[BITList] Gympie

[Tom Gardiner]

Salaams Fred ,
and other interested readers .

No . I was not a ten pound Pom .
It was a good scheme but many stayed just long enough until their 2 or 3 
year return time was up .
Most of those were unhappy because rhings were not a bit like home .
But others like a neighbour of ours came , stayed and made a life.

I emigrated here in 1977 , from Canada at my own expense . Along with my 
wife , 5 kids , junior school to tertiary age, and my wifes mother.
I came to a job , ( which satisfied the authorities ) The job was 
unsustainable and I moved to a larger company.
I first visited Australia in the 1950's with BI . I had friends to visit 
and spent weekends with them .
Remember in those years the wharfies were a law to themselves and the 
shps were in port for some time.
My friends lived in Paramatta  NSW . In a wood fibro clad house set on 
stumps .
Local road was red dust ( red soup when wet ) no side walks . over head 
power lines .
Come to think of it , where I live now is no side walks , over head 
power lines  <grin>
However phone lines are buried and we have a  paved road . Typical for 
this kind of area in Southern Queensland .

We live 12 klm from Gympie , a small town of about 13,000 people . 
situated on the Bruce Highway , about 65 Klm from the coast .
Anyone interested can look at an atlas ,. about half way up the right 
side of Oz is a long little island , Frazer Island , Gympie is inland 
from there .
It used to be that the shire also had 13,000 people but since the 
government almagation of shires the numbers have increased to , I guess 
, 30,000.

I sign my posts to BI group Tom in Gympie . Bit of an in joke for 
Aussies.  Gympie was portrayed as Hell Town by a so called journalist in 
a mens magazine . It created a furore  and since then  comedians trot 
out " Gympie "  to get a laugh .
Gympie  gained its fame when gold was discoverd , just as the newly 
founded state was running out of cash .
Guess what  ?  taxation saved the day !!!
Gympie developed into horticulture and dairy. Bean picking was a major 
part of local income until social welfare benefits removed the need .
Government policy removed the dairy industry and pineapple farms fade as 
the owners get too old.

How did I get to Gympie ?? 
To shorten a long story . I enjoyed my job but  working for a salary but 
living in Sydney during high inflation times was  break even at best , 
so I quit ,  became self employed , then moved to Queensland .
Around 23 years ago We had a thriving carnation farm , located about an 
hour south .
Our landlord pulled the lease .  Any  court situation only benefits the 
lawyers so we left that side alone  and found a way around .
I believe fate is like a pendulum . Disaster one way Salvation the other 
. One should not cave in to disaster and one should seek ways out .
Even after 23 years the chain of events remains clear in memory .
Sufficient to say we found  some land in Gympie , made some agreements , 
found work to generate hard cash , moved 25,000 carnation plants up 
here   and managed to build a house  for my wife and I and her  mum
 My wife Jean  and I ran the greenhouses between us .
 It is hard to concentrate here as memories take over my mind <grin>

Being self employed and counting work hours  can't co exist unfortunately .
Neither does pay as in employee hours compare to  pay for similar  self 
employed hours .
Something I have puzzled over for years .

I 'll break this now as it's getting a bit long
I'll continue  my natter drift along  in another  e mail

TTFN
Tom


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