WEBVTT - Two Sues

0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:05.160
<v Speaker 1>By the time Susanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett moved into

0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.080
<v Speaker 1>their little rented house in Collingwood, they'd known each other

0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.039
<v Speaker 1>half their lives. There'd been close friends since meeting at

0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:16.119
<v Speaker 1>Baranella High School, a town in northeast Victoria. Friends and

0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.360
<v Speaker 1>family alike. Remember, they balanced each other out, vivacious and

0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:25.759
<v Speaker 1>confident with their own individual style. This probably wasn't surprising.

0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.000
<v Speaker 1>Both families moved around as the kids grew up, so

0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.800
<v Speaker 1>they had a mix of friends. The two sus as

0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.640
<v Speaker 1>they were known, were also the eldest in their clans.

0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>Suzanne had a brother and two sisters, Susan a younger brother,

0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:41.879
<v Speaker 1>Martin Bartlett.

0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:48.080
<v Speaker 2>Yes, we moved to Banilla from a place called MacArthur,

0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.240
<v Speaker 2>which is down in the Western district, where my mother

0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.440
<v Speaker 2>was a housekeeper. And then we moved when I was

0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.720
<v Speaker 2>about six, so Susan would have been nine ten, and

0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.320
<v Speaker 2>we moved onto a property that was about ten kilometers

0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:10.520
<v Speaker 2>out of Banana, and then from there we moved into

0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:15.440
<v Speaker 2>the town which was about three or four hundred meters

0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:22.120
<v Speaker 2>from the school and basically either rodeo bikes or walk

0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.640
<v Speaker 2>to school from there. I suppose it's hard when you're

0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.200
<v Speaker 2>like you're going up, you think about what you're going to,

0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.240
<v Speaker 2>what you're going to do. But she always thought that

0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:39.040
<v Speaker 2>she liked instructing and with after school things at the

0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:43.160
<v Speaker 2>high school. She was always sort of participating in not

0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.840
<v Speaker 2>just after school activities, but she was involved with involved

0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.880
<v Speaker 2>with the band in terms of organizing things for him.

0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:58.400
<v Speaker 1>Suzanne's family was even more transitory, as sister Gail Armstrong recalls.

0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.440
<v Speaker 3>I wanted to three schools in Banilla. Started off at

0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:08.160
<v Speaker 3>Banilla West and then went to Banilla East, and then

0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.720
<v Speaker 3>I went to the high school. I think Suzanne only

0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:13.120
<v Speaker 3>went to the high school.

0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.160
<v Speaker 1>And as a big sister, what do you remember from

0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:18.760
<v Speaker 1>those years?

0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.359
<v Speaker 3>Not a real lot.

0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.720
<v Speaker 1>Gee, was she a good sister? Bossy boots? Was she?

0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:26.600
<v Speaker 3>She would have been good.

0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:28.800
<v Speaker 1>She was always good.

0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.720
<v Speaker 3>We always got on well, yeah we all did.

0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:37.760
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Okay. Now, when Suzanne first met Susan, do you

0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.320
<v Speaker 1>remember that? Do you recall them together when they were

0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.680
<v Speaker 1>early teenagers, young teenagers? Well, that would have been when

0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.040
<v Speaker 1>she was at high school in Banilla.

0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.840
<v Speaker 3>When she met Sue. Yeah, I just remember her being

0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.560
<v Speaker 3>them being friends and we used to go around there

0:02:55.639 --> 0:03:00.480
<v Speaker 3>and it was great. She had a lovely Mum and Martin.

0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:02.720
<v Speaker 3>They're a lovely family.

0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.679
<v Speaker 1>The teenagers were growing up at a time of exciting

0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.560
<v Speaker 1>musical change, with bands like The Beatles and the Rolling

0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:13.520
<v Speaker 1>Stones providing a backdrop to broader cultural and political upheaval,

0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.160
<v Speaker 1>and the girls loved it. They even saw The Fab

0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.480
<v Speaker 1>Four perform at Melbourne's Festival Hall in nineteen sixty four.

0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.079
<v Speaker 1>Gail says there was only one band for her big sister,

0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.239
<v Speaker 1>The Beatles. She's all them.

0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.840
<v Speaker 3>She did, and I don't know whatever happened to it,

0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:36.640
<v Speaker 3>but she had a man's shirt that she must have

0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:42.760
<v Speaker 3>put the Beatles on and they signed it. It disappeared somewhere.

