Welcome to my podcast, Therese Makes History.
My name is Therese Sweeney. I live in Bury in
New South Wales and I'm bringing you Season 1
of the Dairy Lane Project. This region's primary
industry throughout the 20th century was dairying.
Many families dairy farmed. I'm engaging descendants
of families that farmed the lanes between Bomaderry
to Bury. For the past five episodes, I've been
in the meadow and the high terrain of Maroo Meadow.
Today I'm in the flats, the lands of the meadow,
in Maroo Road on the corner of the highway. I'm
focusing on the Feeney family, P -H -E -E -N
-E -Y, who farmed from the early 20th century
and are still on some of those parcels today.
now known as Pearl Biggs through marriage, is
my guest. The Feeneys are related to the Vaughans
from Fletcher's Lang and Bolong through their
paternal grandmother. Evelyn Vaughan was born
in 1885 and she married Frederick Feeney, who
was born in 1884. They got married at All Saints
Church in Nowra in 1911. and they celebrated
their wedding at Evelyn's father's home, William
Vaughan, in Bomaderry. The Vaughans and the Feeneys
came from Bega. William Vaughan was the first
to secure land, leaving Bega early. He farmed
at Bolong until his death in 1932. He knew a
lot about draft horses and was involved in the
agricultural societies. His sons continued farming
in the meadow and in Fletcher's Lane. After Evelyn
and Frederick married, they returned to Bega,
later travelling up to secure land at Maroo in
the early 20th century. Grandmother Evelyn travelled
by horse and sulky whilst pregnant with Pearl's
dad, Eric. Fred Feeney, meanwhile, drove cattle
up from Bega on horseback. Pearl's father is
Eric Feeney. Pearl's mother is Rita Rutledge.
Rita's father, Jack Rutledge, married Ida Devitt
in 1917 at Bury Methodist Church. The family
moved to Pullman Street, Bury in 1920. Their
daughter, Rita Mary Rutledge, was born in 1922
and Pearl's mother married Frederick Feeney's
son, Eric. Prior to being married, Rita spent
some time on the Devitt's farm, Sunnyside, with
Albert and Grace. Jack Rutledge's grandparents
were William Rutledge and Eleanor Fletcher, who
married on the 11th of March in 1864. His mother,
Margaret, never married. and was William and
Eleanor's only child. To finish, Pearl thinks
a single young female Feeney from Ireland migrated
here at the age of 16. Her last name was spelt
F -E -E -N -E -Y, but that has evolved to what
we know as today, P -H -E -E -N -E -Y. Thanks
for coming in today, Pearl. My pleasure. Tell
me, what year were you born and where were you
born? I was born in 1944. I was born in Narra
in the hospital in Bridge Road. So was that a
private hospital? No, general hospital. Where
were your parents living? My parents were living
at Maylands on Maroo Road, Maroo Meadow, and
I lived there till I was 23. So we might just
go through your parents' full names and if you
know their year of birth and if they've passed
the year they passed. My father was Eric Mervyn
Feeney. He was born in 1920, the month of August.
My mother was Rita Mary Rutledge. She was born
in the Rutledge family home in Bury on the corner
of the Old Prince's Highway and Pullman's Lane.
In 1922. Where was your father born? My father
was born in Bomaduri at the end of Fletcher's
Lane in the house with help from the family.
Okay. So how many uncles did you have? My father's
oldest brother was Uncle Carlton. There was Uncle
Les, Aunty Gwen, sorry, was the eldest child
and Dad was the youngest. Mum came from Bury
and her siblings were Uncle Alec Rutledge, Uncle
Arthur Rutledge, then there was Mum, then there
was Uncle Ray Rutledge and Aunty May Rutledge.
Do you recall when your father secured the land
at Maroo and what happened around that? Dad and
Mum leased the farm off Dad's father, Frederick
Feeney, in 1943 through to 1957. When they were
able to purchase the farm, they worked the farm
from 1957 through to 1980. When it was sold.
Okay, so how much land? How big was the... We
only had a small farm. It was 60 acres and we
had a dry run up the highway towards Nowra and
we had 30 acres there. Which seemed to be common
for some. They had a dry run. Yes. Most people
had dry runs and our dry run happened to be next
door to the Mullers from Maroo. What does a dry
run mean? We put beef cattle on the dry runs
and waiting for cattle to calve. We also had
a lot of bush, which we used the timber for fences
and firewood for both the dairy and the house.
Five of us, but three of us, always got up to
milk at four o 'clock in the morning before going
to school, and then we'd come home and do paddock
work. Dad always tried to milk around 30 to 35,
and we used to have at least 20 dry cows, and
then you'd have your calves, and they would differ
in number from time to time. Did they cover any
particular season? No, not really, from what
I can recall. What type of cows did you have?
