Margaret Isobel Finster was my mother. She was known as Meg throughout her life. Meg was the elder daughter of Alwyn Guido and Sybil Lorraine Finster (née Garde). Lorraine Sybil, known as Lorrie, was her sister.
Meg was born on 10th October 1918 at 54 Queen Street, North Hobart. Alwyn was just about to start his own business as a piano tuner and repairer when his little daughter arrived. What a happy time that must have been, with the addition of this little one.
After Lorrie was born on 1st October 1922 the family lived at 30 Washington Street, South Hobart. The girls, together with their Garde cousins, Marjorie, Nancy, and Barbara Jones, enjoyed the life of living under the mountain, walking, picnicking, and going on adventures together. Being girls, they enjoyed sewing, and made their own clothes.
Meg and Lorrie attended Albuera Street School in Battery Point and then went on to high school. Both Meg and Lorrie gained scholarship examination passes to attend Hobart High School. Meg was a student there from 1931 to 1933, and Lorrie from 1935 to 1938. Meg received a special prize in Intermediate and was dux of her class. She received a splendid reference from the headmaster, Mr Biggins: Possessing more than average ability, she has made very good progress in her studies and occupied a high position in her class with very satisfactory averages. She received a credit in French and Algebra and passes in English, History, Geometry, Commercial Practice, and Shorthand.
On leaving school, Meg, and later Lorrie, attended Remington Business College in the city. Both girls studied shorthand and typing. At the end of the course, they obtained jobs, Lorrie at the Cascade Brewery Group, as a bookkeeper, and Meg at Tattersalls Lotteries in Collins Street. George Tattersall moved his gaming business to Hobart in 1895 when the Government legalised certain lotteries. Meg would have loved to follow a career in nursing, but because of family circumstances she needed to go to work. She made her own clothes and looked very smart in the street photos taken at the time.
During World War II, Meg and Lorrie helped in the war effort at home. Lorrie joined the Women’s Air Training Corps in 1940. She studied wireless signals and map reading. She made camouflage nets and took part in drills and parades. Meg joined the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs). These detachments were raised by the Red Cross and St John’s Ambulance Association. Meg was trained in first aid, home nursing, stretcher drill and squad drill, thus to some extent fulfilling her nursing dreams. The VADs formed an important part in the life of the community.
On 15th May 1943, Meg married Vernon Claude Cooper at St Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart. The Cooper family were well known builders and contractors. The buildings constructed by the Coopers are found in the book, “Building on Firm Foundations”, published in 2014.[1]
Meg and Vernon lived at 7 Warneford Street, South Hobart for most of their lives. They had four children – Lorraine born in 1945, Bill in 1946, Margaret in 1949 and Kate in 1950. The continuation of the Finster family in Tasmania, by the families of their children, numbers over seventy. Lorraine married Larry Dooley in 1969 and had five children – Lawrence, Katie, Patrick, Robert, and Margaret Mary. It was Robert, the great-great- great-grandson of Guido Finster, who came with us to Görlitz in 2019.
Meg was a wonderful wife and mother, as well as home manager when Vernon became ill in the 1950s. The children attended schools in the Hobart area; it was always Alwyn’s wish that his children and grandchildren received a good education.
Meg was a clever person. She loved reading, playing cards and dancing. She loved music but did not sing or play an instrument. Perhaps her love of music is reflected in the musical talent of her grand-daughter, Katie, who inspires and instils the love of music in her piano students.
Meg’s caring nature is demonstrated by the care she gave to her sick husband, her elderly parents, and her four young children.
Meg died on 24th April 1973 at the early age of 54. Lorrie died when she was 92.
The Finster name does not continue in Tasmania, but the Finsters’ love of Tasmania and their contribution to the local music scene through Alwyn’s talents and his kindly personality are wonderful parts of the Finster story, ongoing in his descendants.
[1] Dooley, Lorraine. Building on Firm Foundations, BPA Print Group, Burwood, Victoria. 2014