John Charles Truscott ³⁵²

  Research Notes:

Jim Truscott notes:
John Truscott was born 11 March 1916 and he died in Toowoomba on 11 October 2004. He married Margaret Claire McNamara who was born on 10 August 1917 and who died on 26 January 1990. They had two children, Barry Truscott and Frank Truscott.

Information from his second son Frank Truscott with assistance from his first son Barry Truscott and Brian McNamara (brother-in-law).

John Charles Truscott was born in Emmaville, a small tin mining town in northern NSW on 11 March 1916, halfway through World War One. His parents were Sidney Austin Truscott and Julia Gertrude Truscott (nee Musgrave) and his siblings, at that time, were his older brother, Allan, and older sisters Mercie and Jess. His grandfather, also John Charles Truscott, had owned 'The Central Produce and Grocery Store' in Emmaville in the 1880's and his father, Sidney, and Sidney's two brothers Jim and Tom also went into storekeeping in Emmaville, as 'Truscott Brothers \endash Importers and General Storekeepers', with Sidney doing the bookkeeping. Sidney Truscott's family lived in Moore Street, Emmaville. The house was demolished in 1940. In 1914, Truscott Brothers sold their business. Tom and Jim went into a motor business while Sidney and two others ran the local picture show. About the end of 1916 Sid and the family moved to Johnson Street, Annandale in Sydney where Sidney (Sid) had purchased a small mixed business with a residence upstairs. They were not long there, however, before Sid sold again in 1917 and went briefly (a few months) with the family to Parson Brothers' store in Singleton and then bought a general store in Texas, Queensland in late 1917. While in Texas, in 1920, John's younger brother Cyril (Bill) was born but Julia went back to Emmaville for the birth. John started school in Texas on 20 June 1921. Sid sold the Texas business in 1924 and he returned to Emmaville where he started his old business up again and ran it for about 12 months. The Texas State School Admission register shows that John left Texas State School in August 1923, returned in March 1924 and left again in September 1924. Why this happened is unknown, although it may have been associated with Sidney settling affairs in Texas. John probably continued his schooling in Emmaville when not at Texas. The Register also shows that John's eldest sister Mercie Mary commenced at Texas in February 1917 and left in December 1920 and his other sister Jessie commenced at Texas in January 1919 and left in April 1924. John's eldest brother Allan is not mentioned, being at College in Sydney until 1919. In 1926, Sid moved the family again, this time to Jandowae, a small town on the Darling Downs in Queensland, where he bought Yarad Abraham's general store on the corner of George and High Streets. John attended Jandowae State School as did his brother Bill (Cyril Francis Joseph) and sister Jess who was later to train as a nurse. Sid and Jess were part of Truscott's Old Time Jazz & Novelty Orchestra with Bill Cox, Freddie Schultz, Les Moore and Jack Mahon. Not long after he started there, John attended a travelling Manual Arts school which came to town on the train. These travelling schools had been introduced by the Department of Public Instruction in 1925. Then, probably after he finished Grade 6, which was the last year of Primary school in Queensland at that time, he was bundled off to Saint Joseph's Marist Brothers' College at Hunters Hill in Sydney. He was there until he finished school at age 16 or 17. His brother Bill (Cyril) went to Downlands in Toowoomba until he finished school, and then helped Sid in the store, which Bill didn't like. Bill was there until he joined the Air Force in 1940.

John's brother-in-law, Brian McNamara remembers that John often expressed a desire to 'go on the land'. It may have been because of this desire that his father Sid purchased a dairy farm at Jinghi Valley about 15 kilometres north east of Jandowae in 1932. This purchase was during the 'Great Depression', so Sid must have been reasonably financial. Apparently Sid and his brothers Tom and Jim were partners in stores in Emmaville, Texas and Jandowae, and Sid ended up with the Jandowae store. The farm Sid bought was called 'Allandale' (named after his first son Allan Truscott) and it was in the family for 31 years. John was a bit of a 'rev head' and liked to give his cars the odd 'burn' around Jinghi Gully. "Giving it a Burn" was his term for flooring the accelerator. He was always proud of his vehicles.