We had, as kids, we called them black and whites,
and they are here if it's towards the end of
milking, we introduced some jerseys so that we
could get our butterfats and cream levels up
in our milk production. So your grandfather owned
the land while you were helping? My grandfather
did own the land. Do you remember your grandmother
on the property? Not my grandmother, only my
step -grandmother. Okay, so will we explore what
happened with your grandmother? My grandmother,
after the birth of her children, developed a
thyroid. Back in the late 30s, they had no idea
of the operation, so she had to go to Sydney
for it, and she passed away. Well, she was having
the operation very suddenly in 1941. So you didn't
know her? So I didn't know her. There was only
three grandchildren born before she passed. And
the eldest was one and a half. And when did your
grandfather remarry and who? My grandfather remarried
in September 23, 1943. And he married Gertie
Lee, who apparently was a housekeeper at one
of the Muller's houses in Maroo. So do you recall
ever making butter back in that time? I certainly
do. And not that we liked homemade butter, but
there's no choice. That's what we were given
for many years. And separating the cream in the
dairy so that we could do cakes and sweets or
puddings back in those days, they were called,
for many years. And how was the cream being separated?
by a hand separator, and we had to turn it many,
many times. So who was the first in the family
to go to the local school? I was the first to
go to Maroo Public School, followed by my sister
Elaine, my sister Evelyn, my brother Alan, and
I think my younger brother John. may have attended
for a very short time before the school closed
and he went on to Bomaduri Public School. Who
were some of your classmates that you remember,
all the farms there at that time? What year did
you go to school? So I went to school around
49. Yep. And classmates was Pam Shepard, who
happened to live down the end of Fletcher's Lane
where Dad was born, Margaret Wiley. From near
Wiley's Creek, Ian Callaghan, Frances Marshall,
Marie Boxall, Judith Wiley, Yvonne Shepard. Who
was your teacher, do you recall? Yes, Mr Debenham.
And he was a teacher there for many, many years.
My brother, youngest brother, had Mr Redman.
He was the next teacher to follow on. But during...
Our years at Maroo, we had a second teacher come
and her name was Miss Nolene Walsh and she lived
at Jasper's Brush. We had two classrooms, which
was a big school for a country village. Did it
have a hall? Yes, we had a community hall. It
was across the road from the school. I can't
recall the year, but it was removed to Shohaven
Heads to be the public hall in the village. What
did Fletcher's Lane look like and who were some
of the people that were farming when you were
a young girl? Were we talking dirt roads? We
certainly are dirt roads and we crisscrossed
the whole way down the lane with the biggest
potholes that could fit a tractor in. to miss
the potholes when we were children and for a
number of years. Always got graded and we had
floods within the first month after grading.
When I was a child, the first house on the left
was Dad's cousins, Mr and Mrs Les Vaughan. And
the second farm was Mr and Mrs Limerie and over
the rail line. It was Mr and Mrs Shepherd and
their farmhands lived in the other house were
Mr and Mrs Aussie Gardener. I would say it was
possibly Aussie and Doris. The limberies were
Egder and Irma and fawns were Les and Rainy.
Did you all have a similar size property? Similar,
but the other... Three farms were around the
100 acres. So was everyone growing crops? Yes,
we grew corn and saccharine mainly for the silos.
We grew lucerne, ryegrass, oats and a few other
different varieties of grass to make hay mainly.
Are you manual or are you on mechanised tractors
here? We were very manual. We started with draft
horses. So you remember the draft horses? I remember
the draft horses pulling the ploughs. And the
slide? And the slide. At harvest time? Harvest
time, we cut the corn by a corn cutter by hand
and put it on the slide. And the best fun was
sitting on top of the corn or the saccharine,
going back to the silos with my grand... Father
and father. And how high were you up there? Was
it packed high? It was packed about five feet,
but felt like 15 when we were young. You talked
about flooding. Were you all in the same boat
there, literally? On our farm, we had floods
coming across from the creek, which is Tullian
Creek, and would come through our dairy, so it
could be two to three feet deep. and down to
the house and it reached the top of the steps
of the house. So we were lucky. It never came
through the house but through the garage as it
did and the machinery sheds. One day I was asked
to go to the road gate to close the gate because
the bull paddock fence was washed away. As I
was going along the barbed wire fence and putting
my hand on the post, something slippery came
off the post and it was at least a six to seven
foot tiger snake that swam up and down the paddy
in the creek, in the floods, and very frightening
to watch. One of many snakes that we had experiences
with. How did you feel when you realised you'd
touched the tiger snake? What was your immediate
reaction? Scream! certainly screamed jumped back
past the snake and thankfully he missed me and
dad just went after the snake in the floods and
when there's no floods there are snakes certainly
is this particular snake was at least three to
four feet out of the water and fierce because
he had been disturbed we had at least three Tiger
snakes come into the house. We had snakes in
the dairy, snakes in the hay sheds. And where
we live now is still on our old property and
we have had, in one day, three snakes around
our house and numerous other ones. Had two little
baby snakes come into our family room. We don't
know how or where they got in. but they just
appeared in the middle of the family room floor.
So when you talk about snakes, there's the tiger
snake. Does it arc up like a brown snake? Yes.
Certainly does, yes. Very vicious. You were lucky.
Very scary. Mum was actually feeding my young
brother, John, and the snake came into the kitchen
one day. Naturally, she jumped up onto the table
because Dad was nowhere and just had to wait
till the snake disappeared. What other sorts
of snakes are common to that area? Mainly brown,
red -bellied black and tiger, and lots of them.
