Welcome everybody to my podcast, Therese Makes
History. The Dairy Lane Project. The lanes between
Bomber Dairy to Bury in the Shoalhaven region
of New South Wales. Our dairying pioneers descendants
are living still often in the lanes and I'm engaging
them, capturing the history of their families
and dairy farming. which was the most prevalent
20th century primary industry throughout the
country, and certainly Berry was active and at
the centre of that industry. I'm a social historian,
my name's Therese Sweeney, and we're in season
two. My primary sponsor for season two is Ian
Zanstra, a very experienced dairyman. On the
other side of the river, from Pyree, season two
would not be happening without Ian's support.
I'm very grateful he stepped up. Thank you, Ian.
Predominantly Jasper's brush. So we're going
north of the highway. We're getting to Berry,
but we're not there yet, because today is episode
six. The Eisen family. You would have seen Ison
Lane on the highway before the bridge there that
turns into Strong's Road. I'll talk a little
bit about the heritage of the Isons. Henry Ison
was born in November 1812 in the Thriplo Parish,
Cambridgeshire, in England. He married Mary Ann
Triplo, who was born the same year, 1812. They
married in October 1834 at St George Church in
Triplo. They emigrated from England on the ship
Steadfast in 1848 and arrived in Sydney, Australia
on the 26th of March 1849. Henry had nine children.
He worked on the Berry estate, listed as a farmer
and shoemaker. Of his nine children, one was
Robert Eisen, which is the current living children's
great -great -grandfather. Robert Eisen was the
son of Henry and Mary, and he was born in 1854
at Coolingatta Farm. His occupation was a gold
miner and dairy farmer. He was the youngest child
of nine. He married Aliana Rebecca Hollands,
who was born October 1883. He married again in
October 1893 to Catherine Justin. Robert had
eight children. In the New South Wales Gazette
of March 1887, Robert is listed as the executor
to Henry's will. Now Robert's children, one of
whom was Stan. which is the current Eisen children's
grandfather. Now Stan, Stan was actually called
Arthur Charles Stanley Eisen and he was born
in February 1891 at Nowra Hill so the family
had moved to Nowra Hill at this stage. He married
Margaret Phoebe Scott in 1923 in Kiama. She was
born in December 1899. This is where the Eisen
journey begins in Jasper's brush with Stan and
Margaret which will be expanded on throughout
my discussion with his granddaughter Karen Eisen.
Now Stan had had one, two, three, four children.
Stan had four children, the youngest being Alfred
Ray. Eisen known as Ray. Ray is Karen Eisen's
father. Ray was well known in the community as
was Dan. He married Valerie Susan Gall. Now Valerie's
parents were George Thomas Gall and Olive Adelaide
McIntyre and she was born in 1934. Ray's other
siblings in order of birth was Erna Mary, Elsa
Margaret, Kenneth Robert. And of course, Ray,
Alfred Ray. Now Ray died in 2021 and is buried
at Berry Cemetery, as is his wife, who passed
in 2013. They had eight children, seven girls,
one boy. And you're going to hear all about it
shortly. Today, I'm engaging Karen Eisen. She
was born in 1957. and I hope you enjoy the recording.
What is your former name? Can I ask that and
tell me who your parents are? Yeah, so I'm an
Ison from Jaspers Brush. So we're part of the
bigger Ison family that came here, the Henry
Ison family that came to the Shellhaven in 1850.
My parents were Ray and Valerie Ison. My mum
is connected to Jaspersbrush as well through
the fact that the Macintyres and the Host families
were two of the original farmers from Jaspersbrush
and she comes down from their line making her
descendant from Jaspersbrush on sort of both
sides. The Eisen family That's my grandfather,
Alfred Charles Stanley, always known as Stan,
and his wife Margaret Phoebe. They came from
Nowrie Hill to Jaspers Brashter Farm in March
1940, and they bought a farm, an existing farm
that was there, known as Glenmore, and that's
where we all were born, we grew up. I'm one of
eight children. Adara Farmer had... seven girls
and one boy. Not probably ideal for dairy farmers
the way it went in those days. Do you know what
year your father was born and where he was born?
He was born out at Narry Hill, 1929. So he had
two older sisters and a brother. And when they
came to Jaspers Brush in 1940, so he was only
10. And then the oldest one was, I think, 15.
What about your mum? What year was she born?
She was born in Berry, the garage, the service
station, the garage there. There's a house beside
that. That's where she was born and grew up.
