This is a story of my life as I see it. My father George Carl Lucke was
born at Bundaberg and reared at Bucca. He was the youngest of five sons.
His brothers were Henry, Ernest, William and James. Harry was reared with
the family he was no relation but he was an orphan and being reared by
George’s parents. His Mother Francis Annie (nee Hendy) died when he was
four with consumption. He was reared by his father Heinrich with the aid of
house keepers, at a farm at Bucca. Harry was still kept with the family.
In 1918 at the age of eighteen George went cane cutting to Mackay and then
moved to Cedar Vale in the Mount Larcom district with some of his brothers
to pioneer new country to get a start in life. Harry, James, Ernie and
George cleared land and gradually made it into two dairy farms. These they
called Lucke Bros No 1 Dairy and the other No 2 Dairy when they had enough
cattle to run dairies. Before the dairies got going they also had a
delivery run for the district. In those days they delivered the bread,
meat, mail, groceries etc from Mt Larcom as very few people had motor cars. My mother was born out of wedlock to Elizabeth Amelia (Millie) Crampton
(29-11-1881 died 4-5-1913) Mum had one older brother Clarence Leslie
Crampton to the same father a man by the name of Larrigan. Her mother
married 16-9-1910 and had a son Edward Pywell and on 4-5-1913 she died from
child birth, her and her baby both died. They were buried together in the
Gladstone cemetery My mother and her brother Leslie were reared by her grand
parents Charles and Sarah (nee Wroe) Crampton. Her step father took his son
Edward and went back to live in England and married his former sweet heart
in England. Her grand mother was the midwife for the Bracewell women and
delivered quite a few infants in the area where they lived. On February 15 th 1927 George Carl Lucke married my mother Constance better
known as Lil Crampton in Mt Larcom. It was a wet season and the honeymoon
had to be delayed for a week because of all the rain. When they were
married they lived in the house on top of the hill on the No 2 farm at Cedar
Vale. I was the first born to George Carl and Constance (Lil) Lucke on the 13 th
April 1928. I was born in Bundaberg they had travelled down beforehand so I
could be born in a hospital. My grandfather Heinrich Lucke developed
Pneumonia at this time but when he saw me he wondered what kind of a person
I would grow into. He didn’t live long to find out as I was only 6 weeks
old when he died with double pneumonia My parents had seven children as
follows.
Constance Lilian 13-04-1928
Henry Charles 26-05-1929
Laurence George 30-11-1931
Mavis Joan 14-02-1933
George Arthur 25-05-1938
Alec Edward 04-06-1940
Thelma Doris 30-12-1947 My Mum told me that when I was only a couple of months old they took me on
a picnic and laid me down under a shady tree. Now as you know the sun keeps
moving and when it shifted I was in the sun and got sun burnt. I was
seventeen when I got my first sun cancer burnt off and I have been going
ever since at least two or three times a year. They do say if you get
sunburnt you can have problems about twenty years later. While I was small I fell in a creek and had to be pulled out just as well
they saw me bobbing up and down. When I was four I drank kerosene out of a
soft drink bottle and had my life in danger. At that time they had a
hospital in Mt Larcom, however I was lucky enough to survive the ordeal. My
Dad said I would often sit in a chair for ages on the front verandah just
watching him ploughing with the horse and plough, he often wondered if there
was anything wrong with me being so content just to sit and watch. I
remember one incident when we were travelling in the truck it only had a
flat top table and I was sitting on the back of the truck with my cousin
Francis, (who was up from Bundaberg) when travelling up the Bracewell Hill
we slid off the back of the truck and was lucky not to get hurt. I also
remember as clear as anything although I was not very old at the time when
my brother Laurence was only a very young baby, must have been about three
and a half. My mum was down stairs washing when Laurence decided to cry
and I thought it quite in order to get up on the bed, mind you standing up
on the bed, picked Laurence up and was nursing him when my mum arrived and
;was in horror as to his safety. However I didn’t share her horror as I
thought he was quite safe, My Mum always said that Laurence was one of
those babies who could cry and laugh in one breath. Mum didn’t have cots
for her babies they were put on the bed and at night slept with Mum and Dad.
However mum bought a cot when she had Thelma later in life. We lived in this house until I was of age of six, they then moved to the No
1 Dairy so as to be closer to the school, which would still be a couple of
miles away, from the school. Henry and I walked to school with the
neighbours children who were older than us. My brother Henry also started
school as well They used to take them to school from four years of age to
six in those days. They only used to start a new grade every two years and
only one teacher to run the school, no assistance in those days for the
teachers. The school was only a small one the most at any time I don’t
think would have made forty. In those days you played such games as
rounders, tiggie, red-rover, cricket and tennis etc. Dinner time was an
hour so we used to run around all the time and my face always went a very
dark red from the exercise. I used to blush a lot and this is one time it
didn't show. We were expected to come straight home and not dawdle on the
way, other children walked with us. I remember we were slow getting home
one afternoon and Dad came on the horse with a stock whip in his hand, he
wasn’t very happy with us. Now this house we lived in was built by the men. It was built out of timber
from the property. I remember seeing them cart in logs and saw them with a
tractor with tracks on instead of tyres, and cut up the logs on the saw
bench, at the time when they decided to extend the house. The house had no
lining or ceiling in it and had a wood stove and we had no refrigeration.
The house was too small as Uncle Harry always lived with my parents from
when they were married until he died. The one bed room allotted to us
children was small and only held a wardrobe and a double bed . Now that
double bed had to hold 2 boys and 2 girls so 2 boys slept down one end and
the girls slept the other end, the feet fitting in the middle. I don’t
remember any hassles at all. When we got older they enclosed the front
Patio which was only boards put on dirt for the verandah floor and put up
wooden slatted blinds on the two sides, which could be rolled up during the
day. They also enclosed half of the front patio for a room with boards cut
from their own timber and wooden windows was put on the windows held by a
nail in the frame when opened up. Our room was very dark when the windows
were shut and the door closed at night it was as dark as can possibly be. We used to have kerosene lamps in those early days I remember Henry was one
to experiment and decided to lick the lamp glass when the lamp was burning,
needless to say he never repeated the incident. Our washing was always done
on Saturdays my dad always helped as there was no washing machines in those
days so you would line up at the tub and scrub and rub the clothes to try
and get them clean. The work clothes always got scrubbed on a scrubbing
board with a scrubbing brush, they also got boiled. In those days there was
only cotton and woollen clothing. Later on in years dad put in his own
electricity plant which was run off a 12 volt motor and car bulbs to run it.