Do you still see the tigers? Occasionally we
do, not as often. through the summer as we used
to, thankfully. You handled the snakes, the family
handled them themselves? Yes, we did. Tried to
get a snake catcher and he was hours and hours
away. So I finally got a man and he came out
and through brooms we managed to get the baby
snakes out of the house, thankfully. When we
were quite young, Mum and Dad showed cattle at
the narrow show and came home to milk. So my
two sisters and I sat in a paddock in the long
grass. And while they were milking, my youngest
sister was bitten on the toe with either a deadly
spider or a snake. When she had to be rushed
to the doctors at the time, just had a sore toe
for a few weeks. Very, very fortunate. We got
into trouble for being in the long grass. What
did you grow? What type of grasses? Well, mainly
we had lucerne, millet and oats and ryegrass
are the main ones I can remember. Mum and Dad
bought a baler early in their marriage, which
meant that we had to pitchfork the hay into the
baler and Mum mainly. was the one at the back
pressing the bales and tying the bales with wire
so her hands were damaged. Then they updated
and we got a massive Ferguson baler which baled
right through. So we travelled to different farms
from Broughton Village in the north to the Shillhaven
River and then up to Wagamire doing silage. hay
making at the time we had up to seven tractors
so we're all on the road and we were known as
the traveling the phoenix traveling circus and
thankfully in those days we could get away with
young drivers but had to have our machinery all
registered but the police would turn a blind
eye to the 14 year old yes we were very fortunate
so you had your own business not really but we
certainly did going around the farms for very
little. What would you charge? I think they started
around five shillings a bale, but it was very
little money that the farmers paid. Because they
had little money? Because they had little money.
And Mum and Dad were very charitable workers
in many organisations, so that's how... We helped
each other out. The teenagers are on the tractors.
Yes, we were. There was four of the five children
on tractors and mum and dad. And mum usually
had the car or the station wagon and she would
have a hay rake or a blower for the silos with
her and the thermoses and our lunch. It's like
a big funnel. with a motor on and shoots the
grass up into the silos. Oh, okay. You all had
a silo, the farms? Most farms had one silo, but
there was a few that had both silos. Did you
have two or one silo? We just had one silo, but
we used to do pits in the dry creek beds with
paths in that. So that was when there was drought,
was there? Were they dry beds? They were dry
beds because they converted the creek straight
down to stop the flooding coming through the
house and dairy. So what creek? There was Tullian
Creek at Maroo Meadow. It was only a small creek
that held a lot of water in floods coming off
the mountain. When did that occur, that they
turned back the tide? What did they do? How did
they do that? Well, the main road was upgraded
as such, and they converted the creek to go straight
through our place, so it flooded further down
on the flats. And there was many, many upgrades
over the years, but the main one would have been
around the 70s and then 80s for us that improved
our area for flooding. So would they run drains
underground or something to do that? How did
they stop the water? No, they actually just put
in graders and furrows and then they had the
diggers bucket to change the course of the creek
and block the original curve in the creek. So
that became our dry beds for our... our hay pits
and the hay pits were put down with molasses
every so many feet couple of feet and we'd have
another layer of molasses so the smell was quite
strong when we were feeding the cattle you put
your harvest down and then about two feet depth
and then your molasses and you may go two or
three feet but it was And topped it with molasses
again. So how did you get the air out of it?
We didn't need to. The molasses was heavy enough?
Yes. And then sometimes we'd cover it with black
plastic and tyres on top, like you see in different
farms today. And we did a lot around the 60s
and 70s. Was that for the winter feed? For the
winter feed, yes. We used to mix it with... Pollard
and bran in the stalls with the cattle and other
times just straight onto the paddocks. Did you
ever use chaff cutters in the field? No, we had
a chaff cutter in our stalls and hand -fed the
corn and the saccharine through that up into
the silos. Any injuries with that wire? Mum's
hand. Hands were terrible, but no injuries, thankfully.
You had a walkthrough dairy? Yes, we had a walkthrough
dairy. And being only a small farm, we had three
sets of two milking machines, so there were six
cattle going through at a time. After the cows
had the machines on them, we always hand -stripped
the last of the milk out. When the power went
off, Dad was able to hook up with the tractor
and give us the power for the machines to work.
I don't recall milking a herd by hand, and thankfully
I didn't have to. Our job after milking was feeding
the calves, of course, and we used to have at
least a dozen calves at a time. We enjoyed it
except in the wet weather and the electrical
storms were my main concerns. Not glamorous with
the weather, but the life itself on a farm is
the best way to bring children up. How were the
winds through where you were? Well, Maroo is
known for westerly winds, which are very, very
strong. And there's a strip between Maroo Road
and Abernethy's Creek that really... a very strong
wind area. In saying that, where we live now,
we have lost three old pine trees that were close
to 150 to 160 years old and a dozen cypress pines
in the last four years. From the wind. From the
wind and the roadworks. When they did the new
highway recently, They decided that we should
have our hedge taken down, which they did, and
then three years later told us that we didn't
need to have that hedge taken down because they
had changed their plans because they dug in front
of our place, which was the main water supply
going to Bury, and realised they couldn't...
go any further with their plants on our side
of the road so they after digging twice they
moved their plants to the opposite side of the
road so that was the water and the power lines
and the electricity was all interrupted during
that time what are we talking about like regular
interruptions for outside personally with the
phones and Our daughter has meadow swim school
next door. We were without our landlines for
three months and no sooner had it reconnected
and it was out for six weeks. And that happened
a few times over the three years. Most inconvenient
when you're trying to run a business. Originally,
it went to the Bury Township. I'm not sure how
much further. It went, but originally Berry Township.
And what was the water source? Was it town water?
It was town water. Okay. And you were on town
water? When the pipes first went in, no. We had
to wait for it to be connected because it was
for the township of Berry and coming from Nara.
