1918-1999
Father
Mother
Siblings
David Anthony, Norman Arnold, Florence Edith, Charles Oliver, Harriet Irene, Thelma Elsie , Rebecca Ella, Benjamin Albert, Joseph Orlando, Lillian Ann, Grace Iris
Married
Children
Brian Peter, Rosemary Heather, Gail Lynnette
Dolly’s Life
Dolly was the eleventh child and fifth daughter of George and Martha Doust. She was born at Loomvale, and no doubt doted on by her older brothers and sisters. Dolly’s father died when she was not quite two years old and by that time she had another sister, Grace.
The Dousts were a close family and Loomvale was always the centre of family gatherings, a house full of happiness. The brothers and sisters married and moved away. Dolly’s mother died in 1945 and James Millam Lamont purchased Loomvale around that time.
Dolly and James Millam Lamont (Jim) were married in 1947. Jim hailed from Scotland and they had three children. Dolly and Jim ensured that Loomvale continued to remain an important part of Doust celebrations.
The Loomvale house was of Pisé construction requiring constant maintenance and white washing with packed clay floors that Dolly kept immaculate. Dolly was fastidious around the house and liked to keep the yard well swept, a daily chore. Jim would construct home-made brooms using a pole and ‘cotton bushes’ bound tightly around it.
Dolly’s sister, Florrie, had a love of pot plants and had a very large collection of them. When she would be away from Loomvale, she had Dolly water them all for her, no small task when the water had to be bucketed to said plants. Dolly developed a very, very strong dislike of potted plants.
Dolly was a strong supporter and President of the Tullamore Branch of The Sunshine Club! A club that raised money for the Royal Far West Children’s Health Scheme. The Honorary Organising Secretary of this Club was Betty Muzyczuk (MBE), whose father, Frank Spicer, owned 2PK Radio where Betty would share Sunshine Club news on a daily basis avidly listened to by all members. However, the membership relied on strong Presidents and Dolly was a loyal and hard worker.
All members of the Sunshine Club went by aliases, Dolly’s was ‘September Wisher’, (she was born in September), her sister Thelma was ‘Lazy Jack’, her daughter Heather, ‘Heather Bunch’.
Dolly organised street stalls, raffles, handicraft days, Housie evenings and the like and was an extremely valued member of this organisation and, in 1993 was the winner of the annual Christmas hamper.
Dolly was also a farmer’s wife and as such was always on call to help in the paddocks for a myriad of tasks. Dolly was no stranger to this as her mother ably ran the farm for 25 year after her husband died, a line of very strong women.
Authored by Rosemary Heather Lamont Byrnes, her loving daughter.