BIRD FAMILY HISTORY

150 Years in Australia

1853-2003

Ian Bird

Chapter 1: The Beginnings

A Boy's Own Adventure

The opening line of the diary of Henry Edward Bird (then aged 34), on July 30 1864, was "Landed on the Amphitheatre Oct. 1855": so began our family history in the Amphitheatre district. Henry (22) and younger brother John (20), with occupations stated as farmer and mercer respectively, had sailed from Dartmouth, Devon, England, on 30 September 1852, for Port Philip (Melbourne). Their ship, Janet Mitchell of 763 tons, was under the command of Captain Thomas Fisher, and included 75 "unassisted" young migrants (41 men, 17 women, 16 children, 1 infant). Records show they survived the long hazardous sailing ship journey to disembark at Melbourne in January 1853, some 14 weeks after departure (years ago I heard family talk of a shipboard diary). Stories of similar long sea journeys have been recorded in published accounts of the era and give us a good idea of the drama, dangers and misery inherent in such travel (Appendix 1: Settlers under Sail).

Hestercombe Estate Taunton

Henry's parents, John Bird (1800-1881) and Sarah Jones (1799-1886) married in 1823 and lived near Somerset, as tenant farmers on historic Hestercombe Estate, 6.5km north of Taunton. John and Sarah had 8 sons (Henry 1829-1919; William 1831-1912; John 1833-1920; Thomas 1834-1877; Frederick 1836-; James 1839-1876; George 1841-1920's?; Frank 1843-) and 2 daughters (Elizabeth 1826-; Mary 1828-1854). Several family members are buried in the grounds of their parish church at Kingston St Mary, 2km west of Hestercombe.

(Appendix 2: Bird Family Tree).

Hestercombe area ("bachelors valley" in Saxon) has a long recorded history dating back to the Saxon era (850AD) and later formed part of the Bishop of Winchester's large estate. The first recorded tenant was Hugh de Flory, in the early 12^th century. The property passed through several hands until the Warre family acquired it in 1391. They retained it until 1872, when the last family member, an eccentric Miss Elizabeth Warre (aged 83) died. Lord Portman then purchased the estate; it passed to the Crown in 1951. The Manor House with its extensive gardens has been the administrative headquarters of the Somerset Fire Brigade since that time.

In 1823, Miss Warre leased a 147 acre section, called Volis Farm, to John Bird and his brother William, for an annual rental of £190 (renewable 7 year lease). The multi-page lease document was detailed and onerous. In 1875, John's sons, William and George, took over the lease, possibly upon John's retirement.

We have no record of why Henry and John decided to leave the estate in 1852, but can speculate on their lives and prospects: farm labour and shop keeping were the likely career paths in a probably depressed rural scene, in class riven Victorian England. The Crimean War was raging and such boys would have been ready cannon fodder to support British imperial ambitions. News of the Gold Rush in Victoria from 1851 would have reached them. A little information seeking would have identified the Pyrenees region as a place of potentially rich pickings. The boys would have had little to lose when they decided to apply their likely meagre resources towards a ship's passage to that land of sunshine and opportunity, Australia. Their long journey would have begun with final farewells to family and friends and the 100km coach journey to Dartmouth, probably via Exeter. They were never to return.

Family photo at Volis Farm 1873 (with John & Sarah)

Chapter 2: Early Years

Pyrenees Goldfields

Surveyor General, Major Thomas Mitchell, first explored the Pyrenees region in 1836. His glowing reports encouraged land squatters and associated sheep farming enterprises (large runs with Scottish shepherds). By 1845, a rich pastoral area had been established.

The Gold Rush of the early 1850's led to an explosion in population of the Avoca-Amphitheatre area of the Pyrenees region (100 in 1853 to 14,000 by June 1854). Migrants arrived from across the globe, including many Chinese. The dream of making money and owning property would have motivated Henry and John to join the throng. They had the good sense to provide supplies to the gold miners rather than joining them in their uncertain underground activities. We have scant records of Henry and John upon arrival in 1853 and the subsequent year, but they must have moved to the gold fields. History records that John became a storekeeper at Waterloo goldfields (near Beaufort) in 1854 and Henry became licensee of the Amphitheatre Inn in 1855. Much gold was won from these areas; they would have made serious money.

John Bird (1832-1920)

John, having earned useful capital at his Waterloo store, left Australia for New Zealand in the late 1850's. He returned to Australia in 1865 and worked on a leased farm until April 1871 when he again moved to NZ for 18 months (Henry's diary does not record why John moved to and from NZ). A year later, in October 1873, he married Mary Cocking (1854-1929) and settled on a farm in the Glenlogie district. They had a daughter Elma (1875), son Tom (1877) and four other sons later. John is regularly mentioned in Henry's and Ted's diaries, including his working with Ted for 8 days to extend the large dam at Hestercombe in 1881.

In 1882, Henry purchased John's 134 acre property (£200), prior to John's purchase of the Pyrenees Hotel in Lexton (£350) in 1883. John sold the Hotel in 1891 (£725) and moved with his family to his newly acquired 800 acre farm near Forbes, NSW. Henry records a visit by John and family in 1899, the marriage of Elma (to John Skinner, son of John's old friend, Edward Skinner) in 1900, his purchase of a further 1794 acres in 1910 and a visit to Hestercombe by John and Elma in 1911. Mary and Elma visited Hestercombe in 1929 (shortly before Mary's death). Further information on John and his family was provided by Gladys Searle, nee Skinner, (Elma's grandaughter, born 1923) to the Dodds family in 1989 (Appendix 3).

John Bird's Pyrenees Hotel in Lexton (c1890)

George Bird (1840-1920's?)

From entries in Henry's diary, he kept regular contact with family in England, recording births, deaths and marriages. In July 1868 he received a "likeness" (photo) of his mother; he sent her a gift (birthday?) of £5 in 1886. His brother William married in 1878.

Henry's reports of life in Australia appear to have encouraged another brother, George (then aged 51), to migrate in 1891, with his wife Catherine Kate (or Kitty) and 7 children: John (10), Millie (9), Edward (7), Sarah Sadie (4), Margaret Maggie (2), Elsie Nettie (1) and George (baby). Their sea journey aboard steam ship Oroya (6057 tons), under Captain E Lavington, took around 9 weeks and would have been a significantly more comfortable and safer affair than that faced by Henry and John, aboard a small sailing ship, some 40 years earlier. However, the challenges of bringing a young family on such a mammoth sea journey would have been considerable. Oroya departed from London on 24 April 1891 and picked up additional passengers, including George and family from Plymouth the following day. A total of 345 passengers bound for Albany, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney joined the journey.