a single child. He was there with her mum and
dad and her father was always the mechanic. What
street was that? So that's in the main street
on the highway there. Is that the one that floods
a bit? Yes, yes, beside the bowling club, near
the bowling club there. Was her father the original
mechanic? Yes, yes, so he opened the garage there
and worked there and employed a number of people
around Berry. And what was his name? And so that
was George Gaw, George. So he'd come off the
Gaw farm that's that farm down there near the
hospital that was a dairy farm there and pretty
significant berry dairy farm as well. Yeah he
didn't farm he became a mechanic. Yes yeah he
was always a bit of a... an inventor. He was
always interested in how things work and inventing
things, always making. He built a car, built
a motorbike. He used to race motorbikes and cars
out on the Seven Mile Beach out there. And he
was always into that kind of building his own
stuff and doing all of that. So he went overseas
for a while and worked overseas. Then he went
to Wollongong and was worked in garages there
getting involved with Chrysler and other cars
and different things. come back to the era later
on as a mad um Peugeot car salesman and fixer
and mechanic and whatever and he ended his life
um working as a mechanic on mum and dad's farm
on the farm at Jaspers brush there me put a shed
on that and then was doing car mechanics and
repairs right up to the end of his life there,
yeah. I walk my dogs at the show ground every,
you know, a couple of times a day sometimes and
I go into Ray Eisen's gate. Yes, that's, that's
named after my dad, so that is the one because
as I'm saying, that's from 15, he was in the
junior farmers. the Berry Show and then it was
on the board so he never missed a show and he
was at all the meetings and the whole lot so
yeah he was very very very much part of those
all the farmers were involved with the Berry
Show he was he was very much had a say on things
had a view and yeah it was on the board and then
was the chairman for a few years and then continued
well he was there in his earlier days like he
might have been Stuart around the cattle and
then later on brother -in -law Don Barham they
were took over running the bar at the show they
did that for many years and then they went over
to be gatekeepers took over running and managing
all the gates which he did for 40 odd years he
did so that was the gate where he was always
on and so the show society recognized that in
his last years while he was still alive which
was lovely for him and he didn't know anything
about it it was a surprise they did that to honor
him for all his years working at the show and
he was still there. So he's had the gate named
by the show society in honour of him, yeah, which
was lovely. As a young person what were you all
doing? Were you riding horses or what were you
doing? Did you do any of that? My dad's brother
Ken was the Ison family. They were good horse
people and riders and Ken... absolutely loved
his horses and was always involved with horses
and he was the ringmaster at the Berry Show with
the red jacket on for most of his life he was
in it. Dad didn't have such an affiliation with
the horses he's seen that they spent a lot of
money that cost a lot of money and I think he'd
been ripped off by people with horses that always
come and can I leave my horsey and never paid
their bills. We did have horses as kids we got
a a Shetland pony that came to visit from one
of the uncles one day who brought it out knowing
that we'd love him, fully love it. We all put
our pocket money together, much to Dad's dismay,
and bought this. Shetland ponies. It was called
Sooty so that probably indicates it had no white
on it at all, it was black as anything. It was
a typical Shetland that they're stubborn and
it gave us kids hell but we had a lot of fun
with it but yeah you know took you to the closest
water trough or the closest barbed wire fence
that it could to try and get rid of you. Dad
was about the only one that can try but it lived
on the farm and stayed on the farm. until it
died when it was in, you know, about 30. But
we had a lot of fun with it, but that was in
the days when we had a horse called Creamy and,
you know, the Otter. But as that, you know, come
the introduction of, we had a Jeep that they
bought after the war. A war jeep? Yep, a war
jeep, left hand sided war jeep. So once they
had that and then, you know, gradually motorbikes
and all the rest of your tractors and your motorbikes,
then they didn't have such a need for horses
and you had your dogs. We always had our red
cattle dogs, were not to be pets, definitely
not to be pets. They came there as trained working
dogs and they were only meant to have one master.
We were always getting into trouble for, we liked
the dogs as well, but yeah, no, so they always
had... could train working dogs, and that was
essential. There was always horses on the farm
left there, or Kenneth had horses out there,
or just two different people, but yeah. So I'll
just slow you down there. So your first memories,
do you recall pre -mechanisation where you've
got draft horses? Creamier that was there was
a draft horse. Don't recall them being used for
taking carts. That was all before my time. So
it was a generation before where they would have
been using the horse and carts and the draft
horses. So I remember them all talking about
it. What do you remember them talking about?
Let's talk about and who's talking about it.
Well, the grandparents, you know, dad and his
sisters and brother talking about going to school
that way. The Isons are quite a big family. Who
were Ray's siblings? Okay, so that was Yuna.
Isen was his oldest sister who married Don Barham
and so she's a Barham at Jaspers Brush. We always
knew her as Peck but her proper name was Arthur,
Margaret. And the second one in the family and
that was his oldest sister again. She went away
from Jaspers Brush In the forties, early, she
went nursing, went to Wollongong Nursing, graduated,
went to Tassie, then went to New Zealand, travelled
to America or Europe, everywhere, and then came
back and ended up nursing in Sydney. The matron
came back to Berry Hospital, then went back to
New Zealand, married a New Zealander and came
back to the Shell Haven as Peg Watson, and he
was the real estate agent in Nara. And so she
spent all her life then in the Shell Haven after
that. What was his name? And so that was Terry
Watson. When did they come back? What sort of
era? Late 50s, early 60s. Like that's quite a
big thing to do. We look at that now and we just
kind of think, wow, that was a female then. She
was a very independent woman. She went off nursing
and then that was it. She traveled. She did all
those things and she was very independent. I
think she studied obstetrics and became involved
in one of the Sydney hospitals and then came
back. So she was a very independent woman with
a different view of the world and how it was.
When she came back, married Terry and then came
home with the two little girls and he set up
the real estate business here, then that's right,
she didn't really work. after that, but she was
involved in lots of things which had a much broader
idea on her. Did she influence you at all? Like
was she, did you admire her? Well we did, yeah
we did because she looked at all that and you
thought of it and probably when you got older
because when you were younger you weren't brought
up to question things but just to follow and
do and parents said this is how this and that
you just thought oh yeah that was it. So it was
not later till you got towards the end of high
school that you'd started to, oh. Hang on, hang
on. You encourage and your kids start getting
independent views much earlier on than we did.
You just thought, you know, we always felt, you
know, my dad was always right and knew everything.
But we looked at Peg and then as you got older
and then you grew up a bit and you look back
and you understand how things, you thought, oh
yeah, yep, yep. She'd come and brought a whole
different... yeah a way of doing and yeah very
modern woman with different thinking and different
ideas. Who's next? So the two girls and then
Ken. And Ken liked horses? Being a steward at
the races. Oh so it's racetrack horses? It was
more that sort of thing that he kept riding for
being a steward at the... the race days at Nowra
and so forth and then at the show and he'd go
to Sydney show and he was a steward at the show
on the horse and the red jacket and the harlot.
So that was him. But yeah, look, farming wasn't
obviously for him, he didn't. He got out and
did his own way and worked at the paper mill,
the Shelhaven paper mill, which a lot of the
men down here do. He spent all his life working
there. He did shift work and that gave him opportunities
to explore his other interests and whatever and
his skills, which He did, he was very handy with
his hands. In those days you didn't go to tape,
you didn't do this, you just started and you
did it, fitted and turning, whatever else. An
apprenticeship of some sort on the job. And on
the job and away you went. Married a berry girl,
moved off the farm and that was before Dad and
Mum were married. So he'd already left the farm,
gone to live in Berry and helped build the new
house when Mum and Dad were getting married.
