The Plantation (47 page)

‘I suppose the trip was pretty frightening. I read Roland’s account of his drive,’ said Julie.

‘Did you read that? How very interesting. Yes, it was very frightening. The roads were crowded as everyone was heading south towards the Johore Causeway, hoping to get across it before the Japanese cut it off. As we drove towards Singapore, we passed burning cars and buildings, people fleeing on bicycles and carrying what they could or just running blindly, with no idea where to find safety. The worst part was seeing dead and dying bodies along the road. We came upon a horrific scene of mutilated bodies where a bomb had hit a bus. There was a child, about Philip’s age, right in front of us and before we could prevent it, he saw this headless body lying in the road. Every where there was smoke and the smell of petrol fumes. It was very frightening and Philip clung to me in the back of the car. Margaret was shouting directions at Hamid, but he was magnificent and stayed calm. When a group of people blocked the road and started hammering on the car, I’m not sure whether they wanted a ride or were telling us to go back or were just frightened, it was very unnerving. Margaret told Hamid to get out of the car and get rid of them, and she shouted through the window at them. Philip was sobbing, but Hamid kept nosing the car forward. Suddenly he accelerated, and drove onto the footpath, sending people flying. They certainly got out of his way – I think he would have run them over if they hadn’t.’

‘It sounds awful,’ said Caroline.

‘When we got to Gilbert’s place, which was in one of the better areas, a bit out of town, the sky was a strange orange-yellow,’ continued Bette. ‘We fell inside, so glad to be out of the car. There were groups of people wandering rather aimlessly along the street, and a lot of shouting and crying. When Margaret saw them, she thought that the luggage might be stolen, so she made Hamid and Gilbert’s houseboy unload the car and store everything inside for the night. I held Philip who was still terrified. Gilbert explained that we’d have to go in person to the city the next morning to get tickets on one of the ships leaving Singapore. We did, and on the drive into the city, we could see that parts of Chinatown and many city buildings had been bombed. We also saw a lot of Australian soldiers. They seemed pretty cheery about the whole thing. How sad that just days later they would end up as POWs in Changi. We were lucky that Gilbert had so many contacts in the shipping industry because he managed to get us tickets on a boat that was to sail for Perth the next day. That night we had a light dinner and tried to sleep but the bombing started up in earnest. We took cover under the dining room table. At times it sounded as though the bombs were falling right next to us.’

‘So what happened the next day?’ asked Julie.

‘We found ourselves in another country. A country at war. When daylight came, we realised that although Gil’s house had not been hit, the Oldsmobile on the street had. It was crushed, and completely undriveable. Margaret kept saying what a good thing it was that she’d insisted on unloading it.

‘All that morning, the Japanese planes continued their bombing runs and the city and docks were in chaos. We were very worried that we would miss the boat, but Margaret would not leave her possessions. So Hamid packed them all into Gil’s car, which was pretty tiny. Gil insisted that Hamid drive Margaret and he would look after Philip and me. This was fair enough because Margaret’s ankle still worried her from an earlier car accident and she couldn’t walk any great distance on it.

So Margaret went off with Hamid and the luggage, while Gil, Philip and I walked until we could find some transport. Eventually, Gil persuaded a trishaw driver to take us in his little vehicle by offering him a wad of money. The driver was obviously frightened by the bombing, but business was business. There were people running everywhere, ambulances and army trucks, but they couldn’t do much as it was so crowded, smoke billowing from burning buildings, sirens going off, and everything was just in chaos. Philip was terrified and so was I. By this time Hamid was well ahead of us. Just as we were squeezing our way past a bomb crater, there was another raid and the Japanese dropped a bomb just ahead of us. A building came down right across the roadway. We couldn’t get around it on the trishaw, so Gil just grabbed Philip, held my hand and we started running, pushing our way through the crowd. Gil took us back up the street looking for a laneway or some way to get through to the wharf. But it was impossible. The next thing we knew there were soldiers, British and Australian, telling us to go back. Gil took no notice of them and, still carrying Philip, he doubled back and found a laneway that led to the wharf. But the ship we were to sail on wasn’t there.’

‘But Margaret had made it on board,’ finished Caroline.