George soon settled in Northern Tasmania, on a farm he called Volis, near Lilydale, 20km north of Launceston. Henry's diary details the wedding (probably transcribed from a press report) of Sadie to Herbert Jessup, in 1909. Maggie and Nettie were bridesmaids and George Jr, a groomsman. Millie and Maggie, from Tasmania, visited Hestercombe, in 1910. Millie married in 1912. Edward (19), died in 1903 and Maggie (33) in 1923 (Amy's Album). Henry's family visited "Uncle George" in Tasmania from time to time: Nelly and Sally in July 1900, Sally and husband William Dodds in 1902, en-route to mining work in Queenstown, Bessie in December 1904 and again in 1916. Our photo collection includes one from Millie (c1900) taken during her nursing training at Beaconsfield, Northern Tasmania. She wrote on the rear of the photo "To dear Uncle Henry and other loved ones at Hestercombe with the wish that some of the Beautiful Xmas Peace and Goodwill be theirs". George visited Henry for 2 weeks over Christmas-New Year in 1907, and for a month in March 1914; he is then lost to history.

(It seems probable that contact was maintained with George and John and their families after Henry's death, but I cannot recall ever being aware of their existence).

Henry Bird (1829-1919)

Henry's life is fairly well documented through his diary, except for his first decade in Australia (no family records are available from 1853-1865). Around 1860, he married local girl (from Lexton), Ellen Lofts (Henry was 30 and Ellen,19). They were blessed with a typically large family of the era: 4 sons (Edward Ted 1862-94; George 1865-1943; Fred 1877-1957; Henry Tim 1887-1911) and 6 daughters (Mary Polly 1863-1923; Ellen Nelly 1867- 1939; Isabella Bell (or Donna) 1869-1955; Sally 1874-1968; Eva 1876-1942; Bessie 1881-1973).

Roy Dodds' recollections of Henry and Ellen are at Appendix 4.

Amphitheatre Hotel

Henry took over the Amphitheatre Inn in 1855 and rebuilt it as the Amphitheatre Hotel in 1865; he was licensee until 1905. It is recorded that his 50 years as licensee was "without blemish". He lived next door to the Hotel. A graphic account of an armed hold-up at the Hotel, "Daring Outrage at Amphitheatre Hotel", as transcribed from the Maryborough-Dunolly Advertiser, Sept. 1857, makes fascinating reading (Appendix 5). Another curious event is recorded by Henry in 1878: an anonymous informer had written to the Victorian Fire Insurance Company claiming Henry had "cleared out of the Hotel and placed his brother in charge and intended to burn down the place to collect £350 insurance". The Company put the matter with Mr Hall of their Avoca Office who advised the accusation was "without foundation" and had been made by an "ill disposed person". Henry mentions little of the gold rush, which surrounded him. Others recall that some lucky miners used burning £10 notes to light their pipes in Henry's Hotel bar. In later years (around 1895), his son Fred took over the establishment and was to inherit it (Henry's will, 1915, see p10).

Fred married Mary Leonard (Missie) in 1899. He left the hotel in 1903 to live at Glenlogie and concentrated on the family farming operation. Nelly and husband Jack MacDonald took over the Hotel lease until Henry's death in 1919. Fred then inherited the establishment and returned to it.

Amphitheatre Inn (c1855)

Amphitheatre Hotel (c1865)

Farm dam at Hestercombe (c1900)

Footnote: Family Names

The Bird family tradition of repeated use of a select number of common first names, generation after generation, can lead to confusion in tracking family history. An added complication is that some of these same names were shared by their domestic animals (horses, cows and dogs). Seemingly in response to this confusion, several of Henry's children were known wholly by nicknames from birth. There were four "George Bird's" living during the same period.

Chapter 3: Establishing Hestercombe

Mt Direction

From the early 1870's, Henry acquired a "selection" of crown land to the south of Mt Direction at Glenlogie (later known as "Bird's Gap") and paid it off in 6 monthly installments (£15/17/-) over the following 20 years. He progressively added to it by buying adjoining properties. (Appendix 6: sketch map of the area). Local builder, George Kay, commenced building "Hestercombe" homestead (cost £158, excluding outbuildings) in November 1877. Henry moved his rapidly expanding family from his house near the Hotel, to Hestercombe ("Mt Direction" as he then referred to it in his diary) in February 1878. He planted the pine trees that same year. The stone kitchen (our Hestercombe) was built by Tom Swainburn in 1884, at cost of £80. That year the large dam filled for the first time and willows were planted around it. Henry was always active in community affairs and helped establish the Union Church in Amphitheatre in 1865 (Appendix 7). Family members were regular church attendees.

From the mid-1870's, Henry and more particularly eldest son Ted, became immersed in farmland development. Both diaries record the major efforts of land clearing, post splitting, fencing, buildings, cropping, dam making, animal husbandry etc. Harry Lofts, Ellen's brother (from Lexton), provided vital assistance and expertise during the difficult early days, as did local contractors (Looney, Firns, Rayner and Townsing, all well known Amphitheatre families). Henry's memories of his old home at Volis Farm (Hestercombe Estate, UK) clearly influenced his choice of home-site and its landscaping, including the large dam.

The picturesque site proved a popular early tourist destination; school picnics were an annual event in February and sports days attracted large crowds (400 on one occasion). The dam served for boating and swimming. The train line, which opened in 1889, provided a convenient travel option for the larger public events at Hestercombe (a Glenlogie rail station land reservation still exists). Tourists travelled by train from Maryborough to visit.

Picnic day at Hestercombe (c1890)

Travel (buggy, coach and rail) was a regular part of life for the Bird family, both locally (Avoca, Lexton, Maryborough, Ararat, etc) and further afield (Ballarat, Melbourne, Warnambool, Tasmania). Henry's intense interest in horses (he was a fine horseman) and racing led to regular attendance at racecourses and many other sporting and social events, which were shared by the whole family. Ted saw Carbine win the Melbourne Cup in November 1890. Shooting and cricket were popular pastimes, as were photography, painting and woodworking (I have an intricate wooden moneybox made by Tim). The many excellent photos passed down to us were by Harry Lofts and Eva, both very early enthusiasts and competent darkroom technicians. Eva bought her own camera in 1901 (£9/10/-). Several oil paintings still in the family show the considerable artistic skills of Nelly and Bell. Family entertainment included concerts, lectures, reading (from the family's extensive library of books), music and informal events at home. Christmas was not celebrated as the major family event it has now become and received only cursory accounts in the diaries. In late December 1901 Henry wrote "Xmas passed well, no trouble from any person".