A sometimes quite lucrative side industry on 'Allandale' was pig raising. The milk from the dairy was separated into skim milk and cream, with the cream going to the butter factory in Jandowae to be made into butter and the skim milk by-product being fed to the pigs with a grain ration. The Stock Market report from the Dalby Herald of 28 March 1950 has John selling 17 porkers for £17.17.6, or close enough to a Pound a pig. £17.17.6 would be about $838 in today's money.

There was only a small house on 'Allandale' at that time and he lived in this until the new house was built by Dave Cahill, a Dalby builder, in 1940/41. Other improvements over the years included more timber clearing, a new, modern piggery, new sheds and modern powered milking equipment. The new piggery was a work of art. He spent ages collecting thousands of empty bottles which he incorporated (unbroken) into the cement floor of the sheds. This was intended to keep the sheds warm in winter and cool in summer. He also constructed a rail line along the front of the pens. Skim milk was pumped across from the dairy into 44 gallon drums and these were rolled on the rails from shed to shed at feeding time. This eliminated the arduous task of carrying it in 4 gallon drums which was the more usual method.

Sid continued in the Jandowae shop until 1939 or 1940, at which time he retired with Julia to 'Allandale'. How the store was disposed of is unknown. Interestingly, a notice in the Courier mail of 11 May 1935, reports that Joe Lyon sold his drapery business to Sid. It is not known if this operated out of the same store or a different one. Bill, in spite of his mother's extreme reluctance, enlisted in the RAAF in 1940. Because of Government wartime manpower restrictions, John was unable to enlist and had to stay on the farm.

There was a slight glitch in Sid's plans in 1941 while he was enjoying retirement on 'Allandale'. A Brisbane warehouse firm telephoned him about Joe Lyon's store in Jandowae. Lyon had gone broke and was selling up. This shop was also in George Street, Jandowae, on the same side as the old one, but about six or seven shops further east. It is still standing. Instead of declining the offer outright Sid offered a price well below the stock value and he was surprised to have his offer accepted. Thus he found himself back in business in Jandowae possibly with his son Allan as a silent partner in the undertaking. It didn't last for long, however, because Sid had a heart attack in the same year. Allan took leave from the RAAF and went to Jandowae to help sell the store and dispose of the stock. The store was subsequently purchased by the Lovell family.

1941 was also big year for John. He married Claire McNamara on 22 November in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Toowoomba, with Claire's sister Mary as Bridesmaid and John's brother Allan as best man. The reception was held in the Café Alexandra in Ruthven Street. The Alexandra Building is still there. His marriage to Claire was probably the main reason that the new house was built; the cottage was too small for everyone. Brian McNamara recalls that Sid and Julia lived in the old cottage and John and Claire lived in the new house. At some time during the war, Sid and Julia moved to Brisbane to live with John's sisters Mercie and Jess.

Claire (Margaret Claire McNamara) was born in Dalby on 10 August 1917. Her family owned a farm at Irvingdale, about 25 kilometres east of Dalby and, when complete, consisted of her father and mother, seven boys and two girls (including Claire). In 1929 they sold the Irvingdale place and moved to 'Glen Erin', at Jinghi Gully, which was about 12 kilometres from Jandowae and about seven kilometres from 'Allandale'. Claire, her sister Mary and brothers Kev, Dan, Jack and Brian and John's younger brother Cyril (Bill) were among the pupils who attended Jinghi Gully State School, which opened in 1915. The school was renamed Jinghi Valley State School in 1952, following the changing of the district's name to Jinghi Valley in May 1949. Valley sounds more attractive than Gully, I suppose.

