INTERVIEW WITH GLORIA GRANT (nee Beasley) born 1928
AND SHIRLEY SPROATES (nee Farrell) born 1940.
INTERVIEW DATE: 1st May, 1999.

Gloria Grant (nee Beasley) and Shirley Sproates (nee Farrell) remember their childhood as being free, busy and blessed. A childhood filled with simple pleasures of fishing in the creek, riding horses, picking berries in season and the Cinderella Balls. Twelve years separated their childhood memories. Gloria stayed in Towamba after she left school and worked at the general store and post office. Shirley left to continue her schooling in Bega, coming home on weekends. They relate memories, rich in detail, of a simple way of life led by them, their parents and neighbours in the 1930's, 40's and 50's.

KATE. SHIRLEY, WHO WERE YOUR PARENTS?
SHIRLEY. Well, George Farrell was Dad and Mum was Eileen Walters.
KATE. AND GEORGE FARRELL WAS A BROTHER TO HAROLD, LEO'S FATHER?
SHIRLEY. No. He was Harold's uncle. Well, see, there was a heap of them. There was Christie, Dad and Pat and Jack and Aunty Annie and Aunty Freda and Aunty Eva.
KATE. SO YOUR FATHER WAS A FARRELL AND HE WAS AN UNCLE TO HAROLD.
SHIRLEY. Right.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER WHO YOUR GRANDPARENTS WERE?
SHIRLEY. Well, there was old Dave Farrell, Dad's father and my grandmother was........oh I can't remember. She was a Beasley. I can tell you that much. She was old Bill Beasley's sister. What was her name?
GLORIA. I can't think.
SHIRLEY. She wasn't Charlotte because there was an Aunty Charlotte. She wasn't.......if I go through what the Aunty's names were, then she was the other one. Well, see, there was Aunty Annie Dickie... (Agnes Beasley)
GLORIA. Wasn't there a Maria or Sarah?
SHIRLEY. Sarah. Yes. I can't remember. I've got it written down somewhere. She was Pop's father's sister, anyway. I'll go and see if I can find it.
GLORIA. But you're really living in where my grandfather and mother lived.
KATE. I'M LIVING IN HARTNEADY'S OLD SHOP.
GLORIA. Ah, well, that's different again. They did live there before they shifted up to Wyndham with my parents when they couldn't care for themselves.
KATE. WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT NOW?
GLORIA. I'm talking about Ken McLeod and his wife. You know where the sports ground is?
KATE. YES.
GLORIA. And there's buildings over from the sports ground? That's where they really first lived.
KATE. IS THAT WHERE BLAXTER'S ARE?
SHIRLEY. No. Greers is where Blaxters is.
GLORIA. No. You know where Grandfather and Granny lived over at the back....like before ever they lived at Hartneady's.
SHIRLEY. That was where Pop called Ken McLeod's.
GLORIA. Yes.
SHIRLEY. That's where.....I think they knocked the old house down.
KATE. IS THAT WHERE JEFF KNIGHT LIVES?
SHIRLEY. No. That's where Mary Parker lived, where Jeff Knight lives. It's where ......there's two or three houses there now....near where Pam Bradford lives. Well, her house is up in the corner of the block. But the old house was in the middle of the block. There was an old house there below her house. It was an old fibro place.
GLORIA. That's where they first came. You see, they really had a farm at Lower Towamba, Grandfather and Granny McLeod. And when they were away, chipping their corn and everything, they came home to find their house had burnt down. And that's when they shifted to where Shirley just said. And it wasn't till a long while after that that they shifted over to the
Hartneady's house.
SHIRLEY. Well, the shop was still there.
KATE. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE THIRTIES......THE SHOP WAS STILL THERE.
GLORIA. Now you've got me. As far as dates go, I don't know. But you see, Grandfather's son, Jack, he married Thelda Hartneady. He started up a billiard room and a barber shop. At Hartneady's store. And then of course, they bought the Genoa Hotel and shifted out, well that's when Granny and Grandfather came over there.
KATE. SO YOUR FAMILY NOW, (to Gloria) WHO WERE YOUR PARENTS?
GLORIA. That was Hampden and Maud Beasley.
KATE. OH, HAMPDEN BEASLEY WAS YOUR DAD! I'VE GOT A PHOTO IN THE ALBUM OF THE TOWAMBA FOOTBALL TEAM IN 1921 AND HE'S THERE, AND JACK AND ALF AND ARTHUR. THEY'RE ALL THERE. BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MEN. SO WHAT WAS YOUR MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME?
GLORIA. That was McLeod, you see. She was Maud McLeod and Dad was Hampden Beasley and then her sister married his brother Tom.
KATE. TOM BEASLEY. RIGHT. WHAT WAS HIS SISTER'S NAME?
GLORIA. That was Maud and Daphne. They were sisters.
KATE. SO YOUR GRANDPARENTS WERE....
GLORIA. On the Beasley side that would be ....Grandfather Beasley's name was...Joseph, I think. And Sarah was his wife.
KATE. AND SHE WAS A....
GLORIA. She was a Targett.
KATE. I INTERVIEWED ALF BEASLEY AND........
GLORIA. William. That was his name. It wasn't Joseph. And his wife was Sarah. Do you remember where Jack Beasley used to live?
KATE. YES.
GLORIA. Well, over from there used to be the race course and the sports ground really, for years.
KATE. AND YOU WENT TO TOWAMBA SCHOOL?
GLORIA. Oh, yes. I thought it was wonderful. I still think it was wonderful. It's still home as far as I'm concerned.
SHIRLEY. Towamba will always be home.
KATE. AND DID YOU HAVE ALL YOUR SCHOOLING THERE?
GLORIA. Yes. I didn't go to high school or anything. I just finished up at school and then Ira Parker gave me the job at the post office and store and I worked there for seven years .....
KATE. WHAT YEAR WAS THAT?
GLORIA. Until I got married.
SHIRLEY. I remember when you got married but I can't remember the year.
KATE. YOU WOULD HAVE LEFT SCHOOL AT WHAT AGE?
GLORIA. Fifteen. And I was fortunate to get work there, you see. I didn't have to go away.
KATE. SO WHAT YEAR WERE YOU BORN?
GLORIA. 1928
KATE. WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING AT THE STORE?
GLORIA. Oh, wonderful. And a lot more to it than there is today with the store. And the post office ...they'd come in on a Thursday with their pension card. You see, there was none of this getting a check through the mail.
KATE. SO HOW DID IT WORK?
GLORIA. We'd have the money and we'd have to stamp their pension cards and......
KATE. THEY WOULD GET THEIR MONEY FROM YOU?
GLORIA. Yes. That's right.
KATE. SO YOU'D HAVE TO CARRY A LOT OF MONEY THEN.
GLORIA. Oh, yes. Especially on those days. And for a long time there wasn't any endowment, but when that came along too, that was all the same way. You had your little card, you weren't paid by check like you are now. And its the same with money orders. They call them postal orders now, don't they? A totally different setup altogether really. A lot more work attached to it, I think. You know, the sleeper cutters would come through and, well the carters, they would come through and you'd have to have these huge cartons of food ready for the boys in the bush. Oh! It was wonderful.