So he did a lot of building work, a lot of carpentry.
He had lots of different interests and hobbies
that come and went and changed it. Chooks, he
got right into chooks and showing chooks and
all sorts of chooks so that was one of them through
a period of time. When they were at Narrah Hill
particularly they went to school with horses,
horse and buggy to get them. in and back and
a whole lot. Earlier probably when they first
arrived to Jaspersbrush they were probably still
riding horses. There was a horse paddock at the
school. Kids would ride in and tied up the horse
and the horse would stay there for the day and
then they'd ride home. And then by the time I
was born in 57 and things had started to change
and they had other means of getting around. Yep.
Do you remember things like chaff cutters and
things? Yep, we had a chaff cutter. So let's
talk about how that worked and what were you
growing to chaff. In my memory in my days it
was mainly sacraline and corn we were growing
and we definitely had chaff cutters. We had this
massive shed that had big doors at the height
of a platform you know high enough for that so
that you'd back up to that the tractor and the
trolleys or the truck. You'd hand shovel all
that off with pitch forks in and then that it
goes through the the chaff cutter. So you're
saying you're storing whatever you're harvesting
and then you're chaffing it? And they're chaffing
it so it'd come in there and then it'd be chaffed
and then it'd go and be fed to the cattle that
way. That was those earlier days. Yeah so it
had a big chain on it and it went around two
different wheels. There was a spot you shoveled
it in and out the other end it came out finer
and that'd go into that big trolley. It was onto
a platform then we'd pitchfork it into that to
feed the cattle. So now when we talk about accidents,
my dad was known because he was missing fingers.
The day Gawa was born, so that was in 56, he
put a finger through the chaff cutter. A few
fingers off hands missing here and there. How
did they bring in the crop? How did they harvest?
So in those earlier days, we'd all help as well
and it was all hand. So we had another trailer
that was low. Oh, you had a tractor or something.
Yeah, but a lot of it was hand. We'd go down
and cut corn and they'd be spending hours cutting
corn. It was all by hand. What do you call those
things? Yeah, sickle. How do you handle? Show
me how you do it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, you
just... And we were the ones collecting it and
putting it on more than doing the cutting. The
men would do the cutting, but the kids were allowed
to stack it all up and then get it on the...
trailer and then it'd come and then it'd go through
the chalk car piled high. So in those days, because
we got the railway line that ran through the
farm, they'd leased the sides of the railway
line and we'd be able to, they'd grow corn and
everything along there as well. These days obviously
they wouldn't, but yeah, so you'd go down there
and spend all day cutting the corn and the sackaline
and whatever bit. It was usually corn they grew
along the railway line. Earlier when they first
came in there they did potato and they did a
lot of that at Narrahill you know potatoes and
peas which they could sell to the market. They
were just growing you know doing potatoes and
peas at Jaspers brush I think when they first
come but that not such hard work. Yeah so there
was a drainage system put in through the swamp
to help when the floods were on and high tide
and the whole lot and so there was a drainage
trust board. that I remember my dad being on
because there was flood gates down there and
they'd be in charge of managing and looking after
all that and I think that was a state government
set that scheme up. I just knew that they had
a system there with this so that if it flood
that they would shut all closed so that the flooding
wasn't as bad or when the tide were right that
it allowed them to drain out that helped control
some of the flooding on the swamp then. The gates
are still there. The state government wound up,
the trust and board councils took over management.
The locals weren't involved in the Drainage Trust
Board anymore. But your father was involved?
Yep. I know that the day before down there was
the chair of it when it wound up at the time.
Yeah, the 50s and 60s that kind of was. The gates
are still there. I've always wondered, now the
Isons and hardware. Yeah, so that is all the
same family because it was Henry Ison that came
out here in the 1850s and he came out and ended
up working as the head stockman at the Coolangatta
estate. There was the big floods there and a
lot of things got washed away and he was living
out that way. He moved to what was called Saltwater
Creek on the Shelhaven River and set up the family
farm and moved the family to there and that was...
right near Pooleput Rock. Have you heard of Pooleput
Rock? Across from Bundanon. Managed by National
Parks I think it is. Part of it's significance
is Arthur Boyd painted it a lot. If you look
at Arthur Boyd's paintings, Pooleput Rock shows
up in that a lot. It is across from that property
and it was just right there where the Saltwater
Creek came out to the Shellhaven River and that's
where he farmed it. They had a property, grandfather's
father and a lot of those had started farming
at Nowri Hill. So they had farms there and Stan
Ison's father was Robert Ison. He was out at
farming at Narrah Hill. When grandfather was
born, he was only about three months old, his
mum died and there was four children. He was
then sent to live next door with the older Ison
family and they raised him for a while. Later
on Robert remarried. He went back to live with
them and to have more children. But then Robert
Ison died. really young. So all those Isons,
a lot of them around, and the hardware. Robert's
older brothers started the hardware, the narrow
hardware. But all the Isons around here, they're
all related and all came from that same Henry
Ison. We were the dairy farming stream. Dairy
farming, gold mining for a bit. Robert did some
gold mining up at Yellow Wall. Never got rich
from that. Obviously Stan, when he came back
from the war, he was injured at the war twice
before they finally sent him home. And then he
came back. got a job working for the gasworks,
lighting all the street lamps and doing that
when the lights in town in Nauru were gas. And
then he went farming back at Nauru Hill again.
He'd got married and had the children and that's
where my dad was born. So he'd become a dairy
farmer again then, hadn't he? And then come to
Jaspers Brush. Jaspers Brush was established
through tenant farmers from the David Berry estate.