Bette rubbed a hand over her eyes. ‘Yes. Poor Margaret. She told me later that it was an absolute disaster on the docks and when that last bombing raid occurred, the captain decided that it was too dangerous to wait any longer and the gangplank was raised and the ship sailed. Margaret had no idea where we were and when she looked at the horrific scenes on the docks she didn’t even know if we were dead or alive. Of course it was years before I found out that Margaret’s ship had made it safely to Australia.’

Caroline and Julie just stared at Bette.

‘How did you feel when you realised that the boat had sailed without you and Philip. What did you do?’ asked Julie.

‘Well, in a way we were lucky, thanks to dear Gilbert. As we ran down to the burning docks Gil took matters into his own hands.’

‘He sounds very resourceful,’ said Caroline.

‘He was. He saved us,’ said Bette softly. ‘Gil found a Malay with a small trading vessel. He had his wife and three children on board with him and when Gil gave him a fistful of money he let us jump on board. We were among the flotilla of small boats streaming away from Singapore in every direction, trying to escape the Japanese. We headed south towards the Dutch East Indies, hoping to land in Java. None of us had any idea just how far the Japanese would spread and Gil thought that we would find a way to get from Java back to Australia.

‘The first night we pulled into a tiny island that seemed to be uninhabited. We tried not to use any lights, though Gilbert and the boatman waded ashore with torches and caught us several good-sized crabs, which we boiled on a paraffin ring on the stern of the boat. I often recalled that delicious meal during the lean times in the camp. We anchored in a mangrove inlet and the mosquitoes were ferocious. Philip and I rolled together under some canvas and Gil sat up and kept watch. In the morning Philip was tired and cranky and very weepy. Gil took him aside and told him that he understood just how he felt, but that he had to be a little man and do everything I said until we got home to his parents. That man-to-man talk from Gil seemed to do the trick and I was forever grateful as Philip tried so hard after that not to be difficult, and he wasn’t.’

‘It must have been like a bad dream.’ Caroline shook her head. ‘I wonder how I’d have managed, if I’d been thrown into such a terrible situation.’

‘You don’t know what reserves of strength you have within yourself until you need them,’ replied Bette.

‘But you didn’t get to Java before the Japanese, did you?’ said Julie.

‘No. We were trying to travel among these little islands in the hope of not being spotted. Several planes flew over us and the next thing we knew there was a large powerful gunboat coming towards us. Gilbert made every one except the Malay hide below and Gil lay under the canvas on the deck. He and the Malay boatman had concocted some story that they were only poor fisherman or something like that. Gil spoke Malay quite well.’

‘Did that work?’ asked Julie. She and Caroline were transfixed by Bette’s story, imagining what they would have done in such a ghastly situation.

‘They pulled alongside, shouting in Japanese, which of course the boatman didn’t understand. Then one of them jumped onto the bow of the boat and fired through the deck and the little windows down below. The Malay man started shouting and his wife started screaming and the children scrambled up on deck, one of them bleeding quite profusely. I was too frightened to stay below, in case they fired again. Gil jumped out and started shouting. Then another Japanese soldier signalled that Gil, Philip and I should get onto the Japanese boat.

I looked at Gilbert and he nodded. ‘Do as they say, and don’t argue,’ he said.

‘So Philip was passed up and then it was my turn. Philip, I could see, was clinging to the railing and sobbing for me. Gilbert helped me scramble onto the Japanese boat. I remember the touch of his hand as he squeezed my arm. “You’ll be right,” he said.

‘At this point, the Malay suddenly jumped up shouting “Allah Akbar” and waved one of those big parangs, knives, at the Japanese. Well, the soldier on the gunboat fired at him and the poor man was riddled with bullets and fell onto the deck of the boat. The soldier then turned his gun on Gil. Gilbert made a wild dash to jump overboard and then I saw everything as if in slow motion. As he went over the side, the soldier fired at him, I don’t know how many times, but the sea went red. Gil didn’t have a chance.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Julie, tears springing to her eyes. ‘Poor Gilbert.’

‘What a horror for you and Philip. How do you recover from something like that?’ said Caroline.

‘You have to learn to live with it,’ said Bette simply. ‘Later I learned to live and love again, but the scars are still there. Still part of you.’

‘What happened to the Malay woman and her children?’ asked Julie.

‘I don’t know. The Japanese just left them there. I don’t think they were interested in making anyone else, except Europeans, prisoners. Philip and I huddled in their boat as they headed across to Sarawak. The Japanese had already established a POW camp near Kuching, some distance out of the town. We were driven and then marched to it. Through all this I managed to keep my bag slung over my chest. In it were Philip’s blue elephant and some money. I had nothing else. And so began our sojourn at the Emperor’s pleasure.’

