The Change of Tilba

/in /by

by Ryder Howes  

When my nan was a little girl in the 1960s, Tilba was different. She used to do a lot of things you can’t do now. Like run around in the paddocks, build cubbies out of wood, and ride down the main highway on her scooter. She normally rode to the general store once a week to get a big bag of lollies for 20c. Back then there were more houses than shops. There were also a bunch of things they had on like flower shows, fashion shows, dances and Sunday school. As you can … Read more »

Read more»

Wally’s story

/in /by

by Angela Marshall

Picking up Wally Stewart’s story where we left off in the July issue of The Triangle … 

The family moved from the Bermagui River encampment to Narooma in 1958, where Wally’s sister Susan was soon born. Two years later Wally was born, the youngest of ten children.

Their house on the Narooma Flat was a short walk to the Wagonga Inlet and one of Wally’s jobs was to walk over to the sandflats and collect a bucket … Read more »

Read more»

Chris Franks: ‘biting off more than it was sensible to chew on.’

/in /by

by Jen Severn

Chris and Bev Franks married in Sydney in 1963. Her dad had a bush property (now the Bermagui Heights Estate) and they moved down to develop it. ‘The plan was for us to clear it then share-farm it,’ says Chris. ‘We started off without a cracker. So while we were clearing the property and sowing it down, I needed off-farm income.’ He heard that the Bermagui Country Club needed … Read more »

Read more»

Heather O’Connor: survivor, activist, volunteer, driving force

/in /by

by Jen Severn

In 1988, Bob Hawke was prime minister and, arguably, the second Australian prime minister to take women’s affairs seriously (Gough Whitlam being the first). Margaret Reynolds was Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women, and Heather O’Connor was on her staff. She advised many ministers, particularly on the education of women, and she’s never lost that commitment.

Education, domestic violence, economic security – where did her interest in … Read more »

Read more»

Coral Vorbach

/in /by

by Jen Severn

‘I’m not a performer,’ Coral Vorbach says. ‘I learned piano for years, and violin, but I’d never perform. I’m a listener. And an organiser – I work behind the scenes.’ 

And organise is what she did. She and her partner Graeme Fryer joined the Yuin Folk Club in 1998. They had arrived here from Melbourne in 1997, looking for a rural life, and had fallen in … Read more »

Read more»

Judi Hearn: not a person who rehabilitates goldfields

/in /by

by Jen Severn

It took Judi Hearn a few years to realise she was living in Bermagui. She and Bob were still on their cattle farm near Echuca on the Murray River when they bought the house in Bunga Street in 1989. At first, they’d head to Bermi for a couple of weeks at a time to give their sons, Jamie and Donald, some rein to run the property. Then it was a few … Read more »

Read more»