Uncle Harry always wore flannel shirts, in both summer and winter. In those days we bought kerosene in crates of 2 four gallons tins. Ham and
bacon was a big difference from todays ham, it used to hang up in the
kitchen until it was needed and no fear of it going off at any time like
todays, they used a different type of cure. The ham and bacon was quite
salty and dried out quite a bit and had to be soaked before cooking, it was
better flavour too than now, it was also good to flavour foods. I remember when I was about 11 or 12 we had 23 acres of Lucerne and we had
to mind the dairy cows in the Lucerne, as too long in there they would get
bloated and then they would have to be stabbed to let out the gas, so you
had to try and prevent this happening. At times you had an animal who was
like some humans and thought it was much nicer on the other side of the
fence and so they would crawl through the fence and if it was lush Lucerne
or sorghum they would get bloated and you would find a dead body. Because
of this you got to know your crawlers and tie a forked stick around their
neck to try and prevent crawling, most times it succeeded, but occasionally
one would beat it. We had a pony (Robin) and when we had to feed these
cows in the Lucerne one of us rode Robin. The Lucerne was that high it was
up to the height of the cows, pony and us. I have never seen Lucerne like
it since. I used to ride Robin out to the two big hills to get the cows, he was a
rouge like most ponies, you had to coax and kick the ribs and a switchy to
get him out to the back of the paddock, but once you turned for home, you
found him hard to hold. Now I wasn’t keen on riding and maybe he knew it.
One day on the way home in this paddock in particular was a creek crossing
and you always stopped to let the horse have a drink, as well as the cows.
Well I was sitting comfortably in the saddle on his back while he was having
his drink, when he suddenly shied because I think he saw my foot while he
was drinking and as the reins were loose I went for a buster in the water,
shock but not hurt I picked myself up and rode him home, drink time
finished. Another time coming home in this same paddock and the same crossing Robin
decided he wasn’t going to cross the creek, so I had had enough so I hopped
off and tied him to a fence and walked home and Henry had to go and collect
him and to ride him home, Henry had no trouble to handle him. My parents
said I should go and get him but no way I had had enough of him for one day. We had pigs on the farm in sties and had a drum fitted into a frame between
two buggy wheels and a large iron handle to pull or push it, it was also
made to be able to tip the drum. We used to put our separated milk into
this when we separated and then wheel it or pull it whichever was the
easiest to do with the load. When we got to the sty we tipped milk into a
four gallon drum and then tipped it from there into the pig troughs.
Sometimes the milk would go thick by night time and be curds and whey it
didn’t matter which way you fed it the pigs loved it and thrived on it.
This transport for the milk wasn’t easy to pull after rain when all the the
cow dung in front of the bails was slushy, that you had to go through. I was fourteen before I had an opportunity to learn to ride a push bike
because Uncle Harry had bought the bike for himself, but he taught us to
ride. At that time we used to ride from the gate which was on a bit of a
rise from the house. This day in particular George and Alec was not very
old and as I was to come past the house they run out in front of me so I
swerved to miss them and landed on the patio part, I had smashed into the
wires to hold the blinds in place. Anyway I had a sore arm which hurt but
no skin off and had a fortnight off milking, I had to get the cows in from
out of the paddock instead. Uncle Harry also took the time to teach each
one of us children how to play cards, he always remained a bachelor, I
believe he had been engaged in his young days but the engagement broke up. We had bee hives in boxes in the cattle camp near the creek, when the box
had enough honey in it they would rob the hive, these bees were wild ones
collected from out of trees in the bush. Weather also made the bees
temperamental. This day in particular Uncle Harry went to have a look to
see if the hive was ready for robbing, next thing Uncle Harry came running
out of the cattle camp with all these bees after him , he ran straight for
the creek and luck had it , it was a creek with some water in it so he
dived straight in to get away from the bees. Us children was like little
Audrey we laughed and laughed, it was one of the funniest things we ever did
see. One November when we was coming home from school when I was twelve a severe
hail storm developed. With hail storms you could usually tell by the green
colour in the clouds, so we run from school to try and beat it home, we just
made it, when down came the hail, the ground was piled up with hail like
marble size and a little bigger, snow white the ground. We had a tin roof
and you could stand and yell into anyones ear and they couldn’t hear a thing
because of the hail on the tin roof. I have never seen a hail storm since
to equal it. Now our cream carrier was telling people in Mt Larcom about
the hail storm and they wouldn’t believe him. The gullies in the cattle
camps had hail still under the debris a week later, so Pat Guiney the
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carrier took it to town to prove his story. Lucke Bros had a new patch of
papaws ready for market, they were beautiful fruit and the lot was ruined.
The trees were all stripped bare of leaf and the fruit had white juice marks
everywhere. They never tried to grow papaws again. In our day when we were young we could go down to the creek and there was
crystal clear water in the creek six to eight feet deep and you could see
right down to the bottom and see the fish and the Jew fish nests of stone
and any weed if there was any there. In flood time you could hear the water
roaring down the creek from the hills as it would be coming down in one big
wall often four foot deep and collect anything in its path, we used to love
watching it racing down. Today those creeks are all dry and when rain does
come into them they are always filthy in colour. This change throughout
came about when Tordon poisoning took place and a lot of new country was
opened up. When the main flush had gone out of the flood Dad found it handy
to take us swimming as it assisted us in learning to swim. I remember we
were sitting on the edge of the water holding on to the branches of a bush
and Mavis wasn't very old, she had a firm grip and her head had gone under
and she didn’t savvy to let go the bush, Dad hadn’t spotted it but as she
was near me I grabbed her by the hair and got her to let go the bush so all
was then o k. In 1936 when I was eight mum and dad went for a holiday in the Studebaker
car, they took us four kids which was all they had at that time. We called
in at Bucca and took dad’s brother Uncle Henry and Auntie Maggie as well.
