Violet 'Bub' McDonald, Jul 1927; 'To Sis & Tom, With Love from Bub, 10/7/27'
Image: Rene Barnes
Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

Violet Alice 'Bub' McDonald was born on 2 July 1908 in Swan Hill, Victoria.1,2 
She married Frank Larsen 'Dick' Williams, son of Richard Cornelius Williams and Anna Caroline Larsen, on 14 June 1933 in Preston, Victoria.3,4 
She died on 6 January 2008 at age 99. 

Family

Frank Larsen 'Dick' Williams b. 8 Jan 1911, d. 1970
Child
ChartsLarsen, Laust, descendant chart
Williams, John, descendant chart

Story

Bub McDonald was a capable and in many ways remarkable woman. She worked for Rockmans clothing store on two occasions, and later established and ran her own clothing store. On four separate occasions, she worled in the male-dominated hotel industry, twice as licensee. She was once the president of a country football club. Bub supported herself and brought up a son from the age of six, including tertiary education, on her own. She pitched in to help family where needed, and she looked after her parents in their final years. Bub was small in stature but left a big impact on all who knew her through her 99 years.
 
Violet Alice was born in Swan Hill on 2 July 1908. She was the fifth child of Alice and fourth child of Donald.1
 
Violet McDonald was the youngest - and smallest - of the family, and was given the nickname Bub. Her sister Nene called her Vi, but she was almost universally known as Bub.5,6,7,8,9
 
Early Life
Bub was born when the family lived on Pental Island. This was near Lake Boga where her mother's family lived and Swan Hill where her father's family lived. Her parents were share dairy farming, and her mother helped milk 70 cows by hand.10
Alice, Sis (Irene) & Nene (Doris) Steer/McDonald, Pental Island, Swan Hill
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Though born in Swan Hill, Bub did most of her growing up around Nyah after the family moved there when she was quite young. She went to school in Nyah. Her father had a butcher shop about 4 km away in Nyah West, and Bub remembers delivering the meat on her bay-coloured horse, Paddy, to Swan Hill and to Wood Wood, about 10 km to the North. Her father drank too much; at one stage Bub remembers being asked to go and get him because he'd had an accident while delivering the meat. She found the cart upside down and her father sore, sorry and slightly drunk.11
 
Bub was once quite friendly with a chap from Sydney by the name of Charlie Britnall. Charlie was the step son of Sydney bookmaker and politician Sir John Dunningham. It has been suggested they were even engaged at one time. In a strange footnote, Bub's and Charlie's lives seemed to be on a similar trajectory. Charlie married in 1932 and divorced in 1939; Bub married in 1933 and separated about 1940. And like Bub, Charlie was once a hotel licencee.
Violet 'Bub' McDonald, Jul 1927; 'To Sis & Tom, With Love from Bub, 10/7/27'
Image: Rene Barnes
Charlie's broken windscreen: Auntie Eilie recalls once when Auntie Bub was going out with a chap by the name of Charlie Britnall. Charlie was from Sydney and his step father was Sydney bookmaker and politician, Sir John Montgomery Dunningham. Charlie was a good dancer (the Charleston was mentioned) and drove a sports car. One weekend, Bub and Charlie drove to see her and her mum (Ellen, Grandma Phillips) at the house on the hill in Bacchus Marsh. Unfortunately for them, Jack, Reg and Laurie were there for a holiday (they were maybe 7 to 9 years old). From the safety of the house, the boys threw stones at Charlie's sports car, breaking the windscreen.12,13
 
Marriage and Family
Violet Alice McDonald and Frank Larsen Williams were married at Preston Presbyterian church on 14 June 1933. They had one child.3
Bill Hehir, Dick (Frank) Williams, Bub (Alice) McDonald/Williams, Nene (Doris) McDonald, Preston, Jun 1933
Image: Rene Barnes
Dick was two to three years younger than Bub. At the time of their marriage, Bub lived at 501 Bell Street, Preston and Dick lived in Echuca Road, Mooroopna. Witnesses were Bub's brother and sister, Donald and Doris McDonald.3
 
At this point in her life, Bub's brother, father, husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law could all be described as butchers.11,14
 
The family of three lived with Dick's mother Anna in the Echuca Rd house.

Graeme played with the many cousins living nearby. Sometimes his mother or Auntie Pauline would take him on holiday.15,14,11
Graeme Williams
Image: Val Williams
Back: unknown, Val Williams, Graeme Williams; front: possibly Mervyn Norton, unknown, Leon Williams, c. 1940
Image: Val Williams
Val Williams (back left), Anna Williams (Larsen) with Leon Williams, Carmel Johnson (front left), possibly Mervyn Norton (front centre) & Graeme Williams (front right), c. 1940
Image: Val Williams
Bub Williams (McDonald), Pauline Stuart & Graeme Williams (men unknown), c. 1940
Image: Rene Barnes
'Les' behind Don McDonald, Pauline Stuart behind Graeme Williams
Image: Rene Barnes
Dresses & Dressmaking
Needlework was quite common when Bub was growing up, and she seemed to be the one in the family to have most to do with it. For most of her life, Bub had a connection with needlework and dresses.

