Estelle Clancy

Interviewed by Sandra Blamey on 21 March 2001
Subject: Second World War

Estelle Clancy. We’re talking now about 10 Clifford Street. Each of the houses in the street had tennis courts. It was a big backyard when they eventually – of course, we had to give up the tennis court because the kids needed the ground to play on. During the war, all those places had night-lights for night tennis. When Japan came into the war, we were not to show anywhere that could guide – what rubbish, and so the night tennis finished. My father who was busy, as the Head of the 9th Division at this time said: ‘Bloody stupid, anybody flies down there and sees the moon shining on Sydney Harbour, they won’t have any trouble finding their way around’. Anyway, it did end the night tennis, and the courts became a rather overgrown place and the kids would have to put in an offer on how much we would have to pay them to cut the grass. They learnt not to under quote.