0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.040
<v Speaker 1>How did she get to them to get them to

0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:45.440
<v Speaker 1>sign it.

0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:47.600
<v Speaker 3>I've got no idea now, don't know.

0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.320
<v Speaker 1>That was when they were in Australia, obviously, yep, a

0:03:50.320 --> 0:04:21.920
<v Speaker 1>bit intrepid. Yeah, the two friends actually took the bus

0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.599
<v Speaker 1>from Vanilla to see the band and they never forgot it,

0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:26.760
<v Speaker 1>nor did their friends and family.

0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.920
<v Speaker 2>She loved the Beatles. She went when they came. She

0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.360
<v Speaker 2>and a group of people from Banilla. They traveled from

0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:38.320
<v Speaker 2>Banilla down to Festival Hall to see the battle. So yes,

0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.120
<v Speaker 2>she loved She loved that style of music and whatever,

0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:45.920
<v Speaker 2>not so much the heavier side, but Carlie Simon and

0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.880
<v Speaker 2>that sort of lighter style of country music.

0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.360
<v Speaker 1>Susan continued seeing live bands as she studied and eventually

0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.320
<v Speaker 1>started teaching at Broadford, a country town a bit closer

0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.880
<v Speaker 1>to Melbourne. Suzanne was more into alternative theater and a

0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.240
<v Speaker 1>regular in a city venues like La Mamma and the

0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.960
<v Speaker 1>Pram Factory. Exploring the world was another passion the two

0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.080
<v Speaker 1>sous shared, and one that would have significant bearing on

0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:16.080
<v Speaker 1>the rest of their lives. But Gail Armstrong is steadfast

0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:21.000
<v Speaker 1>in her own down to earth description of her sister. Normal,

0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:23.080
<v Speaker 1>just a normal.

0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:29.799
<v Speaker 3>She's just normal and a healthy She was a healthy girl.

0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:36.360
<v Speaker 3>So she had had a veggie garden and a healthy

0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.720
<v Speaker 3>food when healthy food wasn't really what you did.

0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:43.120
<v Speaker 1>And when you say she had a veggie garden was

0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:43.799
<v Speaker 1>out at Easy.

0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.320
<v Speaker 3>Street, I'm pretty sure she did. She didn't have much

0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.800
<v Speaker 3>room there, but I'm pretty sure she had some veggies growing.

0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:53.599
<v Speaker 1>And the other thing that I remember, just when you

0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.000
<v Speaker 1>say that she loved dogs, I remember you talking about

0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.479
<v Speaker 1>that too, And she had a dog there, Mishkah. And

0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:06.040
<v Speaker 1>she also I had an English sheep dog while their

0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.320
<v Speaker 1>professional paths took them in different directions once they left school.

0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.440
<v Speaker 1>Their shared travel bug brought them back together in Greece

0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.520
<v Speaker 1>when Suzanne met up with Susan in nineteen seventy four

0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:20.440
<v Speaker 1>for an extended break skipping across the Greek islands. They

0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.719
<v Speaker 1>traveled to Aegina, Delos, Hydra, Mikinos, Patos, and eventually Naxos,

0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.360
<v Speaker 1>where Suzanne met a handsome young fisherman by the name

0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.760
<v Speaker 1>of Manilus or Manny Margaritis. They fell in love and

0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.200
<v Speaker 1>she decided to stay on Naxos, a small traditional isle

0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.159
<v Speaker 1>that was still unfound by most tourists on the island

0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.520
<v Speaker 1>hop Susan, on the other hand, flew home to Melbourne

0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.719
<v Speaker 1>in early nineteen seventy five to pick up a teaching

0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.839
<v Speaker 1>position at Collingwood Education Center. She was a popular teacher

0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.120
<v Speaker 1>with students and colleagues alike. According to old friend cavel Zangelus,

0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.800
<v Speaker 1>she also remembers a very different Collingwood.

0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:05.000
<v Speaker 4>Lot of immigrant kids, a lot of non English speakers,

0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:09.200
<v Speaker 4>and a lot of families who needed a lot of support. Really,

0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:13.400
<v Speaker 4>they weren't coping very well, either for language reasons or

0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:18.400
<v Speaker 4>income or and also you know, the working class Aussies

0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:24.480
<v Speaker 4>weren't terribly enamored of education and teachers trying to, you know,

0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.960
<v Speaker 4>suggest things to them. So those were the days.

