John William Brett
John William Brett was my paternal grandfather. He was born on a sailing ship of the coast of China and was six months old when his family arrived in Australia as free settlers in 1857. I know little of what happened to his brothers and sisters after their arrival.
By the early 1900s John William had taken himself a wife – Jessie - and came to Tamworth in the north west of New South Wales. They stayed around Tamworth where some of his brothers were involved in the carrying business. The Wilkinsons (also related) had travelling coaches and they were also involved in driving Cobb & Co coaches.
They had many brushes with Thunderbolt the Bushranger. Once, one of the women of the family was forced to hide Thunderbolt under her skirt while the troopers carried out a search for him. This would have happened in Bendemeer. A cousin of mine still has a handkerchief of Thunderbolt’s in his possession.
John William then left Tamworth and moved for the last time to a very small block of land out at Barraba. With him came his wife Jessie and his small children. John and Jessie produced eleven however, only seven survived. They were: Samuel, Eileen, Eric, Joe, Aubrey, Viola and Freddie. My father Eric was seven years old when they moved to Barraba.
The Barraba Railway Line from Tamworth was in the process of being built and they took up land as close to the railway as they could. They lived no more than one hundred yards from the track.
John had a very successful carrying business, so their home was one of the better type, and it even had a bathroom in the stables. The bathroom to the house was built onto the verandah in about 1935.
Besides delivering goods to the new line, he also carried goods to Gulf Creek, where the very prosperous and flourishing mines (about twenty miles on the northern side of Barraba) were being worked. He carried most stores from Tamworth to Gulf Creek, and he also carried wine and spirits for the wine gooeys.
Grandfather was a teamster by trade and had his own wagons and horses. At shearing time he had his teams and men fully occupied with the loading and delivery of over-filled wool packs to the Tamworth Railway. The wagons were gigantic with very high wheels. The rims were made of steel and very broad so as to get a grip on the unmade tracks that they sometimes had to travel on. The spokes of the wagon were made of wood.
Grandfather was a very smart man. He was short with a little round tummy and even is his late eighties always walked with a smart brisk step. He wore a small Van-Dyke beard and was always called Mr Brett and Johnny behind his back.
At night my grandfather loved to play cards especially Euchre and Crib and if he got the chance he would walk miles to have a game.
He had an old friend named Jack Jones who used to play with him regularly – about once a week. He had a long bushy beard that grew to his waist. He was also very deaf and when he reneged or played the wrong card, the players would yell “Mr Jones, Mr Jones, you reneged”. He still would not let on he heard so all of us kids would help by calling. We didn’t even know what it meant only that it was important that Mr Jones heard and took notice. It was always fun to watch them play just to hear everyone try to attract Mr Jones’s attention. When my eldest brother Jack grew old enough he joined in the card game too.
Mr Jones lived below the Railway Station on what was probably railway property, half way between grandfather’s home and our home. It was a creepy looking house with vines growing all over the front verandah. I think he must have been married years before because he had a very overgrown garden that must have had a woman’s touch originally. The house and the old brick and beer bottle lined gardens were overrun with Wandering Jew. He also had the biggest and most wonderful violets that grew all around the side of the house and in the front garden. Everyone wanted bunches of Mr Jones’s violets.
The fact that grandfather and my brother were good friends with Mr Jones gave us the advantage in knowing he wouldn’t touch us. It gave us just that little bit of courage and made us gamer. Still we had to have three or four of us (brothers, sisters or cousins) to get the courage to creep through the gate and up the garden path to knock on the verandah. We never ventured up the steps to actually walk on the verandah and knock – we were not that game or foolish and knocking from the footpath gave us plenty of room to get away. We were always ready to jump over each other and run.
After knocking for about five minutes and calling “Mr Jones, Mr Jones”, the front door would creak open and the old, grey beard and head of Mr Jones would appear, looking at us silently. We would all point to the violets and in one breath say “Mr Jones can we have some violets?” He would just nod yes, shut the door and go back inside. He was probably a lonely old man, made lonelier by being so deaf.
We would scuttle around the house and in ten minutes would have a big bunch of violet, and if we were lucky and added bonus of jonquils. My mother loved Mr Jones violets and in years to come grew them herself, which I will tell you about later.
By the early 1900s John William had taken himself a wife – Jessie - and came to Tamworth in the north west of New South Wales. They stayed around Tamworth where some of his brothers were involved in the carrying business. The Wilkinsons (also related) had travelling coaches and they were also involved in driving Cobb & Co coaches.
They had many brushes with Thunderbolt the Bushranger. Once, one of the women of the family was forced to hide Thunderbolt under her skirt while the troopers carried out a search for him. This would have happened in Bendemeer. A cousin of mine still has a handkerchief of Thunderbolt’s in his possession.
John William then left Tamworth and moved for the last time to a very small block of land out at Barraba. With him came his wife Jessie and his small children. John and Jessie produced eleven however, only seven survived. They were: Samuel, Eileen, Eric, Joe, Aubrey, Viola and Freddie. My father Eric was seven years old when they moved to Barraba.
The Barraba Railway Line from Tamworth was in the process of being built and they took up land as close to the railway as they could. They lived no more than one hundred yards from the track.
John had a very successful carrying business, so their home was one of the better type, and it even had a bathroom in the stables. The bathroom to the house was built onto the verandah in about 1935.
Besides delivering goods to the new line, he also carried goods to Gulf Creek, where the very prosperous and flourishing mines (about twenty miles on the northern side of Barraba) were being worked. He carried most stores from Tamworth to Gulf Creek, and he also carried wine and spirits for the wine gooeys.
Grandfather was a teamster by trade and had his own wagons and horses. At shearing time he had his teams and men fully occupied with the loading and delivery of over-filled wool packs to the Tamworth Railway. The wagons were gigantic with very high wheels. The rims were made of steel and very broad so as to get a grip on the unmade tracks that they sometimes had to travel on. The spokes of the wagon were made of wood.
Grandfather was a very smart man. He was short with a little round tummy and even is his late eighties always walked with a smart brisk step. He wore a small Van-Dyke beard and was always called Mr Brett and Johnny behind his back.
At night my grandfather loved to play cards especially Euchre and Crib and if he got the chance he would walk miles to have a game.
He had an old friend named Jack Jones who used to play with him regularly – about once a week. He had a long bushy beard that grew to his waist. He was also very deaf and when he reneged or played the wrong card, the players would yell “Mr Jones, Mr Jones, you reneged”. He still would not let on he heard so all of us kids would help by calling. We didn’t even know what it meant only that it was important that Mr Jones heard and took notice. It was always fun to watch them play just to hear everyone try to attract Mr Jones’s attention. When my eldest brother Jack grew old enough he joined in the card game too.
Mr Jones lived below the Railway Station on what was probably railway property, half way between grandfather’s home and our home. It was a creepy looking house with vines growing all over the front verandah. I think he must have been married years before because he had a very overgrown garden that must have had a woman’s touch originally. The house and the old brick and beer bottle lined gardens were overrun with Wandering Jew. He also had the biggest and most wonderful violets that grew all around the side of the house and in the front garden. Everyone wanted bunches of Mr Jones’s violets.
The fact that grandfather and my brother were good friends with Mr Jones gave us the advantage in knowing he wouldn’t touch us. It gave us just that little bit of courage and made us gamer. Still we had to have three or four of us (brothers, sisters or cousins) to get the courage to creep through the gate and up the garden path to knock on the verandah. We never ventured up the steps to actually walk on the verandah and knock – we were not that game or foolish and knocking from the footpath gave us plenty of room to get away. We were always ready to jump over each other and run.
After knocking for about five minutes and calling “Mr Jones, Mr Jones”, the front door would creak open and the old, grey beard and head of Mr Jones would appear, looking at us silently. We would all point to the violets and in one breath say “Mr Jones can we have some violets?” He would just nod yes, shut the door and go back inside. He was probably a lonely old man, made lonelier by being so deaf.
We would scuttle around the house and in ten minutes would have a big bunch of violet, and if we were lucky and added bonus of jonquils. My mother loved Mr Jones violets and in years to come grew them herself, which I will tell you about later.