“In those days tar roads around the town were very scarce. The tar ended at the showground on the Goulburn Road, Stephenson Street on the Gunning Road, Tait Street on the Binda Road, the Hospital on the Kialla Road and at the Cemetery Road on the Laggan Road. The tar came to Kingsdale from the Goulburn end (Council had been active).

“‘Cloverleigh’ was a productive farm. As well as 20-30 acres of potatoes, we also ran a 25+-acre orchard of mostly apples with some pears and two acres of cherries; and 400 crossbred ewes on the property, which at that stage included a part of 250 acres which is now George Miller’s property (behind Kadwell’s). This was where most of our own potatoes were grown in the early days.

“All the cultivation of the soil was done by draught horses. We had eight draught horses and two ponies. Dad had a permanent employee in Harold Hills, an excellent horseman, in charge of the cultivation and ploughing, harrowing and final preparation of the soil. I was his apprentice and did a lot of the heavy work. With all these horses and two milking cows, we spent a great deal of time sowing and harvesting the crop, making hay stacks and chaff to feed the animals.

“In 1948, Alick purchased the property ‘Roseleigh’ on the outskirts of town on the Kialla Road. Mr Divoney had stipulated that 1000 head of sheep had to be purchased with the sale of the property. This was not something Alick had planned on, becoming a breeder of fat lambs; however, it turned out to be a profitable purchase as that year turned out to be the best price ever paid for wool. 1948 turned out to be an extremely wet year and as a result over a third of the paddocks were lost with rot. It was impossible to get machinery into the paddocks and forks were the only way to harvest the potatoes.

“The bags were hand-loaded onto a side and taken five bags at a time to the road side fence and physically lifted over the fence to the truck. That year a grey Ferguson tractor was purchased, the very first tractor owned. The following year, Alick purchased his first potato digger; however, again it was very wet and the harvest had to be dug out with forks. The good news: potatoes were a record price.”

Frank Andrew Willis OAM was well known for his association with the potato industry and as a councillor of the shire council (and as Shire President for many years). He was a lifetime rugby league supporter, president of the Crookwell Gun Club, recipient of the Paul Harris Rotary Fellowship, an active hospital auxiliary member and Citizen of the Year, and totally committed to the Age Care Association of the District, making sure frail and aged residents of the district were supported and cared for. Frank had one daughter, Sarah, and adopted Zoey, Chris and Dianne (daughters of Jeanette and Nola).

Next Thursday: Gordon Charles, 1931-2016.