BETTY'S PAGE
28 December 1915 - 6 March 1990
My mother Elizabeth Agatha (Betty) Carrucan was born on December 28, 1915, in Eltham which was, at that time, a small farming village. Her father, Michael Carrucan, was of the Carrucan clan who settled in Eltham in the 1850s. Her mother, Mary Sweeney, was the granddaughter of Captain Thomas Sweeney who was the first freehold settler in the Eltham district (he came to Melbourne in 1838 and applied to purchase 110 acres in Nillimbik in 1942). Both sides of the family were proudly Irish and proudly Catholic.
Betty was the youngest of three children and the family were subsistence farmers.
Betty was, even in those early days, a person of outstanding potential and personality and stood out as a pupil as she progressed through Eltham Elementary School. A scholarship enabled her to continue her schooling at Melbourne Girls High School. After an outstanding school career, she was awarded the Newman College Exhibition and a Senior Government Scholarship to attend Melbourne University. Thus she became the first girl from Eltham Higher Elementary School (and perhaps from Eltham overall) to attend University.
Career opportunities for women were few at that time and Betty embarked on a teaching career. While teaching at Stawell, she met a migrant Swedish miner, Erik Gunnar (Erik) Erickson, and they married in 1946. She soon gave up teaching to start a family and followed Eric as he moved with the mining to Captains Flat near Canberra and on to the Snowy Mountains Scheme, then in its early years.
As soon as she could, she returned to teaching, alongside her new role as a mother to three boys, eventually retiring from her profession in 1982 after a career spanning 44 years. The life of a female teacher was not an easy one in those days but Bettty was never one to shy away from confrontation or challenge. This 1982 interview about her career makes for riveting reading: 1982 Betty Erickson Interview.pdf
Her list of friends was large indeed. I always found it amazing how many people came to see her all through her life. All her friendships were lasting - a tribute to her warmth and personal charisma. When she died on 6th March 1990 after a battle with cancer, the funeral mass of over 300 people bore witness to her deep impact on many people.
Her challenges during her life were many but her faith always kept her going. She was surely one who fulfilled her potential and triumphed over all adversity. Yet she remained a humble person who talked little of her hard times, prefering to look at the good to be gained from any situation. She cried along with many people and stood alongside many as they faced crises.
She was one of those special people whom we meet rarely in our lives. Her memory will live on in my thoughts. Her stories will continue to pop up in my mind. Her special mastery of the English language will always be with me. Her humour and warmth and charity and wit and concern and faith and hope and love form a lasting tribute to her life.
Betty Eriksson - Funeral Obituary (1990)
To contact us, send a mail item to Tim
Erickson (terick@melbpc.org.au)