So you weren't prioritised? Originally, when
we did go on to town water, we had tanks and
wells for many years. Oh, you dug the wells?
They were on the property before I was ever born.
Do you know who your grandfather bought the land
from? Yes. He bought the land from Fletchers,
I believe, a David Fletcher. You want to talk
about him a bit? You've got some information.
I do have very little. There was two brothers
and one bought our farm and one bought Uncle
Fred Bourne and they farmed between 1919 and
1927 on the farms. I believe that David Fletcher
bought the farm at the end of Fletcher's Lane
when my grandfather was leaving there and he
bought Maylands. Fletcher's Lane became Fletcher's
Lane through the two brothers living on the two
properties close to the end of the lane. Our
boundary ran right to the corner of the lane
and that's where Fletcher's name came from. And
what about Abernethys? What do you know about
the Abernethys and where was their farm? Abernethys
Farm was on Princess Highway where Abernethys
Creek comes across the highway. Did you know
the family yourself? I did. Well, I knew the
younger family, which were older than me, of
course. And the Abernethy family arrived in Australia
approximately 200 years ago. And William and
Marion Abernethy purchased the farm at Maroo
in the early 20th century. And I presume that's
where... When the lands were for sale. For sale.
They had four children, actually four sons, Bruce,
Roy, Ken and Jack, all helped their parents on
the farm. And Jack worked the farm for many,
many years until he met a local lady, Eileen
Soper from Camberwara. And they worked both farms
and walked their cattle between Camberwara and
Maroo every few months so that they could work
both farms. And they actually retired to the
Camberwara Farm and sold Maroo Farm, who's now
purchased by Paul Duncan, who grew up in Maroo.
His parents were Keith and Ursula Duncan, and
they lived next door to the Maroo School. And
it was nice for him to be able to buy a farm
and still live at Maroo Meadow. So the Abernethy's
Farm is at the farm. that we see as we're going
up the highway past Maroo Road, the next little
silo. Is that the farm we're talking about? Yes,
it is. And do you know how many acres that is?
At a guess, I would say around 40 acres. And
I remember when Jack was daring... And our milk
carrier put the price up for a can of milk to
be delivered to Horlicks in Bombardier by a halfpenny.
And Jack refused to pay. So he took his two cans
of milk, morning and night, on his motorbike
to the milk factory. And how did it look on the
motorbike? Ridiculous. Of course, he was going
very, very slow and determined to do this because
he wasn't paying. the small fee to have the milk
carrier. And he did it for many, many times.
Do you remember who the carriers were? Yes. And
what the route was, do you know that? We were
the first on the route. The carrier I remember
was Ross Legg. We're talking about 1945. We were
the first and they went around to Wiley's Creek.
pulling on all the farms. Then they went up Mawshill's
Lane and across to Bell's Lane, virtually the
area that Ross Lake had for his milk carrier.
Then we had Jack Atfield, who also lived in Bombardier
for many years, until we went into Bolt Milk
Carrier. which we didn't do ourselves. Dad decided
it was time to go to beef cattle. Because we
were small farmers and the cost of bulk milk
equipment was just out of the limits for most
farmers. Nowadays, the smallest herd that I know
of is 350 going up to 1 ,200. So therefore, it's
a different story with cattle these days. Did
you find that your family was struggling for
money? We were, we were able to grow vegetables.
We had a large orchard and we had our chooks
and ducklings and we used to be able to swap
with family, friends, neighbours, which helped
each other out. We'd swap veggies, we did a lot
of preserving of fruits, made a lot of jams and
pickles, which was always nice. What about your
bread and things like that, cakes? You made your
cakes. My mum was a good cook for cakes and slices
and puddings. The bread we bought from Kylie's
in Bomaduri and that was quite often brought
out on the milk carrier and delivered to most
farmers. Okay, do you remember the train? Yes,
I remember the trains from Bomaduri because they
blew their whistle right along the straight at
Maroo just for Sprush. to the different farms,
and it was the old coat trains then, when we
were children, always with the black smoke when
you were near the railway line to wave to the
train drivers. And you'd get a bit of soot, would
you? Oh, yes, well and truly. We'd come back
with black faces sometimes, or most times. What
was the township look like? Was it all dirt roads?
Yes, Maroo Road was dirt. And most of the lanes
were dirt back then. It wasn't until possibly
the 60s where we started to see narrow bitumen.
And no footpaths? Certainly no footpaths and
still isn't in the Daring District. So you'd
be walking on the road? Walking on the road or
walking near the boundaries of fences. As children,
we were picked up in the mornings by Mr Red Shepherd
and taken to school. But, of course, afternoons
was milking time, so we'd walk home by the road,
by the highway. What did the highway look like?
The highway was very narrow, not a lot of potholes,
surprisingly, but little traffic. Not many cars?
Not a lot of cars. Any sulpies and horses? Yes,
we had a... An old man that came up Maroo Road
in his horse and sulky every week and he came
over to Berry to see his family and he was called
Mr Parrish. When we were walking to school was
rather scary at times when Mr Sheppard was unavailable
and one morning my sisters Elaine, Evelyn and
I were walking up the highway and noticed a swagman
sitting under the pine tree. at the top of the
hill. As I'm the eldest and usually scared of
everything, we cut down through Muller's corn
paddock and came up around near the Maroo church.
