In January 1920 in Smyrna my Father and Mother got married and immediately after set sail for Alexandria and from Egypt they would get a boat to Ceylon. The journey of a week to Alexandria was no problem, but once there they had endless difficulty trying to obtain a passage eastwards. Fortunately Mother’s uncle Irwin de Kramer was working at the time in Alexandria, so he was able to look after the young couple and eventually after a month of waiting they finally got a small cargo boat from Port Said to Colombo. Whilst in Egypt they discovered that the wedding in Smyrna was not recognised by the British Authorities, so they had a second civil marriage recorded by the British Authorities there.

In Smyrna meanwhile, whilst all this was going on, Grandmother Helen was getting worried with no news as the months passed, and eventually decided to visit a known Greek medium. She went unannounced to the lady’s house to find her on her hands and knees washing the marble floor. She looked up at Granny and said,
“ I was wondering when you would come. I know what you want to ask me about. It is about your daughter isn’t it? Well I can tell you immediately she is safe and well, that she is on a second ship, and she is pregnant. But I also see her going to a strange house with lots of little round things all around the house and these I do not know what they are?”


With those few prophetic words she just continued her work on the floor!

After a brief stay in Colombo and a visit to the offices of the new managing agents: George Steuart & Co. they took the train upcountry. The experience for Madeleine was mind blowing. First there was the intense humid heat and the lushness of the low country, with its myriad palms, bananas,brilliant flowering yellow cassias, vivid red flamboyants, and cherry blossom pink tabebuas. It was April and the hottest season but also the most beautiful for the magnificent flowering trees which burst into bloom at that time of the year like a tropical spring display. Soon though they left all this behind and they were at last at their destination at Luckyland Bungalow perched on the side of the range 4,750 ft high with the slopes at the end of the garden dropping away 2,000 ft and then rising slightly to reach the Welimada plain. All round as described before were ranges of hills in the far distant circling the plain to give one of the most spectacular views imaginable. The air was cool after the sweltering sticky low country and in the shade never rose much above 70 F at midday. The sense of arriving at last at ones journey’s end, and free from the rigours of life at home with all its petty iritations was the greatest relief of all.

The bungalow that Fred Whittall had built was enormous with a 120ft central corridor from which led off about 6 enormous bedrooms, a vast drawing room, and an equally large dining room and central leading onto a patio was a morning or day room. Either side of the building were two vast open verandahs for plants or for sitting in the cool. There was a well stocked vegetable garden, but otherwise everything as was usual in those days was very primitive. There was no running water, servants brought jugs etc to the bedroom. Toilet facilities were a “thunder-box” and a goodly supply of sawdust.
The roof was covered in red painted corrugated iron, which was the most efficent way of holding out the tropical downpours, but when it rained with a heavy tropical “plump”, the noise was deafening, and it was almost impossible to carry out a conversation, with the vibration overhead. Luckyland had an average rainfall of about 120” per year and some wet years half as much again.

Apart from the primitive state of the bungalow the Estate was only just coming into proper bearing and was only yielding about 350lbs of made tea per acre. The Estate,since his time at Gampaha had been formed into a Limited Liability Company and half the shares had been sold to a man called Gordon on the nearby Rappahannock Estate. With the proceed s of this sale a factory had been built at about the highest point of the estate (5,000f)t nestling under the lee of the Buffaloes Hump the rock face of which rose sheer for 700 ft above. By the time they had arrived to take over the property, old man Gordon had died leaving his shares equally to his seven children, most of whom had a weakness for drink or other vices. There was one sound son Hugh, who in the preceding few years had slowly acquired from most of his kin their shares, and he also looked over the interests of the rest. It was at his insistence that the agency was moved from Whittalls to George Steuarts, and he was not only a director of the Company but also acted as its “Visiting Agent” making twice yearly detailed visits, with recommendations for improvements to the property.

Shortly after father’s arrival Hugh Gordon paid him a business visit and it was the start of a life long friendship, and business partnership. Each were very different men. Whereas father was quick dynamic with a boundless energy and impetuous to get things done, and always find a way round a problem. Hugh by contrast was quiet and thoughtful, and working as he did on the other main tea growing side of the island, he was able to pass on new ideas which he was always on the look out for. He was a pensive man in contrast to his ebullient Australian wife Dorothy who in turn was a quick tongued ball of fire. They never had children but their marriage was an eternal love match to the very end.

By far in a way the most serious aspect of their situation was that the estate was so small and the yield so poor with a result that the profitability was only barely marginal. It was sufficent to barely keep a bachelor, but for as for also having a well to do wife who was pregnant with all the added expense, the financial implications were very worrying. Socially too conditions were difficult. Most of the senior planters in the district came from well off middle class public school educated families, with usually either themselves or their wives having a private income. There was a tremendous degree of snobbery at the local Dickson’s Corner Club, as was the case in most of the other upcountry clubs. Tea planting in those days was a job for well educated and well connected people in much the same tradition as an army regiment. In fact the whole operation on an estate with its hierarchial structure, was organised very much on military lines, with very similar chains of command. Also there was in those immediate Post War Years a tremendous camaraderie amongst those who had come back from the terrible war. Conversely people of fighting age who had as they said “funked it” were completely ostracized. The Patterson brothers next door at Allagolla fell into this category and were made to feel very ill at ease for years and years. As Father had not only done his bit, but was also highly decorated he was regarded and honoured with the greatest respect by all his peers in the district.

As they were literally tied to the job by “the debt of honour” there were three possible ways of improving the situation. One was to raise the yield and the output of the property; second was to see if it was possible to enlarge it by buying more land. Thirdly there was the chance of starting ones own estate by buying up virgin land and planting up a new property, but the problem here was again money.

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Madline age 20.