0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.040
<v Speaker 1>And when Susan Barler arrived at the school, did you

0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.400
<v Speaker 1>feel an immediate rapport with her?

0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:34.760
<v Speaker 5>Oh?

0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:39.760
<v Speaker 4>Yes, yes, we just got on straight away, and she

0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:44.080
<v Speaker 4>had a good sense of humor. And we were a

0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:48.640
<v Speaker 4>younger cohort at that stage. There were some really older

0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.600
<v Speaker 4>teachers that were a little difficult. The kids loved her

0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:59.720
<v Speaker 4>because she well made them feel real. A lot of

0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:04.120
<v Speaker 4>them called her Miss B. She didn't stand on ceremony

0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.640
<v Speaker 4>at school or anythink that's why the kids were quite

0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:12.200
<v Speaker 4>able to call her Miss B and she was very relaxed.

0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.880
<v Speaker 1>Meanwhile, Suzanne was living with Manny and his family in Greece,

0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.559
<v Speaker 1>and not too much later she wrote to her younger

0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.200
<v Speaker 1>sister Gail with some pretty major news. She was pregnant.

0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.280
<v Speaker 1>Gail was too, so there was double celebration in the

0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.320
<v Speaker 1>Armstrong family. Initially, Suzanne wrote to her sisters saying, the

0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.200
<v Speaker 1>happy pair and Naxos plan to marry. I'm going to

0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.199
<v Speaker 1>marry Manalis. I've decided it's the best thing to do.

0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.760
<v Speaker 1>I know I won't lead the same sort of life

0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.680
<v Speaker 1>if I was in Melbourne. But it will be a

0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:49.680
<v Speaker 1>very simple life, and I hope I have all the

0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.800
<v Speaker 1>comforts and conveniences I want. We won't be living here forever,

0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.360
<v Speaker 1>though we'd better not anyway. And we've ordered our wedding rings,

0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:03.680
<v Speaker 1>their fourteen carrot gold with final. But it didn't take

0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.880
<v Speaker 1>too long for various cultural differences and a maze of

0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.840
<v Speaker 1>international red tape, largely due to her being Australian, to

0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.520
<v Speaker 1>lead to a change of heart, at least on Suzanne's part.

0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.920
<v Speaker 1>In another letter, she wrote, boy, the things I'm not

0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.240
<v Speaker 1>allowed to do here, you wouldn't believe it. I'm not

0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.320
<v Speaker 1>supposed to run an inch, not supposed to sit with

0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.679
<v Speaker 1>my legs crossed, or reach up or sit cross leged

0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.280
<v Speaker 1>on the bed. Maybe they think the baby will fall out.

0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.280
<v Speaker 1>I'm not supposed to lift up my dog, Zebbie, or

0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:36.840
<v Speaker 1>lift anything. It's really incredible. Her mother and stepfather flew

0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.200
<v Speaker 1>to Axos to help with the new baby, and young

0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.960
<v Speaker 1>Greg brought Suzanne and Manalists much joy. They grew closer

0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.520
<v Speaker 1>even so by the end of nineteen seventy six, she

0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.800
<v Speaker 1>told him she was taking their new son home to

0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.880
<v Speaker 1>meet her family in Victoria just in time for Christmas.

0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.680
<v Speaker 1>But as Suzanne explained to Gail in another letter, she

0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.679
<v Speaker 1>bought a one way ticket home. I know it will

0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:01.880
<v Speaker 1>break his heart when I tell him I'm not coming back,

0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:03.960
<v Speaker 1>but I'll tell him that the best thing is for

0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.640
<v Speaker 1>him to come to Australia. If he makes it there,

0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.840
<v Speaker 1>he will deserve another try. He keeps asking me if

0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.200
<v Speaker 1>I'm coming back, and of course I have to say yes.

0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:18.360
<v Speaker 1>It's awful. Susan Bartlett meanwhile, was having a much less

0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.520
<v Speaker 1>stressful time working as an arts and craft teacher in Collingwood.

