Mates share many memories
Former Garfield resident Les Drayson, 95, who now lives at Glen Waverley visited his old school chum Bill “Doc“Doherty, 96, at Hillview Bunyip Aged Care recently.
Friends since primary school days, it had been 15 years since they last caught up with each other.
Les recalls being taught by the Josephite nuns at Iona and “Doc” remembers school with the Josephite nuns as well at Cora Lyn in the 1930’s.
Les’s parents, Harry and Doris Drayson moved to Garfield in 1924 when he was just 6 months old. They ran the busy Garfield Post Office for about 30 years.
The Post Office served Garfield, Vervale and Cora Lyn. Garfield had a population of about 700 residents in those days.
A 24 hour telephone exchange included a switching station between Dandenong and Warragul for long distance calls. All calls in those days had to be manually connected.
Besides being an agricultural area for growing potatoes, asparagus and fruit, Garfield was also a transfer station for coal from Yallourn and had a busy railway station.
Both can vividly remember the “Great Flood” of the Iona Swamp in 1934 when the Bunyip and Tarago rivers broke their banks after days of very heavy rain.
Their sharp minds can recall just about every shop in the main street of Garfield from one end of town to the other.
When he meets Hillview nurse Leanne Fawkner Les tells her he remembers her father Jim, the Garfield butcher, champion bloke, footballer and coach.
“During those Depression years, many people were short of money, so Jim just didn’t charge them for their meat, that’s the sort of person he was” recalls Les.
Both, Les and Doc enjoyed their football. Les played full forward for Garfield and Doc, although he played his first game for Garfield at 15, he, was mainly associated with the Cora Lyn and Nar Nar Goon football clubs.
A staunch Collingwood supporter, Doc says the best player he’s even seen in the black and white jumper was Des Fothergill.
Doc’s service to local football is acknowledged in the many life membership awards he has been presented with and there is a bar named in his honour at the Nar Nar Goon Hotel.
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Poowong Fire Brigade’s 75th anniversary on Sunday November 10 will celebrate family connections that continue to protect communities near and far.
Captain Malcolm Blight said Poowong had always been a family-oriented brigade and that tradition continues today.
The brigade has about 24 members, including active and support volunteers. “We have two brothers, a brother and sister, fathers and mothers so it’s a good family brigade,” he said.
Captain Blight is personally contributing to the strong family connections; his wife Jo is the brigade secretary and his son Liam and daughter Tahnae are also firefighters.
The brigade usually has about 30 turn-outs annually but this year has already responded to 47 calls for help.
“There hasn’t been any specific reason for the extra calls locally but we have been helping a lot with the campaign fires as our volunteers add to the CFA surge capacity when there are major incidents,” Captain Blight said.
“We’re only a little brigade but we do quite a bit and as the only local emergency service we’re a big part of the community.”
The brigade has a three-bay station built six years ago to house its 3000-litre tanker, ultralight specialist appliance for blacking-out duties and a quick-fill trailer.
The brigade is inviting the community to join the 75th celebrations with a barbecue from 11am. Several brigade life memberships will be presented on the day.
“It’s a significant milestone,” Captain Blight said. “We’ve been involved with the CFA for 75 years but I believe the brigade was formed before that and was operating independently.”
Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) CEO Adam Barnett congratulated the Poowong volunteers on their milestone and said they are a great example of local people supporting their communities and beyond.
“Volunteers are essential to public safety and their experience and willingness help others makes a huge contribution to the protection of Victoria and the response capacity of CFA,” Mr Barnett said.