KATE. WHAT DID THEY DO, THE CARTERS. DID THEY HAVE TRUCKS.
GLORIA. They had the trucks and they had to go and pick up the sleepers.
KATE. SO YOU'D PACK UP THEIR DAY'S FOOD.
GLORIA. Well, it would be for a week or so, you see.
KATE. THEY'D GO TO A CAMP IN THE BUSH.
GLORIA. Yes. And there'd be a carton easy that high and this wide and just full of food.
KATE. WHAT SORT OF FOOD?
GLORIA. Oh, you know, all goodies that they needed. Tin foods and weetbix and butter and all that sort of thing that was needed. It was just wonderful.
KATE. WHAT DID THEY DO FOR BREAD?
GLORIA. Well, I think the carters brought it in from Eden, really. Because that's where the carters came from. I'd say they'd have the bread and possibly the meat for them because there was no meat close by. The butcher used to come around by then with a cutting cart and everything. Which was good.
KATE. SO HE'D CUT THE MEAT.
GLORIA. And serve us with meat, whatever we wanted from the butcher's cart. That was wonderful too. And you know, the green grocer with his big basket of ........I can still see all those beautiful things.
KATE. WAS THERE A GREEN GROCER OUT THERE. (TOWAMBA)
GLORIA. No. He'd come and he'd go to each place with this huge basket and it would have water melons and, oh, all the goodies. Us kids didn't see very much like that. But it was so good.
KATE. SO WHERE DID YOU LIVE WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP IN TOWAMBA.
GLORIA. Well, we did rent for a while. But the last place we rented was up at the police station. We were there for a while. And after that we built our own house.
KATE. AND WHERE WAS THAT?
GLORIA. And that's near Edna and Colin's'.(Veness)
KATE. NEXT TO THEIR PLACE?
GLORIA. Yes.
KATE. WHO WAS AROUND YOU THEN? WHO WAS UP THE ROAD AND NEXT DOOR.
GLORIA. Uncle Arthur was behind us and then in where Edna and Colin are, well there was Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Clements. They lived there because they sold their farm to George Love. 'Tyrone' was sold to George and then they came and lived there for a number of years and finally moved to Bega. After they left, the Eltons and then Arthur Love. He used to run the mail car. They lived there then.
KATE. WHAT DID THE STORE HAVE?
GLORIA. It was just a general store.
KATE. WHAT DID YOU DO FOR CLOTHES?
GLORIA. We had the work clothes but that was all. Oh, a little bit of embroidery and that sort of thing. And very early on, before I came on the scene, they used to have shoes and .....when I got there ....all these fancy hats you know, from years ago? They were still there in boxes. And the shoes and things. I thought it was great! (laughter) There was an old chap, he used to buy these shoes, you know. He'd come and they'd have these real pointy toes. I don't know how ever they put their foot in them. It was great!
KATE. SO YOU WERE, WHAT, SIXTEEN WHEN YOU WORKED THERE.
GLORIA. Yes.
KATE. AND WHAT ABOUT THE OLD WINE SALOON. DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM THERE. (LAUGHTER) WHAT WENT ON THERE? (LAUGHTER FROM BOTH GLORIA AND SHIRLEY)
GLORIA. Don't know about the goings on. (laughter) But, you see, when they shifted .......they came down there to play their footy and cricket.....
KATE. IN THE PADDOCK NEXT TO THE SALOON?
GLORIA. Yes. And the cricket too.
KATE. SO WAS THAT HELPFUL TO THE BUSINESS?
GLORIA. Oh, yes. It really was. Because Mrs. Parker catered for the teams that came. I used to work there for five shillings, I think I got.
SHIRLEY. And they had rooms at one stage. People could stay there. And the doctor would come...he'd have a little room there where he used to come out to visit. I remember going to the doctor there.
GLORIA. And see, travellers used to come around in those days and they'd stay there the night too.
KATE. WHAT WOULD THEY BE SELLING?
GLORIA. They'd have clothing and all that sort of thing. Manchester and a bit of everything really.
KATE. AND WHAT DID THEY SELL AT THE WINE SALOON. WAS IT STRICTLY JUST WINE?
SHIRLEY. Yes. Because they couldn't get a beer licence because there was a hotel........I remember Pop (Ben Beasley) telling us there was a hotel and they wouldn't give them a beer licence because .........
KATE. BECAUSE THE HOTEL WAS TOO CLOSE, OR SOMETHING.
SHIRLEY. Well, it got burnt down. It wasn't there in reality but somebody still held the licence. I said to Pop one day, 'How come they only sell plonk?' He said because they can't get a licence and if they get caught selling beer they will be in big trouble. Somebody still held the licence and I think it was some hotel in Sydney. Gaits? Now they took the licence with them when they moved but you see it was still that licence. So wherever they went that licence went with them and until they released that licence there could never be a beer licence issued there.
KATE. DIDN'T THEY HAVE ANY SLY BEER UNDER THE COUNTER?
GLORIA. I don't think so.
SHIRLEY. No. I never ever heard of anybody.......we never heard anyhow. If they did, we certainly wouldn't have known.
GLORIA. You know, going back to Grandmother McLeod. When the sports ground was still up over from Jack's, (near the old race course) she always did the catering for all the sports days. They did have a tennis court too, but it was mainly for cricket. I don't remember footy ever being played up there. There was never any cars, like they didn't have a car or anything so he'd get the slide and these huge wash tubs and she'd have to put everything in there so neatly and beautiful. And you know, she used to take everything up on the slide....
KATE. HORSE DRAWN?
GLORIA. Yes. And she had the beautiful white damask cloths. You've never seen anything like it. And then she'd have a full plum pudding for them and meats and vegies and all this. Put on a real spread. And everything was taken on that slide.
KATE. WOULD SHE SELL IT?
GLORIA. I'm not sure whether they paid her so much to put it on. She did it all herself. Marvelous! And she did exactly the same for the rifle shoots. See, they had the rifle shoots. Did you know where they used to shoot the rifles?
KATE. YES. AT THE BACK OF WHERE EDE'S ARE NOW.
GLORIA. Yes. Well, it was exactly the same thing. She used to take it up there.
KATE. DID SHE PULL THE HORSE?
GLORIA. No. Grandfather would do that part of the job. When you think of it now........ goodness me. What a lot of work.
SHIRLEY. You know what amazes me? We've got washing machines, steam irons, electric irons and we wouldn't think of starching a white table cloth and standing there for six hours ironing the blessed thing.
GLORIA. Well, when we used to have the balls at home there, for the church? Those beautiful table cloths?
SHIRLEY. Oh, Yes! Mum would be ironing it for hours.
GLORIA. That's right. Well, Granny, she had the job.....this was before your Mum, and they'd pay her thirty shillings to do all those table cloths.
