Our World did not Create Itself: but Someone did.

By P.J. O'Brien

At the time of my wife Ann's last illness and death, I was reflecting on our life and began discussing, with my eldest granddaughter, Kate Watson, putting pen to paper. I pleaded old age and the inability to concentrate enough to complete such a project. It was then suggested that she could ask me questions, be the technical expert, and together we could do something worthwhile. So Kate interviewed me over a period, I added a few memories of my own, and here is the result of our efforts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Nov 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649694119

Book preview

Kate and Pat - working on the book November 2018

INTRODUCTION

In 1995, I published a book entitled 'An I 'ave ‘eard it.' It was the story of many of the characters I had met and worked with during my life. It was also a precis of my life as I recorded these events. It was meant for family and friends and was successful in that context. Most of our grandchildren have read it and some have suggested that I should write the next chapter.

At the time of my wife Ann's last illness and death, I was discussing this with our eldest granddaughter, Kate Watson (nee Rutherford), and she was quite enthusiastic about the suggestion. I pleaded old age and the inability to concentrate enough to complete such a project. It was then suggested that Kate could ask me questions, be the technical expert, and together we could do something worthwhile.

It has three themes:

Stories from the lives of our family.

My faith and belief in God.

My time in the Latrobe Valley 1968-1992 and the work I was doing. This includes the demise of the SEC Victoria and the reasons why.

So Kate interviewed me over a period, I added a few memories of my own, and here is the result of our efforts.

P.J. O’Brien

THE FAMILY TREE

One of my very first memories was a trip Pa and I took together to Ensay, the tiny town in eastern Victoria where Pa grew up. I won’t forget it because he entertained me with stories and tales of the history of the region all the way. In this chapter, Pa discusses that history, from our Irish ancestry through to now.

When did your ancestors arrive in Australia?

John William O'Brien was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1842. Like many of the Irish, he was forced to leave Ireland by harsh British rulers in 1859. He spent some time in Ballarat where he met his future bride, Bridget Leonard. She was also born in Limerick in 1844 and arrived in Australia at the age of 18.They were married at St Alipius' Church, Ballarat on February 20, 1867.

After their marriage, they settled in the Barnawartha district, growing mainly wheat. While at Barnawartha, Con (my Grandfather), Tom, Hattie, Dan, Jack, and Maggie, were born. Jim, Bridget, and William were born after they moved to Negoura. However, at that time new areas were being offered for settlement and in 1877 John set out to explore possibilities. After looking at parts of Southern New South Wales, he then journeyed to the Omeo district where he met John Hayward, a pioneer in the district. Mr Hayward took him to inspect a property then known as 'Kangaroo Ground’, near Swifts Creek.

He liked what he saw, and later in 1877 applied for 5000 acres of sheep and cattle grazing land. The application was granted and thus began the famous holding of Negoura. In 1879, John set out from Barnawartha in a wagon drawn by three draught horses, taking most of the family possessions. His second son, Tom, then aged eight, accompanied him on horseback. It took four weeks to reach Bairnsdale. Leaving the wagon there, the twosome returned to Sale to meet the rest of the family, who had travelled by train. The family then travelled by boat through the Gippsland Lakes and the Mitchell River to Bairnsdale.

The harrowing journey up the rough tracks of the Tambo Valley where there were no roads, took two and a half weeks. Some years later, the wife of one of the boys had just returned from Melbourne after giving birth and complaining of being tired. Tired, Grandma retorted.What ails ye woman? When this one, pointing to Maggie, was six-weeks old, I travelled in a tilted wagon from Barnawartha to Swifts Creek, and all I had to sit on was a set of harrows."

Not surprisingly, Bridget remembered that trip all her life. Apparently, during the journey, she had bathed Maggie in Shady Creek. Just before her death, she was bedridden at Maggie's home in Dandenong, and thanking Maggie for sponging and settling her comfortably, said God bless you Maggie. I'm glad I didn't drown you in Shady Creek. Bridget died in 1943, while John had predeceased her in 1906.

Bridget, the eighth born, was the last to die in 1975, only two years before the grand centenary reunion, which was held at Swifts Creek in 1977. It was a memorable event with Mass in the Swifts Creek Church, and a giant barbeque at the local football ground. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and hilarious company, and the giggling of so many women. The O'Brien's were great storytellers, even if truth was stretched a little at times.

The older boys, Con, Tom, Dan, Jack, and Jim moved to their own property in subsequent years. Con acquired a property at Bald Hill Creek, a few miles out of Swifts Creek, Tom a property on the Benambra side of Omeo, Dan had ‘Croom’ on the Tambo River at Tongio, Jack had ‘Gourenalla’ on the Tambo at Swifts Creek, and Jim had ‘Fernlea’ on the Tambo at Ensay. Will, the youngest son, remained on Negoura until his death in 1956. Sadly, Negoura was sold in 1970, almost one hundred years after its selection.

The eldest girl, Hattie, married Alf McManus. They settled on an undeveloped block at Cornelia Creek, near Strathallan, but eventually returned to the family holding Mantua at Kilmore. Maggie married Jim Rice who had entered business in the general store in Cowwarr, later purchasing the Swifts Creek Club. In 1925, they moved to Dandenong and both died there. Bridget married Billy Ruth, who had come to the district as a teacher. They retired to Essendon after producing nine children, with eldest son, Frank, the only Priest of all the family. In all, John and Bridget had thirty seven grandchildren.