In the meantime, the teacher was worried about
us and phoned our parents. Mum and Dad had no
idea, but once they saw the swagman sitting at
the top of the hill under the tree, they knew
that I would take another route to school. We
often had swagmen calling at our place because
we were close to the highway and they'd have
like dog bones from the butchers and ask mum
to cook the bones for them. It's hard. Oh, yes.
Marrow broth or something? Very little meat left
on bones for dogs, which they enjoyed because
that was their food. Just travelling and walk
for miles and miles and miles. Up and down the
highway, occasionally you would see the same
swagman come in with his bones, usually his tin
mug for a cup of tea. And if you had a scone,
he'd be even happier. So let's go to the story
you were talking about from Bega. It was my father's
parents, and they left Willamla with... Grandma
in the car with the three children and heavily
pregnant. And grandfather walked the cattle from
Willumbla to Fletcher's Lane. On the way, grandma
came through a creek and blew a tyre. Heavily
pregnant with my father. So they had to wait
for grandfather to catch up to them with the
cattle. And he repaired the tyre and set them
on their way to the farm at the end of Fletcher's
Lane in Bombardier. It took grandfather six days
to bring the cattle up the narrow bush and dirt
track highway that we now call Prince's Highway.
Arriving there with their cattle and their draft
horses, they settled there for a short time.
Dad was born there and he was a few months old
when they moved to Maylands. When they moved
to Maylands... Dad was walking at six months
old and was out in the garden when the old draft
horse nudged the leather strap off the post and
Dad naturally went out into the paddock and thankfully
it had been very, very wet and muddy and the
draft horse pushed Dad over and trod on the middle
of his back which was very, very small at six
months old. Until the day he died, he still had
the scar which grew with him over the years on
the centre of his back. Very lucky man and the
only thing that saved him was the mud. Was his
back damaged? Only for the scarring. His mother
and his auntie both said he was just thick with
mud and that's what saved him. So when your grandfather
was driving... The cattle, was he on horseback?
Yes, grandfather was on horseback. And I believe
there was another man with him, but no name has
been recorded. So you remember stock horses around
the place? I do on a lot of farms. We mainly
had a couple of draft horses. You mentioned that
you showed cattle. We did show for a short time.
in both Berry and Narra, but because of other
commitments, that only lasted a few years. Do
you know any ribbons? We did get ribbons, but
I can't recall the name of the cattle, but I
know we did get ribbons. Did you have a stud
name? We always went under Maylands. Was that
your name you gave it, or did you inherit that
name? I think my grandfather named it because...
Grandma's second name was May, so I think that's
where it came from. Did the floods improve after
they redirected the flow? Certainly did, yes.
Made a big difference. It was our lower flats
on our boundary that carried most of the water
onto the Vaughans, onto the Limeries and the
Shepherds, and then out onto the Bolong Flats.
So you had a dry cow run? We used to walk the
dry cows. from Maylands up to our dry run, which
was about, back then they would tell you it was
a mile and a half. And we had to do it at a certain
time. We had to apply for a licence to take the
cattle on the roads. That was issued by the local
council. You knew the Abernethys. Were there
other farmers on the northern side of the highway?
There were. There was Mr and Mrs Tom Muller,
who was related to the Muller. Where were they
farming? They were farming opposite us up on
the little hill before you go up the hill to
Marie Church. I can't recall much detail because
I was so young, but then we had a family, Mr
and Mrs Artie Hearn, connected with Hearn and
Reid, I think, had business in Balmadury. Reid
and Hearn, sorry. Their son -in -law and daughter
ran the farm for many years as a dairy farm and
they had four children. Apart from the RTA, I'm
not sure who's living on that property at the
moment. I suppose the highway's changed a bit,
has it? Highway has certainly changed. It did
have a very sharp corner at Maroo Road and the
junction of Prince's Highway and many, many accidents
over the years. Redirection of the highway has
improved. The safety has improved too. Did you
go to regular church and what was your church?
Yes, mum and dad were Christians. Dad was born
Anglican and mum was born Methodist and they
were both churchgoers and very strict with their
religion. They were married in the Methodist
church in Bury. A few years later dad said, I
would like to go. to my church as a family. So
we then went to St Luke's Anglican Church Berry,
also Maroo Union Church, and we went for each
religion on a Sunday afternoon for church, and
we had Sunday school in the church as well. And
did you teach? I did teach junior Sunday school
for a few years. Was that expected of you or
was it something you desired? No, no. It wasn't
expected, but they needed teachers. And as senior
Sunday school at the age of 12, most of us took
on teaching for a short time. Mum and her cousin
Val Devitt and her husband Rich Devitt were the
main instigators that ran the Sunday school.
And then we had Sunday school picnics in the...
Paddocks at Mr and Mrs Burt Muller and then Mr
and Mrs Albert Muller's property. Did it feel
like a little village where you were? Oh, yes.
Functions in the hall, you could count on everyone
from Maroo attending, whether it was for a dance,
a farewell, a concert, which the school had a
concert every year. Jack Abernethy on his piano
accordion, Mrs Debner would play the piano and
Vonnie Muller would be our artist with her beautiful
singing voice. I actually went to her 100th birthday.
There would have been quite a few faces there,
were there? Oh yes. There was only a few people
that I wouldn't have known or hadn't seen for
many, many years. And how many people were there?