SHIRLEY. And they were all cloth.
GLORIA. With a flat iron, mind you. In the old fireplace. Look, I don't know how she did it. And not a mark on it! They were just perfect. (laughter) Oh, it was just marvelous.
KATE. THAT WAS TOWAMBA HALL? THEY HAD THE BALLS AND DANCES.
GLORIA. Yes. Wonderful! And we didn't get to the balls. We weren't allowed. Kids weren't allowed to the balls. We had to go to the Cinderella the next night.
KATE. IS THAT WHAT THE CINDERELLA WAS. I READ THE NOTICES IN THE OLD NEWSPAPERS WHERE EACH COMMUNITY HAS ITS COLUMNS TELLING ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON AND THE C OF E BALLS ARE MENTIONED AND THEN THE CINDERELLA. I WONDERED WHAT THE CINDERELLA WAS.
SHIRLEY. That was the kids night out.
GLORIA. I think it was a big shame when they cut those out.
SHIRLEY. And they ate all the goodies left over from the night before, see. That was the way to clean it up.
KATE. WHO PROVIDED THE MUSIC FOR THE CINDERELLA DANCES?
GLORIA. Same people.
SHIRLEY. Jean Beasley and Terry Goward in my day. I don't know about your day.
GLORIA. Well, Mum and her brother and his wife.
KATE. CAN YOU GIVE ME THEIR NAMES?
GLORIA. That would be Maud Beasley and Jack McLeod and Thelda McLeod. (nee Hartneady) Well, they played for years for mere nothing ........money.
KATE. WHAT DID THEY PLAY?
GLORIA. Maud Beasley played the piano and Uncle Jack played the violin and Aunty Thelda played the drums.
KATE. WELL! THAT WAS QUITE FORWARD FOR A WOMAN THEN.
GLORIA. Yes. That's right. And they used to go all over the place. Their farthest would be, I'd say, Genoa. I don't think they went to Mallacoota.
KATE. THAT WAS THOUGHT OF AS BEING THE SAME AREA THEN, WASN'T IT?
GLORIA. That's right. My grandparents had quite a few relatives at Genoa.
SHIRLEY. On horseback, you could go straight through the back of our top farm and its no distance really, in comparison to coming around this way. (through Eden)
KATE. CLIVE CLEMENTS SAID HIS MOTHER USED TO RIDE ON HORSEBACK FROM WANGRABELLE, SHE GREW UP IN WANGRABELLE. SHE'D RIDE BY HERSELF THROUGH THE BACK OF YAMBULLA FOR A DANCE. SHE'D STAY WITH RELATIVES OVERNIGHT AT BURRAGATE AND GO HOME THE NEXT DAY. GLORIA. That would be right.
KATE. SHE'D HAVE HER DRESS IN HER SADDLE BAGS.
GLORIA. Long before Uncle Jack played the violin, there was another chappie there, Oz Smith. I can remember even then, Mum and her sister-in-law, they used to go all the way to Genoa playing ...in the sulky! If you please. Can you imagine it?
SHIRLEY. Mum said she came from 'Mountain View' into Towamba to a dance in the sulky and stayed with Aunty Hebe and go back again next day.
KATE. WHERE'S 'MOUNTAIN VIEW' SHIRLEY?
SHIRLEY. Where the Imlay Road goes through there now but it was on the
Towamba - Rockton Road but now the Imlay Road goes through. You know where you go past Letts Mountain turnoff, and you go down that hill....into a gully and then up to where Umback's yards are, well on your left.....Umback's yards, well they're not Umback's now, Moncks, I think, own it now, but down in that dip, there was quite a few hundred acres. That property was named 'Mountain View' and Grandfather Walters lived with Granny and that was where Mum was. And they used to come to Towamba to get their provisions.
KATE. YOUR MUM WAS A WALTERS?
SHIRLEY. Yes.
KATE. WHERE DID BEN BEASLEY COME IN? YOUR MOTHER MARRIED AGAIN.
SHIRLEY. Yes. You see, we bought that from Ben. Dad (George Farrell) had bought that but then he got killed.
KATE. RIGHT. THAT'S WHEN YOUR MOTHER MARRIED AGAIN. THE PICTURE'S GETTING A LITTLE CLEARER. SO, FOR THE DANCES, DID YOU MAKE YOUR OWN DRESSES?
GLORIA. Mum used to do a lot of my sewing and so did Mrs. Greer who lived in Towamba. She sewed lots and lots of frocks for me.
SHIRLEY. She was a beautiful dressmaker. She did dressmaking for a lot of people. She made my first school uniform when I went away to school. Because you couldn't buy them. You could buy those retched tunics but all the rest you had to have made. Like your sports uniform and all that. You couldn't buy them.
GLORIA. I'd see something on a biscuit tin or a beautiful frock and I'd think, gee! I'd like that so I'd nick up to her and show it to her and she'd say, 'Oh, yes.' she'd do that for me.
SHIRLEY. Winn's catalogue was the greatest! You mightn't be able to afford anything but you could copy it.
KATE. ILENE UMBACK SAID HER MOTHER WAS GOOD AT THAT. SHE COULD JUST LOOK AT IT AND THEN MAKE IT.
GLORIA. Oh, we didn't get out of Towamba all that much. In later years I was with the tennis, like I'd go about with them. We had a first grade team and a second grade team and done a lot of weekends with tennis. But nothing much else. In our younger days us girls, of a weekend, well we'd get a fishing line and away we'd go and we'd catch gudgens in the creek and the river. It was great!
KATE. WHAT ARE GUDGENS? WERE THEY YABBIES OR EELS?
GLORIA. No. They were about that long. (30 cms) They were fish.
KATE. IN THE TOWAMBA RIVER?
GLORIA. In that creek. You know that creek that comes down from the cemetery way below the old police station. There were really good holes there. That's where we used to sit and catch the gudgens.
KATE. THAT'S ALL FILLED IN NOW. IT'S NOTHING MORE THAN A DRAIN.
GLORIA. Well, it had some beautiful big holes.
SHIRLEY. It came from up the cemetery and down through what was George Love's and then under the road and down into the river. It wasn't very long.
GLORIA. One time we had this good catch so Mrs. Clements, that's Nita's mother, we lived next door see.
KATE. NITA CLEMENTS.
GLORIA. She's Nita Carpenter now in Bega. And her mum would cook the fish and then the next time it would be Mum's turn to cook the fish for us. I can remember that as clear as anything. It was great.
SHIRLEY. It didn't take much to entertain us, did it?
GLORIA. No!
KATE. DIFFERENT TODAY WITH KIDS PLAYING COMPUTERS INSTEAD.
GLORIA. They miss out on such a lot.
SHIRLEY. It was the rule, 'Don't go inside when the sun shines.'
GLORIA. And the television, that wrecked everything, didn't it?
SHIRLEY. Well, it wrecked the balls and all the Cinderella's and all those. People just didn't go anymore.
GLORIA. And then the dance bands got too expensive.