Bub's auntie, Lucy Bell (nee McDonald) in Swan Hill was very good with her needlework. When Bub was once there doing some needlework, Lucy would say 'you shouldn't be doing fancy needlework on Sunday or you'll have to pull it out with your nose' - they didn't approve of work on Sunday.

Bub worked for the well-known dress shop, Rockman's, on two separate occasions. The first was around 1940 for about 12 months in their Bourke St store when Bub moved to Melbourne after leaving Dick. The second was around 1958, again for about 12 months, but this time in Shepparton after selling the Toolamba pub.

Combining her seamstress and publican skills, in 1944 she made a debut dress for her niece, Lorraine Williams, while working at the Cricketer's Arms in Mooroopna, at times on the counter of the main bar.

Bub's final association with dresses began in 1966, just after the introduction of decimal currency, when she established Williams Frock Salon in the Star Bowl arcade in Fryers Street, Shepparton. Her daughter-in-law, Margaret Williams, soon joined Bub in the business, and eventually took it over as Bub reduced her working hours as she grew older.7,16
 
Unfortunately the marriage only lasted about seven years, with Bub and Graeme leaving around 1940.14,11
 
Family Life in Preston 
Cricketer's Arms Hotel
Bub's foray into the hotel business began in November 1941 when she started at the Cricketer's Arms Hotel in Mooroopna. She took over from Will or Billy O'Connell, with her brother-in-law, Tom Phillips as a silent partner. The hotel was known as the Richmond pub after the type of beer it sold. Bub operated the Cricketer's Arms for three years, before transferring the licence in November 1944 to Ethel Buckel of Newport.17,18,19
Cricketer's Arms Hotel, Mooroopna
Image: Rene Barnes
Cricketer's Arms Hotel, Mooroopna
Image: Margaret O'Connell
Life at the Cricketer's Arms Hotel
Alice's sister Beatrice and her two youngest children, Frank and Margaret moved from Lake Boga to Mooroopna and also lived at the hotel.20,21
 
Hotel Australia First Time
In November 1944, when Tom & Sis Phillips started operating the Hotel Australia in Shepparton, they were still living in Orr Street. According to Bub, Sis really wanted to move into the pub, but Tom said only if Bub helped out. According to Bub's son Graeme, they were there for maybe six months. And Bub recalled working there at the end of the Second World War (September 1945), so Bub may have started there around March 1945.

This was Bub's first of two associations with the Aussie Hotel.20,22
Hotel Australia, Shepparton c. 1950
Junction Hotel Toolamba
Bub's longest time running a pub was when she ran the Junction Hotel in Toolamba for about 13 years. She took over the licence in January 1946 from Mary Darveniza. Bub bought the pub with a loan from Tom Phillips, a loan which was paid back in full.23,17,24
Junction Hotel Toolamba
Life at the Junction Hotel Toolamba
Graeme was there early when attending Shepparton High School. And he was there later after doing tertiary studies, then briefly working in Melbourne.22
 
WOMAN RUNS PUB; RULES FOOTBALL
MELBOURNE. — The Victorian hamlet of Toolamba has a woman hotel licensee who is also the president and coach of the district Australian Rules football eighteen, and the town's unofficial policeman.

She is Mrs Violet Williams, 41, of Toolamba, 103 miles from Melbourne.

Mrs Williams said she had taken over the presidency of the Toolamba-Goulburn Valley football team because it needed a 'strong hand' to control it.

She is also unofficial coach of the team.

Mrs Williams supervises the massage and health of the players.

Toolamba team has improved its premiership position since Mrs Williams took over the presidency and coaching of the team.

SON A FORWARD
Mrs Williams has a 15-year-old son who is a forward in the team.
He told a reporter that he didn't see eye to eye with his mother, 'who dabbled in football.'

SHE SETTLES IT
Toolamba residents say that when there's a fight or argument in Toolamba, Mrs Williams is called in to settle it.

After football matches Mrs Williams takes her team to the hotel.

Mrs Williams' 60-year-old mother is one of the team's strongest supporters. [Sep 1949]25,26,27
Woman runs her own football team (Bub Williams) 1949
Both of Bub's parents died while they were at the Toolamba hotel; her dad in 1953, then her mum in 1957.

When she sold the hotel, she lived for a while with Nene and Jack.