My grandfather, Con, developed severe asthma and was advised to seek a warmer climate, so in 1898 moved with his wife, Julie Mary (nee White), his son Jack (my father), and daughter Eileen, to Deniliquin in the Riverina district of Southern New South Wales. I do not know much of the history of Con at Deniliquin, but I do know that he was a Rabbit Inspector. In 1905, he returned to his Bald Hill Creek property until 1917, when his health gave way again. He again went north to Kyabram where he was employed by an auctioneering firm, and while there purchased the small farm that later caused probate problems (probate was a tax on estates.) My father went to secondary school at St. Patrick’s, College, Ballarat. Mum was educated by the Brigidine Sisters at Echuca. I am not aware of how they met, but after they married in 1929 they lived on the farm at Kyabram, where Con, Terry, myself, and Noreen were born.

Because of the Depression, and the fact that probate had to be paid twice, when Con and Julie died within two years of each other, the farm had to be sold. Dad obtained a position with a Bairnsdale Stock and Station Firm, A MacArthur & Co, as the Swifts Creek representative. So in 1937, our family returned to Swifts Creek where we lived in the school house for twelve months. When the Principal of the school decided to marry, he required the house, so we moved to Ensay. In 1940, Dad rented a property from a widow, Mrs Fraser, at Ensay South.

In 1947, Jim O’Brien had serious health problems and decided to sell Fernlea. Dad was able to purchase it from his Uncle Jim, and so Fernlea stayed in the O’Brien name for another fifty years. After Dad died on January 21, 1994, Con continued to rent the farm. Mum remained there until 1998. During the 1990’s, Con’s sheep became infected with a wasting disease, Johnnies, and the flock had to be sold. By this time Con was 68 and could not envisage starting again from scratch, so the decision was made to sell Fernlea. Brian had died in 1997, and Mum required care, so moved into an elderly citizens home in Bairnsdale. So the sixty-year connection with Ensay was broken when Con moved to Bairnsdale. While there is no reason to go back, a small part of my heart is still in Ensay.

Did you know any of the original family?

Oh yes! I saw Bridget in Dandenong when I was staying with Auntie Ditt Ruth to make my first Communion in 1942. She was then an old lady of ninety-eight lying in a bed. She died in 1943. I also met Tom, Dan, Hattie, Jack, Maggie, Jim, Bridget (Ditt) and Will. The only one I didn’t meet was my grandfather, Con.

It was a tradition that the family, and whatever descendants were available, should gather at Negoura for Christmas night tea. At lunch, a gathering of over fifty was the rule rather than the exception. I remember tearing around the Negoura garden with many other cousins in the dark. I suppose I thought this sort of activity was the norm, but I now realise that the O’Brien family was not the norm. At the reunion of 1977, there were some 250 descendants, and by the second reunion in 1987, the number had grown to 420. A fair contribution to John and Bridget O’Brien’s new nation, Australia.

My parents and siblings. 

Whilst I met my great-grandfather, I don’t remember much of him. I was however lucky enough to remember my great-grandmother, Clare Marie O'Brien, and many of Pa’s siblings. Pa was the third-born, after Con and Terry, then Noreen, Brian and Greg followed. In this section we talk about Pa’s parents and his relationship with his siblings.

You included a chapter about your Dad in your first book about his story-telling ability and relating some of the stories he told. You mentioned to me that after he died, you realised that you had never really talked to either of them about their life before you came along. So you made sure to ask your Mum?

Yes, we talked about a lot of things. For instance, I didn’t know that she trained as a milliner before she married. She also told me of the tough times during the Great Depression and the War. She did say that Dad was lucky to have work at the Cream Factory in Kyabram. They also had a small farm and were able to grow much of their own produce.

As mentioned earlier, probate tax had a serious effect on their finances. Dad’s father, Con O’Brien, died in July, 1927, and left half the farm to his wife, and half to Dad. Of course, probate had to be paid. Then in November 1929, Dad’s mother died, with probate to be paid again. So two lots of probate had to be paid within two years. It was a terrible curse to farming families. While they were asset rich in the land they owned, probate had to be paid in cash, of which they had very little. So this burden meant they eventually had to sell the farm, and in 1937 they came back to Swifts Creek.

What was your Mother like?

She was a typical farmer’s wife, very much about family, church, and community. She was a hard task-master and expected obedience. She was very efficient, but was a worrier. She worried about things that she couldn’t alter which taught me a good lesson. It made me realise that there is no point in worrying. But that was the way she was.

She was like most country wives. If there was a crisis in the district, the first thing she did was turn the stove on. She would just start cooking, and food would appear in copious amounts for someone in need. To Mum, if there was a fire or someone had died, the first thing you did was take food around.

Did she have a good sense of humor like you?

Yes, she did, but she didn’t talk as much nonsense as I do. But what Mum said, she meant. Brian used to tell us do as your mother tells you. But that did not always apply to him.

Your brother Brian was Down Syndrome, he and your mother must have been very close, were they?

Oh yes. When I discussed it with her, I realised how shocked she was about Brian being Down Syndrome. She realised, before the doctor, that there was something wrong. I suppose it was a mother’s instinct, but she knew something was not right with him, so was not surprised when the doctors told her he had Down Syndrome.

That must've been very hard for her. But anyway, she brought him home, where he lived a pretty happy life on the farm at Fernlea. He had his chores, like filling the wood box from the wood heap, feeding the chooks, and sweeping the back verandah each morning. Woe betide us, if we were home and the wood supply at the wood heap was low. We would get the rounds of the kitchen from Brian, by telling us we were "bugger useless." He also delivered the morning and afternoon tea when we were shearing and sometimes helped by sweeping