And then they decided to, in the 1890s, to start
and release some of that land and allow it to
be sold. And so a lot of the tenant farmers then
purchased it. Some of them didn't. Other people
got it. And that's what it all established, because
they finally got freehold title. Not straight
from the Crown, but from the estate. And so that's
on mum's side of the family. That's the... The
host and then down railway line that was the
Macintyres were tenant farmers there and then
eventually taking up some of those initial titles
when it was sold So initially it was all just
farmers everyone buying and farming mainly to
sustain a family Yeah, and then like that 1890s
to 1990s was so significant for the Shellhaven
for dairy industry and dairy farmers like that
was you know that was a major major major industry
and it shaped the Shellhaven because it was really
one of the biggest New South Wales dairy industry
areas and production so yeah coming through was
a you know establishing a co -op and okay so
we'll talk about Your father, Ray, and some of
the activities he was involved in, I know we've
gone over a bit about the showground, what would
you like to say? Well, I think Ray, my father,
I think he probably inherited that a bit from
his grandfather, Stan, who was fairly community
-minded and involved. And so, Stan, during his
life and time at Jasper's Brush, at one stage
he was served on the Berry Council. before it
become the Shelhoven and he was an alderman on
the council and he was I think deputy mayor for
a time as well and that was in the 1940s and
he was also, Stern was also one of the early
directors for the Narra Co -op, the Narra Dairy
Co -op and he was on there for six years from
1945 to 52. He was also the captain of the Jaspers
Brush Fire Brigade and president of the school
PNC. So he was involved and got involved in a
lot of things and like was at war in the First
World War when he came back in the Second World
War. Then he got involved as a member of the
Volunteer Defence Corp and ran the Maroo Jaspers
Brush groups, the training people and helping
the volunteers that were staying here and getting
trained and he did a lot of that. He also served
on the Shelhaven Repatriation Committee for Returned
Soldiers. So he was fairly active. Do you remember
Stan, yourself? Yes, yes. What was he like? He
was a very gentle person and a quiet person.
I think probably having gone through what he
went through like losing his mum when he was
three months old and living and then coming back
and then losing his father when he was just in
his teens and then going to live with another
auntie at Maroo. for a few years and then going
away. A lot of that would have shaped life for
him. And then the war. And look, I just remember
a very gentle man, a caring man. I never remember
him ever raising his voice. At that stage my
grandmother was a pretty strong woman and she
probably wore the pants in that household and
kept everything organised and so he still had
a love of farming, gardening. animals, even though
he'd stopped coming to milk in his later years.
That was in his mid -70s. He still come down
each day to feed the calves and check on the
chooks and so it was lovely. So, yeah, at home
he'd been in his garden all morning, come in,
had lunch and had a little lie down as he thought
he would before he'd go down to the barns. Said
he wasn't feeling that well. He never woke up
from that sleep that day. Passed away in the
sunroom, which was probably a nice way to...
to go at the age of 70. I think in the community,
you know, well respected for being honest, hardworking
farmer. And he showed great leadership skills.
Yes, yes. And I think that was it. That's what
you're seeing, the ability to stand up, you know,
for what you believe, expression of opinion and,
you know, and make sure your voice was heard.
And so my dad, I think, as he come and he, you
know, grew up and went through. He became involved
in a lot of the same things. He ended up captain
of the Bushfire Brigade, president of the school
PNC, involved in the PNC at a primary, went straight
to Bombardierie High which had just opened and
he was involved in, you know, heavily involved
in the PNC and chair of the PNC at high school.
did a lot of advocating and did a lot of the
work around getting the Shellhaven High built,
fighting to get Shellhaven High built and things
like that. Is that now called Narrah High? No,
Narrah High was the first high and then Bombardiery
High came and so he was involved as a member
of the Jaspers Brushpan so then getting Bombardiery
High up and running and built and then later
on as that grew Shellhaven High. Education was
really important at that I think because He grew
up in a time and he left at 15 to work on the
farm and he just said none of us were going to
be leaving school until we finished high school,
finished the high school certificate. That's
what he stood by and we all went through and
did the high school certificate. Like his father,
he was very involved with the dairy industry
and the dairy factory and then he spent 12 years
there as a director from 1976 and right through,
elected as the deputy chair and then... elected
as the chair, what was the Nowra Dairy Co -op
at that stage. So he was around and involved
when they fought for a merger, they fought against
a lot of takeover bids. They worked with other
co -ops to try and get an amalgamation and they
amalgamated the Jambiru factory. 1984 the Jambiru
and the Nowra co -ops, they actually officially
amalgamated and created the Shellhaven Dairy
Co -op. They only become the first chair of the
first board for the new Shell Haven factory.
All through that era of change. At the same time
was involved in the Cooperative Society. Was
involved at a high level and on the board and
did trips overseas and so forth. So he was part
of the board and go to Sydney regularly for meetings
with the Cooperative Society. He very much was
a believer in cooperatives. I don't know how
he managed to be a farmer getting up at those
hours in the morning. coming home and then rushing
off to so many night meetings. Later in the 80s
he was up and down to Sydney continually for
meetings but yeah he was another one who believed
in what he standing up and being counted for
your opinions and then but he also believed very
much in doing your homework that's what he'd
say don't ever speak until you've done your homework
do all the research do the homework get both
sides of the story then form your opinion and
then speak. and then stand up for what you believe
in. So that was kind of what he always told us
as kids and we've seen that demonstrated time
and time. And another thing, part of it was you're
not always going to agree with one another. So
you're going to stand up and speak and a lot
of people in the room may not agree with you.
When you walk out the door then that's it, you
leave it there and then you continue with your
friendships. Everyone's right to have a different
opinion on things. He very much fought for a
lot of that. So he was doing that at the same
time when he was the chair of the Berry Show
Society and attending a lot of those other bigger
events and being involved in that. But he was
very much committed to that. So when he wasn't
farming, he was spending time attending meetings
and trying to make sure those things that were
important to him were progressing. and going
in the right direction. So yeah, very much a
fighter for The Berry Show to continue to be
an agricultural event and not get taken over
and dragged off in other directions just to be
more profitable or more exciting. Continuing
to have the show where it demonstrated the dairy
industry, you know, the industry, the agriculture.
