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Interviewee

Lyle Timms

Place Recorded

Coffs Harbour-NSW

Interviewer

Kerri Moss

Collection

Agency

Yarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)

Related Person or Organisation

Dick Harrison

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Lyle Timms Interview

Details

IntervieweeLyle TimmsInterview Date4 November 1986Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration54m04sAccession NumberLS2020.1.157Credit LineCoffs Harbour City Council, 1988.

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Description

Mr Timms lives at Ulong where he and his family have been involved in the timber industry for many years. Timmsvale was named after Lyle's father; he had the first Hydro-mill.

InterviewerKerri MossCollectionYAM Museum CollectionVoice of Time oral history projectAgencyYarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)SummaryStandard disclaimer. Visit the 'Voice of Time' web site to read or listen to the disclaimer. Lyle was born on 10 February 1922 -- A description of the Timmsvale house -- The water drip cooler -- Lyle had 2 brothers and 3 sisters -- "He did actually promote and use the scrub wood timbers that were available in the area, apart from the hoop-pine, there was never any cedar here" -- Thomas Timms was responsible for introducing coachwood into the furniture industry -- They used bullock teams for hauling the timber -- "Roads were pretty terrible" -- "A lot of the road was corduroyed, which is poles laid across the road to stop the wagon wheels sinking into the mud". The Depression. "Towards the end of 1929 dad was having a lot of trouble getting money from his customers in Sydney and he had to close the mill down for 6 weeks over Christmas" -- They used to grow their own vegetables and had fowls, pigs and milking cows -- Swagmen and the dole, "it was very hard to get" -- Religion and the part it played. The Church at Ulong -- His father got a Dodge car in 1928 -- They did most of their shopping in Coffs Harbour but in the earlier times people from the Ulong area shopped in Dorrigo -- "We had the hawkers coming around" -- Home remedies - "a few drops of kerosene on sugar for colds, castor oil was a regular item". "My first experience with school was with my grandfather. He started off with a school at Timmsvale of a subsidised nature, and that was working for about 2 or 3 years and just about the time I started school at six and a half the Education Department provided another teacher." -- "There was about six or seven families attended that school" -- History was Lyle's favourite subject at school -- Rounders and cricket were played at school -- Getting the cane - "I don't think the cane used with sense ever did any harm" -- He played tennis and went bush-walking at weekends -- Lyle didn't have a horse until he started work and had to travel 6 miles to work -- "My father wanted me to go to Coffs Harbour High School but it meant that I would have had to board there and I was not very keen on being boarded in Coffs" -- Lyle was 13 years and nine months old when he left school. His first job was at Brooklana tallying timber. He was paid 15 shillings per fortnight with free board -- He bought the mill from his father "at great expense" (6,000 pounds in 1958) -- The Hydro-mill -- Most of the mill workers lived in very close proximity to the mill. His father used to build houses for the workers -- "Very close community. People lived together, made their own entertainment, regular surprise parties. We were all the same, workers and the boss we were all the same". Gold mining -- There was no hotel in the earlier times "although they tell me there was a rum distillery at Cascade" -- They used to have sing-a-longs after his father got a Beale piano and a Pianola. "Every Sunday night we had hymn singing" -- They had a community hall, which his father supplied the timber for, and they had dances and travelling picture shows. Jim Benny came to the Ulong area just before the 'Great War'. He went away to the war and when he came back he tried to find the rich load of gold he'd discovered but he couldn't find it -- Lyle's uncle played a very important part in his young life. His name was Jack McGrath and he was working at the mill -- The men worked 54 hour weeks then. Christmas at Timmsvale included the school concert and the Sunday school picnic. Everyone that could afford to put in to buy gifts to put on the Christmas tree for each child -- World War Two. Lyle tried to join up but was refused because he was in what they considered an 'essential industry' -- Quite a few of his friends were killed in the war -- When the war ended Lyle kept the steam up to the boiler and blew the whistle every two hours. "There was a great shortage of many items after the war" -- There was a shortage of manpower during the war and Lyle worked very long hours at the mill and in the bush hauling logs. Hoop-pine was cut and used for pianos (Beale Co.). Coachwood was cut and used for furniture making and shoe heels. Around the 1930s they started using hardwood in the building industry (tallowood, blackbutt). "We used to send a lot of timber to New Zealand (late 1950s). What brought about the decline of the timber industry? His father's retirement -- His mother was very strict -- It was very much a family business -- Lyle's wife moved to Sydney as a young girl. Their courtship was not very long -- They were married in 1944. Lyle was 22 years old and his wife was 9 months younger -- They got married in Sydney and went to Ballina for a week's honeymoon. Lyle had saved up petrol for a month -- His father had a house built for Lyle and his wife at Ulong near the mill he was managing. Lyle did a lot of the work himself. He was also in the volunteer defence force for many years -- Lyle and his wife had 7 children, 1 died -- Child rearing. The children were brought up much the same as Lyle himself had been - "I don't think people accept as much responsibility for children as they did in those days". Australia "a happy go lucky country" -- "It was freer in those days, to a point ... it seems whatever move you make you have to see if there is a restriction or a licence attached to it" -- Lyle was a member of the Dorrigo Shire Council in 1950 -- During the royal visit Lyle escorted Princess Anne -- He went for a joy ride in Sydney with Kingsford Smith (Southern Cross). Lyle was also involved with the Bush-Nursing Association -- Lyle has been involved in varied and numerous things. He has been a great addition to the community -- Politics today. "Too concerned with their own gains" -- "If you haven't got the time don't take the job on".