KATE. YOU MEAN THE LOCALS WERE NO LONGER PROVIDING THE MUSIC. PEOPLE HAD TO COME FROM OUTSIDE.
GLORIA. Yes. The Spindlers Orchestra was one of the main ones at that stage.
SHIRLEY. I was just trying to remember who else came out there who used to play for the balls. Wally Smith, he used to play for quite a few but I can't remember who used to play with him. Jean (Dickie?) did, for a good while. Maggie Foster played with him for a while too. They used to say it was Wally Smith's Band but I think he got whoever could play. Because he used to play here at Pambula a lot for the balls here.
GLORIA. But it was good music. But of course the young people now don't like that type of music. Now its all gone.
SHIRLEY. It was good dance music.
KATE. DID YOU EVER HAVE THE PICTURES COME OUT HERE?
SHIRLEY. I can remember Uncle Jim taking us when we were really little.
KATE. IN THE TOWAMBA HALL?
SHIRLEY. Yes. They must have bought the projector with them. Because I can remember Uncle Jim taking us because Mum couldn't go. It must have been just after Dad was killed. Because we weren't there very long before Dad was killed so it must have been after that because Uncle Jim came down and took all us kids and Mum didn't go. He was pretty good to us. He was really good to us. He took us to the circus, he took us to the pictures. Bought us down to Eden to see the beach.
GLORIA. Yes. Fancy! Was that the first time you'd seen the beach?
SHIRLEY. I'd never seen the beach until we came down then. See, we hadn't been here.
We'd been on the Monaro so we weren't near the beach.
KATE. HOW OLD WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN.
SHIRLEY. I suppose I must have been ten. That's how old I was when we came to Towamba. See, we'd been to Kozzie (Kosciusko) and all up that way but we hadn't been down this way.
GLORIA. And we had the two churches in the hall, in those days. It wasn't until later, much later, that the Anglicans said we could use their church. (St.Pauls Church) But we always had the Catholics and the Presbyterians ...that was over in the hall.
SHIRLEY. When I was there the Catholic people had theirs down at Carraghers, in the dinning room.
KATE. WHERE WAS THAT SHIRLEY? CARRAGHERS?
SHIRLEY. Where Moyna (Price) lives now. And I can remember if you went down there Sunday morning you weren't allowed to play. So you didn't go down there.
KATE. CHURCH WAS ON.
SHIRLEY. Oh, it was getting all ready. And if you went in there and touched anything and us grotty little kids we'd be sent out. But it wasn't necessarily Sunday. Whatever day the priest could come, they had it but, I mean, you just wasn't allowed in the dinning room while they were getting it all organized. See, I don't even remember the church being up in the church paddock. It was always where it is now.
KATE. 1912 IT WAS MOVED.
GLORIA. I wonder why it was put up there in the first place?
SHIRLEY. Somebody donated the land. The land was donated to them so they put the church there. Then it was moved and somebody said they could use that block where it is now. I don't know whether the Church bought it or whether it was donated. But that was why it was up the church paddock. I suppose, old Dick Brownlie, seeing he owned it.
KATE. THAT WAS PART OF 'TOWAMBA STATION' WHERE IT WAS.
SHIRLEY. Yes.
GLORIA. Before him, the Youngs had it.
KATE. SO 'TOWAMBA STATION' WOULD HAVE BEEN BIGGER THAN IT IS NOW.
SHIRLEY. Well, it was six hundred acres. When Dave (brother) sub divided it.
KATE. SO WHAT HE SUB DIVIDED IS WHAT IT IS TODAY?
SHIRLEY. Yes. When he owned it was six hundred acres.
KATE. WAS THAT ITS ORIGINAL SIZE?
SHIRLEY. Yes. Because the boundary's rise(?) that's always been there. I don't think it was part of it, was it?
GLORIA. No. I don't think so.
SHIRLEY. Well, if it was part of it, Oscar Love's certainly wasn't. That's where Schumann's are now. ('Hillview') It certainly wasn't. I don't know whether Rollo's....I doubt that Rollo's (South) was ever part of 'Towamba Station'
KATE. WERE THERE ANY ABORIGINES AROUND WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP?
SHIRLEY. The only Aborigines I ever saw as a child, was at Cann River.
GLORIA. No. There was never....not around Burragate or.......no not anywhere there. The only one I know of...there's one buried in the Wyndham cemetery and he was out from Rocky Hall. He was killed......out of a ...either a cart or a buggy and it dragged him along and killed him.
SHIRLEY. Well, the only really Aborigine I saw was at Cann River because Dad used to do some droving from Bombala sales. People bought cattle over at Cann River and also he drove them to Orbost and Sale. Big cattle sales and they drove the cattle from one spot to the other. There would be a group of them.
GLORIA. And when the mob of cattle was crossing the rivers there at home, oh, you'd see the women going with their cameras to take the photos. All the cattle would stop there to drink, see and they'd all be milling around, and while they were having a drink they would be taking photos.
KATE. WAS THE CROSSING FURTHER UP THE RIVER?
GLORIA. No. I can just remember them crossing where the bridge is now. You know, when you put your thinking cap on all the things.......I can remember we were all evacuated into the river there when the big fire came through. Terrible fire that was.
KATE. 1952 WAS IT?
GLORIA. Before that.
KATE. THERE WAS A FIRE IN 1939.
GLORIA. That would be the one. And we were all in the river, anyhow. Dreadful days, they used to be.
KATE. DID IT COME THROUGH TOWAMBA?
GLORIA. It came right down pretty close, but not actually through. Then there was one that went right along the Jingera side. Right through there one night. Oh, dear, it was awful. Really was.
SHIRLEY. Well, the '52 fire went right along Jingera, came right down to that bush.......didn't come right down to Issy's ('Riverview') but it was getting into the bush there. It must have given Pericoe a woeful fright because the kids had just come out of school and they always congregated at our place until somebody could come and pick them up and you looked out our back door and you could see this red glow and I remember Bill Martin screaming. You would have thought the whole of Pericoe was aglow. The sun was behind the smoke and us being kids and Mum didn't know. Nobody had experienced anything like that and Mum kept saying, 'No, I don't think it's flames.' But that was just what it looked like. And Bill Martin screaming. I mean he was only five or six. Only little.You can't imagine big six foot Bill Martin being little! All the Pericoe kids...we used to call them the Pericoe kids, just stayed at our place until they were picked up.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN THE PERICOE SCHOOL WAS THERE?
SHIRLEY. It wasn't operating in my time. No.
GLORIA. No. I can't remember that at all. But I can remember them still having the hall out there. There was still dances out there. But I was young, I must say. And then they had their tennis matches out there. But I don't remember anything about the school at all.
KATE. THEY HAD SOME PRETTY FIERCE TENNIS COMPETITIONS DIDN'T THEY?
GLORIA. Oh, yes.
KATE. IN THE OLD NEWSPAPERS THERE WERE TWO TOWAMBA TEAMS. ONE WAS 'THE PINES' AND THE OTHER WAS 'THE BARNEY STREET TEAM'.