Claire's three oldest brothers had left school when the family moved to Jinghi Gully and were out on their own, as were John's older siblings Mercie and Allan who visited the farm from time to time. John was at boarding school in Sydney when the McNamara family arrived in Jinghi Valley, but he no doubt came home on holidays to help out on the farm. He met the McNamaras at social functions such as dances and cricket matches at the Jinghi School and hall and at church in Jandowae. Claire finished school and helped out on the farm. She and her sister Mary made their debuts in the Memorial Hall in Jandowae 1936 and in 1937 Claire started her training at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane. Mary started her training there a little later. Claire completed her training in May 1941 and married John in November of that year, so, although she had references for work as a nurse, she virtually came home from the Mater and started planning her wedding.

Life on the farm involved the inevitable dry times and floods and the interminable milking, pig feeding, fence fixing and ploughing that accompanied a mixed farm. They were fortunate in having help in the form of a young Scottish lad, Jim Hunter. Jim was a 'ten pound Pom' but of the Scottish persuasion, and was a good, steady worker with a thick accent. Brian McNamara remembers that Jim had two brothers who were also working on other farms in the area. Always trying to improve production, John bought himself a new tractor in 1957, an Oliver 88. In 1943 the family received news that Bill Truscott was missing in action following a bombing raid over Cologne. His aircraft and his remains were never found and he was declared killed in flying battle. This was a terrible blow to his parents and siblings.

It eventually became apparent that John and Claire were unable to have children, and they applied to adopt. Barry John was born on 15 March 1954 and John and Claire proudly took delivery of him in Rockhampton and scooted back to the farm with him. Barry managed to get a holiday at the coast almost immediately, when early 1955 the three of them stayed at Coolangatta in a flat belonging to the McSwan family, friends of mum and dad. However, one child was not enough and they took delivery of Francis Brendan (me), born 7 November 1955 again in Rockhampton, and raced home to show him off, too. I remember Jess Ryan (Dad's sister) telling me how happy Mum was when they got us. We must have been a handful, though, because I can remember a young woman called Doreen who stayed with us for a while to help mum. We regularly visited Dad's relatives in Brisbane and Mum's in a variety of places, including Rockhampton and Toowoomba. I can vaguely remember Dad's father Sid (or Wardie as we all called him) who died in 1962, but have a better memory of Julia, or May (her family nickname) who died in 1972. Sid was living with Mercie and Julia with Jess.

Life went on with farm work and various entertainments and holidays to Coolangatta in such free time as they had. I remember going to dances at the Jinghi Hall, and, during the intermission, sliding across the floor on the 'Pops' with all the other kids while the mothers talked and had cups of tea in the supper room and the dads trooped outside, presumably having a few illicit beers or rums. Mum would take us for walks around the farm, usually followed by one or more dogs. These walks were always with Mum because she was terrified that something would happen to us; the main risks being snake bite, getting lost or drowning in a dam. When a Country Womens' Association Branch was formed in Jinghi Valley in 1951, Mum became its treasurer.

Barry and I went to Jinghi Valley State School. Barry started in 1959 and I in 1961. The school was a highset single classroom building which was very crowded with 33 pupils in a variety of grades, and it must have been a difficult for our one teacher Mr Compton. I know he became stressed. One day we little kids were playing with plasticine on the front verandah while he was downstairs with the big kids. I had made a plasticine pistol and was making shooting noises at a blonde-haired girl called Coby de Croon when he had a melt down and dragged me downstairs and whacked me on the bum a few times. Imagine how the big kids must have plagued him! We may have reached the magic number for a second teacher in 1961 because I started Grade 2 in 1962 with a young female teacher called Miss Green who taught us downstairs under the building. Barry was in Grade 3 and he would have had her, too. I believe that she had come from Fiji. It was much more pleasant downstairs in summer. I can easily imagine the relief Mr Compton would have felt with the arrival of an assistant. I enjoyed having Miss Green, too, because each of us had more help. There were outside, short drop (pan service) toilets, a strange game called Vigoro, the odd snake and plenty of space at Jinghi Valley State School and we had a lot of fun. Sports days were great. Kids from other small schools such as Burra Burri and Fairyland West would come with their parents and, after a hard day of running, jumping, three-legged racing and breaking eggs in Egg and Spoon races, we would have an ice-cream. These came in large, green canvas containers with dry ice in the bottom to keep them cold. Each ice cream was in a cardboard cup with a lift-off lid and we had a small, flat stick with which to eat it. The parents would have had a good social day, too. We always slept well after a sports day. I can't remember how we got to school, which was only 2.5 kilometres from home, but I couldn't imagine mum letting us walk. Dad might have, but not Mum. I have a vague memory of mum driving us but I remember her driving very rarely after that.

