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Fred Matten Interview

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IntervieweeFred MattenInterview Date13 April 1987Place RecordedCoffs Harbour-NSWDuration3h12m10sAccession NumberLS2020.1.57Credit LineCoffs Harbour City Council, 1988.

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Mr Matten is the son of Sam Matten, one of the pioneers of the Orara Valley in the 1880s. His account of those days is a gold mine of information.

InterviewerSheridah MelvinCollectionYAM 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. History of his father's selection of land in the Orara Valley in the 19th Century -- Around 1886 Mr Matten senior and his mate came up from Port Macquarie -- The ground was suitable for growing corn. Blocks 4 and 5 were his -- The Ballot for the block. The expedition to the Orara -- Mr Small was nearby. Pitching his tent. "It was dark inside the scrub" -- Felling the timber, "My father was one of the great axemen" -- Planting vegetables also. Prolific softwood. The loneliness of that first year by himself. Mr McGuigan arrived to select nearby. The men camped together. "He was a first class carpenter" -- Sam Matten put up a rough shed and McGuigan built a proper home -- Jack of all trades. "They had to be a success" -- Coramba needed vegetables, as there was a population of 800 due to the gold mining there. Prices of gold. Sale for corn was at Coffs Harbour. Travelling the tracks of the cedar-getters -- Mr Marles store bought the corn from Sam Matten. The intensive work in preparing the corn for sale -- He began to rethink the situation in terms of producing pigs. "Everybody was looking for them" -- The journey to fetch the pigs from Lower Clarence. MacPhee's piggery -- The terrible journey in floods, with trouble from dingoes. Carrying the pigs across the log. Falling in the river with the boar. His dogs protected them -- Arrival at his selection. "It was the best thing he ever done in his life". He sold them to Coramba butchers -- Other selectors obtained their pigs from him later. Around 1890 Sam bought cattle and sowed 25 acres in paspalum and coachwood grass -- There was a small community already established - the various pioneer families. Mr Hoschke had a separator. "Princess" separators began to come in on the farms. The formation of the Butter Factory -- The continued story of the collective of dairy farmers -- Thoughts of marriage and the journey to Port Macquarie round 1893 -- The go-cart -- His parents had known each other. Sam built a new home before leaving -- The story of the Goanna and the eggs -- Mrs Matten took many things with her to the Orara property; trees, turkeys, roses, crockery, utensils. The journey back. "It was wild". Her first impression of the selection, "It was just like a big burnt hole in the blanket" -- She made a real home of it and was a good dressmaker. Her garden, the roses are still there today -- The Briar Rose -- Childbirth at Nurse Earls at the top of Shepherds Lane. "The 6 of us were born there". There was no doctor in Coffs Harbour -- The mother's role in 1904. His earliest memories of the countryside nearby -- Watching the milking from the back of the bull. This was the bloodstock sire of all subsequent cattle on Matten's farms -- The adventure when 2 years of age, at the old house -- The wild turkeys and Mrs Matten's turkeys. Native animals on the Orara; "Paddy Melon's" (a small wallaby) ate the grass. Selectors ate them -- The building of the first school for the selectors' children, at Dunvegin, by Sam Matten and Mr McGuigan. It cost 30 pounds. His brothers went there -- The first teacher was a Miss Redmund. The Route Marches for the WW1. The Open Air Boxing Show in High Street, Coffs in 1914 in front of Perry's store -- Entertainment in the Orara among the selectors. Sport, wood chopping, picnics -- "Very early they had a Hall". Churches, store, local pictures -- People visited each other a lot. Playing cards and singing. Fred's memories of Janet Ide the pioneer. The story she told Fred about her journey to Bellingen with her husband -- Arrival in 1908 in Coffs Harbour for the boys' education and because of ill health. The boat and the immense task of clearing Coffs Creek to cast a net for fishing -- Salt Water. Description of the timber in the water. Fred accompanied him -- Bullrouts in the Creek. Fred's job in killing them -- Hauling on a Friday evening; huge catches. The great care taken not to hurt unwanted fish -- The family cleared from Salt Water to Red Bank (the site of the Tech. College) -- It was a family activity for 4 years. The changes in Coffs Creek since 1908, "The beauty spot of Coffs Harbor" -- The selling of their fish round the town. Fred sold at the Jetty. He made 2 shillings. Each fish was a penny -- The gift of fish to the neighbour. Sam Mitten was generous to the family and the community. Open Air 'Flicks', on the skating rink in front of the Fitzroy Hotel -- Crackers and Mr Samio. The family home in High Street -- An excellent businessman. Land purchases. Building and letting hoses, from 1910 onwards -- P.J McNAMARA - an important man for Coffs Harbour. G.D.T Seccombe's contribution to townspeople, in housing and terms -- Paddy Burke and his generator. It was coalfired. Early cars; Sam's car. It was a T Model Ford in 1914 -- The Jetty Fire of 1914. "It nearly wiped the place out". The early town and the railway work -- Horse teams. "The Dorrigo started to go". Fetching hoop-pine. Some families had 3 to 4 teams. Blacksmiths' shops were in constant work -- The Willett family teamsters -- The accident with Mr Jones. Other fatalities. The Denning load tipped over at Orange Trees - help from others -- Continued story of Denning. Teamsters were "hard working people" -- Sunday trips to the Jetty to see the ships come in. Swimming at Jetty Beach before the Breakwater was built. Ansey Gordon's Surf Club. The women "was wonderful"; the members. Costumes over the years; the old neck-to-knee -- Joining a Boys' Club with Minister Ashley Brown. Clearing the Showground with the help of Mr Whittaker and his bullock team -- The boys filled the holes. Saturday morning work for Mr McGregor making ice cream. Getting the sack -- Hubert Byrnes put Fred on doing the same thing. Saturday dinner -- Work on the traction engine in 1918 hauling timber to the Orara Mill. "I was right in the money - 3 pounds a week and my keep". Bad weather and mud. "We tore the road up" -- Sawn timber for the streets of Sydney. Carting two loads at a time. The wagons used -- Fred's confidence to do this job. He stayed a year but a fire came through Red Hill -- "People lived with fires, they understood fires" -- Bars on the wheels of the engine. Ferrett's cutting; having to link up 2 engines to get a wagon through. Years spent interstate. His return in 1932. The Depression was on -- "Everything was tough around Coffs Harbour - there was no money around". Vegetables and tomato growing had its problems. Banana growing - the wrong type of banana - the Cavendish. Low prices -- Lack of Knowledge of fertilizer. The Duttons and the Robertsons were successful -- Fred's 15 acre property. The failure of Cavendish, bad weather and no props. He would hardly clear any money. He sold his place in 1935 -- Life in Sydney, marriage and work in a Munitions factory -- Return to Coffs in 1942. Banana work again - "I always had an idea I could do well at 'em" -- Finding a place at Woolgoolga. "It just suited me in every way" -- He worked this until 1963. He retired and came to live in Coffs -- The changes in Coffs in 1942 -- The Council's role in town growth. The cheaper rates. "You can't make a mistake or you're finished" -- The Banana Growers Federation - difficulty in organization -- It started up in 1932. Fred was the first person to get a permit from the Banana Inspector. The story involved. Personality Portrait - Jack Gerard, the Picture Show Man. The Tasma Theatre. His Benzine Depot -- Billy Mann the owner of the Pier Hotel. His Fiat car. His big dairy at south Branch in Orara -- Building his home with the best timbers. His soon and the crystal set -- The Pier Hotel under his management. "You wouldn't get a better hotel".