icamefromhillston

Just a few random photos

2009-11-28T22:51:00.005+11:00

Paul , Julie , Brian and myself.....by the side of the road after

we had been taken to see the flood waters. Not sure of what year that is.

The flood waters in which we swam beside the side of the road. along with leeches and

the occasional dead animal. cars were packed with picnic food for an evening meal

and we went as far as we could on the road and stopped for the kids to swim.

obviously no one thought it was unhealthy......which is pretty amazing when u think of it.
us kids went to our parents to have them kill the leeches on our legs with their lit cigarettes

this is a photo i took sometime after 1956 from the top of the water tower.

we were allowed to climb there and look around so long as we were careful.

ummmmmmmm

Wallanthry Weir which had a tiny bit of sandy beach

and was a favourite picnic spot on New Years day

The White Bridge........now gone

someones truck making it along the Lake Cargellico Road

1956 I guess

me hanging around on the the bridge. we did stuff like that

Old photos of the town

2009-11-28T22:24:00.001+11:00

the movie theatre, the fire station, which later became "the old machinery shed"
where my father worked for a while after the power station was taken over my a new owner .
the side of Nall Jacksons....along with

the local fire brigade

what was a butcher shop but later became the paper shop.

the office that was later "The Spectator" and then

the shop that later became the dry cleaning shop.

with fire engines and watchers

The Hillston Power Station

2009-11-28T21:58:00.003+11:00

We grew up in the house next door to the power station with the sound of the engines implanted in our ears day and night. This is a photo of the station from the front which shows the engine room at the back with someone standing at teh door

this was the the power station truck that was used to by the men to mend lines and put

in new light bulbs in the street lights

the back of the station looking from the railway line showing

one of the Gordon brothers standing there .

Dud and Varley returned from the war and worked at the station

with my father.

the water cooling tower is clearly seen

Us kids climbed all over the truck and the cooling tower.

we lead charmed lives i guess

a view of the station looking toward what later became the

RSL club . it shows the main shed where offices were,

where my fathers car was kept

and where small electrical appliance were repaired.

A man called Freddie Apthorpe lived in a loft under the roof

for as long as i recall and helped out generally.

this is Varley Gordon.

Days at "Ace of Hearts"

2009-11-28T15:50:00.002+11:00

a day out at Mt Hope for a picnic by the looks of it.

these photos seem to date from the late 1920s early 1930s

i cant identify the people in them

i dont know who owns this house or quite remember where it is..

but i think as a child i was there

i dont know what this building is but it looks like a one teacher school somewhere

My father went from Longernong to "Ace of Hearts" at Hillston, with his friend Bill Gamble

They were share farming for the owner a Mr Thomas MacFarlane.

I was a hard time and they had to leave in the end

Bill went on to successfully own a farm near Melbourne .

My father took over the running of the new local power station that supplied power for the town.

The power station was also owned by Mr Macfarlane

These photos are various ones from the property and include a sort of caravan that i suppose

they must have lived in. All i recall is that my father said the times were hard with drought and also

the great depression

Longernong College

2009-11-28T14:41:00.001+11:00

The College as the staging post for my fathers journey to Hillston, from Melbourne.
I wonder where all the young men went and where their descendants are.?
One friend i have believes, like me that, our fathers probably knew each other at this place.Another young man of the time was instrumental in having my father and his great friend Bill Gamble move to Hillston to share farm at "Ace of Hearts"...where they did not succeed to beat both drought and the great depression.

It looks like people knew how to work hard (dressed in a suit)and to enjoy a picnic and relax with some very ancient cars. As i recall it my father worked either at Longerong where he taught or at Dookie where he was a student, with the late HV Mackay who invented the harvester.
Whether some of that work is part of what is shown here I dont know for sure.........i seem to recall being told they were......but i no longer trust my memory now