Artie Endres Story

Artie's own story in his own words reproduced with the kind permission of Marie Endres.

Brief summary of the highs and lows of life experienced between the years 1912 to 1997.

IN THE BEGINNING
I was born at Tatham in a old settlers home belonging to my grandparents, Mary and David Manning. The home was named 'Upperview', the holdings contained 40 acres and joined my parents holding of 214 acres and was named 'Taylorville' after the original selector Mr Taylor. Dairy farming was carried out in conjunction with the two farms.

I was born on the 23rd November 1912 (in a naked state and no money). The same conditions applied through my early childhood. I was delivered into the word by midwife 'Granny' Stenmark, who lived further up Weep Creek. I choose to have a bush delivery, not a sissy place like a women's hospital. Shortly after my birth, my brothers Charles, Ernie and later Chris was to experience the notorious ;1915 drought' which lasted until the early 1920's, by that time most of the stock in the district had died for want of food and water. To make the matters more unpleasant and uncertain, the 'world war 1' was with us during 1914 - 1918. Billy Hughes was Prime Minister during these uncertain times and brought in conscription which reduced manpower greatly, so the work fell to the women and teenage members. Eventually the Armistice was signed on the 11th November 1918. Then the long haul commenced to make back to recovery.

During the 1915 drought a devastating bushfire came through our area and threatened our home and outer buildings. Mother and us five children evacuated the home which was in serious danger. I was old enough to remember the fire which was travelling on the foliage of the paper bark tea trees, as the area consisted of chains of swamps, so the only way to escape was east towards 'Upperview' and clear country, but the heat and smoke was terrific. I can still remember the large number of birds and animals racing with us towards the clear country, mostly kangaroos. Charlie being the eldest realised he must save some valuables from the house before it burned down, so he raced in and rescued dad's cheque book and Jack's (only a few months old) feeding bottle. The home which was built in 1904 was by some miracle unharmed, and still stands to this day. A new start had to be made, so dad split a lot of posts and rails and mad a solid cow yard. Then split a lot of slabs which he dressed all round with a 12 inch broad axe, these made the walls and oak saplings were dressed into 6" x 6" wall plated, then 14 feet prickly tea poles were made into rafters. The only milled timber was the ridge boards. Brand new galvanised roof iron was brought from Meaney's store in Coraki, being the only building material brought except cement. The cow bails were finished in 1922 and bad luck prevailed, as a severe wind and hail storm done a lot of damage to the roofing iron, causing large dents from cricket ball size hail. This was the first rain the roof received. The bails still stand after75 years and the hail marks are still evident. The dairy was shifted up from 'Upperview' to its present site by Jack Gilmore and his bullock team. dairy farming soon got into full swing and we all had to learn to milk cows by hand. I never had the pleasure to milk cows by machine or cultivating by tractor. It was the hard way, by horse drawn implements.

Schooling was also got the hard way. Our nearest school was over three miles, through the bush. The track was mostly wet swampy ground through neighbours properties. The school was named "Barnsdale" and consisted of only one large room, one teacher and six classes. The enrolment of students were between 20 and _. I started school after the xmas holidays after I was 7 years old. I just got a good start at school when I fell off the horse. i was double banking and broke my arm. So my education received an early setback, I eventually got started again and liked school, but hated getting the farm work done and travel the distance through difficulties on horse back or walk. Our Teacher was Fred Webber who lived in Casino and drove a horse and sulky 9 miles out each morning. When Deep Creek flooded we had time off. I went to school till 6th Class and gained my Q.C., which was a qualifying certificate permitting enrolment to a High School, which was definite out of the question, as it meant travelling 9 miles to Casino with no bus services in those days. To see a few cars in town was a novelty. We went to Casino about once a month by horse and buggy and the same way of travel once a month to attend church at Tatham, which we didn't like very much, as Sunday was our rest day which we liked to spend wild duck or fox hunting. No sporting activities in the district which accounted for our lack of interest in sport to-day. We got 10/- for fox scalps and 1/- for crow scalps from the pasture protection board and gave us sufficient collateral to buy 12 gauge cartridges and .22 bullets. We would go fishing in Deep Creek when conditions were favourable. In 1926 I left school (13 years old) as by that time I had been attending school for 6 years and considered myself sufficiently educated. (No year 12 in those days). Also in 1926 dad brought a brand new Model T Ford car for the grand sum of £169/10/- plus the free service of a mechanic who stayed with us for a week to teach Charlie how to drive it. I found out how to operate the 'thing', and liked going to church because I drove the car instead of the buggy. I continued to drive on the back roads for 4 years, then was old enough to get a licence which allowed me to drive to Casino with mum and her eggs, poultry etc. and bring back the monthly food supply. Everything hinged on monthly transactions as the butter factory cheques were on a monthly basics.

Then the great advent of radio. In 1927 dad brought a new wireless set (Aerodyn) from Trackson Bros. in Brisbane as that was the nearest wireless distributor. As there were no power points in those days, it was operated by 4 volt accumulator, which had to be charged every 3 weeks or so, which meant sending it by Cream Coach to Lynn's Garage for recharging, which meant no wireless for a few days. I remember when the Roman Catholic, Holy Name Cathedral in Brisbane was opened or dedicated by Papal Legate Cardinal Ceretti from Rome. It was all received direct, as all our programs were transmitted from Brisbane's 4QC. We also received band recitals from Brisbane's Botanical Gardens on Sunday afternoon also heavyweight wrestling matches between Pesek, Calonis and others. Dad used to enjoy the wrestling and was pleased he had the opportunity to participate in it's wonders in those days. Aircraft was very uncommon in my school days, should a plane be heard, the whole classroom, teacher included, would all race outside on the off chance it may be seen above the trees.

After leaving school I got a job in the Tatham grocery store. The storekeeper, Aubrey Osborne Hewlett, took over the store from Ted Nathan. Hewlett struck a bad weather cycle, after coming from Gunning (NSW). He was plagued with either floods or droughts. The store was situated between two bridges, Spring Gully and Deep Creek, which were low level bridges, but as I write both bridges are being replaced by high level bridges. I worked for Aubrey Hewlett for nearly two (2) years. Finally Aubrey's health failed and with the advent of the motor car, the store closed down and has since been demolished. My weekly wage those days was 15/- (15 shillings or $1.50) per week, and had to ride a bike 2 miles over a very muddy road. The cream lorry 9new 1 ton T Ford truck) operated by Keith McDonald was often bogged and had to use tire chains on lots of occasions. After leaving the store I helped back on the farm, milking morning and evening and helped with the cultivation or cut prickly tea-tree down which threatened the grass land.

In 1932 the great depression was looming, at the same time dad brought a unimproved scrub farm at Pretty Gully. I went up with Charlie to build a dairy and bails on it, with the intension of getting grass established before bringing stock up from the Tatham farm. We fell a large area of scrub and sowed it down with Rhodes grass and Phalaris seed, but the unexpected happened, as fast as the grass grew the wallabies and Paddy Melons ate it down. So we had to put up a netting fence to save it. Eventually the Tatham stock arrived and things began to show signs of improving, but dry times set in and grass became scarce, so the cattle not being used to this country, started to eat the young bracken fern shoots which proved very toxic and the greater part of the herd died.

 

to be continued.

page 5 of 11 pages done.
 

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