Country life was to come to an end in March 1963 when we sold the farm to people called Gowlett and moved to 35 Macedon Street, Wavell Heights in Brisbane To say that this was a shock, at least for me, is an understatement, however, it is likely that Dad's back had come to the end of its useful farm life. We had moved from a quiet country school to a suburban school of several hundred children run by women in, as I recall, long brown dresses and funny head gear. This was the Our Lady of The Angels School in Wavell Heights, run by the Presentation Order of Sisters, and our first experience of Catholic schools. I remember that we were allowed to walk to school there, as it was less than a kilometre. Such freedom! Our house had a big back yard, but nowhere near as big as that at 'Allandale'. It did, however, have a good, big swing, a flushing (septic, pre-sewerage) toilet rather than a smelly 'long drop', a Mango tree and a hyperactive young fellow about our age called Fenwick Miller who lived two houses down. The three of us roamed the neighbourhood, often up to no good, but survived. I can vaguely remember dangerous Cracker Night activities, and almost breaking one of our front windows with a home-made spear. Dad was an expert jam tin launcher on Cracker Nights. I can also remember that I started visiting Mum's brother Brian on the Jinghi Valley farm either when we were in Brisbane or later in Toowoomba. They were the best holidays of all because I could wander around his 640 acres all day (with occasional trespass on the neighbours' places), swim in dams and, later, borrow his rifle and go shooting. I still enjoy regular target shooting as a result of that. In 1965 Mum went back to Jinghi Valley for the school's 50th anniversary. Sadly, the school closed in 1967.

Dad tried his hand at selling Real Estate when we moved to Brisbane, but it can't have agreed with him because he soon started driving delivery trucks for the Pauls milk factory in Montague Road, South Brisbane. It didn't do his bad back any good, though, as I can remember him at times on his hands and knees in pain. We made regular visits to the Ashgrove clan. It was very convenient that they lived so close together, with Derm and Mercie in Glory Street and Allan, Meta and family and Jess in 25 Yoku Road. Allan's place in 30 Yoku Road backed onto Enoggera Creek, with a steep, scrubby slope down to the creek. I recall Barry, our cousin Jim Truscott and me roaming up and down the creek for hours until being summoned home by Jim's mother, Meta, with the ringing of a small bell. We always looked forward to Ashgrove visits.

Being boys, we went to Our Lady of the Angels only until the end of Grade Four, and then were kicked out. This was probably when we were supposed to become dangerous. The girls were allowed to carry on until Grade Seven, safe from us. So, Barry and I went to the closest Catholic school for boys which was Saint Columban's Christian Brothers' College on Sandgate Road, Albion. This place was bigger, busier and noisier (being full of boys) than anything else I had encountered. It had innumerable rules and traditions which one was supposed to osmotically absorb, but I never did. For infringements, I remember taking my ration of 'Penalty', which was so many hundreds of lines to write out, or 'Cuts' with the 'Strap', a short, thick instrument of punishment made of several layers of leather stitched together. Perhaps with so many evil boys crowded together, these behavioural modifiers were necessary. I imagine that we would have been a tough crowd. One day after rain there were a lot of puddles around and several of us thought that it was a lot of fun to jump in them and splash bystanders. From a prowling Brother this brought an instant dose of the 'Strap' and a stern lecture on the value of shoes and of the need to look after them. The Colana Carnival that the school held each year was a highlight for us, our parents and the local community. Getting to and from Saint Columbans required a bus trip in the morning and afternoon, rather than walking as we did to Our Lady of the Angels. I felt very grown up when travelling on the bus. Our local bus stops were on Spence Road, just east of us, and on Phingst Road to the west.

