K. Stuart Towers

Story

My brother Graham and I arrived in Brisbane in November 1951 after a six week voyage from England. We were 10 pound poms.

After a shot stay at the Migrant Hostel at Kangaroo Point I departed by train to Chinchilla 300kms west of Brisbane where I was to work for a Mr. A. Carpenter. The property was a mixed dairying and cropping one of 1,000 acres. There was severe drought, not a blade of green grass. Hours were long and the work hard and I had no experience of working on a farm, but it was enjoyable work and I soon learned to milk cows, drive a tractor and ride a horse. I also played cricket for the local team made up of local farmers. After 18 months I moved on but I kept in touch for many years.

I then work at the General Store of Mr. T.A. Hutton at Yelarbon, near Goondiwindi. Life in a small country town was another interesting and valuable experience. I was there for 6 months. My years in Queensland proved to be a great value in later life.

My brother had moved to Victoria and had trained to be a teacher at Melbourne Teachers Collage. I moved to Melbourne and also trained as a Primary School Teacher. My first appointed was to Benalla East P.S. but I soon obtained the position of H.T. at Samaria where the enrolment was just 10.

I obtained board with Mrs. Ginnivan and her son Leo and daughters Kathleen and Janet; I joined in with the social life of the district and played tennis and table tennis. In January 1958 I married Kathleen and we moved to Tomdarook near Camperdown. Once again it was a small school but we had a residence.

On January 1st 1959 our first son Chris, was born at Benalla and I became H.T. at Tallangatta Valley in N.E. Victoria. There were 26 pupils and I was allowed to employ a sewing mistress It was a beautiful valley and we enjoyed our stay of 4 years. While there our daughters Helen and Robyn were born. We continued playing tennis.

In 1963 I obtained promotion and we moved to Kyneton where I taught for 8years, our son Ken and Greg were born there. It was a wonderful town in which to bring up a young family and Kathleen and I found ourselves on various committees. For first time I worked under a school principal.

1971 found us moving to Frankston and I was teaching at a much larger school. Over the next few years I taught at 3 different schools. I retired in 1985 we bought a caravan and for 20 years we spent most winters travelling around Australia.

In 2003 we moved into a Retirement Village in Cranbourne. Our 5 children and 4 grandchildren gives us great support and enjoyment.

Life Has Been Very Good To Us Both.

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