Jessie Merle Hall

Merle Hall, nee Diener, was raised on the Darling and, from 1912, the Murray rivers where her father owned and ran a succession of trading paddlesteamers and barges - the 'Eva Millicent', 'Merle', 'Flo D' and the 'Kookaburra'. 'There was always something happening' - from stop to stop, during low rivers when they tied up for a time and during frequent holidays with relatives about the State. Merle began working in the shop at 16 and after her father died in 1923 (an indirect result of the sinking of the 'Merle' in 1917) she and her younger brother kept the business going for three years until the family decided to leave the River. She married on to a Waikerie fruit block in 1927 and her first of four sons was born in 1928. In the thirties Mrs Hall and her family left the riverland for McLaren Vale.