GLORIA. I didn't know there was a Barney Street.
SHIRLEY. Yes. That's Uncle Arthur's street. There was only ever that house and the billiard room, where Heather and Peter (Matthews) are and ...
GLORIA. George Parker's place.
SHIRLEY. But that's up further.....and old Mrs.Tasker's, but it really fronted what they call Towamba street.
GLORIA. Yes. And ours did too.
KATE. I WAS READING IN THE OLD NEWSPAPERS THAT A MATCH WAS PLANNED BETWEEN BURRAGATE AND TOWAMBA. THE PINES TENNIS TEAM DIDN'T TURN UP AND THE BURRAGATE LADIES HAD DONE ALL THIS COOKING AND THEY HADN'T BEEN TOLD THE OTHER TEAM WASN'T COMING. THEY WEREN'T VERY HAPPY.
SHIRLEY. I can imagine that being frowned upon. Because their cooking was sponge cakes......beautiful! I think that was why people went to tennis, to get a piece of sponge cake with fresh cream on it. (laughter)
GLORIA. Oh, dear. They put on some beautiful spreads.
SHIRLEY. Oh, didn't they!
GLORIA. There was no doubt about it.
KATE. ENIE LOVE SAID SHE COULD REMEMBER COOKING THREE OR FOUR SPONGE CAKES TO TAKE TO THE DANCE AT PERICOE HALL. SHE SAID THEY WALKED CARRYING THESE SPONGES ...ABOUT THREE MILES FROM WHERE THEY LIVED.
SHIRLEY. The hall's not there now, is it?
KATE. NO.
SHIRLEY. But it must have gone not all that long ago because old Mr. South was out there at one stage, like before he died.
GLORIA. But that was about thirty years ago, when you think about it. In fact, perhaps it was burnt down in some of the fires.
SHIRLEY. It was still there when we moved down because I remember the kids, when they got carried away after the dances, they reckoned they couldn't be heard out there. (laughter)
GLORIA. Eltons lived just across from the hall before they shifted into Towamba.
SHIRLEY. See, I don't remember them.
KATE. DID YOUR DAD WORK AS A BULLOCK DRIVER?
SHIRLEY. Well, he was a farmer and a bullock driver and a drover and well....principally he was a farmer but he got other work. I just found this. It was the day Maxie Carragher put the tractor in the river and I remember Dad saying they had to come and get Dad to get the bullocks to drag it out. And he said, 'They still need me bullocks.'
SHIRLEY. This is one of Aunty Vera.
KATE. VERA WHO?
SHIRLEY. That's Pop's first wife.
KATE. NOW BEN (BEASLEY) WAS 'POP'?
SHIRLEY. Yes.
KATE. WHAT WAS HER MAIDEN NAME?
GLORIA. Hite. Vera Hite.
SHIRLEY. From out at the Yambulla mill. That's taken off the original photo. Pop had that done and that always hung up in the dinning room. There was a big photo of her and some of her brothers and Pop had this taken off that. Because she was such a tiny thing. I used to wear her shoes when I was about twelve. She was a very dainty thing.
KATE. DO YOU MIND TALKING ABOUT HOW YOUR DAD DIED SHIRLEY? I'VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT A MAN WHO GOT KILLED BY A BULLOCK .....CRUSHED AGAINST A TREE.
SHIRLEY. He tripped and the bullock wagon went over the top of him.
KATE. WAS THAT UP ON THE YAMBULLA FIRE TRAIL?
SHIRLEY. Oh, well I suppose. That's what you'd called it. We just say, 'Up the back of the top farm.' Because we owned....that was our .......like we had the nineteen acres down at Towamba and then we had the farm.....the real farm, it was up the back and we called it the 'Top Farm'.
KATE. IS THAT WHERE 'KAPUNDA' IS NOW?
SHIRLEY. Yes. It's all under pines now. He and Wallace Brotherton were getting the winter supply of wood in and they had the wagon loaded and they were just on their way home and he tripped over a twig, I think, or he just tripped anyhow, and fell, and before Wallace could stop the bullocks from moving the front wheel had gone over his back. And see, Wallace was not a bullock driver of any description, anyhow Dad could stop them but by the time the ambulance got out there and all the mucking around.......he was still alive apparently when the ambulance got there but he died at the corner, at the top gate. So Mum said. But she didn't tell us that until after we were a lot bigger and we could cope with it. But he was still alive when she went up. But he died at the top gate when the ambulance was bringing him down.
GLORIA. But that top farm, you know.....
SHIRLEY. That was Grandfather Beasley's wasn't it. Originally.
GLORIA. Yes.
KATE. HE WAS BEN'S FATHER.
GLORIA. And he was Bill, wasn't he......William Beasley.
SHIRLEY. And I think Granny Farrell was Agnes.
GLORIA. You know, I only heard this recently that Christie (Farrell) was decorated in the war, you know. And also Jack. Both Christie and Jack.
KATE. JACK.......
GLORIA. Jack Farrell. They were decorated.
SHIRLEY. Well, Mum had the big photo of Uncle Jack and when Dad died....or when we were doing some cleaning up, we gave it to Harold (Farrell) and that was with all his medals on. And there was the one of Granny.....somebody....must have been Granny Farrell. We must have given that to Harold too.
GLORIA. But that farm you were talking about, 'Top Farm', there was a row of Kentish cherry trees there. Just a beautiful row of them and every year when the Kentys were on, well all the ladies and kids, a mixture, we'd get our kerosene cans and away we'd go up there and pick cherries and cart them home. It was great!
SHIRLEY. We'd walk up, with Loris and Noelene and myself and we'd take the milking buckets, walk up, eat as many as we could, fill them up and we'd walk home and Mum would go back up in the car and bring all the cherries back in the car.
GLORIA. We had to walk home. (laughter)
SHIRLEY. We got that little bit spoilt. We walked up, we could eat as much as we liked but we had to fill the buckets. Well we didn't have to walk home, but we wanted to because it was something to do.
GLORIA. Well, of course. It was good. There is too much driving everywhere now, not enough walking.
SHIRLEY. Well, I don't think they could have afforded it. I mean, Laurie (Beasley) used to bring the wood on the slide, we'd bring the bark (wattle) out on the slide. With the horse and slide, we did everything. We didn't have a tractor. They did all the ploughing for the corn paddocks and that, with the draft horses. We didn't get a tractor until Dave and Tony (brothers) bought Wallace's (Brotherton) out for Dave and Tony. Wallace owned the tractor. Mum bought the tractor from him.
KATE. WHEN WERE YOU BORN SHIRLEY?
SHIRLEY. 1940. I was born at Bombala. We lived at Rockton then.
KATE. SO WHEN DID YOU COME TO TOWAMBA?
SHIRLEY. Christmas, 1949.
GLORIA. Our early school days...of a weekend all you did was go for a walk somewhere. All of us got together and went for a walk........
SHIRLEY. Pick blackberries....
