Page 3 - Gwen Landsberry - Memories Memento for Family

bone clasp and two dogs, one on each side that kept it closed. She took me to swim in the

Murrumbidgee River. I should have kept that dress and bag forever.

Cooberang was the name of our property at Junee Reefs. I don’t know how big it was, though
when I went back, years later before it burned down, I remember thinking how small it looked

and wondering how on earth Mum and Dad brought up 12 children there.

We didn’t have much money though we never thought we were poor. We had plenty of space

to run around. What do I remember most from those times? The feeling of freedom.

We grew our own food and each of us young ones had a plot of earth to grow what we could.
Mum would buy things from us – just a penny here and there. We farmed sheep and wheat

and the boys helped harvest the wheat, making stacks like pyramids in the paddocks. Dad was

strict but a very fair and good father. He used to work our land with the tractors until after
dark. We’d help him bag the produce. Helen learned to drive the tractor to help Dad. He also

tended the cows. Joan was petrified of the cows as the boys would squirt her with milk! The

ducks always chased Joan. She preferred to be in the house helping Mum.

‘Cooberang’ with Thomas William ‘Bill’ O’Brien at front

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