Apart from a couple of brief periods, Bub lived with her mum for all but the first seven years of her marriage. They were quite close. For years after her mum's death, she regularly took flowers as she visited the grave site. Her great nephew, Peter Phillips, recalls many trips to the cemetery in Bub's Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.11,9,28
 
Kittens on Graeme's shirts: Without prompting, both Nene and Bub tell this same story, so it must have been significant. For a month or so after selling the Toolamba pub, Bub and Graeme stayed with Nene and Jack. While there, a black cat had kittens on Graeme's nice white work shirts.29,30
 
Hotel Australia Second Time
Around 1958 or 1959, after selling the Junction Hotel in Toolamba and working for a time at Rockman's, Bub ran the Hotel Australia bottle shop. She did this for eight years.17
Hotel Australia, Shepparton c. 1972
European Holiday
In 1970, Bub and her recently widowed sister Nene, travelled to Europe for a holiday. They visited England, Austria, Germany and Venice.31,32
 
Later Years
It was always a delight to visit Bub in her unit in Hayes St Shepparton. You were always offered a cup of tea (or cold drink for the kids) and a biscuit.

The house was always in immaculate condition. It was also kids' wonderland with all the seemingly hundreds of little items that Bub had collected throughout her life. There were all sorts of teaspoons, glassware, crockery, linen, etc., most of it behind glass away from little fingers.

If you visited on a Saturday afternoon in winter, you would find Bub listening to the radio or watching the TV as she followed her beloved football team, North Melbourne.

On a sunny day, you would be more likely to find Bub enjoying herself gardening.

Violet Alice 'Bub' Williams died in Shepparton on 6 January 2008, aged 99. She was buried at Pine Lodge cemetery in Shepparton East on 10 January 2008.

Bub died just one year short of her centenarian older sister Nene, and left one son.9,33
 
Other photos of Violet Alice 'Bub' McDonald can be found in the Gallery.
 

Citations

  1. [S391] Violet Alice McDonald, birth registration no. 23071, 2 July 1908.
  2. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Violet Alice McDonald entry, birth registration no. 23071, 1908.
  3. [S156] Frank Larsen Williams and Violet Alice McDonald, marriage certificate no. 5333, 14 June 1933.
  4. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Frank Larsen Williams and Violet Alice McDonald entry, registration no. 5333, 1933.
  5. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication.
  6. [S31] Eileen Redden, personal communication.
  7. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication.
  8. [S21] Lorraine Phillips, personal communication.
  9. [S126] Peter Phillips, personal knowledge or recollection.
  10. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987, p. 2.
  11. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 1 September 1996.
  12. [S31] Eileen Redden, personal communication, 25 February 1996.
  13. [S102] Jack Phillips, personal communication, 2 March 2013.
  14. [S21] Lorraine Phillips, personal communication, 17 December 2012.
  15. [S21] Lorraine Phillips, personal communication, 21 August 2012.
  16. [S21] Lorraine Phillips, personal communication, 20 July 1996.
  17. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 7 July 1996.
  18. [S220] 'Hotel licences', The Argus, 1848-1957, newspaper, Argus Office, 4 November 1941, p. 3, viewed 9 June 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8214590
  19. [S220] 'Victuallers' licences', The Argus, 1848-1957, newspaper, Argus Office, 11 November 1944, p. 18, viewed 9 June 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11369872
  20. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 28 September 1996.
  21. [S376] From the Memories of the Life of Beatrice Lee, unpublished, 1987, p. 11.
  22. [S265] Graeme Williams, personal communication, 31 January 2013.
  23. [S102] Jack Phillips, personal communication, 30 November 1996.
  24. [S220] 'Victuallers' licences', The Argus, 1848-1957, newspaper, Argus Office, 12 January 1946, p. 22, viewed 9 June 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22221863
  25. [S203] 'Woman runs pub; rules football', Evening Advocate, 1941-1954, newspaper, 2 September 1949, p. 7, viewed 18 July 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213971948
  26. [S699] Ron Testro, 'Woman runs her own football team', The Australasian Post, 1946-1996, newspaper, Argus and Australasian Limited, 18 August 1949, p.5, viewed 6 March 2020.
  27. [S1] There were similar stories in the Western Mail (Perth WA 1949), Weekly Times (Melbourne Vic 1949), Queensland Times (Ipswitch 1950), Cairns Post (Qld 1950), Lithgow Mercury (NSW 1950), Northern Star (Lismore NSW 1950), and Pioneer (Yorketown, SA 1952).
  28. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 28 December 1999.
  29. [S58] Violet 'Bub' Williams, personal communication, 30 December 1996.
  30. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, 30 December 1996.
  31. [S90] Karen Barker, personal communication, 28 September 1996.
  32. [S52] Doris 'Nene' Courtie, personal communication, 10 November 2001.
  33. [S377] Pine Lodge Cemetery, cemetery, Violet Alice Williams entry, http://greatershepparton.com.au/region/cemeteries/…