GLORIA. Or go to somebody's place and have a game of cricket.
SHIRLEY. We never had any spare time. Always busy.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE ANY JOBS TO DO BEFORE YOU WENT TO SCHOOL?
SHIRLEY. One of the boys would have the biscuits the other would get the cows in, Mum would have the stove alight and the breakfast on it.
KATE. WHAT WOULD THE BISCUITS BE FOR? TO ENTICE THE COWS?
SHIRLEY. No. That would be because you were starving! You took a handful of biscuits to eat on the way up the hill to get the cow back down. Mum would milk and if it was a real frosty morning you'd get a couple of sheets of tin and be sliding down the hill towards the creek rather than getting ready for school which was much more fun.
KATE. HOW MANY COWS DID SHE MILK?
SHIRLEY. Two or three.
KATE. SO THAT WAS JUST FOR YOUR OWN USE.
SHIRLEY. We made all our own butter. You had your own milk, your own cream and your own butter. Can't remember when I first had bought butter.
KATE. SO YOUR MUM DID ALL THAT?
SHIRLEY. Oh, yes. Then of an afternoon we'd get home from school....you'd have a glass of raspberry and a handful of biscuits again and up the hill you'd go and get the cows in and do it all over again. After Dad was killed, Laurie, every Saturday morning...I don't know what time that man got out of bed....
KATE. THAT WAS LAURIE BEASLEY?
SHIRLEY. Yes. He came over. He would chop enough wood for Mum to keep her going for a week. He did that every Saturday and I commented to him not long ago....us kids being nine and ten, we thought he was an old man. But he must have been all of thirty! Can you imagine a thirty year old doing that for a lady that was left with four kids in this day and age?
GLORIA. We'd put up jumps. Our parents would have jumps for us to get ready for the sports and compete in the high jumps.
KATE. HORSE JUMPING?
SHIRLEY. No. Feet! (laughter)
GLORIA. I won a cup for running at the convent sports. Now the cup I won...I won it in '38 so I was ten. Nearly got two that day. Just missed out. I've still got it too. I can remember that.....you know, I was that bloomin' proud of this thing.
SHIRLEY. There was the Burragate sports. If you did really, really well at the Burragate school sports, you went to Kameruka and then you got to Pambula.......
KATE. AND THEN THE WORLD!
SHIRLEY. (laughter) And then you came to an abrupt end! Once you got to Pambula you'd done your dash.
GLORIA. But all those little places had their sports day, you see. We had our banner, didn't we.
SHIRLEY. We had a banner with the name of your school on it. And you had your uniform and you were so proud.....everyone was in white but you had a different stripe down your shirt. Towamba's was red, I think Wyndham's was green and I think Burragate had blue. You see, Burragate school was still going when I went to school. It didn't close.......when did it close? I'd well and truly left school anyhow. Would you believe that Les Davey, the teacher at Burragate when I went to school at Towamba, his son was teaching at Eden where I work, at one stage! And Neil Rutherford who's Jim Rutherford's son is the principal at Bermagui now. Jim Rutherford was the teacher at Rocky Hall when I went to school.
GLORIA. They were terrific tennis players weren't they?
KATE. IN YOUR TIME, AS FAR AS DELIVERING BABIES OUT THERE, WAS THERE A MIDWIFE, A MRS. ARNOLD IN TOWAMBA THEN?
GLORIA. Not in my time. I was born in Candelo then and there was a maternity home there. Bruce, yes he was born in Candelo too.
SHIRLEY. Mrs. Arnold must have been back, sort of, when Pop was born. In that era. Because it was before that little baby was born, because it was born over in Pambula. Pop's little baby.
GLORIA. Oh, I thought it was born at home. They tried to get the doctor.....and the doctor didn't get there in time.
SHIRLEY. See, that's what happened with Dad. The ambulance was suppose to go out there and they were busy carting Mrs. Love in here (Pambula) for Wayne to be born.
KATE. SO THERE WAS STILL A PROBLEM IF THERE WAS A DIFFICULT BIRTH.
GLORIA. Would there have been an ambulance when that little baby was born?
SHIRLEY. Well, the only reason I think that something........you remember I told you we found those particular books with a lot of information in them about hospitals and private hospitals. And there was a private hospital down here at the bottom street....I can't remember what it's called. And a lot of Towamba and Pericoe children were born there because some of the names were familiar and I just wondered if that was what they did. I could be wrong.
KATE. ARE THESE PUBLISHED BOOKS OR HOSPITAL BOOKS?
SHIRLEY. No. A private person owns them.
GLORIA. Yes. Miss Kuzemacker(?) that's the person who had the private maternity place. Yes.
KATE. IT MUST HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT IF THERE WAS A PROBLEM WHEN YOU WERE HAVING A BABY.
SHIRLEY. My mother said the best thing about the good old days was, one, they're gone and, two, all the friendships she made. I think what she meant was that the friends you made then were genuine friends.
KATE. YOU HAD YOUR FAMILY AND IT WAS MORE OF A COMMUNITY THEN. YOU HELPED OUT MORE THEN.
SHIRLEY. Well, you helped each other or you didn't survive.
KATE. DID YOU HAVE A BIG VEGIE GARDEN?
GLORIA. Oh, yes. We preserved as well. Made our jams and pickles. Still do. Grandmother was such a wonderful cook and so was my mother. I suppose it had to rub off on to me.
KATE. DID THEY BUY COOK BOOKS OR.......
GLORIA. Mum did but Grandmother didn't.
KATE. DID SHE WRITE RECIPES DOWN IN A BOOK?
GLORIA. No. She just made it out of her head. And her puff pastry was absolutely beautiful. I think what happened with Grandmother, though, she worked for a lady in Bombala. She was on a Station up there for a long time. 'Bukalong Station'. I think that's where she got her experience from, up there.
SHIRLEY. Well, I've got cook books in there that Nanna Sproates had and that Mum had. I assume they must have belonged to Granny. A lot of those....what do you call that long one you have? Well, on the back, Mum has written on the back all sorts of recipes.
GLORIA. Was that the C.W.A. book?
SHIRLEY. No. Wasn't it ....'Carry On.....'
GLORIA. Oh. The 'Carry On' book, yes. It was a great old book.
SHIRLEY. I've got a book in there Nanna Sproates had and it shows you how to cook meat and which part of the beast you had. It was all segmented in and this is what you call that and this is how you cook it.
GLORIA. It was a wonderful way they cured the meat in those days. They kept it for so long, where today, nothing will keep for long. Even the bacon is not what it used to be.
KATE. CLIVE CLEMENTS SAID THAT HIS MOTHER USED TO HANG PIECES OF BACON UP IN THE RAFTERS BY THE FIRE. IT WAS CONTINUALLY BEING SMOKED. THEY JUST CUT A BIT OFF WHEN THEY WANTED IT.
SHIRLEY. The first time I ever saw that was when Paul (husband) took me to see his uncle. I'd never seen this before. I walked in and there was all this meat hanging....
