We
have all heard the definition of an Australian aristocrat: one who can
trace his ancestry all the way back to his father. By those standards, Pam
must be a duchess at the very least, because both of her parents come from
very old and distinguished families.
She
was born Pamela Anne Mai, the great-granddaughter of Ferdinand Mai, a professor of
mathematics from
Frankfurt, Germany. Professor Mai married a Miss Margaret Coutts in 1877. We
don't know if Miss Coutts actually belonged to the banking family, but all
the same, the name Coutts lends a certain cachet to the family tree
– after all, Her Gracious Maj banks with them!
Pam's father, Gordon Mai, was a man with a lot of sporting talent. He
went to school at Trinity Grammar, where he was a star of track and field.
During the early 30s he was Captain/Coach of
Geelong, in the days of the
VFL, when amateur sportsmen were considered a cut above "those
professionals". In Gordon's day, football was still essentially a game,
with economic considerations secondary.
Sadly, he died of post-operative complications at the untimely age of
38, when Pam was only ten years old.
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Pam's mother, the former Leila Messervy,
was in delicate health: she had a heart condition as a result of a
youthful bout of rheumatic fever. She, too, died at what we consider today
to be a comparatively early age: she was in her early sixties.
She is the one from whom Pam inherited her artistic talent. She never
had any formal training in art, but she expressed her talent in her home:
she had an innate flair for interior decorating and did exquisite handwork
and knitting. She was also a keen gardener, another legacy which Pam
inherited.
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Messervy Family Crest
"Nothing is impossible for the valiant heart"
Pam's Messervy grandfather came from the Isle of Jersey, where the
Messervy family is one of the oldest and most highly respected of
the Channel
Island families. The earliest recorded progenitor is Philippe
Messervy, who was born before 1486 and died in 1522. He and his
wife Catherine had a son named Jean. |
The next four generations of Messervys were not very original: the eldest
sons were all named Jean, until 1608, when Jeanne
Messervy, nèè LeFebvre,
put her foot down and told her husband (Jean!) that it is time for a
change. She named her son Elie.
Elie's wife, Sara, (nèè Jeune), however, was not an original thinker and
for the next hundred years they went back to "Jean", alternating with an
occasional "Elie". In 1707 Elie and Rachel Messervy rediscovered
"Philippe", and that name was top of the pops round the baptismal font for
the next few generations. (One would have thought in the course of four
centuries, give or take a decade, they could have come up with a Jason, a
Todd or a Shane, just for a bit of variety!)
However, let's move right along to Pam's Great-grandpa Messervy, whose first
name, true to form,
was Phillip. Family folklore has it that Great-grandpa had a bit
of a fling with Emilie Charlotte LeBreton.
The LeBretons are a
Jersey family as old as the Messervys, so Emilie, born 1853, may
well have been the girl next door.
She was very beautiful and the romance is rather a feather in
Great-granddad's
cap, all the more because Emilie is better known to us all as
Lillie
Langtry, she who was the paramour of The Prince of Wales, later Edward
VII. The modern-day equivalent would be a fling with Camilla Parker-Bowles
… or no, maybe not. Stop shuddering and read on …..
Warning: Scary Photo Below.
Parental guidance is recommended for viewers under 15 |
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Prince Edward picked Lillie
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Prince Charles picked Cammie
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The alliance of Gordon Mai and Leila Messervy produced young
Pamela, who
attended Merton Hall, an Anglican school. She took art as a subject at
school, but decided to pursue a career in nursing.
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She
studied nursing at the Melbourne School of
Nursing, did staff training at the Royal Melbourne and qualified as
a midwife at the Royal Women's Hospital in
Melbourne.
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While the newly qualified Sister Mai was busy telling expectant fathers to
boil lots of water, in another part of the city a handsome young Dutchman
was plying the knives and skillets as a chef during the Olympic Games. He
hated Melbourne and
could hardly wait to get back to the attractions of his cold and wet native land.
While he had to be here for
the duration of the Games, he made himself useful by introducing the
smorgasbord to Melbourne. It is one of life's mysteries why he was never
mentioned in the New Year's Honours List. Men have been given earldoms for
less.
(Thankfully he was not the
fiend who unleashed that other European culinary delight, the Dreaded
Fondue: that descended upon us a few years later, bringing with it a
deluge of fondue sets, one of which is lurking dustily at the back of the
cupboard even as you read. And if it isn't, you must be under forty.)
