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Caddie, a Sydney barmaid: An autobiography
Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid is the fictionally embellished autobiography of Catherine "Caddie" Edmonds, who worked as a barmaid in Sydney during the Great Depression. Published anonymously in 1953 under Edmonds' nickname, which was coined by a lover who likened her to "the sleek body and class of his Cadillac motorcar", Caddie attracted wide critical acclaim upon its original publication in London, and became a bestseller when it was adapted into a feature film in 1976, one year after International Women's Year.
The book follows the story of the nicknamed author, Caddie, from a brief outline of her childhood to her work as a barmaid and, later, SP bookmaking, during the Great Depression until the outbreak of World War II. During this time Caddie overcomes numerous hardships as she raises her two children without the support of family or her estranged husband, Jon Marsh.
The book follows the story of the nicknamed author, Caddie, from a brief outline of her childhood to her work as a barmaid and, later, SP bookmaking, during the Great Depression until the outbreak of World War II. During this time Caddie overcomes numerous hardships as she raises her two children without the support of family or her estranged husband, Jon Marsh.
199 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 25, 2019
This was nominated reading for our year 10 English class. As a fan of true stories and biographies I was happy with this one, as our previous class read was Jayne Eyre and I hadn’t enjoyed That at all! Caddie illustrated to me how things had changed for women in Australia since the 20s and 30s when her story takes place. I enjoyed her strength in facing poverty and discrimination with class, and Gave me an insight to Depression era Australia in the inner city.
June 1, 2010
This book relates Caddie's struggles to look after her two children and herself during hard times. She describes the shocking living conditions of the 1920s and 30s in the poorer inner Sydney suburbs. I couldn't help compare her living conditions - small slum houses with packing cases for table and chairs with the expectations of today's first home buyers. MacMansions with entertainment rooms, theatrettes, four bedrooms minimum, two bathrooms minimum, plasma TVs, etc, etc.
I would have liked to have rated it 4.5, but that's not available, so in protest at other low marks I have rated it 5. Highly recommended.
It's interesting and I wonder if anything can be made of it, but looking at the ages of those who give them, the younger readers marked it low and the older reader marked it high. Perhaps there's a relationship to my earlier comments?
I would have liked to have rated it 4.5, but that's not available, so in protest at other low marks I have rated it 5. Highly recommended.
It's interesting and I wonder if anything can be made of it, but looking at the ages of those who give them, the younger readers marked it low and the older reader marked it high. Perhaps there's a relationship to my earlier comments?
April 28, 2024
‘You’re like her – an eight cylinder job, and a beauty. So I’m calling you Caddie.’
In the introduction to this book, written in 1965, Dymphna Cusack writes of how she and Florence James first met Caddie when they hired her as a domestic helper in 1945. Ms Cusack explains how she encouraged Caddie to tell her own story and sets out the process Caddie followed, of learning how to type, of draft and redraft of the book.
‘I’d like to write a book myself,’ she used to say, ‘but I never had the education.’
This book, sub-titled ‘The Autobiography of a Sydney Barmaid’, is Caddie’s version of her experiences of life, including during the Great Depression. Caddie is the author’s nickname. It was bestowed on her by a patron in one of the bars in which she worked. Caddie writes of her battle to maintain her respectability while, having left her husband, she supports her two children. After a brief outline of her childhood, a description of her marriage and the reasons why she left her husband, the book follows Caddie’s experiences as a barmaid (from 1924) and later as an SP (starting-price) bookmaker in the tough working-class pubs of Sydney. Caddie’s story continues until 1941, when her son Terry joined up to fight in World War II.
‘I was twenty-four when I got my first job in a Sydney hotel bar, not from choice, but because I was broke and needed the money to support myself and my two children.’
Caddie’s account of life as a barmaid – when bars were segregated on gender lines, with the barmaid being the only female in the main bar, of the ‘six o’clock swill’ – when many drinkers tried to drink as much as they could before the bar closed at 6pm, of SP bookmaking, and of the grinding poverty experienced during the Great Depression makes for an interesting account of these times. The underlying theme of the story is the stoicism and strength of a female ‘battler’. It’s difficult to know how much of this story is true and how much it has been embellished in the telling. Perhaps it doesn’t matter: we admire our archetypal heroes, and Caddie’s story enables her to fit that role.
And who was Caddie? Catherine Beatrice (Caddie) Edmonds (11 November 1900 – 16 April 1960) was born at Penrith, New South Wales. She was the second daughter and fifth of eleven children of Hugh Edmonds, a labourer from Ireland, and his Scottish-born wife Maggie Elizabeth, née Helme (d.1945). This book, after seven drafts, was first released in London in May 1953. It was not published in Australia until 1966. In 1976, it was adapted as a movie starring Helen Morse.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In the introduction to this book, written in 1965, Dymphna Cusack writes of how she and Florence James first met Caddie when they hired her as a domestic helper in 1945. Ms Cusack explains how she encouraged Caddie to tell her own story and sets out the process Caddie followed, of learning how to type, of draft and redraft of the book.