Well, I would say well over 100 because her extended
family is just under 100, so 130 maybe. What
about your family? Were you musical? No, definitely
not. Did you have a sense of history there with
their house, Pomona, or did it feel like you
were all part of something? We went to Muller's
very regular. We went... every year to support
Biggest Morning Tea. We went for picnics there.
We also did silage and haymaking. So each family
were connected or visited regular. Often went
for suppers after milking, which you never hear
of now. Tell me how that would work and how wording...
Did you have the phone? We had Muriel Exchange
where you'd pick up your phone and dial to reach
the exchange and then Miss Marshall would put
our calls through when we were children. How
would word get out about supper that was just
expected? Not really. A lot of our suppers were
at relations and the only time we would see them
would be to go for supper or vice versa, come
to our place. But it was just... a thing that
we all did when we were in younger years. Because
it was free. You worked so hard and it was such
a ritual. You can't exactly not milk the cows.
No, our only spare time was after tea of a night.
because through the day it was all paddock work,
so there was no spare time to go visiting. Our
suppers were very special, and we got to meet
friends, but we also got to meet our great -aunties
and uncles and cousins. And to this day, I remain
good friends with second and third cousins, which
is lovely. And where would they be coming from,
and how? Mainly from surrounding areas of Bomaduri,
Bolong. Berry, Canberra and they all came in
with their 1950s cars. Christmas time, Boxing
Day actually, on Dad's side of the family, we
went out to Shellhaven Heads for our picnic and
there would be possibly a hundred turn up and
they'd come from Sydney. down to south of Narra
mainly. That would be on the beach, would it?
Yes. Where we used to gather is now a caravan
park at Shellhaven Heads, so it looks totally
different. We were under the coral trees near
the mouth of the river and the beach. Did you
have any special trees growing on your property?
We had a large orchard that had almost every
variety of fruit and citrus, and our creek was...
lined with willow trees. The boundaries on Maroo
Road were pine trees and we still have a couple
of large bunnut trees which drop the nuts every
year and last year we had seven nuts fall. We
actually stopped at the town in Queensland two
or three years ago. but they couldn't give us
a great deal of history why we would have them
down on the south coast of New South Wales. The
nuts are the size of a pumpkin and very heavy.
At school, you've... I went to Maroo Public School
till sixth grade and then I went to Narra High
School for three years. Both my sister Elaine
and myself did our schooling without missing
a day. You loved school. Yes, I did, because
I got to see friends where we didn't on farms,
because all our friends were mainly farmers and
their parents never had the time to take us to
play except on holidays. So you weren't a netballer
at Bomaderry? No, I did very little sport other
than at school. Community at school? Your friends?
My friends, yes. And we were a quiet group of
friends. And we did play our sports at school,
but our main sport at Maroo School, and we went
to Wollongong for the regions, was tunnel ball.
And that was a favourite with all of us. And,
of course, athletics. Did high jumping, long
jump, and, of course, the different lengths in
running. And both my brothers... enjoyed sport.
Alan played football. John played a lot of tennis.
And of course the tennis court was on Muller's
property. And the cricket pitch was on Muller's
property. I have the names of who owned the properties
too. Would you like to read it? Fletcher's Lane
was named after the two brothers bought two farms,
one on the corner of Marie Road and the other,
the first farm off the Prince's Highway. David
Fletcher purchased Maylands on Maroo Road from
1919 to 1923. His brother purchased the Vaughan
Farm, which was the first farm down Fletcher's
Lane, in 1919 to 1927. When my grandparents moved
to Bombadury at the end of Fletcher's Lane, They
then sold there and moved to Maylands, Murray
Meadow. My grandfather Fred and grandmother Evelyn
were blessed with four children. Eric was the
youngest. My uncle Carlton was the eldest son
and Les, and they had an older sister named Gwen.
Dad enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 21.
5th 1942 and Les married and moved to Sydney
so grandfather had to require dad back on the
farm and dad was transferred to the reserve on
the 16th of July 1942 so spent very little time
in the air force and he was aiming to be a pilot
so had to return to the farm. Grandfather lost
his first wife in 1941 and remarried Gertie Lee
on the 23rd of the 9th 43 and moved to Glen Iris
Princess Highway Bombardier retired from farming
due to ill health dad leased the farm from his
grandfather from 1943 he and mum met each other
through their good friends Ernie and Hazel Hitchcock
who had their own farm in Devitt's Lane, Maroo
Meadow. At the time, Mum was living with her
uncle and aunt, Albert and Grace Devitt, and
they walked the hills on the side of the Camberwara
Mountain. Digging tussocks was one of the jobs.
Of course, Mum was helping in the dairy and other
paddock work. Mum and Dad married on the 6th
of January 1944 at Berry Methodist Church and
later members of Dad's church, St Luke's. Anglican
Church Berry. Dad and Mum worked as a team in
dairying. Dad helped Mum on wet days by ironing.
They leased the farm from Grandfather till 1957
when Grandfather sold Maylands to Mum and Dad.
They were blessed with five children, Pearl,
Elaine, Evelyn, Alan and John, and dairy farm
till 1968 when they sold their milk quota and
naturally to cousins again. AF and B Garrity
and L and L Vaughan and their sons and mum and
dad went into beef cattle. While dairying they
did hay baling and silo harvest on farms from
Broughton Village to Chilhaven River. At the
time we had up to seven tractors and we were
all driving the machinery from farm to farm.