From 1884, several of the older children, excepting Ted, left the farm to find work elsewhere: George, Nelly and Sally went to Melbourne, Fred to Maryborough (shop work) and Polly to Ballarat. Following grocery job experiences in Coburg and Carlton, George leased a grocery shop in South Yarra in 1899 (more of that later). Bessie spent extended periods working in Melbourne "does not like the country life" (Eva, 1923).

In 1879, Henry noted that wool was selling for an average price of £20 per bale.

Wages ranged from 5/- per week for a domestic servant to £2 for a skilled tradesman. He paid 8 Guineas (£8/8/-) for a new set of teeth for Ellen in 1886.

Tragic Deaths

The unending heavy farm work probably led to Ted's early death (from "overwork" it was said) at age 32 in 1894. Henry, generally unemotional in his diary, was devastated: "And he has gone, the one we all loved best! Lifes labour done, the gentle soul has rest. He cannot die who lives in every heart; Whose good deeds form of every life a part; Whose spirit is with God and yet with us; It is not death to live in memory thus; Not death but rest - eternal rest above - His love for us made perfect in Christ's love". From that time Henry took over Ted's diary. (Ted's diary is in clear copperplate script, unlike Henry's often illegible hand. Ted had broad interests, including national and international affairs; he would have made an interesting companion. Appendix 8 has sample pages of both diaries and a sample of Tim's diary as a 16 year old).

The next death to strike the family was that of Tim (24) in 1911, youngest child and family favorite. His motorbike had left the Pyrenees Highway (then a gravel track) at dusk to avoid a cyclist, down the hill some 500m east of Keith's Road. He suffered severe head injuries and lingered at home for several days; nothing could be done. Bessie and Ellen wrote a memorial notice "When the door opens and a loved one passes out never to return, we too step to the door and look out into the distance and realize how small and empty the dwelling is, and how a much brighter and more beautiful world awaits us beyond". Tim's untimely death severely impacted the family. Henry simply records the death "Sept 19, 1911, Dear Tim died".

(Bessie kept the pocket watch she had given him for his 21'st birthday among her few treasures at the Queen Elizabeth Home, Ballarat. She passed it on to me in 1973).

Tim's pocket watch; "Magic" moneybox made by Tim

Glenlogie Schools

Henry's older children began their education at the Amphitheatre Common School No 22, which had been established by the Anglican Church in 1861. Following the family move to Mt Direction, they attended the Glenlogie Government School, built on land purchased from Henry and opened 1875. In 1879, Henry records the attendance of George (14), Nellie (12), Bell (10) and Fred (7) at the school; Sally (9) and Eva (7) first attended in 1883. Land occupied by the school was acquired as part of the railway reservation in 1887 and the school demolished. A "portable" school building was erected across the Highway (SE corner of Henry's Mt Direction paddock). Following a bush fire, which destroyed the building in 1902, the few children at the school were transferred to the Government School in Amphitheatre No 1637, opened in 1875 (Appendix 9).

Fred's wife, Mary, a former Glenlogie School teacher, (who had earlier boarded at Hestercombe from 1895), successfully lobbied in 1906 for a new school to be erected at the southern end of Keith's Road, in the foothills of Mt Lonarch. It too closed in 1915 due to dwindling attendance but re-opened 1924-37. One of its teachers, Neil Smith (1934-5), recorded his experiences (Appendix 10); he boarded with George and Amy at their nearby Glenlogie house. George Jr and Mavis attended school at Amphitheatre.

Henry Bird (1829-1919) and Ellen Lofts (1841-1917)

There is no indication in Henry's cryptic diary that all was not well between he and Ellen.

In October 1903, after 43 years of marriage, she left him to live with her married daughter Nelly (MacDonald) in Amphitheatre. Henry records the parting as follows: "I did not foresake her, I have not dismissed her, I will not recall her". From that time, Henry (then 74) was cared for at Hestercombe by his several unmarried daughters. He never mentioned Ellen again in his diary; she died in 1917. On the occasion of his 80^th birthday, in 1909, he mused: "Only a few more years, only a few more cares, only a few more smiles and tears, only a few more prayers". He was to live another 10 years.

Of their 10 children only 4 married: George to Amy Smeeton, 1904; Nelly to Jack MacDonald, 1898; Fred to Mary Leonard, 1899; Sally to William Dodds, 1900. While Henry faithfully recorded many births, deaths, marriages and noteworthy events throughout the district, he surprisingly omitted many such events in his immediate family. The marriages of his children and birth of his grandchildren merit scant attention or were ignored. For example, he records only the marriage of George and Amy (1904); the births of George Jr (1905) and Fred's daughter, Una (1901); the death (but not the birth) of Queenie (1901), Sally's daughter. The birth of his own children was recorded with a few words eg. 1874, April 5 "Sally Bird born 2am" (nothing of the drama, joy etc was ever mentioned). In August 1907 Henry wrote "Roy here for holidays" (Sally's eldest son).

At a personal level, in 1911, he noted the weight of himself (7 Stone), Nelly (6S 11lbs), Eva (6S 7) and Polly (5S 11) --- (featherweights all!). After 1911 he made only occasional diary entries; his final entry (a mundane accounts matter) was in 1917. Australia's Federation (1901) and World War 1 (1914-18) do not rate a mention.

Henry Bird, Ellen Bird

His Will (1915) shows he left a significant estate comprising some 1800 acres (valued at £4-6 per acre) of farmland, Hestercombe homestead and Amphitheatre Hotel and land, to be dispersed as follows:

George: Glenlogie house and 240 acres around it, valued £1200 Fred: Hotel plus associated 50 acres, valued £1600 Polly: Hestercombe homestead and 231 acres around it, valued £1386 Nelly: Woolshed and 274 acres around it, valued £1196 Sally: 260 acres (Glenlogie paddock), valued £1000 Eva: 320 acres (rocky hill and to the south), valued £1600 Bell: 320 acres (to the east of Glenlogie house), valued £1600 Bessie: 272 acres (Mt Direction), valued £1088.