‘I’d like to write a book myself,’ she used to say, ‘but I never had the education.’
This book, sub-titled ‘The Autobiography of a Sydney Barmaid’, is Caddie’s version of her experiences of life, including during the Great Depression. Caddie is the author’s nickname. It was bestowed on her by a patron in one of the bars in which she worked. Caddie writes of her battle to maintain her respectability while, having left her husband, she supports her two children. After a brief outline of her childhood, a description of her marriage and the reasons why she left her husband, the book follows Caddie’s experiences as a barmaid (from 1924) and later as an SP (starting-price) bookmaker in the tough working-class pubs of Sydney. Caddie’s story continues until 1941, when her son Terry joined up to fight in World War II.
‘I was twenty-four when I got my first job in a Sydney hotel bar, not from choice, but because I was broke and needed the money to support myself and my two children.’
Caddie’s account of life as a barmaid – when bars were segregated on gender lines, with the barmaid being the only female in the main bar, of the ‘six o’clock swill’ – when many drinkers tried to drink as much as they could before the bar closed at 6pm, of SP bookmaking, and of the grinding poverty experienced during the Great Depression makes for an interesting account of these times. The underlying theme of the story is the stoicism and strength of a female ‘battler’. It’s difficult to know how much of this story is true and how much it has been embellished in the telling. Perhaps it doesn’t matter: we admire our archetypal heroes, and Caddie’s story enables her to fit that role.
And who was Caddie? Catherine Beatrice (Caddie) Edmonds (11 November 1900 – 16 April 1960) was born at Penrith, New South Wales. She was the second daughter and fifth of eleven children of Hugh Edmonds, a labourer from Ireland, and his Scottish-born wife Maggie Elizabeth, née Helme (d.1945). This book, after seven drafts, was first released in London in May 1953. It was not published in Australia until 1966. In 1976, it was adapted as a movie starring Helen Morse.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 9, 2024
I picked this up at a street lending library because it looked like the most interesting thing on offer. I definitely wasn't disappointed; it was a quirky little book about a time in Australia I know very little about. Unfortunately, it was also very dry and the style was hard to get into at times. Caddie's life is tragic and uplifting at the same time - you can see why Dymphna Cusak and Florence James encouraged her to write her own story. I agree with Cusak in her comments on the historical accuracy of the book, in that it's largely irrelevant to central theme of a young woman overcoming all obstacles when the cards are stacked against her. Caddie certainly wasn't a riveting read, but it was enjoyable and insightful into what life was like for some in Australian during the Great Depression.
October 20, 2023
I read this some time ago, after hearing about family connections - I believe it is - my mothers uncle married Caddie's daughter Ann. The story of Caddie has become an Australian classic and rightly so, the story of a working class woman in suburban Sydney. But I was mostly glad to have read the introduction to the book where the author sets out just how she got to write the book. She had been working as a housekeeper to a house of women writers in the Blue Mountains and when they shared the inevitable cup of tea, Caddie told them of her life experiences, so they said she must write them down. She did this and as she says, after bringing the twentieth draft to them, she proclaimed I am doing no more work on this; a book that went on to become this Australian classic.
February 28, 2024
Jump in a time machine back to the early 1900's and follow the life of a courageous girl as she winds her way through difficult times in Sydney Town.
Full of delicious colloquial terms and a history of an area in which I have lived most of my life.
It is a great reference to inner Sydney life and the pub scene from the point of view of the less than fortunate of the time.
What better way to experience this than through the eyes of a barmaid.
Full of delicious colloquial terms and a history of an area in which I have lived most of my life.
It is a great reference to inner Sydney life and the pub scene from the point of view of the less than fortunate of the time.
What better way to experience this than through the eyes of a barmaid.
January 9, 2026
Well, this was an unexpected pleasure. I think I picked it up in an op shop a year or so ago. Read in one day - best use of one of the last days of a holiday. :-) It pulled me right into Caddie’s life -and the ups and downs in Australia through the early 1900’s.
August 6, 2020
Best read.
December 15, 2020
a valuable insight into Sydney life by a player; autobiographical
January 13, 2021
Heartbreakingly wonderful! A great insight into living in Sydney during the 20’s & 30’s. I randomly found this book in the local second hand store and I’m so glad I did.
November 7, 2013
Great, true read about depression-era Sydney in that rare voice from the other side of the bar - the long suffering Australian barmaid.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews