[BITList] Gympie

[John Davison]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Gardiner 
  To: bitlist at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com 
  Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 5:25 PM
  Subject: [BITList] Gympie


  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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