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Di's Childhood |
As a school
child, author Dianne (Di) Bates was a ratbag. In kindergarten at Carlton
Public School (NSW), she single-handedly managed to clear her whole
school from their  classrooms
by telling a whopping big fib. (She shouted, "The school is burning
down!" so dramatically when she saw and heard a fire engine coming
down the street near the school, that all the children believed her
and became hysterical.) This exercise in "creative storytelling"
was Di's first inkling she was destined to be an author, and how
she learnt the meaning of the word 'detention'.
(I
was about 3 here in this photo)
Later, in primary school at Mortdale Girls' Public School, Di was almost
expelled over a piece of chewed chewing gum which she rubbed into a classmate's
hair. Di's very favourite teacher was her fifth class teacher, Miss Arthur,
who sadly died in hospital at the end of the year. Miss Arthur had a
huge influence on Di's life.
Di (and her younger sister, Volda, and brother Larry) worked hard on
the family's poultry and goat farm at Peakhurst, NSW, and on adjoining
pig farms. She was an unhappy child and often ran away from home as
she was scared of her tyrannical father. Once, convinced she'd been
kidnapped, the police searched for her all over the state.
(This
picture shows me and my sister Volda and our pony Twinkle on the
poultry and goat farm. That's me standing.)
When
she was in sixth class, Di's family moved to another farm at Appin
where she attended a two-teacher school. The principal there praised
and read out a story Di had written about her ideal home.
The
other students thought Di had copied the story, and teased her: This upset
her so much she didn't try to write well for a long time after that.
As a teenager, Di attended Campbelltown High School where she was the last of
the NSW secondary school students studying for the Leaving Certificate
(now known as the HSC). Her best friend was the English master's daughter,
Pamela Barraclough, with whom Di would write scripts based on a popular
TV series, "Adventures in Paradise". Both Pam and Di were seriously
"in love" with the series' hero, Adam Troy! They were also "in
love" with The Beatles (especially John and Paul). On sports' days,
Di would hide in a cemetery near the oval and draw other students. She
was determined to be a famous artist!
After high school, Di worked for a short while in an underwear factory before
learning she had won a scholarship to attend college in Wollongong. There she
trained for two years to become a primary school teacher.
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