We were known as Feeney's Travelling Circus due
to mum and dad's health maylands. was leased
and then sold to Les and Rayleigh Vaughan and
their sons. 1988. Dad sadly passed away in October
1994. Mum remained in the family home with five
-acre lot. She sadly passed away there on the
3rd of the 5th, 2015. Current owner is Wade Wardell.
who purchased the house and land in October 2016.
Grandmother was a Vaughan that married my grandfather,
and that's where the Vaughan connection is. The
Vaughan farm was originally owned by David Fletcher's
brother from 1917 to 1927 and sold to Dad's Uncle
Fred and Aunty Ruby Vaughan at the end of 1927.
They were blessed with... four children, one
son, Les, and three daughters, Mavis, Daphne
and Beryl. Les was two years old when his parents
moved to the farm. Les married Rainie Jorgensen,
December 1949. Uncle Fred and Aunty Ruby moved
from the farm in 1952 to Torera. Aunty Ruby was
a postmistress at Torera for 25 years and retired
at the age of 79 years old. Her husband, Uncle
Fred, had just retired from the farm and he worked
for Aunty Ruby for 12 years at the post office.
Liz and Rainy were blessed with two sons, Ron
and Brian. The second farm down Fletchers Lane
was owned by Limeries, Egder and Irma Limerie.
bought their farm early in the 20th century.
They were blessed with three children, Valda,
Kelvin and Anne. Anne passed away at a young
age of 12 from leukaemia. Valda married Harold
McMahon and they had a farm in the Canberra district.
Kelvin married Colleen Cochrane in 59 and were
blessed with five children, Stephen, John, Mark,
Jeff and Janelle. Stephen's memories on the farm
as an eight -year -old was driving a rotary hoe
and unable to reach the brake pedal, of course,
ran into the fence. Damage was his pride. They
had a farm ute, an old zephyr, where they farm
-bashed like many farm children did around the
paddocks and had fun times. They lost a hay shed
with fire in the 1960s. and another time his
memory was when they were young teenagers. Their
family home was two houses joined by a veranda.
Stephen's dad, Kelvin, noticed smoke coming from
the back house. He went to investigate, and here
were some of the boys smoking. So dad quickly
told us what they were storing in the second
house, and one of the cans had dynamite. They
were scared from... Scared off smoking for a
long time. Edgar and Irma's farm was sold to
John and Flo Everson in 1979. David and Sue Boyd
are leasing the farm and growing corn and oats
for the last 10 years. And they store their harvest
at their farm in Ferreira on Jindy Andy Lane.
And did you live at Hannigan's Lane? Yes, bought
there from the city. at the end of Hannigan's,
bought that Harry Bell's place. After a couple
had bought it, we bought it off them. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, Harry Bell was Dad's groomsman and his
wife Mavis was Les Vaughan's sister, which is
a cousin. And that's how close the communities
were. That is right. And wouldn't it be great
to do a community family tree? Oh, it would be.
That's what I'd love to do. So interesting. Our
next farm would be Shepherds, whose farm is at
the end of Fletchers Lane over the railway line.
Yes. So over the railway line is still Maroo
Meadow or is that Bolong? It was originally Bomaduri
and so was all Maroo Road was Bomaduri and they
changed it to Maroo Meadow. Around the 90s, when
we moved out to the farm and built, in 1984 our
address was Bomaduri and a few years later they
changed it to Maroo Meadow again. I believe David
Shepard may have sold his farm to Reg and Iris
Shepard early in the late 1920s. Shepards were
blessed with three children, James, known as
Jim, Yvonne, that was called Vonnie. and Pam.
Their farm hand workers were Ozzie and Dorrie
Gardner and their children. My memories from
Shepherd's Farm was Mr Shepherd picking us up
on his way to school at Maroo Meadow Public School
and Mrs Shepherd had a dam on their property,
a one acre dam with a small island in the middle
of the dam. Our exciting outing was us children.
rowing a boat across to the dam island with our
picnic lunch. We also had bonfire, or as known,
Empire Night, and celebrated with a bonfire and
a scary scarecrow standing on the top of the
bonfire. And Maroo community would show off their
fireworks and have a mouth -watering supper at
the end of the night. Did that island have a
name? Did you christen it? We used to call it
Treasure Island. Mrs Sheppard was well known
for her dressmaking, a very good seamstress,
for many, many ladies and bridal wedding outfits
throughout the Shedhaven and I was lucky my bridal
gowns were all made by Mrs Sheppard. When they
retired, they moved to Bombadury and Ray Eisen
from Jasper's Brush and his wife Val bought their
farm early 70. Mr and Mrs Shepard were very good
Christians and belonged to the Methodist Church
in Bombardier. Farm is now owned by Manildra
and their house and small acreage has been subdivided
off the farm and people by the names of Jarvis,
Kane had been living on that property also. Mr
Goodall and family. Henry Goodall at this present
time. The other farm on Maroo Road was owned
by Mr and Mrs Ernie Henry and they moved there
in the 20th century, blessed with three children,
Dawn, Kelvin and Keith. They dairy farmed for
many, many years. They also had Hereford cattle.
The farm was sold to the new owners were Morrie
and Claire Dykes. They carried on dairying and
beef cattle for the next seven years before the
farm was purchased by Keith Soper and present
day owners Alan Wallace and his late mother bought
the farm in 1975 and are still running, Alan
is still running beef cattle to this day. So
tell me about how you met your husband. I met
my husband actually in a coffee shop in Nara.
