Extracts from
Laurie Cheeseman's Memoirs

Page 4

3. A Stint in NSW

Christmas 1933 saw the farm visited by Laurie's uncle, Edmund ('Ned') Pearson, who regaled the family with tales of his saw mill at Goolgowi near Griffith in New South Wales and the money to be made from saw-milling. Laurie was captivated and asked his uncle for a job when one became available. The following February, midway through his second fruit-picking season, Laurie received word that a job at Goolgowi was waiting for him. He was to work there for the remainder of the year when the mill would be relocated to Yenda in the Binya State Forest and not far from the 'mountain' on whose trig point his courting parents had earlier carved their names. He had first, of course, to get himself from Mildura to Goolgowi.

As well as enjoying the bullockies' tall tales and exploits, Laurie took the opportunity to better acquaint himself with his mother's side of the family. As we have seen from the photographs above, two of Alice's brothers - William and Tommy Laurence - worked with him at the mill. Her sister Catherine ('Kit') Barclay lived at Berrigan and Ned and his wife Lucy at Narrandera. Towards the end of 1934 the mill was again relocated, to a site some eleven miles out of Rankin Springs. But steady employment at the mill was in decline and so Laurie decided to seek work on the surrounding farms. He was eventually offered a permanent job with Tom Dwyer, a farmer near Goolgowi, in return for playing football for one of the local teams. He continued working in the area until Xmas 1936 when he received a letter from his brother, Les, telling him there was a 'job going at the V.R. LOCO Depot in Ouyen. He had spoken for me and enclosed a recommendation from the charge man in Ouyen advising me to report to Melbourne Head Office to arrange things'. This was an opportunity too good to pass up: 'at that time during and after the depression, the railway or Government men always seemed to be the best off, a secure job and sure money coming in . . . uncle Alex was an engine driver on the New South Wales Railways and we always thought what a wonderful job he had'. Laurie immediately left the farm and caught a train to Melbourne where he was met at Spencer Street Station by his sister Winnie. 'It was my first time in Mlbourne and I stayed with aunty Sarah at Northcote [Alfred's older sister, Sarah Jane Cheeseman, married Edward John Haggis at Carngham in 1893 but lived in Melbourne for most of her married life]. I was very impressed with the trains and the trams and people everywhere, and the green lawns of the comfortable looking suburban homes, and the all that water (the sea)! He did not know it then, but was about to begin a new stage in his life that would take him far away from Melbourne and his home state of Victoria, to such exotic places as Ceylon, Tel Aviv in Palestine and New Guinea.

These group photos were taken in 1934 and 1935 during Laurie's numerous visits to Narrandera. The adults in the photo on the left are (from L/R):
Ned Pearson, Alex and Ellen ('Nell') Laurence, Lucy Pearson, Tommy and Lily Laurence, Laurie and Thelma Barclay. The photo on the right shows (rear row L/R):
Lucy Pearson, Mary Jane Stirrat, Laurie and Alice Cheeseman. Front row: Thelma Barclay, Mollie Stirrat and Isobel Beecher.

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