0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.720
<v Speaker 1>She loved the inner city vibe around the education center

0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.320
<v Speaker 1>and enjoyed the short drive from the apartment she was

0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.720
<v Speaker 1>sharing in Richmond in her VW Beetle.

0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:31.079
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.

0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.480
<v Speaker 2>That was I think one of her first cars. It

0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:37.840
<v Speaker 2>was sort of one of the original Vaultzies. And she

0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.720
<v Speaker 2>took it to the service station one time and said

0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.120
<v Speaker 2>to the can you check the oil and water? And

0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:48.160
<v Speaker 2>he said, Madam, these cars don't have it, don't have water,

0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.000
<v Speaker 2>They've got their air coll She didn't know. She wasn't

0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:53.800
<v Speaker 2>really mechanically minded.

0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.880
<v Speaker 1>Once Suzanne returned to Australia, Martin wasn't at all surprised

0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:00.960
<v Speaker 1>that his sister agreed to share a new house with

0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.480
<v Speaker 1>her and her new son, Gregory, but where they decided

0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.120
<v Speaker 1>to rent did surprise him, and it upset their mother.

0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.240
<v Speaker 1>After all, Collingwood was a different place to live than

0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.080
<v Speaker 1>the more middle class Richmond where Susan had such a

0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:13.960
<v Speaker 1>lovely apartment.

0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:17.800
<v Speaker 2>It was a very nice, a good spot right opposite

0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:24.199
<v Speaker 2>the MCJ And basically when Susan Armstrong came back with

0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:30.680
<v Speaker 2>greg Gregory that she said to Susan, looked, do you

0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:35.480
<v Speaker 2>mind if we get a place together, And that's what happened.

0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.040
<v Speaker 2>The thing about Collingwood in those days is it I

0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.319
<v Speaker 2>am Fitzroy and all those places for probably a bit

0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:46.079
<v Speaker 2>more seedy than they are today, and the sort of

0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.839
<v Speaker 2>a lot of undesirables. And also there was a ineasy

0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.880
<v Speaker 2>straight on the next next corner up was a pub

0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.760
<v Speaker 2>and it was very much a pub on every corner

0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.480
<v Speaker 2>sort of place. It was sort of a of a

0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:01.360
<v Speaker 2>rougher area.

0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.280
<v Speaker 1>So it's fair to say Collingwood wasn't for everyone. Back

0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.800
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy seven, Paunch Hawks, one of Australia's most

0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.920
<v Speaker 1>respected photographers and a founding member of Circus OZ grew

0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:14.720
<v Speaker 1>up in the suburb.

0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.800
<v Speaker 5>When I grew up here in Abbotsford, which is part

0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.959
<v Speaker 5>of Collingwood, really the whole it was, you know, people

0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.640
<v Speaker 5>called it a slum, you know, that area down near

0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.080
<v Speaker 5>where my folks lived. All the sort of tanneries and

0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:32.280
<v Speaker 5>things in earlier times had been down there, so it

0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:37.520
<v Speaker 5>was actually small working class houses. But now of course

0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.720
<v Speaker 5>it's completely gentrified. You know. I lived there when I

0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.800
<v Speaker 5>was in my teens up till I was four until

0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.160
<v Speaker 5>Union when I was sixteen or something, and of course

0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.160
<v Speaker 5>now that's a long time I go. But really the

0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.320
<v Speaker 5>suburb I think has gone through a lot of changes,

0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.920
<v Speaker 5>especially in relation to say someone with like Johnson Street,

0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.560
<v Speaker 5>which is a street that runs through and the main

0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:02.120
<v Speaker 5>shopping strips that you know, semingly always having a metamorphois.

0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.880
<v Speaker 5>I guess it was the seventies that the whole theater

0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:12.360
<v Speaker 5>revival in Carlton happened, you know, LaMaMa and then the

0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:14.960
<v Speaker 5>people from the mum established in a bid to have

0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:19.200
<v Speaker 5>an Australian voice really because a theater in Australia had

0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.840
<v Speaker 5>always been important from England. People want to hear their

0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.560
<v Speaker 5>own stories in their own voice, and people set up

0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.959
<v Speaker 5>the Prime Factory as a collective, and out of that

0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.200
<v Speaker 5>came of course Circus. I was on a whole lot

0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:33.000
<v Speaker 5>of other small groups. But at the same time, the

0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.440
<v Speaker 5>whole joint was throbbing. Really, it was robbing with feminism.