Bette reached for a glass of water on the tray.

‘When did my grandmother find out that you’d both survived the bombing of Singapore and were interned in a POW camp?’ asked Julie.

‘Not for years. Twice in the camp the Japanese gave us special postcards and we were allowed to write two lines on them. They were supposed to be sent to our families, but we never knew if they got through, and they hadn’t. It was only after the surrender that a full list of names of those interned in our camp was made known, so neither my parents nor Margaret knew that we were alive until the war was over. I find it difficult to forgive the Japanese such cruel indifference.’

‘Internment must have been hard on Philip,’ said Caroline.

‘Yes. He kept asking where his mummy was, and why she wasn’t coming back to get him. For a while I was angry with Margaret for fussing with all the unnecessary stuff and getting separated from us, but I realised that I couldn’t really blame her. Everything was in complete chaos, so it was no one’s fault. I promised myself that I would protect Philip and see us through whatever was ahead.’ Bette straightened up and gave a small smile. ‘It was a tough three and a half years. But he came through it. We both survived.’

Julie looked at Caroline. This was her mother’s brother that Bette had been talking about and Caroline had been quite ignorant of these terrible experiences he had been through. She wondered how much Shane and Peter knew about this episode in their father’s life. For a moment all three women sat in silence.

Finally Caroline spoke. ‘And when my mother knew that her son was safe and that you’d protected and looked after Philip, got through this incredible, horrible ordeal, surely she must have fallen on her knees to give thanks,’ said Caroline.

Bette was noncommittal. ‘I have no idea how she reacted when she first heard the news. But certainly, when we were all reunited, it was very emotional.’

‘I can’t imagine how it must have been for you all. The days sailing back to Australia, what was that like?’ asked Caroline.

‘Wonderful in many ways. Everyone was so kind and generous to us, especially the Red Cross and there was plenty of food, I could see Philip’s health and spirits improve day by day. Children can be very resilient. But we’d all been through rough times and were still fragile and finding it hard to adjust, even to a soft bed, and terribly anxious just to be home, well, it was still a bit stressful.’

‘And when you arrived back in Brisbane?’ asked Caroline.

Bette closed her eyes briefly and sighed, then returned to her story. ‘My mother Winifred, my father and Margaret were at the dock to meet us. It was very crowded. The injured servicemen were taken off first. I was so focused on Philip and making sure that he wasn’t lost or crushed among all the people on the wharf that I was unprepared for how overwhelmed I felt when I saw my own parents. I just wanted to rush into their arms and be held, like a small child. Margaret was crying and she held Philip so tight, smothering him and I’m not sure that the poor little boy even recognised her. I’d talked constantly to him about meeting his mummy and being home again, and he was excited when the moment came, but he was also quite bewildered because no one on that wharf was familiar.’

‘I suppose you were surrounded on the wharf by other emotional reunions, too,’ said Julie.

‘Very much so. But my father was great. He picked Philip up and sat him on his shoulders, showing him all the boats on the river and letting him sit in the front seat of the car so that by the time we got back home, Philip seemed to be very happy. But I soon realised that if I was out of his sight he’d become very shy and he’d come and look for me. Mother kept cooking her wonderful meals to build us both up. We were still painfully thin and she would tell Margaret not to expect the boy to sit on her lap and cuddle her all the time. “Let him come to you gradually,” she would say. But it was hard for Margaret, of course. She’d missed three and a half years of Philip’s life and she wanted their relationship to resume straight away. But I was so happy to be home. I remember that I took a walk around the garden and couldn’t help crying. I’d lived with the memory of this house, my room, the garden, recreating it all in my mind as a means of staying sane while I was in the camp. And now to find it all as I’d remembered, but more peaceful, the garden more beautiful, the song of the birds, well it brought me undone a little. Everything I’d bottled up all those years, the constant fears I’d had for Philip, just came gushing out. My father finally found me sitting, crying on the swing and he just stood there, his hand on top of my head, until I settled down a bit and then we took another stroll around the garden together. He made small talk, about his vegetables, news of neighbours, and how he planned to paint the house. When Philip came outside, calling for me, Dad patted my shoulder and just said, “I’m proud of you. I know that the rest of your life will be happy and good.” And it was.’