Big city life came to an end in 1967 when we moved again, this time to Toowoomba. Why this happened I am unsure. Toowoomba then was a large country town of about 60,000 people. Most of Middle Ridge was still small crop and dairy farms. Mum's Brother Dan McNamara, his wonderful wife Peg and their family of five lived in Brook Street where Dan was Production and later, General Manager at the Downs Cooperative Dairy Association. Perhaps this was one reason why we moved there. We rented a flat in McIntyre Street until our house was built at 5 Bulimba Street. Dad found a job at the Toowoomba Foundry as a maintenance man, but didn't stay there long and was quite soon employed by Dunlop IBC in Margaret Street as a Storeman. He held this job until he retired in 1981. When he wasn't working or doing jobs around the house (he was fastidious on the mower) he liked to read. For this I am very grateful, because I had a ready supply of books to read when he finished them. He still liked fishing, and before I left home we went to various places on the Condamine chasing Yellowbelly and Cod. It was my job to free snagged lines, regardless of water temperature. He and Mum were heavily involved in the life of the Catholic Parish. He was a member of the Knights of the Southern Cross, the parish fundraising committee and the Saint Vincent de Paul organisation, while mum was involved the Legion of Mary and several other groups. We always seemed to be going to some or other religious or social function at the local Catholic Church, Saint Thomas Moore's. Mum was also a dab hand at Bridge which she played regularly.

In the sixties, our family holidays were generally at Coolangatta and other places on the Gold Coast, but after that Caloundra was a popular destination. Mum's brother Brian often came with us on these trips. Our nightly games of Ludo and Snakes and Ladders were hotly contested and often ended in violence. We stayed in Taylor's flats on Golden Beach where Dad could indulge his love of fishing. In the morning Barry would go by dinghy with the owner of shop, Mr Taylor, up to Bell's Creek to get yabbies. These were kept in a big tray of water under the flats at the back of their little shop for sale to fishermen. I would often take my fishing gear and go across the road to Military Jetty to "wet a line". After breakfast, Dad, Brian and I would hire one of the Taylors' boats and go fishing in Pumistone Passage off Golden Beach. My job was to catch small whiting which the men would use as live bait to catch the "big ones". However, on more than one occasion the flathead they were chasing liked my little bit of worm more than the live bait Dad and Brian had and I would haul them in instead. Several times they threatened to leave me at home! They were great holidays.

We had one big trip together, probably our last as a complete family before Barry moved away, when in December and January of 1971, we drove through New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, travelling in our beige Holden Kingswood. We visited Mount Kosciusko (when it was possible to drive almost to the top) and almost as soon as I stepped out of the car, Barry whacked me in the back of the head with a slushy snowball. It was my first look at snow and my first snow fight! After Barry left home, holidays often involved us visiting Barry wherever he happened to be working at the time and when I moved out, Mum and Dad would visit me at places where I was working. When I was working in Dalby, one of the many drives around the local area we did was around the Irvingdale district. Mum found the McNamaras' old farm there which was quite exciting. She had been about 12 when they left there to go to Jandowae.

Mum and Dad's biggest trip without us was to New Zealand in 1986 with Mum's brothers Pat and Dan, and Dan's wife Peg. That was a year or two after Mum had been diagnosed with, and treated for Lymphoma. In 1986 she also returned to Jandowae for the 50th anniversary of the Debut They had a great time there and talked about it for quite a while afterwards. I think it was the first time any of them had been out of Australia. Mum's Lymphoma re-emerged in about September 1989 and, as her condition deteriorated, Dad looked after her at home until December of that year when she was admitted to Saint Vincent's Hospital in Toowoomba. She died there on 26 January 1990. Dan, Peg, Dad and I were with her. Dad had a difficult time during mum's illness. It took a lot out of him. However, he kept the house and yard well maintained and visited Barry and I on a regular basis, and we came home as often as commitments allowed.