They took their youngest one Hazel with them. The roads were narrow and
rougher in those days sometimes bull dust, We went to Brisbane and further
south to Lismore. The car had running boards along the sides and cases was
tied onto the running boards to carry luggage, and it also had a canvas
hood. When we were small our Aunty Lil and Uncle Fred used to sometimes drive out
in their sulky to see us on a Sunday from Bracewell where they had a dairy
farm , they brought out some of their family as well. Tom Capstick had a
dry paddock past our place, he lived in Mt Larcom, he worked for Williams
Ltd. We were always taken up seeing his motor car, it was a single seater
with a dicky seat in the back. When I was young Mc Donald and East had a shop in town it was below the
present day hall, I think it got burnt down in later years. I remember they
used to have a jar of broken icing biscuits on the counter at a cut price
and we used to enjoy it if mum bought any, it was a treat. Fridays was
always the days chosen by most people to go to town, it was like a
gathering. We used to have a hot dinner at Mrs Mc Guires who had a house in
the main street. She catered for people with home cooked three course
meals. She was popular, this is the place I got dressed for my wedding. A
lot of people called her Aunty. There was also two Cafes in town as well
and you had to often wait your turn for a meal. Mt Larcom had two Banks, a
Post Office, Two bakers, three Butchers shops, and a chemist as well as
Williams Hardware shop a Hotel an Ambulance a Blacksmith, a Picture Theatre,
a Hall, three Grocery shops, a Newsagent and three garages, so there has
been a lot of changes at different times. It is hard to credit when you
look at the town today. I was twelve when mum went to hospital to have an operation I did the
housework and I cooked the cakes and biscuits. Another time mum went with
dad to have a look at the garden by the creek, she was in the middle of
making a nightgown for herself so I hopped in and I had it finished when she
got back, mum only had a treadle sewing machine. In 1941 my parents bought a property at Bracewell, some eight miles closer
to town. It was a dairy farm, but to make a living, they wanted to keep all
the family at home, in those days your parents had control over you until
you was 21. I was already 15 and Henry 14 so besides milking over the years
Peanuts were grown as well. Henry learnt to plough and harrow and also a
clod harrow with a team of four horses. None of us was sent away to school
I only went to grade 7 some of them sat for scholarship but I didn’t go the
extra year to do it, as there was no point in furthering studies. I always
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wanted to be a nurse but was not allowed as I was expected to remain at home
and help there. Henry one time took Mavis for a ride sitting on the clod breaker, she had
just washed her hair and I think it was Vaseline she put in it and you can
imagine the sight when she came off the clod breaker as it was quite a dusty
job. Another time Henry had the team of four horses in the harrows when
they got a fright and they bolted, it is a terrible sight when you see
horses bolting and breaking away from their connections trying to go in
opposite directions, however they came out of it O K. Over the years I have seen a horse bolt because it was left with the saddle
and bridle on and the reins around the neck so it could feed on the grass
while dinner was had. Now the horse decided to have a roll while the saddle
was on and the saddle moved from its position and was almost under the tummy
and the horse didn’t like that so took fright and bolted round and round
until it went into a barbed wire gate and tangled up in the wire, so it
wasn’t a very nice sight or job to get the horse free. When Laurence and Mavis was also left school we were also growing
strawberries, these we picked while mum sorted them and packed them in boxes
ready for market. The boxes in those days were made of very thin ply and
the boxes were lined with strawberry leaves. We did the picking mum did the
packing. Later we also grew bananas but the rainfall wasn’t good enough to
get anything much out of them. They found out they required at least a
forty inch annual rainfall. We grew Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Beans and
tomatoes etc for market. In much later years after I was married the
sons started rearing chickens and built a poultry abattoirs on the farm.
Later they added pigs to the farm in large numbers as an extensive piggery.
As the four sons married they built a house for each one of them so they
could continue working on the farm , living in close proximity all five
houses. I was seventeen before I was allowed to go to a dance at Bracewell but the
only way we went most of the time was with Uncle Harry. He used to go with
Henry and I walking the distance which was probably about a mile and a half
and using a lantern to show us the way and of course the road was dirt road. Our entertainment was Friday nights dances which at this stage was limited
for us Saturday nights pictures travelling in dads Studebaker old car.
Sundays was tennis days. The rest of the time was spent in milking cows and
chipping and harvesting produce. In December 1947 I met a handsome young man the name of Irwin Stanley
Johnson at a dance in Mount Larcom. Now I didn’t believe in going out with
strangers but somehow this must have been a lot different, he must have had
the right twinkle in his eye. I did accept in going out with him. As we
were now older we used to go to the dances in Mt Larcom in a truck run by
Tommy Brady. The bus was the cream truck used during the week for taking
the cream in cans to the cream truck in Mt Larcom for delivery to Gladstone.
