Ailsa Smith
Vale: Ailsa SMITH (1927-2014)
Ailsa was a most committed member of WABC. She was highly intellectual, very confident in her abilities, determined and hard working. Her enormous family was a constant focus, followed by reading- History- particularly early WA.History, Literature, Science, Psychology, Philosophy, Religion as a non believer, progressive Politics-even sending Kate to a primary school run by communists- horse racing, art, gardening, cooking, anything that engaged her brain!
She had that fortunate combination - prodigious reading habits and poor sleeping patterns. Her family library contained the early history of the stateBussells, Brockmans, Hacketts, Prinseps and a multitude of others- It provided background material for more than one PHD and several books. Much of it has already gone to the Battye Library.
Raised on a farm, she boarded while attending a class for talented students at Northam High School. University began for her in 1946, where she met Wendy Birman and Malcolm's sister Robin.
I first encountered Ailsa at barely 17, fresh out of PLC. University Life in those days involved lunch on Whitfield Court and for her, the beautiful, daring centre of the group, the more than enthusiastic attention of the returned servicemen. Bridge was played in the Ref. after lectures with men who subsequently became leaders and Professors at Australian Universities. All those men returning from the war determined to make up for lost time! A heady mix!
I will never forget my horror at the conversations overheard on the lawn in front of these mature men! Such freedom! Such bohemian conversation!
It was not until later that I heard how she befriended people with troubles. Perhaps that is what prompted her return to study after earlier degrees in Arts at UWA. and Social Work in Sydney. There, she and Malcolm became part of The Sydney Push, a left wing libertarian subculture which rejected conventional morality and authoritarianism. This group around that time included Clive James, Eva Cox, Robert Hughes, Frank Moorhouse, Les Murray, Germaine Greer, who lived with the anarchist and excellent bridge player Roelof Smilde.
She talked occasionally of various people she knew- good friend Dorothy Hewitt, the Aarons, Troys, Bob Ellis, Mungo McCallumall people with well-known progressive views. In 1949 aged not yet 22, she hitchhiked with Malcolm to Brisbane to elope. Nicola was born the following year with three others in rapid succession, the fifth still to come in 1966.
By 1962, living alongside a busy suburban General Practice in Tuart Hill, with the help of a magnificent housekeeper, she began studying for a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at UWA. Their home was a haven for many strays and travellers, some staying for a year or two until they found their feet. She later rose to the executive level in Government as Senior Psychologist, training many future psychologists including WABC member Haydn Lowe, later the CEO of Disability Services. Married women with children seldom survived the retrenchments common in the Public Service in the 60's and 70's. She was Director of Bridgewater Assessment Centre for Children, the welfare placement centre for disadvantaged or at-risk children, managing around 90 staff and many hundreds of troubled children.
Kindness to children was paramount and bullying from any direction was not tolerated. Ranked Superintendent in the Child Welfare Dept. she was highly respected in the Psychology profession, contributing university lectures and conducting workshops while working within Govt. She was made an Honorary Associate at Murdoch University to acknowledge her contribution to Clinical Psychology.
Despite her commitments her children did not suffer. One later became a professor at a top international university, another an authority in aboriginal history, another an authority in psychology and autism, and another a graduate of the Italian Comedia Dell'Arte.
She once described working for the Federal Govt. on a study of petrol sniffing in the Central Desert at Yuendumu. While camping within the community, she went to the fridge for a drink, only to be faced with a huge feral cat, intact with outstretched claws and staring eyes. Perhaps it was to be dinner that night! Malcolm and Ailsa could only play bridge at night during the many years they played State and Interstate Bridge with the great players listed on our Honour Boards. They were both long time Gold Life Masters, with Ailsa finally a Grand Master.
After retiring in 1987, she began study in Fine Arts at UWA, becoming a pleasing painter and learning to cook with much success. Ailsa and Malcolm introduced the Acol bidding system to WA, when the club was still operating in King's Park Road. She was part of the first ever WA State Women's Bridge team to win the ANC and was for several years the President of WABC.
Malcolm and Ailsa were married for 64 years, enjoying bridge until her last few days when she was still going over one hand from the last time she played. Although semi-conscious, she could still correct any grammatical errors perpetrated by the watchers at her bedside.
I was extremely lucky to have played with her for so long. Never a boring partner, the game could be bracing for all. Declaring “Bridge is War!” she made it clear that wimpy bidding was just not on! For all that, she was a generous partner, sharing responsibility for disasters, blaming herself if her bidding or play put me on the wrong track, and while she could be more than outspoken, never deliberately unkind or cruel to anyone.
Rereading this, I find myself thinking, surely this must be 'over the top', how can one girl from a farm in Buntine do so much in her life, despite starting immediately postwar to compete against the pressure of returning servicemen and the worst of the 'glass ceiling'? Ailsa was no ordinary woman!
Judy Crooke
Published in September 2014 Edition of Trumps Plus