Henry was buried in the family plot at the Amphitheatre Cemetery, with Ellen. The plot also includes Ted (Edward), Tim (Henry), Polly (Mary), Eva and Bell (Isabella).

At the time of Henry's death in 1919: Fred was living at Glenlogie and then moved to take over the Hotel; George had returned permanently from Melbourne in 1915, was living in Amphitheatre and then moved to the Glenlogie house and his inherited land nearby; Nelly was married and living in Amphitheatre; Sally was married and living out of the district; Bessie was working in Melbourne; Polly, Eva and Bell were at Hestercombe. With the estate now split between the above eight, only Fred with the Hotel had a viable living from the property. Only by partnerships (Polly, Eva and Bell), or by rental (George and Nelly) was even marginal farming survival possible; it was a recipe for the problems ahead.

Hestercombe (c1895) west face: Tim (boy), George, Bessie (with horse)

Hestercombe (c1895) east face: Eva, Tim, Henry, Fred

Bird family burial plot, Amphitheatre Cemetery (George 1985)

Chapter 4: The Next Generation

Life after Henry

With Henry now off the scene so began the wheeling, dealing and feuding among family members, that was to continue for the next 50 years. Fred sold the Hotel (early 1920's) and concentrated on farming at Amphitheatre and Glenlogie; he continued to live in Amphitheatre. Around half the land left to the 6 daughters was leased by George and Fred. Polly, Eva and Bell continued direct farming activity on the 231 acre holding around Hestercombe; Bessie leased her 272 acres to Jack MacDonald (Nelly's husband) and worked in Melbourne. After Polly's death in 1923, Eva and Bell continued farming operations under Eva 's direction (she had a "business head", it was said). However the operation became increasingly problematic and poverty stricken. Cows, hens and rabbits provided vital food and cash. In the 1930's visitors were required to bring their own food.

Writing from Melbourne in 1940 (to George Jr), Bessie expressed her concerns over the situation "It worries me more than anyone knows to think of the sad and lonely life they (Bell and Eva) live in the old home (Hestercombe), the loneliness must effect anyone. I am told by different people how miserable Eva looks ---- but what can I do ---- by coming home. Eva wrote to Sally in Kerang (1942) "I have had a sad life Sall since Polly left us (died of cancer, 1923). Only two of us here (Eva and Bell at Hestercombe) and she (Bell) is breaking down so often and I am not strong enough in body and mind to stand up to so much of it. And when dear Nell died (1939) it seemed beyond us" (Bell had spent extended periods in mental hospitals).

Eva Bird with camera (at Hestercombe c1905)

From early 1920's, George Jr (Georgie) and Len (Fred's son) began their involvement with the property. Dodds brothers (Sally's sons) Roy, Ted and Les maintained their inheritance interests; Bessie and Mavis returned permanently from Melbourne in the early 1940's. It was a volatile mix of competing interests and divided loyalties, which came to a head upon the death of each of the "Aunts", as their estates were dispersed. (I well remember the bad blood, accusations of Will tampering, undue influence etc. Several letters remain as a record of these battles).

Eva died at her own hand (shot herself) in 1942. Some say due to her fear of possible invading Japanese, others suggest more likely that farm and family worry had overwhelmed her. A report of her funeral in the Maryborough Advertiser is at Appendix 11. Bessie took control of the situation and leased the remaining land to George Jr and Len. Bell, a sufferer of dementia, lived in her own world; she died in 1955. Bessie was always alert and full of good cheer and stories. I maintained regular contact with her until her death in 1973. Great Uncle Fred, on his bicycle, was a regular sight around Amphitheatre during my school days. Grandfather, George Pop, is just a vague memory; he died when I was 4. Amy Nana was a wonderful grandmother to me and very proud of our son Steven (born 1963). She died in 1966.

After World War 2, Bell and Bessie in their old age, found increasing difficulty coping at the remote Hestercombe homestead. In 1947 the house was moved to its present site at Amphitheatre, next door to Fred. They were to spend further happy years in their old family home before ending their days at the Queen Elizabeth Home in Ballarat; Bell at 86 years and Bessie (the final survivor of Henry's children) at 92. Newly weds, Graeme (Len's son) and Pip, acquired the old home in 1973 and undertook major restoration of it (Appendix 12). They were the last Bird family members to occupy Hestercombe. Len continued to farm his land at Glenlogie and Amphitheatre until his death (at 96) in 1998 (Appendix 13). His daughter Lorelli now operates this property.

Hestercombe Home-site

George Bird (1865-1943) and Amy Smeeton (1880-1966)

George (then 19) left the farm in 1884 for work in Melbourne in various grocery shops. He ultimately established his own business "Bird's Cheap Cash Grocers" at 457 Chapel St South Yarra in 1899. He lived above the shop; Sally kept house for him. George (39) married Amelia Amy Smeeton (24) at the Methodist Church, St Kilda, in 1904. They established their home on Beach Road, Mordialloc from where George commuted daily to his Chapel St. shop. They had 2 children George Jr Georgie (1905) and Mavis (1910).

Grocery shop in South Yarra c1900 (George at right)

Wedding Day: George and Amy, December 7, 1904

George Jr and Mavis at Mordialloc (1911)

Smeeton Family

Amy's parents, Alfred (1845-1899) and Emily (1857-1950) Smeeton (nee Hodgson) were from Leeds in Yorkshire; they married in 1878. Alfred, a chemist by profession, was seeking suitable employment opportunities in Australia through his uncle William Johnson (Government Analytical Chemist in Melbourne). Their first child William Will was born in 1879, prior to their migration in 1880. Amy was born in a tent in Adelaide on 6 April 1880, soon after they arrived.

Alfred ultimately gained professional employment with manufacturing chemists Felton and Grimwade in Melbourne and the family moved to East St. Kilda in the mid-1880's. Their other children included Alf Jr (1881), Elinor Nell (1893-1962) who married Jim Keith, Jack (1895-1918); Ernie was adopted into the family. Will was a staff member in George's grocery shop in Prahran (perhaps this is how George met Amy?). Following Alfred's untimely death from flue complications (aged 54), Emily's corner store she had earlier established became essential to family financial survival.

