Couple celebrates 70 years together
A CONNECTION to the land and family values has been the constant thread in the lives of Toowoomba couple Pat and Phae Byrne.
The couple, who first met when they were students at the Ellangowan State School, celebrated seven decades of marriage yesterday.
Mr and Mrs Byrne came from neighbouring farms.
Mr Byrne was mates with Mrs Byrne’s brothers (she was the only girl with seven brothers) and they used to go to dances together.
Mr Byrne said his push bike only took him as far as Mrs Byrne’s family farm a few miles away.
After school, Mr Byrne worked on the family farm and Mrs Byrne went to do nursing at the Mater in Brisbane for a time.
The couple was married on September 22, 1947 in the St John and St James Church in Clifton.
They lived on the family farm at Burnside for two years and then built a nice home on the same property about 2km away.
They had eight children, seven daughters and one son.
In 1954 Mr Byrne put in for a ballot for a block of land in
central Queensland, which had previously been owned by the failed British Food Company.
There were 10 blocks in the ballot and theirs was Clermont, which was 30km away from an all-gravel road.
They worked the land for 39 years before Mr Byrne and his son Peter sold the property in 1993.
Mr Byrne and Mrs Byrne returned to Toowoomba where they are still living today.
Leaving the Clifton district in the early years and taking the mammoth 1000km journey to Clermont,
was a huge adventure for the pair.