On board the ocean liner that would take him back to the Netherlands,
the homesick chef met Pamela Mai, who was on her way to
Europe for a holiday. Pamela's
Messervy blood, having flowed sedately through the veins of a bland
succession of boring old Jeans and Elies for five hundred years,
positively frothed with excitement when she heard him say the magic words: "I am
Winfried Bierenbroodspot."
She was so overwhelmed that
she accepted his invitation to go to his cabin and see his passport. (A
bit more original than "Come to my cabin and see my etchings"!)
As soon as she saw the name
bierenbroodspot
in
large, friendly letters on that passport, she wanted one just like it. She
made up her mind then and there to marry him. In one fell swoop, not only would the
magic name be hers, but she would also move up from thirteenth to second
spot in the alphabet!
She cast her spell, and the smitten Win followed her back to
Melbourne, where he and Pam
were married. Win has learnt to love Australia, and Melbourne in
particular. Pam and Win
have a son, a
daughter and two grandsons.
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Having settled down in the suburbs, Pam could give rein to her artistic
talent, and she started lessons with Carol Boothman. She was one of
Carol's first students and has been going to her ever since. Indeed, as we
have noted before, Carol's students never "graduate": some, like Pam, have
been in her class these thirty years and more.
Pam has also studied
with Don Rogers and David Taylor.
A few like-minded women started painting together, calling themselves
the Tuesday Painters, because it was on a Tuesday that they went to
Carol's painting class. Pam remembers taking her small children to class
in those days, balancing her painting things on the pram.
In 1970, the Tuesday Painters formed the nucleus of the fledgling
Waverley Art Society, with Carol as their first President. The new Society
held its first exhibition in November 1970, a huge success.
Pam was the second Treasurer of the W.A.S., a post she held from 1971
to 1972. She is currently serving her second stint as Treasurer, and has
been doing it with great efficiency for nine years. To the relief of her
fellow Society members, she has no intention as yet of hanging up her
abacus: "It keeps my brain active", she says.
Pam has recently been made a Life Member
of the Society in which she has
taken such an active part since its inception. She has given unstintingly
of her time, and has played a large part in the smooth running of many
aspects of the Society, including the Children's Class, the Life Class and
the various exhibitions.
In addition to her duties as treasurer, she deals
with the mail, runs the raffles and is always on hand at the monthly
meetings to welcome members and their guests. Sometimes she even ropes Win
in – he is the man who has done such a sterling job of hanging the
members' pictures in the
Jells Park Tea House.
Amazingly enough she also has time to garden and to paint. She has
worked in different mediums but she currently paints mostly in oils. She
has won many awards and Highly Commendeds.
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This painting by Pam won a Highly Commended at
the W.A.S. exhibition, 2002
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Meanwhile, the Tuesday Painters were going about their business in
parallel with the W.A.S. In 1974 they held their first exhibition, the
venue being a private house. To their delight every single exhibit was
sold.
They received an interesting commission: they were to capture the
buildings of the
Lord
Somers Camp on canvas before they were demolished. This Youth Development camp had been going at Somers
since 1931 and now the old buildings were to make way for
improved facilities. Once again every work was sold almost before the
paint was dry.
In their time the Tuesday Painters held about 40 exhibitions, Pam
participating in them all. The painting group was dissolved in 2000, but
the members still meet socially on a regular basis to keep up the
friendship forged over so many years.
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Win and Pam's garden is a delight. The view from
their living room and back verandah is a tranquil one, trees
screening the neighbours' houses so that the impression is one of cool
greenery stretching away into the distance. Pam is a keen gardener and
loves her bonsai, each one a different little work of art in itself.
This amazing woman, true to her father's athletic legacy, has also been a major force on the swimming scene in
Melbourne. She was
associated for 17 years with the Syndal Sharks, (now sadly defunct),
swimming herself and giving lessons three times a week. She was the first
Club member to receive a life membership.
In
1983 she set new records in her age group for the 50m butterfly and the
100m medley at the Victorian State Championships, and her total time in
the pentathlon was also a record.
Eat your heart out, Steve Bracks: Pam won the Pier to Pub three times, in
1984, '85 and '86, in her age group. Plus she looked better than Bracksie in her bathers!
Pam's son was also a good swimmer and represented
Victoria at the first Pan Pacific
School Games Meet in Brisbane.
Win and Pam have only been back to
Holland once, an experience
fraught with mishaps and illness, which they are in no hurry to repeat.
They like to spend their vacations in
Victoria, which
affords Pam plenty of opportunity to paint.
Despite being one of the most talented and interesting members of the
Society, Pam is extremely modest about her considerable accomplishments.
His Late Majesty, King Solomon, said it best: "Who can find such a
woman? For her price is far above rubies."
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