0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.560
<v Speaker 5>I mean there was you know, women making films, there

0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.040
<v Speaker 5>was women having exhibitions, there was women artists, there were

0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.120
<v Speaker 5>women making radio programs, there were dancers all the time.

0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.960
<v Speaker 5>There was just stuff on, you know, really a lot

0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.600
<v Speaker 5>of places to go and people to meet.

0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.400
<v Speaker 1>So in Easy Street they'd been there for four months

0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:59.960
<v Speaker 1>before this terrible crime occurred. But in the two house

0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.720
<v Speaker 1>that shared the party wall, there were two sets of single,

0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.400
<v Speaker 1>very independent women alone. As Stevens lived next door. She

0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.200
<v Speaker 1>was a journalist with the Truth. Her housemate was a

0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.640
<v Speaker 1>restauranteur who was running restaurant with her partner up in

0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.280
<v Speaker 1>live On Street in Carlton. And then of course there

0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.080
<v Speaker 1>was Susan and Suzanne in the house next door, so

0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.840
<v Speaker 1>they would have fitted in into that scene you've just

0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:25.520
<v Speaker 1>described absolutely.

0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.600
<v Speaker 5>I think that there was such a lot of consciousness

0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.680
<v Speaker 5>raising going on, so that women were getting together to

0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.680
<v Speaker 5>talk about their lives and compare experiences and really discover themselves.

0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:39.120
<v Speaker 5>If you like, and certainly single women and single independent

0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.480
<v Speaker 5>women were very welcome, you know, they were the bulk

0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:42.400
<v Speaker 5>of it, really.

0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.360
<v Speaker 1>So the two suits were right in the thick of

0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.400
<v Speaker 1>things as they set up their three bedroom home in

0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.640
<v Speaker 1>Collingwood towards the end of nineteen seventy six, and Martin

0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:54.880
<v Speaker 1>Bartlett often visited his sister in Easy Street.

0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so I did you know, we had barbecues and whatever,

0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.640
<v Speaker 2>and it was a sort of a good mating place,

0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.680
<v Speaker 2>very homely and terms to me. The only thing about

0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.960
<v Speaker 2>it was that it was on the lane, and I

0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.040
<v Speaker 2>think from that I just thought with a party wall

0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.080
<v Speaker 2>on that side, it was a bit dark. But other

0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.440
<v Speaker 2>than that, no, no, it was a good place.

0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.040
<v Speaker 1>The party wall Martin's referring to is the common wall

0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.240
<v Speaker 1>the two cottages shed running along the hallway. Susan's former

0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.200
<v Speaker 1>teaching colleague Cavell's Angelus also clearly recalls the house an

0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:33.040
<v Speaker 1>Easy Street.

0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:37.360
<v Speaker 4>The big hallway right down to the open area at

0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.040
<v Speaker 4>the back, which was you know, the kitchen and basically

0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.920
<v Speaker 4>the living area, and then you know outdoors to the

0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:49.080
<v Speaker 4>loo and the little backyard. But I remember it was

0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:53.080
<v Speaker 4>always decorated, you know, there were posters on the wall

0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.520
<v Speaker 4>and lefty ones of course, you know anti war and

0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:09.440
<v Speaker 4>cartoony ones too. They often had turns on the fridge.

0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.040
<v Speaker 1>While Susan taught, Suzanne took on a couple of jobs,

0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:16.360
<v Speaker 1>one driving computer data around town in a little navy

0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:20.760
<v Speaker 1>blue masdavan, the other babysitting for her employer's wife, now

0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.080
<v Speaker 1>retired community lawyer, Judith Pearce.

0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:29.120
<v Speaker 6>It wasn't a long relationship, but given that she was

0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:33.040
<v Speaker 6>looking after the children and so we'd spend time together

0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:39.040
<v Speaker 6>and we would try and reciprocate because she was a

0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:44.560
<v Speaker 6>single mother, then it was quite a close and intense relationship.

0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.160
<v Speaker 1>Judith also recalls seeing Suzanne at parties and describes a

0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.120
<v Speaker 1>singularly independent young woman.

0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:58.400
<v Speaker 6>She was absolutely beautiful. She had long, long hair and

0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:06.000
<v Speaker 6>a beautiful face. She had the most outgoing, friendly, loving personality,

0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:12.400
<v Speaker 6>and so she was highly sought after by the men.