Now this truck was fitted with several seats across the truck to carry
passengers to pictures on picture nights which by this was Wednesday and
Saturday nights. Friday nights was dance nights. There wasn’t a lot of cars
in the district so this was the way to travel. In those days there was a
lot of young people working on their parents properties. At some times
going to the dances to and from we had to sit on knees and there was also a
running board along the length of the truck where people also stood as
there was no other room. It was on this bus on the way home that I had my
first kiss and got ribbed from the passengers still on the bus, it was near
Schultz house area on the Bracewell road, my old school pal sang out do you
want a port and at a later time she said he had a lot of ginger which proved
correct. I didn’t believe in going out with someone for the sake of saying
I had a boy friend. A far cry from todays transport, of course the
vehicles did not have much speed in them those days, just as well. Irwin had got work at the Bracewell Cheese Factory and was boarding with
people on a dairy farm by the name of Charlie Greenwood. It is one of his
sons who is a country western singer on record today. Irwin used to come
and visit me at times at my parents farm sometimes he rode a horse over to
;see me. He used to also have a motor bike. The romance blossomed he was talking engagement only six weeks after going
out with me but as I had to have parents permission it was impossible to ask
for their permission as they wouldn’t have been impressed to think they
would lose a daughter so quick. However we was married in Mt Larcom on 18
th August 1948 although they wasn’t happy about it. My sister Mavis was
bridesmaid and cousin Ron Austin was best man. My bridal frock I bought at
a sale in Rockhampton. Irwin borrowed a suit from Jack Austin. My dress
had a little dust appearance on it so mum said you use( I can’t remember if
it was) either powder or cornflour to rub on it then brush it off. I did
but did not do a perfect job as a little of it came off against the dark
suit Irwin wore. We had our reception at Banks Cafe with thirty four people
present. When Irwin had to make his speech and as he started to speak Mrs
Banks yelled out he is stumped, she had a Scotch twang and that fixed his
speech, he was speechless. Irwin was a very proud man that day he took a
bride. I was pregnant at the time, Irwin only had the weeks wages and his
motor bike three payments behind, so we went to Rockhampton to his sister
Iris first and then to his parents for a week, we went up by train and back
on the milk lorry. We lived in a house belonging to Carl Nothling a couple of miles from my
parents house. Irwin rode his motor bike to work at the Cheese Factory at
Bracewell which was about five miles away from where we were living. In January 1949 we were to shift from our rented house to a Factory
Workers house. I packed up the required things to be moved next day, while
Irwin was at work and as the house had a cement floor I carted four gallon
tins of water from a tank to clean the floor, because of this I ended up in
hospital that night in labour, after a few days the baby arrived but the
lungs were immature so our son only lived for twenty four hours. It was
quite a heart break to go through. He was perfect looking and five pound in
weight , it was only the under developed lung another week they said would
have made the difference. I didn’t know there was jobs you never attempt
when you are pregnant so because of this I lost a life. I lost my first a
son. In those days in hospital you shared a large room with twelve to
sixteen other women, with only screens pulled around you from the other
patients for pans etc. You was kept in bed for fourteen days then out for
two days and home. It was quite heart breaking at babies feed time when the
babies were brought around on trollies and you could see the other mothers
with their babies and there was you in a bed and no escaping it. Then every
morning a dose of Epson salts to dry up the milk, which even makes me
shudder today to even to think of it. I suffered my heart ache until I had
Lil, but the heart ache didn’t take up completely until I had another son
which was Stanley. My brother Henry developed Polio when Stan was only a couple of weeks old
and was on the verge of going into an iron lung. He could only whisper you
had to put your ear down near his mouth to hear what he did say. He said I
am going to walk before Stan and that was his goal. His legs had to be put
into callipers and the doctors said it was only will power that got him back
in to walking again. He was able with a lot of determination and the aid of
walkers etc that he could manage it at the time Stan walked which was at 10
months of age. I can tell you, hats off to Henry any day for his strong
determination because a lot of people would not have had the will power to
do what he did in the state he was in. Over the years we had the following family while we were at the factory it
closed when our second daughter was a baby.
John 08-01-1949 died (premature) 9-1-1949
Lilian Maree 29-01-1950
Stanley George 13-08-1951
Robert Edward 15-11-1952
Marion Joyce 05-02-1954
Jennifer Lois 12-07-1955
Linda Rose 26-08-1956
Kevin Irwin 28-10-1958
Delma Constance 29-11-1960
Ian Carl 15-02-1962
Owen Royce 22-04-1963
Colin Eric 30-05-1965. Lil was a healthy and lively child she kept one on the move. Lil never
ever crawled but used to roll about, but not far, she started to pull
herself up at seven months and was walking at nine months and then on the
run. She was a born climber and as the kitchen table was under a window I
used to have to put the chairs on the table when we wasn't using the table
for cooking or meals, but she was a beautiful child. She talked clear
sentences before she was two and people used to be amazed at this little
girl talking. As Lil got older she used to like to hold her breath when
things didn’t go her way, so I used to take her to the kitchen tap and put
her head under it and turn the tap on, it soon brought her around, but it
was never pleasant to see a child hold their breath and go stiff and blue in
the face. They usually wet themselves and want a sleep after the episode.
Even today Lil doesn’t like her head under water, so it must be an inbuilt
fear from her child hood. I guess today they would call it child abuse. At
the Cheese Factory Residence we had a fowl run and a white rooster and of
course hens as well. Lil went in one time when she should not have and the
rooster attacked her, she never ventured in any more. Lil was only two to
three when she used to climb up the front of our small utility and climb
onto the hood and wave to the farmers as they were taking their milk to the
factory, several of the farmers used horse and carts to deliver their milk,
others a bit further away used utilities and then the furthest ones used the
truck delivery to pick up the milk cans. Stanley walked at ten months and then he was trained to go up and down
stairs so as to be able to play with Lil to tame her, they were a good
combination. When Robert was born there was an epidemic of Polio, because of this Robert
became a polio victim. I was only home with him a week when he lost his
appetite I called the Ambulance but as he had no temperature the Ambulance
did not take him to hospital. This ambulance man had forty years experience
as an ambulance man. Bob got that way at one stage he was just like a
limp rag doll to handle. When he was about 4 to 6 weeks old he suddenly
could not straighten one arm and he kept it up above his head all the time.
I took him to the Doctors at the Hospital in Rockhampton and they took
eleven x-rays comparing his two arms. They made him a half cast to strap on
his arm, I had to feed him every three hours as he was a small baby I think
he was six pounds thirteen ounces and then put his arm through exercises.
We had to take him to the physio twice a week to Rockhampton for treatment.