On one occasion, I took him for a drive to Jandowae to visit 'Allandale'. This was in about 2000 or so. We called in and introduced ourselves to the owner, Paul Ambrose. Fortunately, I had been in the same class as Paul's brother Doug at College, and Paul showed us around the place so that we could see what was new. They were still dairying but the old dairy had been decommissioned and a new one, more suited for modern dairying, had been built. The milk was refrigerated in large vats until being collected by bulk tanker and taken to the factory in Toowoomba every couple of days. The pigs were gone and the house had been extended. Nothing stays the same.

Dad suffered from Glaucoma, and as time went by his eyesight worsened and life became more difficult. When Kath and I visited him in Bulimba Street, we noticed a steady deterioration. His reading was suffering and that annoyed him greatly. He started on large print books and we bought him a cassette player and some books on tape. He appreciated the gesture, but couldn't master the tape player. However, although he was determined to stay at home for as long as possible, he eventually saw the writing on the wall and moved into Lourdes Home in Spring Street in November 1992. After that, though, I had the feeling that he was just marking time. Lourdes took good care of him and he soldiered on until he died in his sleep there on 11 October 2004. It was quite sudden and, consequently, none of us was with him at the time. He and Mum are buried near several relatives in Toowoomba's Garden of Remembrance.

After arriving in Toowoomba from Brisbane Barry and I were enrolled at Saint Joseph's Christian Brothers' College in James Street, Barry in Grade 4 and me in Grade 3. This school went to grade 10, it being necessary to go elsewhere to do Senior. The street we lived in was a cul-de sac with Anderson Park at the end. Today it is a beautifully green, well grassed space with toilets and playing fields, but then it was a big, vacant paddock with huge piles of red dirt in the middle, hugely inviting to the young lads of the neighbourhood. Among other things, it gave me somewhere to fly my model plane.

I had tennis coaching and played in competitions on the weekends while Barry had his own mates to hang about. Even then he had caught Dad's 'rev head' bug and was keen on cars. We carried on at Saint Josephs until we finished Grade 10. Barry didn't want to continue at school and obtained a motor mechanic's apprenticeship with Bothwell Motors, while I changed schools again and pedaled my bike the four kilometres up to Toowoomba State High to do Senior. It was very strange not to be constantly being cajoled and threatened by teachers and also to be in mixed sex classes.

Barry frequented the Showgrounds each month of a Saturday night to see the Speedway. He was friendly with one of the drivers, Greg Whitley, who had a Welding Works in James Street. We all had our suspicions that Barry drove in one or two races in Greg's Stock car, Number 52. His apprenticeship didn't work out and he found a job with the ANZ bank in Margaret Street. He was to stay with them until 1972 when he was posted to Ingham where he met his future wife Claire. Further transfers followed, to places including Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Pomona, Kilkivan, Gympie, Jandowae, Oakey, Dalby, Gayndah and Gympie again. Kym, their daughter, was born at Gympie as was their son Shane when they moved back there the second time. Dad, Mum and I visited him at all of the places he worked at. We saw a lot of the country that way. When Barry was at Oakey, Dad travelled out from Toowoomba each day to help Barry paint his house. The ANZ Bank made Barry redundant in 2002 after 31 years of service. He was immediately offered a job as the Office Manager at the Gympie Golf Club which was in financial trouble and needed an experienced manager until it could be sold, which happened 12 months later. He found another job in the banking business, this time as Manager at Wide Bay Capricorn Building Society in Gympie. This organisation became Wide Bay Australia, and is now Auswide Bank Limited. Claire had jobs in many of the towns they were transferred to and is currently working as Office Manager at Tom Grady Real Estate in Gympie. They have a Unit on the beach at Peregian, on the Sunshine Coast, where they go whenever they get a chance. Their kids think it is a pretty good place, too. Barry and Claire are currently contemplating retirement in 2016.