In May 1918, Amy (in Amphitheatre) received tragic news that her brother, Sgt. Jack Smeeton (aged 23), had been shot by a German sniper in the trenches in France (near the end of World War 1), along the River Somme. He had sailed from Melbourne in November 1917 with 2500 other troops bound for England; he arrived in France in April 1918. In Jack's last letter to his sister Nell (a week before his death) he reflected on the French wartime scene around him "The people of Australia should go down on their knees and thank God the war is not in their country, the destruction of property is terrible. ----- Au revoir love to all from your loving brother Jack xxxx". His family and fiancée Lorna Smiley were devastated.

Footnote: Jack Smeeton

We were the first family visitors to Jack Smeeton's grave in the Dive Corps British Cemetery at Salle-Le-Sec, during a family campervan tour of Europe in 1972. Smeeton family information has been provided by Alison Callander, nee Keith, Nell's daughter. Several Smeeton family graves are in the St Kilda Cemetery.

Three generations: Mavis, Emily (Grandma Smeeton) and Amy (1927)

Move to Amphitheatre

George was suffering increasing deafness, which made the grocery business difficult to manage and nearby competition from a grocery chain store, Moran and Cato, undermined his business. He sold up and moved with his family to Amphitheatre in 1915, living in Henry's old house next to the Hotel. George's financial situation was grim; he appears to have been at the mercy of his father's and siblings generosity with nowhere else to turn. He helped Nelly and Jack at the Hotel and with odd jobs at Hestercombe, for a small wage.

Upon his father Henry's death in 1919, George (then 55) moved with his family to his inherited farmhouse (vacated by Fred's move to the Hotel) and land (240 acres) at Glenlogie. He apparently lacked essential farm experience and skills and was suffering increasing ill health. George Jr (then 14) left school to help on the farm. It was a poverty stricken operation of insufficient land and little working capital. In a letter to Sally (1923) Eva observed "Poor Georgie, he would like to be able to go and earn wages as they make so little on the land, but George could not manage without him".

Roy Dodds' recollections of George are at Appendix 14.

George and Mavis, at the time they moved from Amphitheatre to Glenlogie (1919)

George Bird Jr (1910-1987)

The next decade (1920's) saw increasing conflict over farm management and financial issues between aging George and his teenage son Georgie (George Jr), who was progressively taking over day to day farm responsibilities. He also did odd jobs for the Aunts at 1/- per hour.

In his late teenage years (early 1920's), George Jr through his avid reading, developed interests in electrical and early wireless (radio) technology. At Glenlogie, he built a wind driven battery charger to provide a basic electric lighting system and began experimenting with radio. His first crystal set, made in 1923 (at the dawn of broadcasting in Australia), was one of the earliest radios in the district (I still have this radio). He was issued an Experimental Licence by the PMG in 1924, which gave recognised experimenters of the era the right to "The reception of unrestricted wavelengths--- receive any broadcast program----use any design set". He regularly received interstate radio stations. From the late 1920's, he built valve radios with short wave (o'seas) reception capability.

Early radio equipment built by George (1925)

Mavis listening to the radio

In 1938 he built his final multi-band radio (from a technical article in Listener In, a popular weekly radio newspaper of that time), a 3 valve battery set The Melodious Super Three. This was to be our family radio for the next 25 years (until the arrival of mains electricity in Amphitheatre in the early 1950's). Perhaps George Jr could have made a career in technology had his family remained in Melbourne. His radio interests waned after the War.

George Jr, Len and other young men of the district took annual summer leave of farm routines for grape picking along the Murray (Mildura, Redcliffs etc). This seems to have been a hard-working holiday but an opportunity to earn some independent money. In the late 1920's George Jr and Len, left the farms to try their hands as motor mechanics in Melbourne (garage in Elizabeth St). This did not last and they returned home a few months later; there was no escape from farm and family obligations. George bought his first car, a Chrysler Plymouth, in 1928. This revolutionised mobility from the remote farm and provided family transport for the next 20 years, until he bought a Standard Vanguard in 1949 (Appendix 16: Vanguard purchase documents).

Amy and George (right) with Plymouth car at Glenlogie (c1938)

George Jr married Elvie Howell on Dec 5 1935 (more of that later). By 1940, George, in his old age, had become very incapacitated and spent his days sitting around the kitchen stove or in bed. He did nothing and his extreme deafness isolated him. He took all manner of patent health potions and pills to no evident benefit. George Jr had long ago taken over the farm and land leased from the aunts; he financially supported his parents and Mavis (to the distress of Elvie). George died in 1943, aged 78. In a letter to Roy Dodds (1940) Eva wrote "Have 250 of George's sheep (on agistment) --- we are wonderfully good to them and have helped them so much this last 20 years with money, grass etc. But they do not appreciate anything we do and do not consider us in any way --- (he) could not have made a living there if Bell had not let him have her paddock (lease) for half its worth--". (I well recall our weekly car visits to Hestercombe in the 1940's to deliver food, help around the house and to take the aunts visiting, so perhaps Eva's comments on lack of consideration are not entirely fair).

Farmland Issues

Nelly and Jack McDonald had no children but appear to have viewed George Jr as a surrogate son. When Nelly (then 71) died in 1939 (Jack shot himself in 1937) she willed her property (Woolshed and surrounding paddocks) to George Jr. This was the first land he was to own. George Jr progressively bought, or was left, the land he had leased over many years from his parents and the Aunts. The exception was Bell's land (320 acres to the west of the Glenlogie house-site) which George, and earlier his father, had leased since 1920 for a nominal annual rental of 4/- per acre (around 20% of fair market rental value, as had Fred and Len). Upon Bell's death in 1955, this land was forced to auction following protracted negotiations and heated family meetings involving George, Len, Mavis and Dodds' brothers, in the belief the land would sell for more than the sworn valuation of £35 George (Executor of the Will) had effectively offered to pay. (Following a brief boom in land prices values fell again by late 1955). At the auction (in the Amphi Hotel, which I attended), it became immediately evident that Len intended to buy the land (despite his earlier denials of interest at family meetings); there were no other bidders. George, fed up with the situation, dropped out of the auction (at £30) before his earlier offer was reached (much to the chagrin of Mavis and the Dodds'). Relations between George, Mavis and Len, always difficult, never recovered from this bitter event which was the pattern of many Bird family inheritance battles. Loss of Bell's paddock was a severe blow to George's farming operation (30% loss of land). Appendix 15 has copies of the Wills of Nelly (Ellen), Bell (Isabella) and some related letters.

