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Ellen Mary Owen (nee Jones)

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 Birthday Images of Ellen 
 


Cutting the cake at her 21st birthday party
June 1961
 


Ellen's uncle, Jack McNamara, giving her the 21st key
June 1961
 


Ellen with the key
June 1961
 


Looking at her presents
June 1961
 
 
 


Chatting with friends and relatives at her surprise 50th birthday held at her home at 18 Valerie St Taree
June 1990
 


Getting ready to blow the candles for her 64th (once they're lit)
June 2004
 


Ellen's 65th at daughter Sonia's Narara house
June 2005
 


70th birthday party with other residents at Lakeland Park, Buff Point
19 June 2010
 
 
 


Ellen at her 70th with family at Doyalson RSL
20 June 2010
 


With John at her 70th birthday party at Doyalson RSL
20 June 2010
 


Ellen's 75th at home with John at Buff Point - candles burning
19 June 2015
 


Ellen's 75th at home with John at Buff Point - cutting the cake
19 June 2015

 Videos  On 18 November 2011, some of the residents of Lakeland Park Village put on a revue in the Community Hall. Ellen was one of the participants and these videos show the parts of the programme which featured her. At the start of the show, there was a power failure to one of the cameras. Rehearsal footage plus some footage taken on a mobile phone were used as a replacement. The rehearsal footage is shown with a coloured border around it.
1940 War Years [2:18]
The Time Warp [3:23]
You Can't Stop the Music / YMCA [8:25]
Lakeland News [4:55]

Ellen is also in Funny Hands and Faces [2:34] and her Wedding Video [8:49]

 Images of Ellen 
 


4 months old
 


About 18 Months
... and another
 


Aged about 3 years with her sister Margaret
 


In school uniform - probably starting school

 Clowning  Ellen always did a lot of volunteer work (such as helping at the Taree Salvos warehouse) and in the late 1980s she decided she wanted to do something more but also different - voluntary clown work. Where this idea came from isn't known but she set out to make it happen. She approached a nursing home on the edge of the Taree CBD called Karingal and explained her idea to them. She wanted to help cheer the residents by coming in dressed as a clown and moving around and talking to them. The home decided to take her on. She continued doing the work until that nursing home was closed, probably in the early 1990s. After moving to Buff Point, she became involved with a group of clowns which regularly visited Loretto Gardens Nursing home. Here are four of her costumes.

 


In the front foyer of 15 Commerce St, Taree with her original costume.
Note the toy clown
 


Possibly at Karingal Nursing Home in the early days.
There's the toy clown again
 


At her Uncle Tom's 80th birthday party at his place at 15 Scott St Punchbowl, c.1999. With her are her daughters, Sonia and Donna
 


At Loretto Gardens, Warnervale 2011

 Images of Ellen 
 


At Melbourne Cup day luncheon (2011/2012). She made the necklace, earrings and the fascinator
 


With friends at a Catholic Youth Organisation (CYO) ball
1960s
 


With her sister at Dee Why RSL for her Aunty Maggie's 89th birthday
1 October 2006
 


Watching TV at Buff Point
3 June 2015

 The Ellen Owen Card Company  About three or four years after moving to Lakeland Park, some of the people there decided to form a craft group dedicated to cardmaking and, of course, Ellen joined it and so began the making of hundreds of cards. Among other things, they were sent out at Christmas to family and friends. Sometimes they would be notated on the back as being made by The Ellen Owen Card Company. This was commented on by John's sister Denise as Item 63 on her list of "70 Memories for 70 Years" which she gave to John on his 70th birthday. Shown are a few of the cards with the first one being the card she gave John on their 47th Wedding Anniversary

 


Card 1
Ellen's card to John on their 47th wedding annioversary
 


Card 2
 


Card 3
Christmas Card
 
 


Card 4
 


Card 5
 


Card 6

 Images of Ellen 
 


In her school uniform
 


Bridesmaid for her sister Margaret c.1962
 


Ellen and her sister Margaret on the rocking horse made by their father, Roy Jones c.1946
 


A cuppa at Buff Point

 Spinning  Ellen did many hobbies at home but her favourite pasttime was spinning. Her husband John said that he knew all was right with the world whenever he could hear the ka-thump, ka-thump of her wheel

 


Spinning on the side verandah at Buff Point
Some work in progress
 


Ellen's first project, a cardigan both spun and knitted
 


One of her early projects, a scarf for John
 
 


Ellen's rug - spun and crocheted
 


Wearing her deliciously warm cardigan. She spun the wool and a friend did the knitting in thanks for some personal help from Ellen
 


A commissioned order, scarf and beanie spun and knitted by Ellen from Alpaca and Merino fleeces

 Images of Ellen 
 


In Cabramatta front garden
 


Jiving with one of the members of Cabramatta CYO (Catholic Youth Organisation)
 


Admiring her flowers before setting off for the church
11 May 1968
 


With Donna, Michael, Sonia and John at Taree railway station in the mid-1980s during Denise's visit from Perth

 Craftwork  Ellen loved her craftwork and was involved with it for many decades. She did many types of embroidery including candlewicking, silk ribbon and normal embroidery. Cardmaking was another of her strengths as well as crochet, dollmaking and tassels.