He found it painful to be carried and also painful to be wheeled in a
stroller. He suffered a lot of pain as a baby I would say. When he was
about 11 months old he started to walk but his legs would just collapse
under him or he would land on his forehead because of the weakness in his
legs. All his muscles in his whole body was affected even his bowel
muscles, which means some days he would be grunting to pass his motions but
his muscles were too weak to allow it to happen. As his legs showed signs
early in the piece that they were also affected by the polio I had to
exercise all his limbs, every three hours. I still maintain if I had not
put the time in to exercise he may never have got off his back, because
exercise was the only hope for the muscles. Marion arrived fourteen months after Robert and she was put in the cot but
because Robert wasn’t getting enough rest I had to have him in the cot say
two hours in the cot then two hours out, I had to do this because he was
deteriorating in health. He didn’t go to school until he turned six as he
was very lean and by keeping him home that last year he gained 7 pounds for
the year. Milk Milo was what kept him going throughout. When he was going
to school the school nurses used to come around and because of Roberts
condition our girls Marion, Jennifer and Linda was given six weeks holiday
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Eric%20Youle/Mail/Inbox?id=F155s3hcmzlkD9ubYX90000cc97%40hotmail.com&at the Leslie Wilson Home at Yeppoon. When they came home Stanley and
Tuesday, 27 March 2001 Irwin and connie's life stories Page: 16
Robert was sent there, because of Roberts condition the Doctors sent Robert
to their home at Redcliffe and later to Montrose. Robert was kept here about
I forget the exact time but it must have been at least six months. Another time our boys found some straggly kittens that someone must have
dumped when they brought their milk to the factory and they came to our
fence. The boys cuddled and wanted to keep them but as they were straggly
and didn’t look healthy they were soon destroyed. Just as well as they came
out in lots and lots of ringworms. Stan had it in his hair also and had a
bald patch for must have been for a year or more before the hair all grew
back. One Easter Uncle Cecil and Aunty Ellen Sharrock with their children called
in to see us and Lil and Stan decided to show off on what they could do so
Lil led the way by walking around the outside of the verandah hanging on to
the rails as they went around. Lucky the drop to the ground would have been
only a couple of feet. Lil made it along but Stan fell and knocked out one
of his teeth so that gap remained until he was going to school and was old
enough for a new one to venture through. Stan would have been nineteen
months old at the time, he had a good teacher in Lil. Another time Stan
climbed through the fence when he was a bit older and decided to climb up a
ladder at the managers residence on to a tank stand it was very high as the
house was a high blocked place. I went over and casually told him he must
now be a big boy to be able to climb up there, so I told him he had better
show me how he could climb down, of course he got his just deserts when he
got down and it was explained what not to do in future. When the factory closed, Irwin was sometimes away for a week at a time as
he worked on a station for Neil Galletly, after a while we had an offer of
working a half share dairy for Laurie Kerwin at Bracewell up in the hills.
It was a very hilly property and a very windy road to get there. We were
there for a wet season and deliveries could not get through and Lil could
not get to school. While living there Jennifer was born 12- 7- 1955 but in
hospital in Rockhampton. This was the day the Lucke Quads was born and
because of the excitement at the hospital the staff didn’t let Irwin know
about the birth for a couple of days. Multiple births was not very common
at those times. As well as milking eighty odd cows we also grew peas and
beans. Marion did not like the bean patch she used to howl from the time
she got there until it was almost time to go home I said she was named right
Mary, Mary quite contrary. In those days allergies we had never heard of so
whether that was the problem or not we will never know. Stan used to want to follow his dad when he went out on the tractor to do
work such as to get wood, plough or go bean picking etc. Bob was only small
but he would try and keep up to Stan and I used to have to keep a good eye
on them and race after them and bring them back. The grass was well over
their heads on the side of the tracks so all you could see was the heads
bobbing here and there. Stan did his best to keep Bob exercised. Now it would not be allowed today, but for safety for the children while I
was milking I had one partition of a dairy bail wire netted off and the
children had a rope around the leg or waist so they couldn’t get close to
the cows to be kicked. The baby was in a stroller or the bigger one was in
a box with plenty of room but unable to climb out. Stan was one to
experiment so he even tried sucking a cows teat. We also had sucker pigs
running around and they would latch on to a cows teat and suck the milk out
if you didn’t watch them, this was while the cow was lying down before
coming into the bails. The car was always parked under the house and was never locked, but like
all young ones with children you learn by your mistakes. We heard a noise
as the children was under the house and to our horror the children had got
into the car and must have released the brake as it was on a slope and had
run backwards and stopped at a fence across the road near the house. Luck
had it no casualties as some was in the car and one on the bonnet, so how
lucky can you be. The family wonders why I say to them and the grand
children no car keys or be in the car unsupervised, just speaking from
experience. We left this farm in early 1956 and shifted to a vacant house owned by
George Armstrong it was an old weather board house. We had a lot of rain
the couple of months while there and you had to walk up to almost the knees
to walk out to the road. We was lucky the house was up a few feet from the
ground. We went from there to another half share dairy farm to a Ben Nichols at
Machine Creek. While there Linda Rose was born I had to be taken to hospital
by the Ambulance she was born on 26-8-1956. Linda was born a frank breech
which is bottom first and because of this she was eight days old when she
had to have an operation on her breast because of an abscess on the breast.
Because of the big cut she got from it she wasn’t able to breast feed her
babies because of blocked milk glands. Ben was a very hard boss one time he brought out a man who was looking for
a job and employed him but we had to feed him, board him and then pay him.