I continued at school and finished Senior in 1972. The following year I began my teacher training at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (now the University of Southern Queensland) and finished in 1975. During the holidays at College I worked at the Barley Marketing Board in Anzac Avenue and at the main store at Toowoomba General Hospital. I commenced my teaching career at Dalby Central State School in January 1976. Various postings followed, including Taroom where I bought my first motor bike and joined the pistol club, Begonia, a small school between Saint George and Mitchell, Dalby South State School, Columboola Field Study Centre where I joined the Chinchilla Field Naturalists' Club and Chinchilla State School where I met my wife, Kath, also a teacher.

Kath had an even more disjointed school experience than I did. Her father was an Engineer who designed and oversaw construction of town water supplies and sewerage systems. This was a very busy profession in the seventies when many towns were having these facilities built and, consequently, she went to schools in Kingaroy, Tamworth Casino, Gladstone, Ballina and Brisbane. A science degree at University of Queensland followed and then a Graduate Diploma in Education. Her first school was Coomera south of Brisbane and then she was sent to Chinchilla where she has been ever since.

After we were married in 1992, Kath and I rented a little pink house in Windmill Road but after about a year or so we bought our first home together in Wambo Street. Feeling the need to escape to the country, in 1995 we bought a twenty acre block seven kilometres out of town. The old house on it had been moved out from town and had been partly renovated. The block had been a cow paddock and was fairly rough with ancient fences and a lot of accumulated rubbish. This provided weekend work for us for several years. As well, we developed several native gardens and planted 480 olive trees. Once these matured, we had several harvests and bottled and sold our own olive oil. However, taking time off to harvest was costing more than we made, so we put the olives on hold.

Even with the best efforts of IVF, children didn't happen, so here we are still with chooks, ducks, cats and dogs. In 2005, having become dissatisfied with the way the education system was going, I took a voluntary redundancy from the Education Department. Shortly after that, I started work for the Home and Community Care Service, mowing lawns, removing rubbish, doing minor repairs and the like for the aged and invalid who qualified for the service. This was enjoyable and satisfying work. I had been doing this for a few months when the Ranger-in-Charge of Barakula State Forest, Gary Alsemgeest (also a member of Chinchilla Field Naturalists' Club), offered me a casual job as tree marker at Barakula State Forest. Having visited Barakula (a native forest of 280,000 hectares in area north of Chinchilla) often with the Nats Club, I jumped at the chance and started there in September 2005, while continuing with the HACC job. This arrangement continued until 2007 when I was put on as a permanent employee at Barakula and had to give up the HACC job. During my time at Barakula, I was trained on and operated the dozer, grader and skidder, marked trees for harvesting, fought fires (and sometimes helped to light them on prescribed burns!), did office work and learnt how to find my way around the place. It was a great experience after 30 years of teaching. Kath is still teaching, but, like many others, is finding it increasingly tough going in 2016.

Having had a good government superannuation for 40 years and not having had the expense of children, I was able to retire in 2015. We are now looking at getting Kath out as well, although she has to wait somewhat longer to get her superannuation. Being interested in local history I have joined the Chinchilla Historical Society. I am also shooting regularly at our local rifle range as well as at Eidsvold, Dalby and Millmerran where they run competitions that we don't have here. Kath and I are still active in the Chinchilla Field Naturalists' Club, although, like many other clubs and associations, the club is running out of puff and new recruits. Kath likes travel and socialising and drags me out of my rut at every possible opportunity. We still have over 400 olive trees, at least some of which I will now be able to get back into production. So, in spite of my Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis at the end of last year, we are still "living the dream" at "Mongrove" in 2016.