A special share for today... this is beautiful Colleen.. she is over from New Zealand visiting her family..
Colleen realises this will most likely be her last trip to visit Australia & see her family... So when her daughter Bronwyn asked me to take some family photos. I sneakily packed a few extra outfits & props.. knowing full well, that I intended to take some portraits of her to pay tribute to the matriarch of the family.
I didn't give Colleen any time to think about it.. knowing she wouldn't want a fuss to be made of her.. but I am so glad she didn't fight me on it. She looks like a queen..
Here is her story as told by the children..
Colleen Haggie
Born in New Zealand 1942. Raised mainly in the Waikato region.
An only child for 10 years.
Her husband was Syd Haggie who was a butcher, married for 60 years Syd sadly passed away in 2020. (I captured a pic of Colleen holding his hat). Mum and dad were great entertainers and we always had lots of family and friends for big Sunday dinners.
Mum knew how to cook for a big crowd. Mum was an exceptional organiser knowing how to delegate jobs so us kids were often the servers and clean up crew for any function/event mum and Dad were hosting.
Mums first job was with a Milner (hat maker)making and designing hats and learnt her dressmaking skills here. She had a real flare for dressmaking and was later able to set up her own dressmaking business from home while holding a job at a jewellers.
Times were a lot harder in those days especially having to raise 7 children so we often had 3 boarders living with us. As kids we had our chores , feeding the chooks, dogs, putting out the massive amounts of milk bottles for the milkman, helping with the ridiculous amount of washing, peeling spuds etc. No dishwashers then so mum had a roster sorted for us. Mum had us running like a well oiled machine.
The cake tins were always full and soup on the stove . Mum could make things go a long way.
Bottling fruit, making pickles was another string to her bow.
Always admired Mum's creativity her sketches and paintings were beautiful. Usually always of horses dogs and flowers.
We had so many animals around us cats, dogs, ducklings, opossums, donkey, chooks, birds anything that the cat dragged in or limped in. Always has a soft spot for a sick or ugly animal that needs loving.
Horses were a big part of mums life, from age 3 as she was surrounded by a family of Jockeys & trainers. Colleen got her own horse at age 8. Her children all learnt to ride and some of them continued to do so once leaving home.
After leaving the Waikato region in 1976 she moved to Auckland& purchased a fish and chip shop. They then moved into the café business… after many long hours, and still a lot of family living at home a career change had to happen.
Colleen was also head orderly at Middlemore hospital for many years, with Husband Syd working beside her as head theatre orderly.Later working as a supervisor for a stationary company. While Syd did real estate.
Colleen was also Swimming coach for the school her children attended.
Colleen was recently was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and it all was successfully removed with an excellent recovery. She also had to battle a very painful back problem due to damage to her spine. She was wheel chair bound for 4 months. These things may have slowed her down for awhile but her determination and love of life has meant she can now enjoy her golden years.