So thinking about... Your siblings could you
name them all for me and where you went to school?
So because there's a few of us so Sue was my
older sister born in 54 so Sue then Gail then
myself I was number three in the family then
my brother Michael and then there was Janet then
Leanne then we had a little bit of a gap and
then there was another two more surprises so
we had Tracy and Nicole and that's the eight
of us now. As the old ones we all went to to
Jaspersbrush Primary School so we'd walk or sometimes
get driven but mostly go up in a jeep maybe but
mostly we walked all through the paddocks and
as most of the kids did they just walked to school
near Jaspersbrush Creek where the bridge is.
just before you come over the bridge to go down
to Railway Lane. It's called Jaspers Brush Lane
these days, but yeah, so it was between those
two lanes there on the highway. Was the teacher
there a while or...? Earlier on Mr Hunt had come
and then Mr Punch, so most of us went through
with Mr Punch. The school closed because the
numbers were dropping. Go through that wave and
it was before all the... Farms started to get
sold and subdivided and lots of other kids come
to town and whatever, come to live in Jaspersbrush,
but it was that era. So numbers were dropping
right down and so then my brother, the younger
ones, all went through Bombardierie Primary once
the school closed. So that's... In the 60s? Yeah,
68 I think that was, yeah. So once they moved
there, there was a bus that used to take them,
pick them up on the highway and we'd go to high
school on the bus as well. So once we all went
to high school, there was a bus that ran from
Berry to Bommeterry High. When you're thinking
about where you are in Iceland's land and you're
thinking about how the landscape looked, I imagine
there were a lot more silos in that landscape.
Yes, there were. There were a few most of the
times. And the concrete ones tend to still be
there, some of them, and a lot of the others
then. with the metal silos or whatever that we'll
put up later on but yeah for just this brush
there wasn't as many silos as far meadow some
of the other areas around it but there's still
a few of them. that you can see around. And going
into Maroo Meadow to school, what did it look
like on the left there of the highway? Well again
it was just all dairy farms either side really
and the little Maroo school and the little church
there but basically it was just cows and paddocks.
It was all dairy farms right through there in
our earlier days. Through from Berry, yeah. It's
changed quite a bit now. So tell me about your
farm, just briefly. Your dairy farm, how big
was your dairy farm? So they bought, it was about
250, 240 acres when they first came there. When
Stan bought that, Glenmore, known as Glenmore.
So that was a little bit on both sides. So both
sides of the highway there and went down and
had the swamp in it and then a little bit up
where the ice and lane is. They had some property
up there. And when my father was getting married,
in 1953. So a new house was built on the farm
for his parents, for Stan and Mark, to move into
and that was built on the highway on the other
side just where Ison's Lane meets the highway
now. So they moved into that and Dad stayed in
the house he was raised in and family home and
Mum moved in there and that's where we all grew
up. in that house. Ison Lane only come about
recently so in those days it was directly on
and off the highway and these days just after
this last lot of works where the overpass and
the bridge is then it's become an offshoot of
Jaspers brush lane and it runs down to there
so it's sitting in the same place in the last
few years it's all been re... done up because
my sister owns it and her husband so the original
house still sits there so it's about 140 years
old now and um yeah from what we understand 120
somewhere around that age and it's had a few
modifications over its time but it's just been
completely redone up there so that's the that's
the original dairy cottage that's the that's
the original homestead yep so did you have electricity
growing up and In my times, yes, I can remember.
We had no hot water, but we had electricity.
So the hot water came from the fuel stove. So
the cooking and everything was always the fuel
stove. So that had to go 24 -7. What was the
fuel? Wood. Wood fire? Yep. In the bails of course
they had a copper there because they needed boiling
water to wash things down and clean up and sterilise
all the milk cans etc. At the end of milking
Dad would bring a can of hot water up and throw
that in the bath and then all the kids one after
the other in together and one after another and
then we'd have a bath each night that way. But
that was the only hot water we had in the house
is what he brought up after milking. Or what
came off the top of the fuel stove in the kitchen.
Yep, and that was it. So that was the early days.
And for washing, with so many of us, that would
have been fun for Mum, because she just had the
old copper top down in the laundry, a separate
thing. Which was quite dangerous, wasn't it?
Well, yeah. I know some women were burnt to death
and things from the hot water. Yes, and not fun.
I remember that early, changing the excitement.
The washing machine that had the two ringers
on the top. That was heaven. They thought at
the time and now you look at it and you think
that's why washing took so long. Housework those
days was a full -time job. Sticking with that,
what was your mother cooking like? Did she have
to cook everything? Yep, in those early days
that was it. So they'd be up from early in the
morning and the guys were working outside in
the farm and then they'd just spend all their
time doing housework, preparing meals, cooking,
cleaning, getting up and she used to make our
clothes as well. So she'd be off. often up to
midnight and past midnight, you know, sewing
clothes and making clothes, etc. A long day's
work for both the farmers out in the paddock
as well as the women inside. And my grandmother
used to cook a lot. She'd be up, you know, early
in the morning cooking biscuits every day and
all that because they'd make sure that they needed
to have morning tea and afternoon tea before
they went to milk as well. You'd be finishing
breakfast and then getting ready for morning
tea, getting ready for lunch, getting ready for
afternoon tea and then the dinner. And what were
you taking to school to eat? Was it sandwiches?
Yeah, there was none of that. So you'd have the
hot milk, the milk that'd get left there. But
the P &C guys, they bought an ice chest. It'd
be left at the school gate so that the milk could
go in there. So the big block of ice had come
each day to try and keep the milk chilled. The
fruit and Vegemite peanut butter sandwiches and
that sort of thing mostly. Then the milk that
always was delivered to all the schools in those
days. The milk had come in little glass bottles
with the foil tops on it. in my day. Just exploring
the house a bit more because I mean I come from
a large family too and we had hot water because
it was urban you know on the fringe but urban.