It was the rock and roll days and when the music came on for that style he
used to make the place rock with his dancing. After a few months the bloke
who was from Sydney decided it wasn’t fair on us as we had a family to feed
as well and the income wasn’t flash, so in fairness he quit. There was a funny incident with Old Ben one dipping day it was serious at
the time but one could see the funny side afterwards. He had a very young
bull which was a very hostile type, the young fellow didn’t want to go into
the yard for dipping Ben tried to get him there so the bull turned on him
and Ben had to keep dodging around a big plow to dodge him, in the end the
bull gave up and galloped away back towards to his paddock, ticks and all. We had some rain which had left quite a lot of water lying between the
house and the shed. Now the children had a very pet bantam hen which they
adored and it was loved by all. Now our sons Stan and Robert (Bob) was like
all boys and decided what fun it would be to put its head under the water,
the girls was there too although it was not their doings. Alas they found
out there was a limit how long it could stay under, so poor banty was no
longer breathing. Now for a lesson which has been remembered even today by
these children of ours is I plucked poor banty and cooked it for their tea
while mum and dad had a rooster. This was one time the children was not
hungry for poultry and have not forgiven mum even today, for they class it
as meanness, but a lesson never forgotten by all. After this they had to
realise that there is a limit on how long you can stay under water, or it
will take its toll. Lil and Stan rode bikes to school while we lived here, once Stan got a
buster off his bike and was well and truly skinned by it. They also
remember one Christmas we had an oak tree for our Christmas tree, it made a
nice looking tree to decorate. After Christmas some of them was in trouble
for something so in those days you used to smack your kids to get them to
toe the line. Sometimes we used only our hands to smack but this time I got
a nice switchy piece to sting them from the oak tree, and after that they
never ever wanted an oak tree for Christmas, they still haven’t forgotten
it. We left this farm in 1957 and moved out to the property of Lucke Bros No
2,which was the same property I lived on as a baby, but a new house had been
built during the war years on a different hill to the original house and
very close to the dairy. At this stage the property belonged to brothers
James, Harry, and my dad. I was about 11 or there abouts when these
brothers bought Ernie out and Ernie bought a property between Bracewell and
East End. We worked this property on half shares, we had many years of struggle on
supplying cream to the Gladstone Butter Factory and we also had a few pigs
to drink the separated milk and then big enough sold them at the Auctions at
the Gracemere Sales Yards as well as poddy calves. Usually for two or three
months of a year you had to have a slack time as the cows had to have a
couple of months rest before calving as you expected them to calve each year
at certain times, you had to keep mating records to go by for good
management. I know one time we only had £8 to do us for 3 months so things
was tough when you had a family to feed. One time we had no meat at all for
6 weeks so Irwin tried shooting some birds such as pigeons for a stew, but
by time you plucked these there wasn’t much meat to eat. Sometimes we
killed young poddy calves just past the rag tag stage to do this we had to
first leave the calves a couple of weeks with its mother. Very occasionally
we had a pig to eat some of our family possibly remembers helping to rub the
hair off the pig after it had been scalded in the bath tub. One day Kevin thought he had found a dead snake just under the corner of
the barn, but was wise enough to get mum to have a look. It was just as
well as it was a death adder just lying doggo. It was on this property I
lost my wedding ring it must have come off as I was peeling the vegetables
and was thrown out with the scraps. We had ducks at the time so I guess
that is what happened to it as it was never seen again. We kept ducks and
they were allowed to roam at will about the area around the house, but we
had no fences around the house. We found out they ate all the red back
spiders, but they are messy with their droppings and they swish through your
toes when it rains, makes one shudder to think about it. We had a severe
storm and I had clothes out on the clothes line it was full up too, when a
windy storm came along up the slope and turned the line inside out almost,
we even have a photo of it, for remembrance. Had to rewash the clothes. This is my most embarrassing moment of my life. They always say first
impressions are the best. This is one unexpected visit we had that I have
always felt bad about. We often had poinciana branches with all the flowers
put up in the house for Christmas. Well this day was the day I had to take
them down so I dropped them on the floor and then got the broom and had just
swept them to the steps and some was already on the steps when Aunty Bina
with her son Alwyn and his wife Doris and their children arrived, how
embarrassing it was. So I had to finish sweeping them out of the road
before they could get inside and you know what, they never ever returned,
haven’t seen them since. Kevin lit a fire with matches just below the house and burnt that area of
grass,his father needless to say wasn’t impressed, so punishment followed.
A car for parts for Stan was in the paddock and it got burnt, so boys just
have a fascination for matches. Kevin still vows it wasn’t him but no other
names have come up even today. Sorry Kevin if it wasn’t you, so will the
responsible one please come forward, as it is too late now for punishment. One of the times when I was about seven months pregnant I was up at the cow
yard when Irwin brought home an old cow (we called Magpie)with a new born
calf, she was with the milking herd. Now she had a limp as though she had
arthritis and as harmless as could be so I walked out to help chase them in
the yard, when she suddenly charged me and there was I with only a stump
about three foot high to protect me. It wasn’t a very good feeling at all,
the barb wire fence was handy but I was too big to crawl through the fence,
so I had to stick it out. We always found when the cattle came in like
this, was when dingoes was bad out in the paddock and the cattle were
steamed up protecting their calves all the time. When Stan was fifteen he was helping his father doing tractor work by
discing some ground. The ground was hilly and uneven in parts. His father
came home ahead on another tractor and as Stan was almost finished he was to
follow home when finished. However he seemed to be taking longer than we
expected so we kept watch to see if he was coming and to our horror we saw
smoke coming up so we raced over in our vehicle to see why. When we arrived
we saw the tractor capsized and alight and Stan standing beside it trying to
put out the fire, so we yelled and yelled for him to come away before it
blew up, luck has it Stan made it to safety, to us it was a nightmare to
behold. At times when Irwin was not well enough I had to knock calves on the head
and slit their throats when they were not required to be reared for
breeders. I have also killed, skinned and boiled calves for feeding to pigs
not very often thank goodness. I did a lot of milking, washing up etc at
the dairy as well as sweeping bails over the years. The frogs that liked to
get into the turned up washed cans overnight on the stand I collected and
wrapped in paper and burnt them so they never returned to do it again. Irwin also made a boat in his spare time and we took it to the narrows for
fishing . We tried trolling one of those times and I was lucky enough to
land a three foot King Fish and by trolling I also caught a two foot Flat
Head by the same method, it was a great thrill. I would love to catch one
like that again but never have. I had more children after going to Cedar Vale. Kevin Irwin was born
28-10-1958. Kevin was born at Rockhampton and the day I was coming home
with him in our Ford utility driven by Irwin the steering broke and we was
partly over the edge of the bank as it was a steep hillside where it
happened at Fishers Hill. My grip slipped a bit and because of the jolt
Kevin ended up below my knees with me still gripping him as luck goes. When
Kevin was about twelve he was able to pull an engine down at the windmill
for pumping water and fix it up when his father was too ill to do the work,
at that stage his father was getting heart treatment. The children loved to play with the clay from the bank on the corner of our
car track after rain while it was wet, they had great times making mud pies
etc. While they were young and when we did take them all with us to
Rockhampton and when we had the eleven children with us I can still see the
people just stop and start counting the number when we walked down the main
street. Some people even looked down on us for such a large family. I have
even carried one child on each hip as Irwin had a bad back for years and
couldn’t carry them. In those days the dresses we made had three yards
around the skirt and the little one would sometimes pull the skirt over her
head, at times I had one on each side doing it, while walking along as they
held on to mum by the skirt. I used to do the sewing for all the children
Irwin and myself. If we were going to the Mt Larcom show I used to make all
new clothes around the lot and often up to 1 o’clock in the morning to get
them finished. When we had the children on these trips to Rockhampton we gave them a treat
of bought ice cream we bought a four litre container of ice cream and a
packet of cones and they would devour it at a park where we took them. They
had plenty of home made ice ream at home but the bought one was a treat.
