Cap's Page

I was born in Gulargambone on 25th December, 1912; youngest son of the five children of George and Maria Lemon. My father was a saddler and was one of a family of four saddlers, one of whom was at Coonabarabran, one at Coonamble and the other at Gilgandra. After a short time the one at Coonamble left Coonamble and moved into Queensland. My father had the intention of going to Quambone to follow his trade but luckily he decided to stay in Gulargambone.

When I arrived they christened me Leslie Charles Solomon Lemon and I can tell you that I got the nickname of "Cap" from when my father and I used to wrestle on the floor during the First World War. I was supposed to be the Captain of the Germans!

The Gulargambone Saddler's Shop was situated in Coonamble Street just behind where the present Gulargambone Garage is situated.

I feel that there is not very much that you can remember in your life until you get around the five or six year-old mark. I think that I was a late school starter, at about six years of age. I can remember that day as my brother Edgar had to nearly carry me to school as I did not want any part of it.

The school was situated on the same grounds as now but there were only three buildings on the block of land. One building was for First and Second Classes and the other was for Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Classes. The other building mentioned was a weather shed. When it was time to go to your class a bell was rung and all the students lined up, the roll was called and you marched into school. There were only three teachers employed at the school with each teacher taking two classes. When I started the Headmaster was a man and there were two lady teachers. One of the lady teachers was a Miss Luxton who taught me at school and only as recently as November, 1998 she came into the Newsagency. She asked me if I knew her and of course I did not and she told who she was prior her marriage to a Mr Jack Blacker and that she taught me school. I sure remembered her then as I thought she was a lovely person. On this occasion I was close to being 86 and she was 97. We had a photo taken on the front step of the Newsagency and I have had it blown up and printed on with the details. It would have to be some kind of a record...teacher and pupil 1922/23!

At the end of six years I had passed my Q.C. which was as far as you could go at school in Gulargambone at that time. My father was not in a position to send me to High School so in his opinion he thought another twelve months at school would do me good. Things were getting a bit better in the saddlery business so off I went to the Dubbo High School and put in three years and gained the Intermediate Certificate. I had the opportunity to go on but I decided to go home and try for a job.

I was only home from High School for some ten days and was offered a job in a grocery and mercery business owned by a Mr Fred Hawkins. I forgot to mention that during the extra year that I stayed in Gular, at the local school, I worked after school and all day Saturday for the late A.W.Bolger who had a General Store which was situated right on the corner of Bourbah and Coonamble Streets and I was paid nine shillings a week.

When I went to work for Hawkins there was Bolger's General Store, the Gulargambone Co-Op Store and Hawkins' in the Main Street and at the Gular Rail there was Permewan Wright who ran a wholesale business where you were able to buy goods by the bag or by case lots. There was also a Syrian chap who had a drapery business. In addition to these businesses at the railway there was a skin buyer and a blacksmith. The railway was a very busy little centre and had a good population with something like thirty homes in the area. The railway itself employed a Station Master, a Porter and a Junior Porter and there were quite a number of fettlers who worked on the rail lines. Three goods trains a week arrived at Gular Rail and there was a passenger train service six days a week. The steam train would leave Gular Rail at 2.00 p.m. and arrive at Central Station, Sydney at around 6.00 a.m. the next morning. That was a trip some sixteen hours and today a bus leaves the Gulargambone township at around twelve midday and you are in Sydney around nine at night. For the passengers from Gular Rail to town there was a horse-drawn bus owned by the Donnelly family who also conveyed the railway school children to and from school. The Gular rail was a very important part of Gulargambone.

We will now get back to Gulargambone at that time I thought it to be the greatest place in the country and I will share some of my memories of that time with you.

I have told about the stores in the town and now I will give you an idea of what else there was in Gulargambone. There was a blacksmith, a saddler, a bootmaker, chemist, doctor, undertaker, 2 music teachers, a skin buyer, three billiard rooms with five billiard tables between them, three men's barbers, three stock and station agents, two hotels, two cafes, two garages, two bakeries, a newsagency which was part of one of the billiard rooms, two butcher's shops, three banks (the Commonwealth was part of the Post Office) and two picture shows. One of these was owned by my father and it only showed in the Summertime as it was what was called "Open Air". The prices for the Open Air Show were twenty cents for the best deck chair seats and ten cents for the wooden seats and five cents for children. The films were silent with subtitles. For my father's show I used to walk around the town on picture nights ringing a bell and calling out the programme for that night's show....

The town was a very busy place with crook roads and people driving horse-drawn vehicles. People would flock into town to do their business and in some cases would stop overnight with relatives and friends. I have known families to drive into town about twice a month to do their shopping. In those days the shops were open all day Saturday and closed at 8.00 p.m. at night. The half-day holiday was taken on the Wednesday afternoon.

The Gulargambone Annual Show was something to see. District property owners gave great support the the Show and many of them had a big team of horses including hacks, trotters, horses for the hurdling events and for the main attraction the high jump. Just to mention some of the local district supporters who had big teams of horses were the Fergusons at Gular Station, Albert Jones, Sam Taylor, Frank Dowling, Herb Shield, Alby Lewis, Fielding Jones, the Heilers, the Frends and many more. In addition to the the local support there was always many people with horses who followed all of the shows in the country before moving on to Queensland to compete.

The Show also attracted a very big number of sideshows. The one that was the most popular was Jim Sharman and his boxing troupe but there was one that I must tell you about. This chap erected a hessian tent about seven feet high and it would not have been more than fifteen feet square. The price of entry was two shillings and one of his mates walked up and down in front of the tent calling out: "Come and see the man eating fish from Norway". When you paid and got into the tent there was a little fenced-in area with straw on the ground and a man inside the yard with his face blackened crawling around and letting out a few grunts and eating fish... sardines from Norway. So, you see, he was the man eating fish from Norway....