And we'd all get in, like, there'd be three of
us in the bath. There'd be no, like, you know,
there was no dramas. We'd all be in the bath,
you know? That's exactly how it was. We never
thought about, you don't think about, you know,
what's normal. No. You don't question, and that
was it. There was so many, and it was, you know,
there was a routine every day, and then once
the can of water, hot water, went in, and it
was right. Yes. You bunch in the big ones, two
of the next ones, and then some out, and some
in, and some coming out, getting... dressed and
nappies on and whatever and then after that dad
would usually have a bath and that was it. Now
I'm not sure about my mum where mum fitted in
to get her bath because she was in there organising
dinner and whatever. So with her supplies did
she, you had chooks did you? Yeah yeah my grandfather
loved his garden and he loved chooks and fruit
trees and whatever. What was he growing? Oh look
I think When they had their property out at Narrow
Hill, I think he grew everything. Not just the
normal run -of -the -mill apples and oranges
kind of stuff. They had everything, and they
used to do a lot of bottling and a lot of preserving.
Then grandfather, you know, established a similar,
but not to the same extent. But there was a lot
of apple trees, orange trees. At Jaspersbrush,
yeah, it was only mainly for himself or that
people had swapped things, but yeah, they'd do
a lot of preserving with... a lot of the stone
fruits and whatever they had there during the
veggie gardens, you know, like he had a massive
veggie garden. And it was all just to sustain
their family and you might swap with neighbours
and so forth. And then the chooks, yeah, grandfather
always loved. So we always had chooks and the
eggs and the whole lot. So that was his, you
know, as he kind of retired from milking and
getting too hard in his seventies for the milking,
the later years he'd still come down to feed
calves and collect the eggs and make sure the
chooks were. were right and sorted out and that
sort of thing. Do you know what types of chooks?
Did he show them at the shows? No, no. That was
one thing our family never did. Dad, they were
heavily involved in the show and the Berry Show,
particularly my dad, until just when he was about
90. They didn't go in for, you know, registered
cattle and they had to be registered cattle to
be showing. They never got involved in that side
of it. What was always there as a Stuart, it
was probably about where they fitted in that
with terms of financial money. It was all about
money. They didn't have a lot. So thinking about
the cows, how many cows were being milked in
the types? Were they Frisians? Were they Illawarra's?
What were they? We were Frisians, our farm, always
the black and white, but you always mixed a couple
of others in there for cream, jerseys and the
Guernsey's. So you had a few of those all mixed
in amongst, but 90%. was the freezers for milk
supply. How many were you milking? When they
first were farming there in the early days, I
think it was around the 60, and a lot of it was
dictated a bit by your milk quota, your size
of your property. So with Dad there and over
time, once he got married, of course he was getting
married in 53. Just after that then he became
a share farmer with his father. In the 60s, you
know, a little bit further down the track, they
entered into a partnership arrangement. registered
the business name for the farm in the name of
ACS Eisen and Son. So they worked under that
partnership agreement right up then. Then around
67, so they had an opportunity to buy the farm
next door. That was Davis' farm, known as Dawning.
At that stage it was just being leased out. The
Walker family were living there and farming it,
but the Davis farm then was in an estate. had
to be sold and that was purchased by Mam and
Dad. in their name, so in 67 that was, so they
owned it. And what sort of money are they paying?
How big was that property? Yes, I think it was
around 170 hectares that they got to add to it.
I'm not sure what money they were paying for
it. So that's quite an expansion. That gave them,
yeah, because that's it. You needed bigger and
it's the quotas that they needed, a bigger quota
and the whole lot. So that gave them an opportunity
to grow and so then, you know, they grew it and
it was more getting up towards the 80 head. When
they're buying property with the milk quota system,
they're getting the milk quota attached to the
property. Generally, that's how it works, yes.
So during Mum and Dad's time, Grandfather's time
there, they actually had what they called a dry
run. So Grandfather had bought in the 40s a property
at Wattamulla up here at Berry. So they had that
and for the quota. And then they had an opportunity
to buy his old... farm back at Narrahill, watermelon
got sold and they bought that back which helped
them because that gave them a quota and extra
land. How big was that one? So it was probably
that similar sort of 150 or so acres there that
they had. Then when they got the opportunity
to buy dawning the Narrahill property was sold
as well so then they had the two properties there
combined and they combined all that to one. one
farm, one business. By the time when they finished,
my brother and my dad were farming together after
my grandfather passed away. My brother had finished
university, he'd be doing ag out at Wagga and
come back onto the property with dad and then
they were able to start to have another look
at. how the business was operated, make it a
bit more modern, increase the herd again. And
in that time they bought a property at Maroo,
known as the Shepherds. The Shepherds Farm, it
was just Shepherds. So that was down Maroo Road.
Fletcher's Lane. Yeah, so on the bales, then
they redeveloped, because the bales on the farm,
six bales, so that's pretty slow milking. And
in those days, the way it was done, we had a
really big shed on the property just near the
bales, with cattle stalls in it. and in between
two rows of cattle stores there was a sunken
pit with a trolley on railway tracks. Put all
the silage, the hay, whatever would go in and
we'd go through and fill up all the cattle stores.
We'd feed, the cows would come in and be fed
first before they'd go to be milked. That's why
milking was such a long process. When grandfather
had first bought and dad was milking, that was
a thing. We'd have to go down there and help.
you know fill up this trolley that we'd push
up and down the in between the stalls. Quite
a good system really. It was great and above
it. there was a loft full of hay. So you had
kind of three levels. Yeah, there was a storage
level here and then on, on railway trucks. Yes.
In this trolley that we'd push up and down and
then you'd fill it up with feed. And as the cows
come in, you knew personally, like you knew every
cow, they had a name and you knew the cows. And
so then they had, depending what cow it was,
what stage of their milking, whether they were.