Maybe we didn’t have much money while rearing them but they always had food
it was the first thing money bought, clothes was also available by making
them I used to send to Newcastle N.S.W and get remnants at discount prices,
so it was quite a saving. We also sent to Pastoral Supplies in Brisbane and
bought cartons of food in bulk lots, syrup was also bought in four gallon
drums. Sugar in seventy pound sugar bags. Lil used to sleep walk, once she raced out the kitchen door at full speed
at ten o’clock at night running to the cow yard. By the way she was scared
of the dark. I went to the back door and yelled out to her what she was
after and she said “Dad wants the rope” I said “Lil you are dreaming come
back to bed” she stopped and came back to bed, so back she came and usually
didn’t remember doing these things next morning. I always found just talk
quietly to them and say you are dreaming come back to bed was the best way
to deal with it. Once and once only we tried to rob bees now I had seen it done many a time
when I was a kid on the farm by my Dad and Uncle Harry. I made up this net
protection to fit over our hats and neck, and we wore very thick clothing or
we thought they were thick, socks and boots and away Irwin and I went out to
this bee hive in a tree to rob. Irwin fell the tree and we started, Irwin
used smoke before we went for the honey but boy were those bees savage like
a mother protecting her young. The bees stung through our very thick
clothing and everything else, so we let them be and came home never to
repeat the episode. Irwin built a tennis court when the oldest ones was teenagers and had help
from several ones in carting top dressing etc for the court. We had several
good times there. When we had been married for twenty five years we had a
gathering to celebrate we supplied dinner and afternoon tea. Jennifer and
Rodney Vander Linde announced their engagement also. We had a day of
tennis and family photos was taken. I forget just when it happened when we started to supply milk to go to the
factory on a quota system and the surplus we had to send away as cream.
This then required cows to be forced fed to keep up the quota system, as
there was no irrigation and rain was becoming scarcer and unreliable. We
bought grain as we could not grow sufficient grain for requirements. This
grain Irwin had to crack and cart to the dairy. In later years we had mixed
feed delivered from Pac Feeds in Biloela and this was put into a silo bin.
We used to feed the cows in the bails at milking time, the cows learned to
love this and would be at the yard at milking time if not you would only
have to call them and they would often run home except sometimes for a
straggler. We tried to grow green feed as well when rain permitted it, if
so we grazed the green feed.as well. The wallabies were bad on this farm, when Irwin tried to grow winter feed
for the cattle the large numbers of wallabies that came in didn’t leave much
for the cattle. He tried snaring them but it didn’t work very well. He
tried going down at night to shoot them but when you turned on the lights
you would see up to twenty on your precious patch of feed so you was
fighting an impossible task. You couldn’t possibly be there all night so we
didn’t get much feed. The wallabies used to come in at night and also get
the grain that the cattle had dropped in the cow-bails at milking time. The children was taught to milk or to chase the cows into the receiving
yard ready for milking, Colin was scared of the cows he would never be
suitable for that kind of life style, some are like that. However this day
he was out in the yard to herd some into the receiving yard when two cows
decided to have a fight and Colin got in the road and he fell over and had a
hoof cut a gash into the calf of his leg. I took him to the Ambulance in Mt
Larcom and he was transported to the doctor and they had to cut some flesh
out of his leg plus the manure dust, he will always carry the scar. Cattle
are like children they fight too and the weather has something to do with
it, because if you find your kids are having a bad day fighting and arguing
you can bet when you round up the cows they are doing the same. My motto when children are asking to be taught to do a job that is the time
to take time to teach them , as being willing to learn is half the battle it
is too late when they get a lot older, then they have no wish to learn as it
has been left too late. Remember if a job is worth doing do it well or not
at all, I am proud of all my children as they have stuck to this motto and
have all done well with their chosen work. All your children should be all equals in your devotion no favourites as
this does not work in families. I love all my children, the in-laws I love
as well and my grandchildren I am also proud of and love, up to date I have
sixty five of us on the family records and proud of them all. My husband
and mate for life has been the main backbone in me being so content with my
life even when times have been hard but we always stuck it out together and
gave one another the required support. We are not too proud for anyone to
see us still kiss and cuddle. When he holds my hand even today it pulls
the heart strings and makes life worthwhile. I believe if you marry for love
you should never let the love die as this is the main ingredient in life.
Money is just the necessary evil of life, just live in your means and keep
the love flowing. Always make up before going to bed as you never know what
tomorrow will bring I have heard it said by a wise person many years ago. Lil went working for C. Lucke and Sons at the poultry abattoirs at fifteen.
Lil missed out on high school because high school didn’t come in until the
year after Lil left. All our others went to high school, and after high
school went into jobs away from home. Stan went into an apprenticeship as a
mechanic with Doug Barram in Mt Larcom. Bob went into an apprenticeship
with Joe Horton at Ambrose. Marion went into an office job with Miln Bros
in Rockhampton. Jennifer went into the Public Service in Rockhampton.