Mavis Bird (1910-2000)

Mavis moved to Amphitheatre from Mordialloc when she was 5. She attended the Amphitheatre school. Following the family move to Glenlogie in 1919, she and George rode a horse to school (the nearby Glenlogie school was closed). Eva noted in 1923 "Mavis is very clever at school --- and sings well at concerts -- but will not speak a word to anyone".

Mavis enjoyed much freedom in her late teenage years and moved to Melbourne to work as a dressmaker in the fashion industry. She lived with Grandma Smeeton (Amy's mother) in East St Kilda, enjoyed a very full social life and returned home for holidays. She had regular contact with Bessie, who was also working in Melbourne. Mavis returned home permanently to Glenlogie in the early 1940's (age 32), suffering from increasing deafness which was to plague the rest of her life. She never returned to the paid workforce, was kept by the family and helped around the house (early retirement!).

She never married but was never short of suitors. Mavis, then in her early 30's and with time on her hands, took over much of my early upbringing (Elvie was busy with baby Noel, born 1940). We had great times together reading, singing, dressing up and wandering over the hills (living in a fantasy land). Regular visits to Hestercombe were part of this.

Aunts Eva and Bell were decidedly odd, even to me (a 4 year old): Bell would run off and peek through the curtains; Eva was very glum (not one to tangle with). But Bessie, when home, was always happy to see us and served snacks and drinks. In a letter to me in 1986, Mavis recalled these times at Glenlogie: "I have fond memories of you when a little boy and our joyous occasions with little sing songs around the piano --- your favorite song was The Farmer in the Dell --- also after you left to live in Amphi you would come and stay for a few days. Nana Bird was very fond of you, the apple of her eye". They were both wonderful to me and provided great escapes from the stresses of home.

Mavis as a teenager (c1928)

Ian, Mavis, Jeanette and Noel at Glenlogie (1948)

After George's death (1942) Mavis and Amy continued to live at the isolated Glenlogie farmhouse. George Jr was now living in Amphitheatre with his young family and daily worked the farm, travelling there by motor bike. Amy and Mavis also moved to Amphitheatre in 1950 (the Glenlogie house was then sold for removal); they moved on to Avoca (Duke St) in 1953. Amy lived in this house, finally under Mavis' care, until her death in 1966.

At this point Mavis' life lost much meaning. She was lonely, deaf and socially isolated and lived as a recluse caring for a tribe of cats. It finally fell apart for her in 1991 when she suffered severe burns to her legs from an electric radiator. Three days later Mavis was missed from her regular shopping rounds by alert Avoca shopkeepers who broke into her home and found her in a collapsed state.

The aftermath of this episode was she lost one leg and could no longer cope alone. Following a period in the Queen Elizabeth Home in Ballarat, she was found a place at the Avoca Nursing Home, among many of her old friends. Yet Mavis was very unhappy with her situation and understandably wanted to go home; an impossible dream given her physical condition; dementia was also setting in.

Mavis seemed to finally settle into the nursing home and died peacefully in 2000 (aged 89). We (Ian, Noel and Jeanette, her closest relatives) had earlier (1992) sold her home and effects to financially support her nursing home accommodation and to make administration of her estate more straightforward. Jeanette, being nearest to Avoca, took responsibility for Mavis' affairs.

Her funeral service in the Avoca Anglican Church (near her old home) was attended by a fair number of friends, relatives and nursing home staff. Jeanette read a Bible passage; I delivered the eulogy. Following her burial at Amphitheatre Cemetery (next to Bessie), the assembly drove to our Hestercombe at Mt Direction for an afternoon tea wake. It was in all a fitting final farewell and celebration of her long life.

Footnote: Mavis' Will

Her will (1968) appointed me as executor and major beneficiary (to my surprise as she had never mentioned it to me) with legacies to family, friends and local charities. An ex-gratia payment was made to Jeanette in recognition of her work in managing Mavis' affairs (Appendix 17: Will, Mavis Bird). I re-distributed most of my legacy to my three sons Steven, Martin and Chris as assistance in their home buying, funded a suitable cemetery monument to Mavis and repairs to my parents and grandparents (Bird) graves nearby.

Mavis with nephews and nieces (1975). Rear: Steven & Martin Bird, Mavis,Mark & Narelle Simpson. Front: Bruce Tiley, Chris Bird, Helen Tiley

Chapter 5: My Family and Childhood

George Bird Jr and Elvie Howell (1910-1973)

The marriage of my parents, George (30) and Elvie (25), in December 1935, was reported at the time as the joining of two of the earliest settler families in the district. Mavis Bird and Joy Howell (Elvie's sister and my Godmother in due course) were bridesmaids; Len Bird and Trevor Howell (Elvie's brother) were groomsmen. They were married in the Amphitheatre Union Church (Appendix 18: Marriage Certificate).

Wedding Day: George and Elvie, December 5, 1935 (Trevor Howell, Mavis Bird, George & Elvie, Joyce Howell, Len Bird)

Howell Family

Elvie's grandfather William Howell (1840-1917) had migrated from England (Thetford, Norfolk) and arrived at Amphitheatre much the same time as Henry Bird. He married Grace (1848-1907) around 1875 and had five children, including Elvie's father, George (1878-1940). William established a butcher's shop in Amphitheatre to service the goldfields and settlers. Henry and William had regular livestock dealings. Later, like Henry, he bought land and became a well-established farmer. Elvie's parents, George Howell and Lillian Trethewie (1885-1962) from Tasmania, married in 1907 (an event recorded by Henry). George had earlier taken over the family butcher shop in Amphitheatre. Their children: Errol (1908-1990), Beatrice Elvie (1910-1973), Trevor (1913-1952 suicide), Joyce Joy (1916-2003), and Nance (1918), spent their early years at the family home attached to the butchers shop and later moved to William's house Thetford; a grand brick house, along the highway towards Avoca. George was very community spirited; he was President of the Lexton Shire in 1937. Errol was a champion sportsman.

Howell family graves are in the Amphitheatre Cemetery. Discussions with Joy and Nance have been helpful in writing this brief summary.

Howell family at Thetford (three generations): George, William, Errol (c1914)

Footnote: Elvie's education

Elvie had benefited from the Howell family pursuit of education, together with her brothers and sisters she attended boarding secondary school in Ballarat (Clarendon and Ballarat Colleges). Elvie continued her education, studying piano at The Conservatorium of Music at Melbourne University, under the legendary Dr A E Floyd. This came to a premature end around 1928, when as eldest daughter, she was called home to care for her ailing mother (who went on to live for a further 35 years).