Pregnant this one had to get this much pollen
this one had to get this much brand this one
had to So you just knew you had a list and you'd
go through and then once the cow was in you gave
it its additional supplement a fee based on What
cow it was who it was up and whatever? So when
that was all over then they'd go into the yard
and then they'd start milking and that in those
earlier days So it was only six milking stores.
So it was a walk through, six bales. Yep, come
in they grow whatever ones you needed to down
on the stool underneath for the bucket and we
washed, cleaned them and whatever and then we
had electric milking machine. So the cups, you'd
put the cups on? The cups on, yep. Had to work
out which ones had mastitis or this or that or
had cuts or whatever that you had to treat and
all the rest of it and there was a process but
they were just being fed, separate from being
fed. Then in about 81 I think they renovated
the bales and made them eight and they also...
then become feeding stalls at the same time so
then they build a silo at the bales and then
you're able to start to feed and milk the cows
at the same time which saved a lot of work and
a lot of time. We ended up with Dawning and what
came with Dawning was another house and so Michael
lived in that house so they're both on the swamp
side, the two houses. And then in the 70s when
Michael came home, as I was saying, they'd improved
the other. They actually built new herringbone
bale, a new design, and Michael designed and
did all that. He did it different than the traditional.
They were about ten a side and with the pit,
which made milking a lot easier, a lot safer,
and more enjoyable for farmers and the cows.
And they could get through a lot. So they got
their quota, you know, they got up to about a
milking 120 head. Important milestones was when
they moved to the bulk milk collection system
in the 60s, the mid 60s there, where everybody
changed over from factory cans and having collections
after every milking to installing the milk vats,
the big milk vats that was all through a refrigerated
system. And then that milk only had to be collected
after, you know, every second day. So we went
to that system. So that was a big change. Then
there were the big tankers. You had to upgrade
your access roads and the dairy to make sure
that they could get in and out safely and turn
around. And you had to add this bat room to your
bales and do all that. So that was a big expense
for Simon and a big change for whether they got
loans or financial assistance to help do that.
But I think in that... they were buying them,
buying the vats and putting them in so that was
all part of the process. So were you upgrading
the rows and paying for those costs? From my
memory yes, yeah the farmers so just had to upgrade
all that stuff but that made the work a lot easier.
So in the bottom of the um the vat there was
a little plug right at the bottom the lower point.
and then a hose had come off the truck, they'd
attach it to it. Did you ever go in a milk truck?
We did, yep. So that was Johnny Mitchell. His
father did it before him. Depending on what day
of the week or where it was or what time or how
much time he had, he was happy to throw us in
with him. So after it left our place, then they'd
go down Railway Lane and Strongs Lane and then
he'd drop us back on the highway on the way.
as he was heading the other direction back to
the factory. So yeah, we'd often, and I don't
think he minded bringing us because then he'd
get us to do, we could take all the empty, roll
all the empty cans off because that's what he'd
do, bring back the empty cans and then he'd put
your full ones on. So we were there always helping
get the empty cans off as he was getting the
full ones on. And so once that changed over then
I think those contractors have probably given
some compensation. paid out of their contracts.
So were you going to Berry for your supplies
or were you going to Nauru as a family? So as
a family in those days, that was all delivered.
Mannals in Berry, they owned the shop where the
IGA basically is now, the grocery shop. You rang
through your order and it was delivered onto
your kitchen table. You rang through your meat
order, that was Darryl Atkins, the Atkins book,
and it'd be delivered. Your bread had come, the
Brandon's, deliver the bread. All that. would
be delivered. So you just ring in your order
and let it all be delivered. And that was in
the earlier days. Then it was later on as they
stopped doing that once I was in high school
age more than before. Mum had had a licence and
then when we were young she never had a licence
but she got a licence later on. We never had
a car. When we were kids there was grandfather
owned a car and we could borrow it to go to church
on Sunday. And what church did you attend? So
we all went to the Presbyterian. My mum was a
Presbyterian. The Isans were strong Methodists.
Dad married a Presbyterian, so it wasn't a Catholic,
so that was us. I know, I mean us poor Catholics.
But it's interesting, isn't it? There was that
divide because the Catholics in Bury had their
own school as well, tended not to mix with the
Methodists and the others, the Church of England.
Yours were the dominant churches, weren't they?
Yes, it was the Methodist Church of England and
the Presbyterian. It just went with the with
the settlement? Yep and then when they married
because Dad became a Presbyterian and went to
the Presbyterian Church and that was that was
it that was all okay yeah so we were always went
to the Presbyterian Church. Did you go to Sunday
School? Went to Sunday School and Gussie Miller.
Tell me about that. Gussie Miller who's still
alive yeah so he was always very much in our
minds. We all would have had Gussie Miller as
a Sunday School teacher. Yeah, I did some Sunday
school teaching for a while there too. High school
days and then just as I left and went to work
and everything, then that all kind of stopped.
To Jaspersbrush, the core community asset there
was the school, the Jaspersbrush school. Like
I think in the earlier days, there was a school
of arts hall there. You don't remember the railway
station? Yes, I do. Yep, yep. I do remember the
railway station. Do you remember what sort of
trains were they staying? Yeah, they were still
all that steam and diesel. Did you get the train
there? Once or twice we did. In the very early
days when we were little or we met people there
that got off. But by that time the train wasn't
stopping at Jasper's Brush unless you booked
or rang, you know, that's what it went to. If
you wanted to stop there you had to go and, you
know, organise that or go in with the guard or
get them to stop. So most people... it had transitioned
out so you'd go to bury. In the early days I
know my dad talked about you know when they'd
go on the train well you'd just ride with the
guard and then he would if there was nobody else
to get off at Jaspersbrush railway station they'd
drop him at the railway gates on our farm and
just let him off and jump him off let him jump
off there and whatever that was the earlier days
but yeah so in those days yeah they stopped and
by the time I was high school yeah they It was
just not on the map at all. It was gone and they
closed it and then they finally removed it all.
