I have decided to write this blog to commemorate and remember the men from settlements in and around Surrey Hills who fought in wars.
In Chapter 10 of my book, “Fires, Farms and Forests”, I outlined some of the war service by men from Guildford Junction. This blog goes into more detail and includes stories about men from Parrawe and Bulgobac.
Almost all the kids that grew up in Guildford Junction recall there was something magical about their experience. Whether it’s the memories of their one-room school and teachers, the adventures in their big surrounding playground called the bush, the snakes, the cold and the snow, the isolation, the waratahs in flower or just the scented lupin paddocks dotted around the town.… Read more
Herbert Illichmann has provided some bits and pieces about a gentleman called Harry Fisher. Unfortunately, information about Harry is scant, but there are references to him in Kim McDermott’s excellent book Last of the Wildcats and the memoirs of Herbert’s father-in-law, Lindsay Wilson.
There are also a couple of newspaper articles about Harry, but because Lindsay didn’t provide specific dates, I cannot find them.
Terence Alexander Albert Turner, or Snow Turner, was undoubtedly a real character of AFH. Anyone who worked with him between 1960 to 1999, or had anything to do with the company during those years, will know Snow and have a story or two about him.
While small in stature, stocky and as strong as a moose, he was indeed a larger-than-life figure with a big personality and presence, best known for his colourful language, his pranks on fellow workers and his knowledge of forestry. … Read more
I grew up in a sawmill town on the edge of the buttongrass plain Beside a railway track in the town of Bulgobac Where the locos stop for water from the water tank It also fed the sawmill and the town of Bulgobac Gravel roads were twenty miles away and people very few With mountains all around us with panoramic views At night we sat at the table to a meal of wallaby stew And mother read the bible at night by the kerosene light its true Drivers wait from the loco as it headed south to Boco On the way north they passed our shack in the town of Bulgobac I was part of a big family with no power to our home The times are gone but memories live on living on the buttongrass plain Mother cooked from a wood fired oven Anzac biscuits she baked by the dozen Life was tough but we never complained living on the buttongrass plain I still recall the good old days and how we lived back then In the sawmill town called Bulgobac growing up on a buttongrass plain I’ll never forget with no regrets of life way back then The times are gone but memories live on living on the buttongrass plain The times are gone but memories live on growing up on a buttongrass plain Mott Ryan “Buttongrass plains” from his CD “The Boy from the Buttongrass Plains”
Introduction
Bulgobac is a small siding on the Emu Bay Railway at the 55 Mile.… Read more