0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:17.679
<v Speaker 6>And so one would be having a lovely time and

0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.200
<v Speaker 6>then Sue would come in and it was like the

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:25.120
<v Speaker 6>bees around the honeypot. She was probably one of the

0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:32.120
<v Speaker 6>very early feminists who lived their life the way they

0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:37.440
<v Speaker 6>wanted to live their life, and so she didn't wasn't constrained,

0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:42.200
<v Speaker 6>I should say by the norms of the time, which

0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.680
<v Speaker 6>it's hard to remember, but forty five years ago, a

0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:53.119
<v Speaker 6>single mother was regarded very poorly by society. She just

0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.560
<v Speaker 6>accepted that she had her life. I mean, she was

0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.080
<v Speaker 6>very determined to live the life she wanted to live

0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.399
<v Speaker 6>and see the people she wanted to see and do

0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:03.880
<v Speaker 6>the things she wanted to do.

0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.280
<v Speaker 1>Then one morning in that second week of January nineteen

0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.879
<v Speaker 1>seventy seven, Susan didn't turn up to babysit for Judith

0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:13.680
<v Speaker 1>Pierce and her sister.

0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.359
<v Speaker 6>I was expecting her to come over to my house

0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.800
<v Speaker 6>where I was with my sister, and she didn't turn up,

0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:29.720
<v Speaker 6>so we rang, she didn't answer, And then later I

0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.240
<v Speaker 6>drove past her house and stopped outside the house, and

0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:39.480
<v Speaker 6>I had my daughter in the car. And I don't

0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.879
<v Speaker 6>know why, and have thought about it a lot to

0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.639
<v Speaker 6>this day as to why I didn't go into the house.

0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:54.720
<v Speaker 6>And I regret it because Gregory was in his cot

0:18:56.000 --> 0:19:00.280
<v Speaker 6>But in lots of ways, I'm glad that I didn't

0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.560
<v Speaker 6>see what would have been a horrendous scene.

0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.920
<v Speaker 1>Hearing about the murders was shocking too. For Susan Bartlett's

0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:10.920
<v Speaker 1>friend Cavell's Angelus.

0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.879
<v Speaker 4>Look I just had a shiver right through my body.

0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.320
<v Speaker 4>Then I was up on Mount Hotham with some friends.

0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.880
<v Speaker 4>It was summertime, of course, and we were driving. There

0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.520
<v Speaker 4>were two cars, and my girlfriend and I were in

0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.360
<v Speaker 4>one car and our husbands were in another car with

0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.679
<v Speaker 4>you kids and stuff. And I had the radio on

0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:40.119
<v Speaker 4>and I heard the newsflash that there had been murders

0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:44.480
<v Speaker 4>in Collingwood. No, I can't even remember whether Easy Street

0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.959
<v Speaker 4>had been mentioned, but they did say it was two women,

0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:54.800
<v Speaker 4>and I just knew immediately who it was. So I

0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.440
<v Speaker 4>hailed the other car and said, you know, I've got

0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:02.240
<v Speaker 4>to go back, and you know, dashed back to where

0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:08.120
<v Speaker 4>we were staying and rang. Then I just knew it

0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.320
<v Speaker 4>was it was them.

0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.520
<v Speaker 1>Martin Bartlett's last visit to one four seven Easy Street

0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.040
<v Speaker 1>is even more haunting. He and Susan had arranged a

0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.200
<v Speaker 1>dinner date for Monday, January tenth, the meal of Big

0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.600
<v Speaker 1>Sister's bribe for her brother to fix hery stereo again.

0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.480
<v Speaker 1>He'd already done it a couple of times.

0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.439
<v Speaker 2>I think this the last time was something to do

0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.720
<v Speaker 2>with a speaker in terms of being disconnected or pulled

0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:36.960
<v Speaker 2>out or whatever. But yeah, that was the last time

0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:41.600
<v Speaker 2>I was over. There was fixing that my sister liked

0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.520
<v Speaker 2>to cook, and more so than says Anna and whatever.

0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:45.720
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, it was good.

0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.000
<v Speaker 1>And that day she'd been I think making address too.

0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:50.240
<v Speaker 1>She's incredibly handy.

