Adventure and Nostalgia- An Extended Easter 2025

I went to the Young’s at ‘Sallywood’ Walcha to join their big family gathering over Easter and for the subsequent quarterly family meeting, with the plan to go on to my Mooloolaba unit for a week or two.

The “Sallywood” gathering was “big”, with Jim and Jules four children their off spring, numerous in-laws, grandchildren, extended family and friends. The country was wet and looking wonderful. Good growth and still no frosts. A very buoyant atmosphere with great enthusiasm for “Lakeside” the most recent acquisition joining the St Leonard’s Creek holdings. The Young enterprise consists of two separate aggregations about 25 miles apart- St.Leonards Creek and Niangala.

Whilst visiting the Niangala properties, when I happened to have mobile ‘phone contact, I received a call from the daughter of my Adaminaby school friend Geoff Miners. As soon as I saw his name come up on my ‘phone I assumed it would be bad news and responded accordingly. I knew he had been very unwell and so it proved to be. The date for the funeral had not been set, but they (Geoff’s wife Jill was participating in the call) promised to let me know. I there and then decided I must attend.

For a run-down on my relationship with the Miners family I refer you to my autobiography. Suffice to say they figured strongly in my school holidays from Canberra Grammar School, bearing in mind I did not actually have a home. I only saw Geoff, his mother Ruby and his youngest sister Janelle on one or two occasions in all the years since I left school in 1957. As the result of a communication failure I missed attending Ruby’s funeral when she died in her 90’s; after loosing eight of her ten children! Consequently I was determined to attend Geoff’s. He was six weeks younger than me.

The day after the family meeting and after the Anzac Day dawn service in Walcha, I headed up the New England Highway, firstly to briefly visit my former livestock salesman at Walcha and his wife on their very appealing farm 10 kilometres west of Glen Innes.

Then on to Warwick to stay overnight with old friends Peter and Maree Savage. One of the nice things about being so bloody old -84 in August- is having so many close long term friends like the Savages.

Peter told me his favourite route from Warwick to the Sunshine Coast was via Gratton and Esk and I went that way. I was surprised by the winding hilly nature of the road as you get closer to Gatton, but enjoyed the different experience and arrived at my ever so comfortable unit at Mooloolaba in good time. As I walked in I felt a strong emotion of how much I like this place. It reminds me so much of my dear departed wife Gail, with two of her paintings very prominent.

Meanwhile I located on-line the Geoff Miners funeral notice showing that the funeral was at Adaminaby in seven days, subsequently confirmed by a call from Jill Miners which extended into some lovely reminiscing which I sensed we both enjoyed.

After considering driving home within a few days and then driving on to Adaminaby I decided I would leave my car here at Mooloolaba and fly down and back. Furthermore I could stay at my favourite Commonwealth Club in Canberra and drive to and from the Adaminaby funeral in a rental car.

I then received a very appealing suggestion, that instead of driving the conventional way via Cooma to Adaminaby there is a back road through Tharwa, Naas, Orroral and Yaouk.

I have a vivid memory of being driven back to school from Adaminaby by one of Geoff Miners older brothers Kevin in 1956- 69 years ago- on this very same mountain track. It was freezing cold and frosty and there were several gates to open. One suggestion I heard was that this is now all a sealed bitumen road-it is not!

I decided to go this way. It seemed a long way from central Canberra to Tharwa, mostly urbanised. I recalled that when I arrived in Canberra in 1952 (I was 11) the population was 27,000 compared with today’s 474,000!

The first two thirds of the drive from Tharwa was an excellent winding sealed road with some wonderful mountain scenery. There was almost no traffic in either direction. There was plenty of wild life including some big kangaroos. Then I hit the worst hardest rocky, pot-holed road I have ever driven. Had I been allocated the intended very small rental car as I had expected, I doubt it would have made it in one piece.This lasted for about 20 kilometres. No wonder there was no other traffic!

I had arranged to meet former Clyde Agriculture senior staff member Richard Turner in Adaminaby at 11:AM for a coffee. In the hour to spare I went towards Cooma to a sign directing me to Old Adaminaby which I correctly guessed was the road “Inglewood” was on. All so familiar, I drove up the entrance road at the “Inglewood” mailbox until you could look down onto the homestead complex where we all lived. Very nostalgic!

I then went further on the road to the edge of Lake Eucumbene under which lies the old Adaminaby township. I recalled that there was another road out of old Adaminaby so I took a track to the north and came upon it. I then drove back to the “new’ town past the turn-off to “Happy Valley” the home of my school boy girlfriend, Diana Locker. More nostalgia! Somebody had told me that she was no longer with us, a fact later corrected by her brother who was at the funeral.

In recent years, as the number of funerals I attend has inevitably increased, I have made a practice of arriving in time to get a seat in the church, particularly if I have traveled a long distance.

I took a pew mid church. A very presentable young lady with her family in tow sat beside me. I quietly asked her if she was a Miners. She explained that she was the daughter of Geoff’s sister Janelle, the youngest and last surviving of Ruby Miners ten children, now in her seventies. I knew ‘little Nellie’ well from all my holidays at Inglewood. She was sitting in front of us and her daughter tapped her on the shoulder, told her who I was and we had a warm reunion.

A highlight of the funeral service was the eulogy delivered by Geoff and Jill’s fourth daughter Alison. She began by saying she was told not to speak for more than ten minutes. She warned us that she couldn’t do justice to her father’s eighty three years in ten minutes! She spoke for forty five minutes going through the major events of his life. I loved it as it filled the gaps of all those years and I could hear every word, not withstanding my deafness. She had clearly done huge preparation and spoke with tears, emotion and humour, as appropriate. It was a masterpiece.

At the wake I had a number of similar encounters with Geoff’s numerous relations and a long conversation with Diana Locker’s brother who gave me the news that Diana was happily married after an unfortunate first marriage and was the mother of three adult children. I hope to make contact with her.

I drove back to Canberra the conventional way through Cooma, in time to enjoy another magnificent tenderloin steak at the Club.