Our Family Life

The Bird family's Glenlogie house was minimally extended in 1935 to accommodate newly weds George and Elvie, but the arrangement was never satisfactory (it must have been quite a step-down from life at Thetford for Elvie). Although Elvie and Mavis had been classmates at school, their relationship was not positive; Amy sided with Mavis ("too many cooks in the kitchen" according to Bessie). George and Mavis never got along together due to unresolved childhood jealousies. The isolation and poverty of the property must have added to stress levels (despite all this, I have only happy childhood memories of the place). In a letter to Roy Dodds in 1956 (re Bell's land), Mavis gave vent to her long held feelings on George and Elvie: "She (Elvie) is the biggest trouble maker under the sun and has a long vicious tongue. George on his own is bad enough as he always has such a nasty approach to things, losing his temper immediately --- but with her at the side of him it is beyond description --- she was thrust on us --- George's marriage has been one long headache for us ---". (Feelings were mutual).

Glenlogie house arrangements finally broke down in 1942 and we moved to rental properties outside Amphitheatre. Firstly to Thetford, (then vacant), and a couple of years later to a small rundown cottage (now demolished) near the Greenhill Creek Road, on the outskirts of Amphitheatre. In 1947, my parents purchased our final family home, The Bungalow (from Spiers brothers), at the edge of the township. This was a large house with many outbuildings; a major step-up from the small cottage. George and Elvie had three children: Ian 1938 (I was born on Amy's birthday, 6 April), Noel 1940, Jeanette 1942.

During World War 2 (1939-45) rationing (food, petrol, clothing etc) restricted life somewhat, but had little real impact. The farm and household gardens ensured a ready supply of the basic essentials of life. George joined the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) in 1942, a natural extension to his long association with the Amphitheatre Rifle Club (he was a member of the team that won the Skene Shield in 1929). His knowledge of radio, telephony and Morse code gave him responsibility for communications with the local VDC Unit. His age (30+) and prescribed farming occupation made army service unlikely, unless Southern Australia was invaded. He continued a sporting interest in the Rifle Club after the war and enjoyed considerable success in district club competitions (Appendix 19). I recall spending many Saturday afternoons at rifle ranges around the district, mostly working in the target pits and setting up field telephone links.

The Great Depression (1929-32) and World War 2 and their aftermath had kept farm incomes and land prices at depressed levels for a generation. Things slowly improved after the war but it was not until the Korean War (1950-53), when wool prices suddenly reached record levels that sheep farmers had money to spend. This had immediate impacts on our lives through purchases of a new car, electrical appliances, furniture etc., a Ferguson tractor (still in use), and holidays at the beach. The early 1950's were good years for farmers in Amphitheatre (a brief boom in wool and land prices collapsed by late 1955).

George and Elvie were active participants in the life of the Amphitheatre community and Union Church. Elvie (a renowned cook) was regularly baking for some social or charity event (our children, Steven, Martin and Chris remember her for delicious cakes and biscuits, which were the highlights of their childhood visits). She organised school concerts, fetes, charity balls etc and was a leader in establishing the local Infant Welfare Centre, opened by then Premier, Henry Bolte, in 1966. George served on many local committees over extended periods, including Treasurer of the Cemetery Trust for 40 years, Union Church Vestry Committee for almost 50 years and many years with the local CFA. He helped established the tennis courts behind the church in the early 50's.

As we children (Ian, Noel and Jeanette) grew up and left home (Ian in 1956, to continue engineering studies in Melbourne) and married in the early 60's (Ian to Greta Schmidt 1961, Noel to Ken Simpson 1961; Jeanette to Laurie Tiley 1962), there was time and money for other pursuits. Elvie had suffered ill health and nervous breakdowns over many years and her first heart attack in 1955. She had several subsequent heart attacks and extended periods of ill health. She died in January 1973 (aged 62, the same age as her father) at St John's Hospital, Ballarat. I was at her bedside at the time (having only recently returned from a year in UK and Europe on a family campervan trip). Her funeral at the Amphitheatre Church attracted a very large crowd. This was followed by a graveside committal service and afternoon tea at our family home. By 6pm a large crowd still remained; we needed to ask them to move on, it was getting too much for George. I stayed on for the following week to help sort out her affairs and as company for my father during a difficult time. It was one of the rare occasions we seemed close, but it did not last.

My mother Elvie had an obsessive need to be admired and to be the centre of attention. This together with her disappointments and frustrations with life appeared to be the root cause of much of her nervous problems and on-going illness. From the 1940's (perhaps even earlier) she used illness to manipulate and control those around her (her mother appears to have used similar control techniques). Our home life was often very tense as a consequence. (This assessment of her situation is a difficult one to record, nevertheless it was one widely held in Amphitheatre).

Elvie had always wanted to travel but George was tied to the farm. Annual two week holidays at the beach (usually Queenscliff) had been a regular part of our life in the 1950's and this continued, but never further afield. It was not until some 5 years after Elvie's premature death that George began to travel with daughter Noel and her husband, Ken Simpson, firstly interstate then overseas (New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and USA).

George continued to live alone in the family home and worked the farm with increasing help from Noel and Ken Simpson and Jeanette and Laurie Tiley. I aimed to visit on a weekend each month to help on the farm and around the house. As he faced increasing ill health, Laurie and Jeanette took over more day to day operation of the farm. In 1981, at a family meeting, it was agreed that all George's land south of the Hestercombe area (Jim Mill's and Wattle Paddock), would be transferred to Jeanette and Laurie; George would continue to farm the remainder, with Laurie's help. He died suddenly (stroke) in 1987, at the wheel of his stationary truck outside the Amphitheatre Store, the truck engine was still running. He was returning from a morning's work with Laurie on the farm. Following a well attended service in the Amphitheatre Union Church he was buried with Elvie in the Amphitheatre Cemetery (Steven, Martin and Chris were among the pall bearers). We served afternoon tea to the many mourners at our old family home.

George's will dispersed his property and investments 37.5% each to Noel and Jeanette and 25% to me; his life insurance proceeds were shared by his 7 grandchildren. We decided to sell the house, unwanted contents and the 7 acres of land in Amphitheatre (at a large clearing sale) also the Mt Direction paddock (difficult to farm and poorly fenced); the remaining land was divided (Appendix 20). I gained the old Hestercombe home-site and 77 acres of associated land.

