Yandoit Hall filled with locals in mid-July to pay tribute to Don and Joan Morrison at a thanksgiving afternoon tea. A number of tributes were shared acknowledging the many contributions both Don and Joan made to our community. Son, Robert who took over the family farm, gave a powerful tribute. Here’s the full version. An extract is is published in the September 2024 Chronicle.
I was asked to say a few words about mum and dad today, unfortunately I am recovering from the flu and regrettably haven’t been able to make it today. My two sisters Kay and Jeanette are still coming to terms with the loss of Mum and Dad and have respectfully declined to be present today. As for my brother Graeme has returned to New Zealand.
I believe Great marriages are no accident. The love and devotion Mum and Dad had for each other certainly stood the test of time .The fusion of these two souls over a life time I’m sure will last far beyond this world.
So how were this two people.
My father Don was borne to Dorothy and Edgar Morrison in 1931. He was a younger brother to Geoff and grew up here in Yandoit on the family farm as the 4th generation.
Leaving school dad not only worked on the farm but at times sort work picking grapes and working for a cropping farmer in the Mallee.
Dad used to say my Grandfather must have been a supreme optimist to think the fractured and undeveloped farm could ever support three families, so being the youngest he prepared to move away and start his life farming in the Mally. It was then his brother Geoff said he had decided to leave instead and sort a new life for himself and his wife Leslie else ware.
From then on Dad and my Grandfather set about clearing the land, repairing damage left behind by miners and installing an irrigation system that is still operating today.
My Mother Joan began her life west of Mt Tarrengower as her parents struggled to establish a farm prior to the building of the Cairn Curran Reservoir which consumed much of their property and is now known as Treloars bay. She was one of eight kids. Mum lost an older sister named Ester aged almost 5 to a snake bite and some years later her younger brother Joie under tragic circumstances.
As the eldest daughter of a second marriage she was given the job of helping raise her younger siblings as well as taking care of many of the house hold duties. Mum did not have an easy up bringing to say the least, it was in fact more like a real life Cinderella story. When Dad started going out with Mum he said to her “ I can’t offer you much, but I’ll promise you a better life than the one you’ve got “.
Like Dad, Mum held steadfast to her faith and for a while she also taught Sunday school.
After leaving school Mum’s artistic talent saw her gain work as a pattern maker for Thompson’s foundry in Castlemaine until she was married. It wasn’t uncommon for her ride her push bike from Maldon to Castlemaine and back for work.
Some of her drawings are still on display at the Maldon vintage Machinery museum.
The day they married was one of the happiest days of their life. Dad always said Mum was the most beautiful girl he had ever met and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He still carried a photo of her in his wallet up until the day he died.
Mum and Dads happily ever after began in Yandoit. Paying down debit and piecing the original farm back together.
Although life might have been challenging for them, it’s true to say they adored each other and loved their life together. Starting their own family brought them great joy with the arrival of twin girls followed by my brother and I.
The early 70’s saw the tragic loss of my little sister Judith who died shortly after birth, this lose never left mum and dad for the rest of their lives.
My parents embraced their young family. Some of my childhood memories include, a trip to the Royal Melbourne show, BBQ’s up the bush and the promise, if we were lucky might even get see a kangaroo! Then there were Bonfires for Guy fox night where the whole town would come around for cracker night. The occasional day trip to the beach and then there was the Maldon Easter procession. Mum loved to make costumes of Rabbits, mushrooms, and an emu using things like Chicken wire and paper Mashe. Mum would delight in dressing us up and sending us around in the parade.
The mid 70’s proved to be hard work milking around 60 cows and running up to 100 pigs. Mum was busy Raising four kids and Dad ran the farm with very little machinery and only basic infrastructure. Times were tough but about to get a lot worse when drought coincided with the Dairy industry collapse. Dad had no choice but to find work off farm to make ends meet. This was when he became a gardener in at what’s known now as the Castlemaine hospital.
Every week day he would get up, milk the cows, drive into Castlemaine to start work by 8:00 o’clock and work till 5:00. He would often spend his days walking up and down steep slopes mowing lawns and shifting sprinklers then return home to milk again. Sometimes he work into the night catching up on jobs or shifting irrigation pipes by torch light, before going to bed and doing it all over again the next day. One of the bosses in there said to him one day, ‘’why don’t you sell the farm and live an easier life’’ ? Dad paused then replied, “ Yes I could do that,…. but then I would think now what,….. I would probably want to buy a nice little farm somewhere with a creek running past it , I already have that !” Dad always knew the true value of what he had.
He eventually went from full time to 3 days a week and did this for 17 years . Not only did dads work load increase during this time but also mums as well. She would clean out pig sty’s, push wheel barrows of grain up hill to the dairy, clear rocks of paddocks, help cart in hay as well as keep house and raise us kids, attend mothers club meeting’s, school canteen, fire brigade ladies and played the organ at church.
It was at this time she also spent one day on the weekends scrubbing floors and doing laundry for her ageing mother and youngest brother while taking my sisters to piano lessons.
Although the days must have been incredibly long for dad, he also made time to be heavily involved in every community organization that was on offer.
His off farm work did however provide him with the opportunity to develop a close long standing working relationship with his work mates and enjoyed their company immensely. He also loved interacting with the elderly patients, bringing them flowers and taking an interest in them.
But for the first time in his life he had money in his hands. One of the first things dad bought was a Hoover floor scrubber and polisher for mum so she didn’t have get down on her hands and knees. Next was the first electric stove so time wasn’t wasted lighting the wood stove to cook his breakfast and thirdly a postie bike to bring the cows up for milking instead of walking around in the dark. We were a family and as kids we also did what we could to help out.
Eventually dad left his job and returned home for good where he could finally spend more time with mum and he and I could work alongside each other every day.
Dad’s job had given them the ability to eventually go on to build their retirement home and create a remarkable garden using the skills dad had acquired from work, coupled with mums passion for gardening.
It was a place they could immerse themselves in, bringing great pleasure to them both and now stands as a tribute to their hard work and self-sacrifice.
As a small child I always admired everything about my farther. I remember him tucking us tightly into bed and telling us stories. I remember him holding me tightly as we sat around the open fire at night. I remember the times he took me on the grey fergie tractor ploughing, raking hay or feeding out. It didn’t seem to matter, he was always doing something exiting and he couldn’t keep me away.
Over the years we spent so much time together and shared so much in common. We could talk about anything and everything and no subject was of limits. We just enjoyed each other’s company and the love of farming. He lifted me up when I was down, he gave me strength and encouragement when I need it, he was everything a farther could be and more, he was indeed the very wind beneath my wings.
All I ever wanted was to try and follow closely in my father’s footsteps – I wanted the life and love that Mum and Dad had lived.
The family they had raised meant they had a one daughter trained as a nurse to watch over them another who could step in as their carer, a son who would look after wood cutting and house maintenance when he could and the youngest son to honor the farming legacy they worked so hard for giving Dad a welcome distraction after mums passing .
He often said his two Great loves in his life were Mum and the farm.
Growing up as kids we had everything we needed, parents who loved us and the space and opportunity to grow into whoever we wanted to be. How grateful we are.
They didn’t live perfect lives, they lived Exemplary lives.
Rest in peace, Mum and Dad.
Married 67 years
in Australia since late 1970s. He has presented numerous workshops in both areas in several states and at many folk festivals including the National, Maldon, and Port Fairy.