Having seen him at the White Ensign Club, originally
it was a hospital where I was born. What was
that club about? For the sailors, for the Navy.
Oh, it was a Navy club? Yes. Ensign, E -M -S
-I -G -N. My husband's name's Ian and he originally
came, he was born in Victoria and came from Adelaide
to join the Navy back in 19... 64. And we married
in 1967 in October at the Berry Anglican Church
and moved to Camberwarra for 18 months in what
was a cook's flat behind a house in Tannery Road,
then moving into a Navy commission home in Nowra
before building our house and moving. back to
the farm in 1984, where we are still living to
this day. Why did you go back? We purchased our
block of land that's subdivided. I was the lucky
one that was able to move back home virtually.
What about your children? We have two children,
Nicole, who runs Meadows Swim School now, and
Donna, who lives in Catherine. She works at a
special needs school. doing HR work in the office.
And what about grandchildren? Do you have any?
We have four grandchildren. James is doing his
last year at uni for a teacher. Jack lives at
Canberra and he has a little son. So we have
one great grandson named Owen. Jack and Bree
are due to be married in November. Then we have
Hayden. He's had the open heart surgery and many
operations last year, like 10 in Sydney. And
he has moved to Catherine and he's like a teacher's
aide at the special needs school, which he is
thoroughly enjoying. He has only been up there
a short time, but really enjoying his working
life. Then we have a granddaughter, Jasmine.
She is 15 in year 10. Bombardier High School.
She has health issues too and she has NF1 which
gives tumours right through her body and other
issues, side effects from it. But in general
she plays sports, she swims, she plays AFL. She
goes to Westmead every three to six months depending
on the tests they require and her Tests then
go to Singapore and then on to America. So it's
really hard to get results back in Australia
through her specialists. But Westmead is incredible.
She has eye tests and MRIs on her back and head.
One of the many things that we did as a community
was have card nights. And the card nights were
often held on our front verandah. enclosed front
veranda. At the Vaughan's house, they held dances
because they had wide verandas around their house.
Not sure how often, but I would say monthly.
I didn't play because we had to do the drinks,
which was tea and cordial, and pass the supper
around. My parents were very, very involved in
many community organisations. Mum was 50 years
in Red Cross and many years both Mum and Dad
were in the Orange Lodge and the Grand United
Order Fellowship Lodge and both held positions
in these both lodges. They also held positions
on the committee of St Luke's Berry and Maroo
Union Church. were in the Cheslon Building Committee.
Mum was very good at cooking sponges, was her
specialty, so she won many prizes in all the
church fates and school fates. They also collected
newspapers, and I'm not sure whether it was donated
to the church or to the Cheslon Building Society,
but I think it went to both. And in three...
to four months, they had raised $14 ,000 in recycled
paper, which was mainly stored in the farm sheds
at Maylands before Jimmy Harris from Bury came
out to collect the papers and deliver them to
the recycle. They did that for many years. We
used to have to call on our way home from work
at Cheslong Bombardier to pick up papers on a
certain day of the week, and we all... had a
timetable and I found a piece of paper, a sheet
of paper that had where Mum and Dad had to collect
the papers from Shellhaven Heads, Berry and Shellhaven
area and what day of the week and the time they
collect. We stored the papers till the truck
came to pick and he would only come when it was
a full, yeah, a major load. Yes, people's homes
and drop -off points at cheslons and... Churches.
Churches and... News agents. Wherever anybody
said they would collect papers for Mr and Mrs
Feeney. That was a lot of money. A lot of money
back then, yes, in a short time, but they collected
for many years. So over the years, I have no
idea how many thousands of dollars that they
collected. And this is your parents. My parents.
And my siblings. Thank you, Pearl Biggs. Your
knowledge has certainly contributed toward a
20th century village history of Maroo Meadow.
Pearl, like the other participants, has offered
her private photographic archive and papers to
be scanned for this project, which I start doing
tomorrow. All the digitised sound and image will
be logged and archived at our major state -based
library and where possible locally as well. Quite
a few seasons are planned on this side of the
river toward this region's dairying and social
history but to date the project remains unfunded.
I am a professional historian and I'm working
without pay. to achieve and capture this extraordinary
knowledge and storytelling before it's lost forever,
bringing the region into the 21st century by
engaging with relevant digital technologies.
I have secured two sponsors to which I am grateful
that make a contribution toward production for
this episode. Thank you, TurfCo, our biggest
agricultural employer in the region. operating
for 40 years, and McGoldrick's Real Estate in
Bury, operating since 1987, securing our homes,
farms and lifestyle properties, and who recently
have come on board. I'm grateful to both Gavin
and Tim. You can call me on 0415 900 320 if you'd
like to explore being a sponsor. and the benefits
that my podcast may offer your organisation,
or if you are personally motivated to assist
in its longevity. Next fortnight, I bring you
episode seven. You'll know more as we get closer
to the date. Thank you for your feedback when
I bump into you on the street. It keeps me going,
and you are so positive, and I know you're enjoying
the episodes. A special shout out to Ed Watts,
a generational dairy farmer from Settlement out
at Pirie. Yesterday he gave me an Easter egg
to keep me going because I said I was off to
edit. His lovely wife Claire is our new pharmacist
in Bury. Keep listening and spread the word.
Much appreciated. Have a safe, spiritual and
peaceful Easter.