THE STORY THE BEGINNING - SARAH ALEXANDER HER PARENTS EUNICE EVELYN FROST SALLY MARRIES JOHN MOUNTFORD THE POST WAR YEARS THE POST WAR YEARS (cont.) CONCLUSION LIST OF COLLECTED SONGS AND TUNES

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Eunice Evelyn Frost [Sally Sloane]

John Meredith wrote that Sally's mother Sarah divorced Tom Frost and married William Clegg. I have not as yet found evidence of this. She did however live with Clegg who was originally a gold miner. He later worked in many parts of New South Wales as a railway construction worker, mainly as a ganger on railway building jobs. Sarah and the younger children travelled with him, camping on the job throughout New South Wales and into Queensland. Bertha and Sally may have been the only children to travel with their mother and William Clegg around the railway camps. It is interesting to note that although they were the children of Tom Frost, both Sally and Bertha married using the maiden name Clegg .

William Clegg

Through his many interviews with Sally, John Meredith learnt that she had the the ability to learn songs and tunes easily. A number of her songs came from goldminer Billy Page in Parkes, a friend of her father. She told John Meredith that other sources of songs and tunes were Bob Vaughan of Aberdeen, Peter Owen of Parkes, Jack Archer, an itinerant railway worker, Harry Bartlett of Parkes, Annie Shaw of Parkes, Jo Bow of Tambar Springs and also from, William Clegg. But the bulk of Sally's songs and tunes were learned from her mother such as a lament for Ben Hall. The same song was sung by Bruce Crocket the man who played at her mother's wedding so it is possible that Sarah Frost got the ballad from him or from the same source.

As a young girl she had already mastered her mother's instruments as well as the fiddle, mouth organ and tin-whistle. From an early age, she was playing for small bush dances, and entertaining others with her songs.