0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.560
<v Speaker 2>Yes, she was very good. She's very good at sewing

0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:58.879
<v Speaker 2>and my krama and knitting up rugs and things like that.

0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.880
<v Speaker 2>She was very very good at that and liked it.

0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:03.800
<v Speaker 1>So how long were you there that night, mart? Do

0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:04.680
<v Speaker 1>you remember an hour?

0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:08.800
<v Speaker 2>A couple of hours, probably at least a couple of hours. Yeah, yeah,

0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.639
<v Speaker 2>you know, in those days, I had a girlfriend at

0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:14.160
<v Speaker 2>at the time.

0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:18.159
<v Speaker 1>She came over and that night, what was the vibe like?

0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.320
<v Speaker 1>Do you remember that? Was it just an ordinary night?

0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:21.359
<v Speaker 1>You don't remember anything?

0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:22.520
<v Speaker 5>There wasn't.

0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:27.679
<v Speaker 2>Look, I think the weekend before that they had a party,

0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.560
<v Speaker 2>a house party, of which I can't remember too many

0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:34.840
<v Speaker 2>of the people that were there, but obviously Susanne Armstrong

0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.480
<v Speaker 2>was there, and she had a couple of friends, and

0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.280
<v Speaker 2>Susan had a couple of friends, wasn't It wasn't a

0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.040
<v Speaker 2>lot of people, but some of my friends came and

0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:47.080
<v Speaker 2>so yeah.

0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:50.040
<v Speaker 1>So when you left there was you didn't notice anything underward,

0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:51.120
<v Speaker 1>It was just a normal night.

0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:53.919
<v Speaker 2>No, just normal. It was one of those things. I

0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.960
<v Speaker 2>didn't observe anything or wasn't looking for anything or whatever.

0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.440
<v Speaker 1>After dinner, Martin and his sister agreed to catch up

0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.880
<v Speaker 1>the following week. He and his then girlfriend drove home,

0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.720
<v Speaker 1>and with Greg asleep in his cod Susan and Suzanne

0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.200
<v Speaker 1>sat down to watch The Sullivans, one of their favorite

0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:15.520
<v Speaker 1>TV shows. It must have seemed like a quiet end

0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:20.840
<v Speaker 1>to relaxed, happy evening for everyone, but three days later,

0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:25.360
<v Speaker 1>the two Sue's bodies were found and two families lives

0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:27.720
<v Speaker 1>were shouted.

0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:35.399
<v Speaker 2>My girlfriend rang me at work and said there's been

0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:41.600
<v Speaker 2>a murderer in Collingwood that found whatever, and I said, okay.

0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:48.520
<v Speaker 2>So I rang their home and a guy answered and

0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:53.119
<v Speaker 2>he said who are you? And I said who I was,

0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:57.560
<v Speaker 2>and he said you better come down here, and I go.

0:22:57.720 --> 0:22:59.320
<v Speaker 2>Can you tell me any more? He said nah?

0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:00.680
<v Speaker 4>So that was it.

0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:01.880
<v Speaker 5>I sort of.

0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:07.760
<v Speaker 2>Was working in Boward and I thought all the way

0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:11.959
<v Speaker 2>down there when I drove, that's strange, wonder what you know,

0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:18.000
<v Speaker 2>and not thinking the worst, but just obviously what could

0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.440
<v Speaker 2>have happened. And when I got there, they so basically

0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:27.479
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to interview me for you know when we

0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.520
<v Speaker 2>last hear, who did you talk to? All that kind

0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.240
<v Speaker 2>of stuff. And then from there it was a matter

0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:37.679
<v Speaker 2>of going to the police station. Whether it was that

0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:39.840
<v Speaker 2>day or the next day, I can't remember, but yeah,

0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:41.800
<v Speaker 2>and then to make a statement.

0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:48.760
<v Speaker 1>Next time. On the Easy Street murders.

0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.359
<v Speaker 3>She saw him turn and leave with a knife in

0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:54.440
<v Speaker 3>his hand, and then the.

0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.680
<v Speaker 1>Car sped off what I's on, heading up towards Snith Street.

0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.400
<v Speaker 3>She herself was possibly in some sort of danger till.

0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:02.400
<v Speaker 1>This day, until I die.

0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:07.680
<v Speaker 3>I'm convinced there were two killers, not one.

0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:07.800
<v Speaker 5>H