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Interviewee

Place Recorded

Coffs Harbour-NSW

Interviewer

Kerri Moss

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Agency

Yarrila Arts & Museum (YAM)

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Col Irvine & Glad Irvine Interview

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IntervieweeCol IrvineGlad (McGregor) IrvineInterview Date10 February 1987Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration59m59sAccession NumberLS2020.1.165Credit LineCoffs Harbour City Council, 1988

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Mr Irvine was born in Coffs Harbour at a nursing home in 1914. Mrs Irvine was born at Boambee in 1914. Col's family had a property at Bonville (dairying, growing small crops) whilst Glad's family opened firstly a restaurant come fruit and vegetable shop and then in the 1920s her father opened a bakery.

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. The Bonville school in 1920. Col lived 2 miles from the school. They either walked or rode horses to school -- There were two teachers and two classrooms (and about 80 children) -- Mr MacIntyre was one of the teachers. He drowned when the 'Fitzroy' sank -- Miss Harding was Col's first teacher. Col got a bursary whilst in 6th class to help pay high school expenses -- Mr Goodenough. Col got in trouble for catching 'gudgeons'. Getting the cane -- Marbles and spinning tops were the favourite playground games -- The 'chores' that had to be done before and after school. "If we weren't home by 4 o'clock ready to continue with the milking etc. he (father) would want to know where we were" -- "Yes, we always reckoned we were reared with a quince rod" -- "In summertime we used to get into the horse and buggy and go down to the beach, which was Bonny Bonville it was called, that is now Sawtell" -- "There were five families living down at Bonny Bonville - Baileys, Mcfadyn, Kebanes, Johnstons and Browns" -- Delivering the mail -- Winnie Johnstone was the first Postmistress in Sawtell. Ozzie Sawtell bought land at Bonny Bonville and made a subdivision, which was later to become Sawtell -- Ozzie wanted Col's father to buy the whole of First Avenue for 100 pounds (1920s) -- Col went to Grafton High School because there was no high school in Coffs then -- Col thought Grafton was a big city. He didn't do as well at school as he should have -- Col did his last year of high school at Coffs Harbour in 1931/32 -- The Depression. There were no jobs. Col had to work on his father's farm -- He played cricket and football at Bonville -- He started growing tomatoes (295 acres). He had one sister and two brothers -- His younger brother was in the first intake of teachers at Armidale -- His father died in 1937 due to paralysis -- At the age of 23 Col geared up to grow tomatoes (he did away with the dairy). He used to grow tomatoes on 'single stems' -- Col had 15,000 tomato plants -- Col hired pickers. Coffs Harbour became renowned for tomatoes (between October till December) -- He used special half bushell cases (brand new) lined with butcher's paper -- It cost 10 shillings per case -- Tomato growing families. "A patchy living" -- They used fertilisers -- "They're growing them for quantity and appearance". Glad was born in Boambee. Her family grew vegetables on a farm -- There were six children in the family -- Glad used to go to school in Coffs. They walked "a couple of miles" -- Her father had Refreshment Rooms in town; her mother worked there -- Her father made 'Blue Ribbon' ice cream. He also made his own pies -- They moved to town and lived on the corner of Bonville Street and Earl Street. Sorting the cherries at Christmas time for the shop -- Her father bought a bakery and they lived upstairs -- She left school at the age of 14 after getting her Intermediate Certificate -- The Depression times. Her father told her to give people bread if they were very hungry and came into the shop looking for food -- Louie "cried on the front door step with his dogs". Tasma Theatre -- The School Of Arts dances -- Col heard about World War Two over the wireless. He tried to join up but was refused because he was a farmer. So he joined the VDC -- Petrol rationing -- Food and clothing coupons. It didn't affect farmers as much because they were pretty self-sufficient -- Glad and Col's children were born at Sunnyside Hospital -- Glad used to take the babies into the paddocks with her whilst she tended crops. She took a kero burner to heat the bottles. She came back about 6 o'clock -- Dr Yarrod was their doctor. Arnie Forsyth was the chemist. The fire burnt everything (at the farm) -- Their baby was only 6 weeks old when the fire hit. They lost everything -- They blamed the old matches that were used in those times -- Col learnt to play the saxophone. "The first money I ever earned I bought a saxophone" -- He played in a dance band with Cray Seaford. Balls were always held on a Monday night -- Glad used to think she was a 'wall-flower' at the dances when Col was playing the sax -- There was no child minding. "We just never thought of it" -- Women's changing roles after World War Two -- "It (the war) speeded things up" -- Were they good old days? Planes and Amy Johnston -- Telephones. "My father was quite progressive" -- They installed electricity at the farm in 1937 -- Getting the refrigerator. "It was beautiful" -- Washing in the copper under a persimmon tree. Delivering groceries, bread etc. "You can't get anybody to deliver anything these days" -- Community feeling. Bonfires and parties -- Coffs Harbour Show and Christmas Eve shopping -- The types of sideshows. There were more agricultural things and a car show. Col and Glad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary -- "It's pointless to think about anywhere else but Coffs Harbour".