KATE. WAS IT ALL HANGING......
SHIRLEY. In the .......like it.......they had a rail across....like in the chimney, up above the stove ....
KATE. INSIDE THE CHIMNEY, UP ABOVE THE STOVE.
SHIRLEY. Yes. Like there's a brick chimney and you've got the flue of the stove but there was all this space.......and it was all smoked. I couldn't wait to get out of there to ask all these questions. What was that and why was it up there. And did you really eat it?
GLORIA. And it was delicious.
SHIRLEY. Paul said, 'Of course you eat it!' That was genuine smoked bacon. And believe me it was genuinely smoked! (laughter)
GLORIA. Well, that's right. Bruce's parents used to do it in an old wash house and that's where they used to do theirs.
SHIRLEY. Maybe that's what Mum used to do out in our old kitchen...what we called the old kitchen at Rockton. The house at Rockton was new, so to speak. They bought that off old Mr.McCole, Ken McCole. And this old kitchen had a dirt floor but Mum was ...it was only used for laundry and for us to play in but she used to do something out there. She used to have the big wooden cask to put the meat in the brine. But when we came to Towamba we were a bit more sophisticated. (laughter)
KATE. LEO FARRELL SAID THAT HE CAN REMEMBER A BARREL BEING DOWN AROUND NEAR THE WATER TANK WHERE IT WAS COOL AND IN THE SHADE ALL THE TIME AND THERE WAS MEAT IN THAT, IN THE BRINE. HE SAID IT WOULD KEEP FOR MONTHS.
SHIRLEY. Well, Aunty Eileen was a bit more up market than us again. She had a cooler that water trickled down and she could put her meat in that.
GLORIA. Granny had that too. It has got a name. I just can't remember what it was called. The butter used to be so cold and beautiful.
SHIRLEY. Aunty Eileen was Leo's grandmother. Like Harold's (Leo's father) mother.
KATE. SHE WAS EILEEN ......
GLORIA. Eileen Farrell....she was Eileen Dickie. Now this little cooler was a small box-like shape and you covered it with hessian and on the top, that's where the water went in, on the top, and it just came down over the sides.
SHIRLEY. That was just the water cooler. It had a name.
KATE. COOLGARDIE SAFE?
GLORIA. Yes.
SHIRLEY. No. The thing Aunty Eileen had looked like a little fridge. Like the ones you get in caravans. It was that size and that shape and you poured the water in the top but it trickled down somewhere in there. It didn't come out on the floor. She had this when she came down and was living in Jack Dickie's place when I used to have to go over and stay with the kids. I was all of ten....
KATE. THIS IS WHERE RAY LOVE IS NOW?
SHIRLEY. No. This is across the river where it was a bit fallen down.
KATE. THAT WAS THE DALTON'S OLD PLACE, ACROSS THE RIVER. THE CROSSING USED TO BE UP THERE.
SHIRLEY. Yes. Dickie's crossing we used to call it.
KATE. SO WHO USED TO HAVE THAT HOUSE?
SHIRLEY. Jack Dickie, who was Uncle Jim Dickie's brother, he married a Gaits....no .......
KATE. WHO WAS MRS. DICKIE?
GLORIA. Alice Keevers.
SHIRLEY. Well, it was Jack Dickie's and ....
GLORIA. And before they had it, it was Binnies's. Arthur Binnie and Ginnie Binnie lived there.
KATE. THERE WERE BINNIES ALL OVER THE PLACE.
SHIRLEY. But they were brothers, weren't they?
GLORIA. Well, there was the one up at 'Jerusalem' that was Herbert. But I didn't know the others. But there were quite a few of them, as you say.
KATE. SO WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO OVER THERE?
SHIRLEY. At Aunty Eileen's, when she moved down there to live after Jack Dickie died, she had this fantificul thing that if somebody left your house you had to live in it for a certain amount of time and she was too frightened to live in it on her own so I used to have to go over and sleep the night after school. And I used to laugh and say I was keeping the spooks away. What good was I at ten years of age? I was probably as frightened as she was! I'd ride my bike over after tea and sleep there for the night and then I'd get on my bike.......it wasn't my bike, I never owned one. It was Dave's bike. I'd ride it back over home have my breakfast and go to school.
GLORIA. That was where old Mr.Martin used to live before the Binnies. He built his own coffin and had it under his bed.
KATE. DID HE?
GLORIA. I remember Aunty Carrie went over there and she was quite young then of course. I suppose there were some girls in the family. I don't know whether they were Martin girls or not. And she went over there to stay the night and she kicked her foot on this coffin ..(laughter) I never forget when she told us that.
KATE. WHAT WERE THE PARKERS LIKE?
GLORIA. Oh, great people. I got on fine with them. They were good to work for.
SHIRLEY. Topsy (Parker) and Aunty Eileen would come over home every Sunday. They'd go up the cemetery. It was a sort of ritual. We'd go up the cemetery and you'd call in to Mum's and have a cuppa on the way back. Mum liked it. There'd be Rita and Topsy ...and Aunty Eileen would take flowers up because, well, Copper's there and Jack Dickie's there....
KATE. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD ANYONE TALK ABOUT THE 'FIGURE HEAD' ON THE TOWAMBA ROAD.
SHIRLEY. Pop always talked about the 'Figure Head' but I don't know where it is. Dave does . It was a marking when they were traveling, must have been when they were bringing the mail because Pop always spoke about the 'Figure Head'. He'd mention this happened at the 'Figure Head' or that happened at the 'Figure Head'.
GLORIA. That's on the way to Eden.
KATE. FROM EDEN COMING TO TOWAMBA.
SHIRLEY. Its got something to do with a stopping off spot or something when he used to have the mail run from Yambulla. I reckon it used to have something to do with that.
GLORIA. I've heard them talk of 'The Landing'. That was where poor Les got killed. Les Beasley.
SHIRLEY. That was up the top of the mountain.
GLORIA. Yes. At 'The Landing'.
KATE. IS THAT BEFORE YOU GO AROUND THE FENCED IN AREA TODAY?
GLORIA. Yes. It would be. Where it just flattened a bit on the top.
SHIRLEY. It's somewhere near the junction of Ben Boyd Road and Towamba Road. Somewhere in that area I think.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER THE ELECTRICITY COMING?
GLORIA. Oh, Yes. I was living in Wyndham then.
SHIRLEY. You were an old married women then!
GLORIA. Yes. I was an old married women then. Gosh! Oh, that was wonderful. And then every time there would be a blackout it would be so terrible. We didn't have any lights, you know. We had to get out the candles again!
SHIRLEY. I remember Mum. She was beside herself.
KATE. ENIE LOVE SAID THAT THE LIGHT WAS SO BRIGHT.
