Local heroes: Evelyn Irene Bolas

The lasting impact a Salvation Army youth worker can have on their charges is shown in this tribute to the life and influence of Thornleigh cub mistress, Evelyn Irene Bolas

She was a personality we cannot forget. Cub Mistress, surrogate mother, tom-boy big sister and leader to a band of energetic young cubs at Thornleigh, Sydney, in the late 1950s. Half a century later we miss Akela, as she was affectionately known, and still talk of her with affection and respect.

Evelyn Irene Bolas was born on St Patrick’s Day 1930 and raised at Carlingford, a northern suburb of Sydney. She was a unique young independent woman with a Spanish background and zest for life and the outdoors that she passed on to successive groups of young cubs. They, in turn, used the skills in later life as they left her wolf pack and went out to seek their fortunes. We never forgot the reef knot, to polish our shoes till they shone, and to behave with discipline and respect to our elders. In fact, as the wolf-cub code said: To do a good deed for somebody every day.

There are so many stories about Akela that it’s difficult to know where to start. She rode a green and cream 125cc BSA Bantam motorcycle that was her pride and joy. Evelyn bought it new for about 60 pounds and the steam-train drivers would toot their whistles as she rode parallel to the train tracks between Thornleigh and Pennant Hills. This occurred even more often if she carried Carol Wilson, her assistant cub mistress as pillion.

A keen and skilled photographer taught by her father, Evelyn had her own dark room and some of her creative work still exists. She had been trained as a tailor and for a number of years worked for Lowes in Sydney, where it is said she could sew a pocket into a pair of trousers in the blink of an eye. She also joined the Army Reserve and brought many skills back to the cubs at Thornleigh. 

Evelyn loved big rocks, really big rocks, and to sit on top of them in a bushland setting with a commanding view. These big rocks also feature in early photographs of her. She liked nothing better than to position herself on a high rock and defy the young cubs to creep up on her through the scrub without being spotted. If she spotted a cub she “shot” them with her imaginary gun and they had to return to the bottom of the hill and start again. There was never a dull moment when Evelyn was around.

Akela was also musical and played the piano accordion, as did our assistant cub mistress, Carol Wilson. They used this talent with both The Salvation Army and cub activities. But it was Evelyn’s superb whistle, either with or without two fingers in her mouth, that was unforgettable. It commanded instant attention and pierced the noisiest group of young boys or bushland setting. A girl, imagine it, and she could whistle louder and longer than the boys. This skill surely deserved special respect.

After we graduated from cubs to scouts around 1958, we heard that Evelyn had set out on her own adventures. This included a number of years travelling and fruit picking throughout Australia. In the latter years of her life, Evelyn fulfilled a life-long ambition. She became the ferry master at Wiseman’s Ferry on the Hawkesbury River. There she worked a strenuous seven-day week completing a 4pm to midnight shift from Monday to Friday with extra hours on the weekend.

Late in 1997, Akela was diagnosed with the advanced stages of cancer that could not be cured and only lived a few more months. As was Akela’s special request that her ashes were scattered behind the ferry halfway across the river. It was a fitting tribute to the Australian bushland and rivers she loved so much and the many young boys she sent out into life to tread the correct path.

Akela – we’ll do our best - wolf, wolf, wolf. The sounds of the call shouted at the top of our young voices so many years ago in tribute to the mother wolf and cub mistress still echo in my ears.

By Bob Piper*

Aknowledgements

Grateful thanks are expressed to Carol Borrett (nee Wilson), our much-loved assistant cub mistress, and Mrs Helen Taunton (nee Bolas), Evelyn’s younger sister, for their invaluable assistance and encouragement with this tribute. 

* Robert (Bob) Kendall Piper was a cub at Thornleigh, 1956-58.