The show was held on the Friday and Saturday and at night-time in Bourbah Street there would be several showmen entertaining the large crowds that had assembled. Down behind where the Gulargambone Butchery now is there was a big tent show called "George Sorlies" and this would show for several nights and be packed out with big crowds.

During the year there would be Indian and Australian hawkers come to town with their waggonettes loaded with goods mainly of men's and ladies' wear and they would do business and then push on to some other town. In addition to the hawkers there was a chap named "Jimmy Tuite" who would set up a merry-go-round, hoopla and also a shooting gallery and many other forms of entertainment. Jimmy would stop for a week and then load up his horse-drawn waggonettes and go to another town.

Gulargambone was a great town for sport and there were only two tennis courts where the present set-up is and later there was one built on the present hotel parking area. Cricket and football were very popular sports and the town had two cricket teams and two football teams. Later there was an Aboriginal Football Team formed and this team was a top side and had great success winning matches against most of the surrounding towns. I would have to mention two of their outstanding players who were Harry (Jockey) Fox and Booka Nixon. Both players had a ton of ability.

The Gulargambone Golf Club was formed in 1924 and the first golf course was set up on the Gulargambone Racecourse and Showground. The first President was the late Dr. Mitchell and the late Mr. McKenzie, a bank manager, was the first Secretary. A chap named E.G.McDonnell set the course up and it was played on for over ten years. The Showground was governed by trustees and with no mowers around like today the grass had to be kept down by putting sheep on the course. The club found that they were having trouble with the trustees, who began to tell the golf players they would control the stock. This caused the golf club to look for another venue and luckly for Gulargambone golf the present site which was then known as as the "bore paddock" became available from the P.P. Board and it is now owned by the Gulargambone Golf Club. The same man, E.G.McDonnell, laid out the present golf club and it was recognised as a great nine hole course. The well-known champion golfer, Norman von Nida played on the course and named it the best laid out sand green golf club he had played on. I was the Secretary of the Golf Club for eighteen years and President for three years. The building of the Clubhouse was during my time as President and in the three years we paid off the debt. We raised the money through debentures and the timber was given by many local people who had land.

The first position I had as a Secretary was for the Gulargambone Tennis Club which lasted for five years. I then was Secretary for many organisations including the following: Football Club, Cricket Club, Cycle Club and the big one was the Gulargambone Jockey Club for a period of twenty-two years. You see there was plenty for you to do in Gulargambone and during my time there would have been at least ten different dance Balls held in a year.I was Secretary for many of these and also had the job of preparing the dance floor. Some of the Balls held were the Catholic Ball, Church of England Ball, Parents and Citizens Ball, C.W.A. Ball, Younger Street Ball, Far West Ball, Masonic Ball and a Show Ball. You see the difference now as Gulargambone would be flat out to hold any of these functions.

Often people talk about floods. Well, during my time I have seen a few and in my opinion the biggest flood ever in Gulargambone was the 1920 one. I can remeember the water from the Castlereagh being up in the guttering in front of the Post Office. In those days you could ride a horse under the river bridge now you would be flat out to crawl under it. The river has filled up with sand and the force of the water has been greatly reduced. I have been told that the Castlereagh at one time was one of the fastest flowing rivers in the state. In the 1920 flood I can remember horses, cattle and sheep being washed down the river with great force. There were three chaps named McGill, Featherstenall and a policeman named Day who decided to cross the river near the bridge and go in a boat to the railway for supplies and mail etc. They did not get far before the boat turned over and tipped them out. McGill and Day were able to swim out but the other chap was up in a tree for several hours before being found. During this flood the local people constructed three big rafts for an emergency and they were lined up in Bourbah Street. They were never used but one fellow commented that it would take the Sydney Harbour to float them.

I never ever forgot when I was a little fellow, the young men of the town on New Year's Eve night would get into a group just prior to midnight and start to walk around town and they would stop in front of your home and sing a song or two and the house resident would be expected to put out a bottle of wine or beer or a cake and they would collect these items and have a big party up around where the present Catholic Church is now. They would be there to the early hours of New Year's Day and of course there would be the usual fight during the party. They would frighten hell out of us young kids.

This is a bit of a mixed up story but it would not be right if I did not tell you something about the Depression in the Thirties. When the Depression hit in the Thirties I was working at Hawkins' Store and anyone with a job was very lucky. I can remember some men that had soft jobs like working in stores, Post Offices, banks, etc. being put off and then they had to work for the dole. It was work like carting dirt and forming roads and it was very tough going for them because they were not in the right condition for the harder work. There were quite a lot of local people receiving the dole and in addition to our locals we had an influx each week of what was known as the travelling dolies. I have seen them sitting on the curb in Bourbach Street taking up a space from the the bank corner in Munnell Street nearly to the cafe. At that time we had a very liberal Sergeant of Police in Gulargambone and with a slight change of name he would hand you more than one dole ticket. He got to be known as "Over the Shoulder Ned".

As I said, I was working for Hawkins at the time and he had the contract to supply the groceries. I cannot remember what a married person's dole ticket was worth but I know that a single person was entitled to just under eighty cents in the new currency. Here are some of the grocery prices then... tin of jam 8 pence, sugar and rice 4 cents a pound, a bottle of tomato sauce 8 pence, a loaf of bread 5 pence, a work shirt 75 cents, a pair work trousers 75 cents, good sports trousers one dollar and 25 cents, packet of cigarettes (12 in a pack) 5 cents , a packet of tobacco one dollar and three cents. A packet of tobacco is now around thirteen dollars and fifty cents.