with other inmates in the Novosibirsk Prison. Ernest was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment at re-education Labour camp"- Siberia. Died 2nd December 1942 in re-education labor camp.
Ernest was presumed Not guilty by the Latvian Soviet Socialist republic Prokuratura on 1st September 1989.
- Jul 1941: WW2
The occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on July 10, 1941. Latvia became a part of Nazi Germany. Anyone not racially acceptable or who opposed the German occupation, as well as those who had cooperated with the Soviet Union, were killed or sent to concentration camps in accordance with the Nazi Generalplan Ost.
Latvians in the German army
Main article: Latvian Legion
Nazi Germany, on arrival in Latvia looked to recruit Latvian units to act in accordance with the Nazi Generalplan Ost which required the population of Latvia to be cut by 50%,[1]:56 they quickly located Viktors Arājs who was leading a unit that became known as the Arajs Kommando. It became infamous for its actions against the Jewish population, such as the burning of the Riga synagogues with people still inside and being active in the Rumbula massacre the 500 men executing an estimated 26,000 Jews, Gypsies and others deemed undesirable.[1]:141
Latvian Auxiliary Police battalions were raised from volunteers, the first sent to the front was involved in heavy fighting in June 1942 and acquitted itself well. Latvia however wanted to raise a Latvian Legion, under the command of Latvian officers, offering to raise an army of 100,000. In January 1943, becoming short of troops, Hitler agreed.[1]:143–4 This took away the need to conscript Latvian men, which would have been an illegal act.[1]:144 So was born the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian).
Two police battalions fighting near Leningrad with Dutch and Flemish soldiers were pulled back in May 1943 and with reinforcements from Latvia and a change of uniform, transformed into the 2nd Latvian SS Volunteer Brigade and made part of 2nd SS Infantry Brigade. The senior Latvian commander Lt Col Voldemārs Veiss being awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in January 1944. The brigade was expanded into the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) in January 1944.
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| 9 | 1942 | - 10 May 1942—9 Dec 1944: Thomas Joseph Hallam enlists for Australian Armed Forces WW2.
Thomas Joseph Hallam enlists in the Armed Forces Australian.
Below what had just preceded and happenings when Thomas Joseph Hallam enlisted to the Australian Defence Forces in 10 th May 1942.
Thomas joined the Australian Army for a period before transferring to the Royal Australian Air Force where he served during WWII as No. 57085, Leading Aircraftman, with the 14 Repair and Servicing Unit.
Context of WW2
1941 - Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.
The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.
Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks.
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war.
1942 Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein.
Singapore falls to the Japanese in February - around 25,000 prisoners taken.
American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War.
Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins.
(Theresa his wife notes in her diary)- At the end of 1944 a letter came from Tom saying as the end of world conflict was insight and planning for peace had began and he was engaged in food production at the time on his enlistment, the RAAF was going to discharge him at the end of the year to return to essential services. In war time people became accustomed to not making long range plans or for that matter not making demands. All the prayers and energies were directed for peace for our world and the return of those we loved.
It was a great surprise to realize this letter was really saying we could be married in quite a short time. It was unbelievable to have so many plans to be made and try to imagine Tom and me living in a world of peace.
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| 10 | 1944 | - 18 Nov 1944: (Mum's diary-At the end of 1944 a letter came from Tom saying as the end of world conflict was insight and planning for peace had began and he was engaged in food production at the time on his enlistment, the RAAF was going to discharge him at the end of the year to return to essential services. One first regret was that I would be unable to have a family wedding. So many restrictions applied. Clothing coupons were rationed, so too was food coupons, petrol ration tickets, travel restrictions, no interstate travel.We saw the Parish Priest at Oakleigh and planned the day 18th November 1944.
The day came when Tom did come home , we were busy trying to book a taxi , they had all limited area’s to service and limited petrol . With food coupons we bought a wedding cake from Patterson’s traditional wedding cake specialists.)
Thomas Joseph Hallam married theresa Mary Troy at Sacred Heart Church Oakleigh Victoria. Witnesses Mary Bennett & Jack Hallam.
Thomas's listed address noted on Wedding Certificate was Group 248 RAAF Townsville Queensland. Theresa's was 22 David st South Yarra 22 Davies Ave where she shared an upstairs unit with 2 sisters Noreen and Eileen whose family lived in Arnaud. After the time Theresa sat for the exam was shortly appointed to the Taxation Office where she was very happy for the years 1944...
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| 11 | 1945 | - 1945: Anita's parents meet
At end of WW2, Janis Apsite met Ingrid Embriks in a German displaced persons camp,married and came to Australia. In 1962 had a wonderful daughter named Anita.
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| 12 | 1946 | - 1946—1951: Thomas was offered a job as foreman with the Portland Butter factory in 1946 and later became Assistant Manager and stayed till January 1951.
- 1946: Birth of Kevin
Tom & Terri’s first child Kevin was born in 1946.
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| 13 | 1948 | - 4 Aug 1948: Birth of William Thomas
Thomas and Theresa welcomed the birth of another son William Thomas
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| 14 | 1949 | - 31 Oct 1949: Birth of Barry James
Thomas & Theresa welcomed the birth on another boy- Barry James.
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| 15 | 1950 | - 1950: Thomas & Theresa moved to Alexandra for 9 months - Work promotion.
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| 16 | 1951 | - 1951—1952: Work promotion again, Thomas & Theresa in 1951 moved to Yea where he worked as a Factory Foreman, staying in Yea till 1952.
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| 17 | 1952 | - 1952—1955: Stawell
The Hallam family then moved to Stawell in 1952 because of a work promotion with Thomas working at the Stawell Butter factory as Manager till November 1955.
Whilst at Stawell Thomas served on the Stawell Council
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| 18 | 1954 | - 1954: Birth of Elizabeth
Elizabeth their fourth child was born in Stawell in 1954.
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| 19 | 1955 | - 1955—1960: Thomas & Theresa left Stawell and with Dad continuing to better himself and was successful to a position at the Department of Agriculture in Melbourne October 1955.
Thomas and Theresa built a new home at 17 Hartington st Glenroy moving in 1956.
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| 20 | 1957 | - 1 Feb 1957: Birth of Hallam Triplets
On the 01.02.957, Thomas and Theresa had a surprise as did the other 4 siblings with the birth of triplets, Joseph, Gerard and David born 5 weeks premature. Thomas and Theresa had 7 children under 11 years.
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| 21 | 1960 | - 1960: Thomas left the Department of Agriculture in 1960 and joined Western District Co-op as Assistant Manager and later became Manager of Western Star Butter Factory in 1967, located in West Melbourne. Thomas enjoyed his job as assistant then Manager of Western Star Butter factory. Later the factory expanded as it amalgamated with other Dairy Corporations within Victoria and was later known as ACMAL- Amalgamated Corporate Marketers Australia Limited.
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| 22 | 1974 | - Feb 1974: Thomas and Theresa move and purchase 27 Kevin Ave Blackburn North where they lived the most years in this location.
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