Linda went into the Public Service also. Kevin went into an apprenticeship
as a fitter and turner at the Electricity Board in Rockhampton. I had a hysterectomy operation and did not return or intend to return back
to the yard work, and the following year the factory forced all dairies to
be upgraded to bulk milk tankers for supplying the milk. This change meant
a lot of money to upgrade and at this time my dad was the sole owner of this
property as many years before my Uncle James had bought No 1 Dairy from my
Dad and Uncle Harry. Then later Uncle Harry had died and dad was left with
the this property. He did not want to spend that much money at his age so
an Auction was called for sale of the property and all contents, cattle,
machinery etc. This was the middle year of 1976. Prices was awful but
nothing could be done about this. The property didn’t sell but most other
things was sold at pathetic prices. Bob came up from Bundaberg with his
truck and took our furniture down to the house he was renting and we stayed
with him until we bought a house in North Bundaberg. My dad sold this
property several years later. At his stage we had only the four youngest ones at home so they were the
ones we took to Bundaberg. Irwin got a job with Tofts Ltd and worked there
until men were laid off after twelve months. He then managed to get a job
at the Bag Factory and remained there until his retirement in 1984. I got a
job at the Tri-care Nursing Home in the kitchen on week-ends and on call ins
if needed during the week. Sometimes I used to go in to Markwells and work
from 4 o’clock of an afternoon till 11 or 12 at night when the boats was in
for scallop cleaning. In 1979 a new primary school opened up at Avoca, for
cleaners and I applied they wanted two cleaners and I was lucky enough to
get one of the positions and remained there for five years until Irwins
retirement. About 215 applied for the job. At one stage I was the cleaner
and had to go in and clean for the bag factory twice a week as well as my
other work. I think I did this for for about two years. Delma finished her schooling at North Bundaberg High the year we moved to
Bundaberg. After finishing school she was lucky to get a job at Rockmans
and worked there for many years. She married Kenneth Lovell in 1981 and
kept her job with Rockmans for a couple of years so as to pay off their
house they had bought, before starting a family. She had two daughters and
then before her second daughter was born they bought a bread run. After a
couple of years they sold the bread run and later bought a cane farm where
they are today at Welcome Creek. Ian finished grade ten at North Bundaberg school then got a job at the Bag
Factory. He married and after several years he changed jobs and worked at
Gooburrum shire council. When he was retrenched there he got a job at the
city council in Bundaberg. When his marriage ended, he eventually sold the
property and moved away. At the present time he has one of his children
with him. He is living at Gladstone and working for the Gladstone City
Council. Two of his children are living with their mother in Cairns. Owen finished school and after several casual jobs got an apprenticeship
with the Bag company as a fitter and turner, he completed his apprenticeship
and after a few years he quit his job to take on a job with Bingera Mill as
a fitter and turner. As he was married he built a house in that area. His
marriage ended a couple of years ago and because of it he moved to Cairns.
His two sons are living with their mother at his house at South Kolan. Colin finished his grade ten year and got an apprenticeship with Burnett
Sawmills, he is still there today. He is married and has his own home and
has three children. After four years we sold our house at North Bundaberg after Irwin had an
accident in Bourbong Street when right of way was taken off him and he got
hit by another vehicle, it was a four lane intersection. We bought a house
at 119 Barolin Street and lived there for another four years when we sold
that house and bought the house we are still in today at 113 Elliott Heads
Road. By this time all the children had flown the coop there was only the
two of us back to how we started but not as young, but wiser we hope. Irwin retired in 1984 when he became the age of sixty, I retired from the
cleaning at the school as well, therefore we became old Pensioners. The
following year he had a heart attack and was sent to Brisbane to have
by-pass surgery and became a white leghorn (that is what they call them)
because after the operation they have to wear white surgical stockings for
some weeks, because they have had a vein removed from their leg to replace
what is needed in the heart operation.
We also had Irwins oldest brother who was a bachelor live with us for
nearly seven years.. He wasn’t able to look after himself properly after
his mother died at the age of ninety six. After eights months by himself he
ended up in the hospital with nerves and had shock treatment. He had his
mum to look after him all his life, so I took the place of his mother, when
he came to live with us, he died with Lymphoma in 1991 We went on a trip with Des and Betty Donahue down along the southern coast
and into N,S.W. We climbed Mt Warning it was a rugged trip to walk up to
the top, the last distance you had to pull yourself up over huge boulders,
but the sight was great. We went on the second trip this time to the north in 1992 we left with Des
and Betty Donahue. We travelled the Northern coast road and saw most of the
places through to the Daintree where we went for a cruise down the Daintree.
On our way before that we went for a cruise from Shute Harbour to Hardys
Reef. From Daintree we then went to the Atherton Table land and across to
the Gulf to Karumba. From there we went across to Mt Isa where we went and
had a tour of the open cut mine they took us in a bus. It was here we met
up with Des and Betty ‘s mates Iris and Jim Coles who live at Gladstone. After leaving Mt Isa we went up to Cammoweal and into the Territory We went
our separate ways in the territory when they was going to West Australia, we
parted company at Alice Springs. We climbed Ayres Rock, Kings Canyon,
Katherine Gorge and we went to all the places around Alice Springs. On our
way I also had a ride on a camel at the camel farm. We went through the
Northern Territory to Kakadu and through to Darwin, this fascinated me I
just loved it all. I also loved Mattaranka with the hot pool and the night
entertainment. We was away for eleven weeks and we had no wireless, no T.V.
no newspaper and didn’t miss any of it. We travelled in our Toyota Hi--Ace
camper van. Three years ago we flew down to King Island when Nick was still working for
the Hydro Co. It was a great experience so different to anything we had
ever seen. Last year I had a knee operation, it is a great improvement but I will
never return to play golf as I think it would destroy the benefit I have
gained. We have just had three weeks trip to see our family in Gladstone and Linda
at Emerald and enjoyed every minute of it. At the present time Irwin has
problems with his heart maybe too strong a dose of one type of tablet
Cardizem which gives heart failure, we can only hope this will not happen as
we hope for more enjoyment out of life together yet. Today 4-6-1996 I went to the Doctor and had a prick in the finger for a
test to see if I had any trace of sugar, my test was 3.5 and my blood
pressure was 115 over 60, so cast out as healthy. 7-12-1996 The year is drawing to a close a lot of changes has taken place.
I discovered when Sarah was down during the year, that she was allergic to
woollen blankets. I put my thinking cap on and immediately took old but
clean blankets off our bed that was woollen hey presto Irwin had the best
nights sleep for a long time. I gave away all the woollen blankets
thirteen or fourteen of them altogether to family who required them. I
ripped up the axminster carpet in the lounge room which would have had wool
in it. I donated this to Charity along with all his clothes that had any
trace of wool in them. I gave to family about thirty socks altogether, I
think he must have thought he was a centipede to require so many. I have
also taken his Dontine pillow off his bed for sleeping at night. I washed
up polyester pillows for him to sleep on at night and now we all get more
peaceful nights instead of nose blowing all night. Now at the present time
he appears to be in the best of health although he is on a lot of heart
treatment. So here’s hoping for many more days or years of happy living.
The wool appeared to be giving him allergies and because of the difficulty
in breathing it put him in distress and so the angina developed and into
hospital. I only hope no one will use lambs wool to lie their babies on as
I feel this is one of the causes with cot deaths.
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