When you were living in Jasper's brush, was it
mainly Presbyterians or was there the, like,
what was it? No, it was a mix. It definitely
was a mix. When I went to school it was a little
bit dominant because the Matthews up the line.
had six children, and we had eight, and we both
were the Presbyterians, so that probably added
a few Presbyterians in there. But there was definitely
a mixture of Church of England Catholics, the
Horaces were there, they were Catholics, and
they came to the school until they went to high
school, and then they sent them to the Catholic
school. Yeah, so we had a bit of a mixture at
school, you never ever. Never even thought about
it. That's right, but it's interesting. Was there
any Jews? No, so that was the thing. Might have
had an Aboriginal child there occasionally, just
when they were staying with somebody or something
else was happening. Or their family might have
been in the area doing some pay picking or whatever
for things. So there were some Aboriginal children
who'd go to the school, but usually just for
a part of a few months or a month or so, that
sort of thing. or just all the farmers' kids.
Our big memory is Jimmy Little. He came and Jimmy
and his sister used to come and stay with the
Johnson family down Railway Lane. And he came
and sung for us at the Christmas tree event one
year, our end of year and our Christmas do at
the end of year. And he come and he sung, Telephone
to Glory. You just remember that. We didn't.
you know, realised. Great song. Yeah, we never
realised how big a person, you know, whatever,
it was just, oh yeah, the Johnsons are gone,
you know, Jimmy and Betty staying with them again
and they come along and oh, it's great, yeah.
They were very involved in church and it was
part of just what they did help looked after.
Yeah, okay. Special memory because she's just
had your normal. Our Santa was Johnny Strong
from up the road, but Santa would always come
in. have Christmas and we'd do that and we'd
do a bit of dance and whatever else but we'd
get our new, our book as a prize for the year
and that was usually it. We all took home a book
with the little sticker in the front with the
PNC sticker in it which we still got some of
those but yeah and that was it but that was a
special of the year when he came along. And what
was John Strong like? Oh everybody remembers
him as being an unusual A different sort of farmer,
not so conventional because he'd come home and
he'd be ploughing up the paddock at two in the
morning or doing or getting the cows into milk
in the dark and whatever. So to be one of his
cows would have been an interesting life I think
because they'd be milked whenever I think it
was time and whatever. So he'd be getting in
cows and milking at weird times or he might only
milk them. once a day you know everybody just
remembers him as being yeah a bit unorthodox
yeah he didn't do it the same as everybody else
he was a little bit different I think he was
a very big part of the community so let's talk
about how Ison's Lane got registered as a lane
yeah so that's that's right so like you know
with the farms as I said you know I had grown
up from one property to two got bitter and then
you know dad and his father farmed it and then
he passed away and then Dad had, we had a few
milkers working but once Michael came home then
they had the partnership and they were building
the farm up and then it got to a point there
was a lot changing dairy, dairy regulation and
the whole lot and that was a big thing that happened
in the Shell Haven for a lot of farmers. The
value of their property had gone through the
roof so they'd buy more land. to dairy farm was
becoming expensive. Dad's now in his 60s and
Michael said they either had to get bigger or
get out. I suppose that was it. So there was
decisions to be made. They'd gone through a few
wet winters. My brother talks about 100 days
of rain, milk and cows, but they needed more
land. They needed to either get bigger. Anyway
the decision was, yeah and I think that was in
about 98 I think they stopped farming. Michael
retired and he went off to work for the Department
of Ag at Gloucester and Dad stayed on the farm
and retired. So of course with all that come
with the need to, you've got all your assets
and everything tied up in land, part of that
was to then consolidate titles between the two
properties that they owned, Dawning and Glenmoor,
they consolidated all those titles, took Dad's...
a house block off and it became a residential
zoning block which was allowed. It was being
encouraged by planning at that stage, new planning
laws and mistake planning laws and council LEP
rules etc. So they consolidate a lot into one
larger farm. which they were trying to do. He
got that off and then on that other side, western
side of the highway where Nana's house was, then
they were able to take three one hectare lots
off. That's when Ice and Lane was constructed,
or an access road was constructed. It's a private
road, it's not a public road. In about 2005,
those lots were sold around 2000. So that gave
dad, mum, retirement money, money to live on,
now that they weren't farming. and allowed them
to stay on the farm and keep the majority of
the farm. Yeah, in 2005 they just went through
the process. One of my sisters organised all
that, went through the process with Council on
the Geographic Names Board of having that lane
named Ison Lane, and that's named in memory of
my grandfather, ACS Ison Stan, because his house
was on that side, so that was named Ison Lane.
So it's probably the newest lane. for your project
it's probably um and it's not a public road so
that's how that came about it's just the three
blocks up there the house that was on that side
with it my grandparents when my parents got married
at that same time and that that's where the new
house was built that was built by stan's son
ken ray's brother he built the majority of that
house for them and they lived there You know,
he lived there till he passed away and my grandmother,
Margaret, yeah, she was there till about three
years before. In about 92 she moved off to property
and then 94 I moved into aged care. I was only
there a couple of years before she passed away
in her late 90s. She did well, she lived, yeah.
What was her secret? Well, I think it's again,
you know, they brought up pretty tough and they
just had to. You know, they lived through wars
and they did the whole lot. They were pretty
resilient. She worked from five in the morning
to late at night and they grew everything. She
cooked everything, ate well all her life and
she did. She remained pretty healthy all her
life. That brings us to the end of the recording.
I hope you enjoyed it. Now we're moving Through
this Derry Lane project, aren't we? Season one,
ten episodes, season two, number six episode,
big tick, off, done. After Christmas, I'll bring
you episode seven. Thanks for listening. Spread
the word. For some reason, there aren't as many
people listening this season. I want you to make
an effort. Put it out there. Jasper's brush is
incredibly interesting. All right, thanks for
joining me. Take care and have a safe, spiritual,
enjoyable, drama -free Christmas. Fingers crossed.