(It was the end of an era; both my parents were now dead and the family home sold).

Roy Dodds and George Bird (at Mitcham, 1985)

Ian Bird (1938)

My memories after leaving a happy and secure life at the Glenlogie farm aged 4 are of Thetford, where life continued much as before, but with much greater living space. There were regular visits to Glenlogie and Hestercombe, and stay-overs with Nana Bird (Amy) and Mavis. I commenced school at Amphitheatre from Thetford in 1944, travelling each day as a passenger on my father's motor bike, en-route to and from the farm.

Ian with much loved pedal truck (Glenlogie 1942)

School Years

School was a traumatic change from my previously protected environment; I had not been socialized for the challenges ahead. The two teacher school was run under a regime of violence, intimidation and bullying, typical of the era, in both the classroom and schoolyard. The strap and stick were liberally applied. However, one learned to survive. The school had two classrooms: Junior (Grades Prep to 4) under the direction of Miss Ann Mill; Senior (Grades 5 to 8) were taught by Oliver Looney. Both these senior teachers had been brought up in Amphitheatre and had taught at the school for many years; Ann Mill, 1924 until her death in 1959, and Oliver Looney, 1928 until his death in 1954. They had taught the parents of most of their students. Oliver had been an Army Sergeant in France during World War 1 and had a font of war stories: "Tell us about the war Sir" was a sure diversion from classroom drudgery.

Learning was prescribed, consisting mainly of repetition and rote. The classroom was generally silent; a place of boredom and fear; small misdemeanors or failure to give a correct answer received immediate punishment by strap or stick. Most students lived for their 14^th birthday and freedom, and truancy was rife. The exception was a few children from wealthier families who continued to secondary education, boarding in Maryborough or attended boarding schools in Ballarat or Geelong. This was denigrated as "snobbish" by the two teachers and many in the general community, where there was little tradition of higher education. Nevertheless when I was in Grade 6, several parents, including mine, agitated for the school bus route, then operating from Avoca to Maryborough, to be extended to Amphitheatre. This would allow secondary education for day students in coeducational High or Technical Schools at Maryborough, which was a developing community expectation at the time.

The two old Amphitheatre schoolteachers vigorously opposed this direction, fearing a loss of senior students and the security of their long-term comfortable positions. They argued that the Merit Certificate, at that time still offered at Grade 8, provided an adequate level of education. Despite these pressures, the bus commenced in 1950 with just five students, and secondary education was now available to all children in Amphitheatre.

Oliver claimed I "lacked the brains" for secondary education, therefore my parents decided in favor of the Technical School, as it might give me some practical skills useful on the farm; they told me High School was unsuitable for me. I was keen on the idea of the "Tech", however was ill prepared and daunted by the entrance exam, which I duly sat at the Amphi. school. Fortunately, despite Oliver having told me I would most certainly fail, I passed and was accepted into Form 1B, a class of 41 "lesser achievers". By mid-year exam and report time, the improved teaching and learning environment at Maryborough had dramatically impacted me. My report book records: "Ian puts his best into his work and has made very good progress. Second in Form 1. Transferred to Form 1A". I was now with the "achievers". The range of subjects, including the practical work, and teaching quality were excellent, right up my alley. I was dux of Form 2 boys (1951) and was elected a School Prefect in Form 4 (1953).

After 4 years of Junior School I gained an Intermediate Certificate at Diploma Entrance Standard which enabled me to continue as an engineering student in the Senior School for a further 2 years. (Technical Schools of the era had a "professional" stream for those of more academic bent). Of the 82 students who commenced in Form 1 (A and B streams), just two, Les Jones and I, continued into the Senior School. The other 80 had left along the way to take up apprenticeships, jobs, other training, family farms etc., as was the norm for that time. My interests in radio and electricity led me to Communications Engineering, which could not be further pursued at Maryborough beyond 1^st Year. Continued study required a transfer to the Royal Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT University).

My sisters, Noel and Jeanette, attended Maryborough High School; they left after Form 3 and helped around the house and farm.

Amphitheatre

Amphitheatre was a good country town to grow up in. There were many sporting options (football, cricket, tennis, etc) and various activities outside of school (bike riding, farmwork, rabbiting, swimming in the creek, roaming the goldfields and bushland, Saturday night dances, movies in Avoca etc). The town was self sufficient and self-confident. The Catholic-Protestant divide was strong, but otherwise there was general community cohesion and few problems, though gossip was rife. The social strata had the early settler Protestant landholders at the top and the poor Irish Catholics at the bottom. Boys followed their fathers onto the land or into the myriad of service, trade or casual jobs available. Unemployment was unknown. Girls married young and settled into family life. Very few teenagers left the district for education or life beyond. Nothing much had changed in the town since the 1880's.

I felt no great attachment or particular interest in our small family farm of largely rented property (from the Aunts). My father had made no attempt to interest or engage me in it or ever offer any prospects. I was expected to labour as directed; suggestions or initiatives from me were not welcome. It was obvious that the farm was barely viable for one family, and I could foresee a repeat of the conflicts and poverty my father said he had endured with his father. This was not for me.

I developed interests in photography and film processing and set up a darkroom in one of the sheds. I also had much interest in electricity, radio and carpentry and enjoyed making and repairing all manner of gadgets. Science and maths studies at Maryborough Tech., together with interactions from teachers and fellow students fostered my growing interest in electronics. I built crystal and valve radios, hardly being aware my father had followed a similar path some 30 years earlier. He showed no interest in my childhood efforts. I shared my interests with cousin Peter Howell (Errol's son), Ian Smith (son of the electrical engineer at the local gold dredge), Stuart Macareth (son of the owner of the radio shop in Avoca, an amazing place for radio hobbyists) and John Chapman (son of a skilled motor mechanic in Avoca). We shared our meagre skills and resources and regularly visited the local rubbish tips to liberate all manner of useful materials and parts.

In early 1955 I noticed a Sun newspaper advertisement for engineering cadetships with the Commonwealth Department of Defence which might fund my continuing education beyond Maryborough Technical School. Following an interview in Melbourne I was fortunate to be awarded a much sought after cadetship which would fund my remaining three years of engineering education at RMTC, including a living allowance (£408pa). My obligations were to be a successful student, spend summer holidays at Defence Department factories for experience and to sign a five year bond. My future beyond Amphitheatre was now secure.

Athletics Team Maryborough Tech. 1953 (Ian back row 4^th from left)