 


1994 Wool Awards, Armidale. Ellen created the snake on the dress out of loose black sequins - many, many hours of work
The dress from the back
 


Some of Ellen's crocheted rugs
 


Individual rug - Side 1
Side 2
It's a bit hard to tell the difference in these photos
 
 


Three cushions made by Ellen with candlewicking work on the front
 


Ellen's one and only piece of gold work. It was not her favourite type of embroidery but she liked the finished product
 


Ellen's one and only piece of stump work. She claimed it was the hardest type of craftwork she had ever done. After all it was actually embroidering onto wire
 
 


Embroidering and beading flannel flowers for the Toukley Catholic Womens League
 


Embroidered handdrawn house
 


Embroidered handdrawn garden gate
 
 
 


Ellen's 'Angel' dolls
 


One of the more than 30 'Patchsig' bears made by Ellen (with a little help from John) to sell in the shop
 


Roaring 20s doll decorated by Ellen. She was inspired by the movie 'The Great Gatsby' to dress it in this manner
 
 
 


Silk Ribbon Embroidery. One of Ellen's favourite pasttimes
 


Ellen's Silk Ribbon Embroidered house
 


Ellen's Silk Ribbon Embroidered cushion
 
 
 


Ellen's hamper lid made with Ribbon Roses
 


Ellen's bouquet made with Ribbon Roses
 


Ellen's bits and pieces. From pin cushions to embroidery to hat pins
 
 
 


Ellen's Torso doll work
 


Ellen's Torso doll work with tasselling
 


Some of Ellen's tasselling
 
 
 


Ellen's crazy patchwork. Lots of beading there but a bit hard to see
 


Ellen's patchwork bag Side 1 with items in the pockets being scissors and needles
 


Ellen's patchwork bag Side 2 with items in the pockets being a tape measure and a pin cushion
 
 


Dolls inside Ellen's doll cabinet
 


Other craft items inside Ellen's doll cabinet

 Images of Ellen 
 


Ellen with a big smile
 


At the steakhouse in Brisbane
 


Ellen with her Aunty Nellie (aged 79), 2005. Ellen knitted the pink rug for her
 


Christmas 2008 at Buff Point

 Working in Craft  Following the closure of the florist shops in Newcastle, Ellen and John decided to move to having a craft shop. They initially opened in Valley Fair in Taree but this proved to be too far from the main CBD and so they relocated to Buttsworth Lane, just off the main carpark. This was more satisfactory but was only profitable enough to sustain the landlord. They decided to close the shop and move into the the market and fairs style of selling which was much more successful.

They travelled to Craft Shows and markets to sell their goods and as time progressed moved more into selling beads and jewellery findings and associated products like crystals. The good part about this was they received a tax deduction for touring the country and so visited many places they otherwise would never have gone to. They travelled everywhere between Adelaide and Brisbane. About 2005 they decided to stop the travelling and just attend local and regional markets as they slowly cleared the stock. They continued in this vein until 2008 when they retired.

 


Ellen at Wingham craft market showing some of her bears for sale.
Manning River Times
17 - 18 July 1998
 


Behind the counter of the stall at the Bendigo "Craft Alive" on 3 July, 2004
Note the notice on the wall. Ellen conducted the Bead Looming workshops.
Another view of the stall
 


Ellen's certificate for her training course in Small Business Management which was conducted over 200 hours

 Images of Ellen 
 


Ellen at Dave and Margaret Gillatt's home in Seaford Rise, SA
6 June 2003
 


Ellen riding the rocking horse c.1946/1947
 


In the snowfields in the late 1950s
 


Showing off in the toy car
c.1942

 Education  When she was a child, Ellen suffered from rheumatic fever and as a consequence missed many months of school and so her educational results when she left school were not as optimal as would have been hoped for. After moving to Taree, in her usual determined fashion, she took positive steps to try and improve the situation by attending courses at Taree TAFE.

One such course was the "Women's Re-entry Programme". In this course she studied communications (20 hrs), computer awareness (16 hrs), carpentry (24 hrs), basic maths (4½ hrs), window dressing (4½ hrs), business awareness (7½ hrs) and remedial massage (4½ hrs).

 


Ellen working on a coffee table which she made as part of the basic carpentry lessons
The Chronicle Extra,
11 December 1986
 


Newspaper article giving some details about the course.
The Chronicle Extra, 11 December 1986
 


That beautiful table in 2015
 


Another course Ellen attended was the "Certificate in Women's Clothing Assembly". In this course she learnt how to design and assemble clothes as well as fabric design and fabric printing (silk screen). She topped the class and was awarded a trophy for it.

 


Ellen in her TAFE class with her work around her. She designed and printed her top and the blue and white patterned fabric on the workbench
as well as designed and made the blue garment with the appliqué
 


Ellen's Certificate in Women's Clothing Assembly completed at the North Coast Institute of TAFE in
December 1992 with Distinction
 


Ellen being presented with her Certificate and Trophy at the Taree TAFE Presentation night on
27 April 1993. She designed and made all the clothing she is wearing
 
 


The trophy she received for topping the college
 


The trophy's plaque

 Images of Ellen 
 


Ellen cooling off at Commerce Lane, Taree
 


Ellen at her daughter Sonia's Tascott home
 


With John's sister Denise at her Waratah home
13 December 2009
 


Ellen with grandson Matthew David Hughes at daughter Sonia's Tascott home
February 1998

Updated : 29 Jul 2015