SHIRLEY. See, I was away at school and when I came home to do my homework, because having the electricity in Bega, Mum used to have two lights so I could do my homework. I just could not see with the lamps after being used to the electricity. But Mum, she had a light in every room. She had a power point for the fridge and a power point for the iron. Pop lashed out and bought a fridge and an iron and it was so wonderful. Verity (sister) said she still remembers the day it was actually turned on. They were coming down from the top farm and she said, when they came down through the top gate there were no lights on. They couldn't see the lamps. They wondered what had happened. We got home and walked in and she said here was you and Mum and you flicked the light on when we walked in. The table was set and everything and Pop thought something terrible had happened because there was no lamps lit! Verity was six years younger than me and see, and she got a big kick out of it. I'd been away and I knew what it was like. Mum was so excited with her electric iron. She bought it from Armstrong and Evans.
KATE. IN EDEN?
SHIRLEY. Tom Kelly would have wired just about every house in Towamba. Armstrong and Evans had the shop that is Mark Anthony's now. They had electrical goods and clothing and they'd come out and they'd say well we've got this and its this much and so on. And they'd say that this is what we think you would need. You made up your mind and they'd bring the stuff out. There was no pressure.
GLORIA. We generally got one thing at a time. We would pay for one thing before you got the next. You'd get such a thrill out of doing it that way.
SHIRLEY. Mum got an iron and a fridge. I think she'd been saving up since the first she heard it was coming. That's all she wanted. An iron and a fridge no matter what. She didn't care about anything else. We didn't have anything else. I bought her an electric jug for Christmas after I had left school and gone to work.
KATE. SO YOU GOT YOUR MAIL DROPPED AT THE STORE?
SHIRLEY. Yes. That was the big outing for me. I had been at home for about twelve months after I left school before I got a job. We'd get all doo daahed up and go over and meet the mail car.
GLORIA. I think the worst time for me when I was at the post office and shop there, was when they had all the......during the war and they had all these coupons. I used to hate that. Coupons for butter and tea and you'd have to deal them out.
KATE. WAS THE WAR BAD FOR TOWAMBA?
SHIRLEY. All the Beasley blokes went.
GLORIA. I reckon there'd be between fifteen and twenty who went.
SHIRLEY. Well, you see, Jim Parker and Tom and all them went from your age group. And Uncle Arthur (Beasley) put his age up to go to world war one and he put it down to go to world war two. I've got all the medals up home...all Uncle Arthur's medals.
GLORIA. Another thing at the shop...was when the wool company would send the prices of the wool and at all different prices.
SHIRLEY. You had your different classes of wool and each class was a different price and your agent....you trucked it all away to Bombala and then it went by train to wherever and the agent dealt with it all and they telegramed you all back.
KATE. SO IT DIDN'T GO TO THE COAST? IT WENT UP TO THE TABLELANDS.
SHIRLEY. Yes. Well, the coast isn't a sheep area. Loves and us were probably the only ones who had any number of sheep.
GLORIA. And Logans.
SHIRLEY. Jimmy Love's place would have had the most sheep.
KATE. WHERE WERE LOGAN'S?
SHIRLEY. Where Mirams are now. 'Restalrig'.
GLORIA. You had to be so exact with the prices too. They expected you to take it right. And then you'd ring them and tell them and still write it out on a form and give it to them later on. But you rang through and told them what the prices were.
KATE. SO WHEN DID THE PHONES COME IN? BEFORE THE ELECTRICITY?
GLORIA. Long before, yes.
KATE. DID THE DOCTOR COME OUT?
GLORIA. Yes Dr. Bloomfield and a dentist too at one time.
SHIRLEY. We still went to Bombala to the doctor. See Mum still did everything basically at Bombala. When Dr.Thompson said I had to have my tonsils out I went up to Bombala hospital and had them out there and stayed at Aunty Hebe's until I got better.
KATE. IS THAT HEBE PARKER?
SHIRLEY. Yes. See, she's Mum's sister.
KATE. DO YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THE LAINGS FROM OUT THERE?
GLORIA. Oh, yes. Is Charlie still living?
SHIRLEY. Pericoe Charlie? I don't know. I did hear something about Pericoe Charlie.
KATE. WAS THERE TWO THEN?
SHIRLEY. Yes. There was Pericoe Charlie and Towamba Charlie.
KATE. THAT WOULD BE THE CONFUSION. ILEEN LAING'S BROTHER WAS CHARLIE.
SHIRLEY. He was Pericoe Charlie.
KATE. THE ONE THAT LIVED WHERE MACEY'S ARE ('NEREMAN)' .....
SHIRLEY. Was Towamba Charlie.
KATE. HE WAS THE ONE WHO DROWNED IN THE LAKE.
GLORIA. That was Donald's (Laing) boy. And there was Arthur too. That was the other brother ......of Pericoe Charlie.
SHIRLEY. They were both in the army weren't they?
GLORIA. Yes. I'd say there'd be about twenty men who went to the wars.
KATE. IN THE EDEN MUSEUM THEY'RE HAVING AN EXHIBITION OF CRICKET MEMORABILIA AND THEY HAVE A PAINTING THERE BY A WILLIAM LAING IN 1889 OF A FIGHT AFTER A CRICKET MATCH OUT AT PERICOE WAY.
GLORIA. Yes. I remember that painting.
KATE. SO WHO DID THAT? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN DONE BY A WILLIAM LAING.
SHIRLEY. There was a William Laing.
GLORIA. Yes. That would have to have been a brother of Donald's, I'd say....and Jim's.
KATE. A BROTHER OF DONALD AND JIM....WHO WERE.......PERICOE....
GLORIA. Well, Donald was Towamba Charlie's Dad and Jim was Pericoe Charlie's Dad. And then there was Jim Laing, that was another brother. Jim had the big family.
SHIRLEY. Jim Laing, he was Ilene's (Umback) dad.
GLORIA. No. I'm thinking of Hector Laing.
SHIRLEY. Oh, well, he was the one who bought our place at Rockton. He was another brother of Jim and Donald. They lived at 'Nangutta' before they bought our place at Rockton. They were only living on 'Nangutta Station' working there and then they bought our place at Rockton.
GLORIA. But they were at 'The Ridges' for a long time, weren't they?
SHIRLEY. I think so. They were somewhere before they went to 'Nangutta'.
KATE. THAT'S 'THE RIDGES' JUST OUTSIDE TOWAMBA, WHERE GEORGE LOVE USED TO OWN.
SHIRLEY. That's where Alf Tasker was.
KATE. NOT TARGETT? BECAUSE WE FOUND A TREE OUT THERE WITH A 'H' AND A 'T' CARVED ON IT.
SHIRLEY. That's Harry Tasker who owned 'Jerusalem'. And Alf Tasker had 'The Ridges'.

AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS.

GLORIA GRANT nee BEASLEY

Gloria's grandfather: William Beasley
Grandmother: Sarah Targett
Father: Hampden Beasley
Mother: Maud McLeod

SHIRLEY SPROATES nee BEASLEY

Shirley's grandfather: Dave Farrell
Grandmother: Anes Beasley
Father: George (Brickie) Farrell
Mother: Eileen Walters

Children of George and Eileen Farrell:
Shirley, Dave, Tony, Verity.