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Bud’s Life

Born to Joseph Kennedy and Freda Martin. I lived in Devenish until about 4 years of age and we then moved to St. James which was just 4 miles down the road.     

 I am one of seven children having 4 sisters and 3 brothers. In order of arrival – Kathleen 1942, John 1943, Andrew (Me) 1944, Elizabeth 1945, Helen 1946, Philip 1950 and /Marie 1953.  We lived in a shop in St. James which Mum ran while Dad managed his Aunts” farm which was on the edge of town.

Started School in 1949 – Really enjoyed school at St. James. Miss Mylon was the infant mistress and Bob Hollow the Headmaster. About 50 pupils. He was a very laid back teacher but he taught us all sorts of interesting things. He gave us confidence in our work.

In a small town like St. James all the local kids got on well together and all in all we had a great childhood where we could play around the town getting into mischief but causing no-one or property any harm.  I have often commented to people that although we were poor, the 40’s 50’s and 60’s was a great time to grow up.

We used to put our pony in a cart and load it up with our tent and gear and then head off to our bush paddock where we would set up the tent and camp out for 2 or 3 nights.  We would set rabbit traps and when we caught the rabbits we would sell them to the butcher or give them to mum to cook.  We used to dry the skins out on wire frames and then sell them when we had enough.

I remember in 1957 which followed the really wet year, going round the local farms and plucking the wool from dead sheep.  For some reason in that year there were many dead sheep. We made good money from the dead wool at the Benalla skin merchant.

Another fun thing we used to do, although it is probably illegal now, was to rob bird nests.  We would pinch grass parrots, rosellas and cockatiel.  They made great pets.  We would walk miles looking for likely trees in which there were baby birds.  Also take eggs and blow them and have egg collections.

During Primary school I never wore shoes.  There were several kids in the same boat.  Our feet were as tough as old boots.  My brothers and I would fetch the cows in on frosty mornings and have to break the ice in the troughs so the cows could get a drink.  Our feet were so cold that we would hold them under the cows while they weed.

While in Grade 5 I saw the Queen when she visited Benalla in 1954.  The Royal train was on a side line in Goorambat (only about 10 miles from home) so lots of us travelled to Goorambat to get a glimpse of the new Queen.

Off to Benalla High School in 1956.  Attended the Olympic Games in Melbourne during my first year at Secondary school.  Went to Tasmania on a school trip in 1961. Travelled by bus to school. Caught it about 7.30 am and arrived home about 5.00 pm. Had to milk 2 cows by hand before and after school. The cows were let run on the road at different times of the year.  We had a pony called Tiny who would locate the cows for us after school.  We would just mount her without saddle and off we’d go.  I enjoyed secondary school.

At the end of form 5 (Leaving certificate) I applied for and got a job with the Railways in Benalla.  However after thinking about it I decided to return to school for

another year. During this year I applied for and was successful in obtaining a Studentship in Teaching at Bendigo Teachers’ College.  I had a great 2 years at college in 1962/63 and after this 2 years of training it was thought that I was ready to teach.

I was sent to a one teacher school at Deletite just south of Mansfield.  The school enrolment was only 13 children ranging from Preps to Grade 6.  Although a small enrolment we still managed to win the district Sports in 1964.  While teaching here I met a young Trainee teacher called Margaret Kuhle who I later married in 1969.

In 1965 I was appointed to Stewarton PS, situated between Benalla and Shepparton near Dookie College, with an enrolment of 17. I remained here for 4 years and for the most part lived at home (17 miles away) and helped on the farm after school and at weekends and holidays.  Enjoyed that time in my life.  Also won the District sports here in my first year.

In 1969 I moved to Toolern Vale near Melton, in charge of a 2 teacher school.  During this time I married Margaret Kuhle and in 1970 we moved to Echuca to live while I was headmaster of the Echuca West P.S.  We lived in the teacher’s residence which was 81 Mitchell St.  It is a great house and we had 4 happy years there. The house has been since done up and is of course privately owned.  Both our boys were born while we were living there.

David the eldest now lives in Cairns where he works in the building draughtsman area.  He has a 15 year old daughter, Erin our granddaughter.

 

 Jamie is a Chef and works in Deniliquin.  He has a 7 year old daughter our other granddaughter, Jazmyn.

While in Echuca I joined the Apex Club and enjoyed the fellowship of the Club. It is a great family oriented organization.  I continued with Apex in Tongala and was awarded Life membership in 1984. This was a great honour.

We had some great times in Apex and a lot of fun at various money raising activities.  I remember once we were carting hay for some farmer and as a joke I took Marg’s 1953 Morris Minor with a small 3 x 3 ft trailer to help cart the hay.  I think we managed to fit about 6 bales on it.  It certainly looked odd next to the big trucks etc that the others had.

In Jan 1974 we moved to Tongala as I received promotion to the Consolidated school there.  I was appointed Infant School coordinator. (Traditionally called the Infant Mistress.)

While teaching at Tongala in the mid to late 70’s, I was asked by the District Inspector if I would take on a part time job as a Rural School consultant as I had had 10 years in rural schools myself.  My brief was to give support to those young teachers in one and two teacher schools with administrative matters and the development of curriculum suitable to their situation.  The schools were scattered across a large area going from Yalca Sth (near Nathalia), across to Stanhope Sth and Carag Carag, Colbinabin.  Further on to Dingee, Mitiamo, Mincha West, Mead and on to Teal Point and then on down to Gunbower Island and Patho.  There were other schools inside these parameters.  Unfortunately quite a lot of these schools are now closed. During this time Pat Dangri was most helpful to me as she was working for the DI and looked after me with stamps and other requisites that I needed.  I did this job for 3 years and found it most rewarding.

I really enjoyed my time at Tongala and stayed there getting promotion a couple of times within the school and ended up as the Assistant Principal there in 1994. During our time in Tongala Margaret continued to work at St. Joseph’s College where she taught for 35 years. In all I spent 26 years at Tongala P.S. and finished up in August 1999 when I resigned from teaching and became semi-retired.

In 1998 we moved back to Echuca as Marg was still teaching at St. Joseph’s and she was keen to retire in Echuca. She arrived home one day to say she had found a house in Echuca which she liked and virtually sold our house in Tongala with me still in it.  Fortunately she bought a house which has a great shed down the back. This suits me very well. While initially I was not too keen about the move I am now grateful to Marg for her foresight.  We are most happy living here in Echuca.

After resigning from the Education Department in August 1999 I worked part time at St. Joseph’s looking after their computer network and teaching computer studies to year 7. This job grew to the stage where it needed a full time person and as I was not keen to work full time I gave it up at the end of 2001. I enjoyed my time there and did help out on a few occasions where help was needed.

In 1995 Margaret expressed interest in travelling to the UK and Europe.  I was not really keen on going initially but went along with her plans.  We travelled with my sister and brother in law and spent 9 weeks in England, Scotland, Ireland driving hither and thither, and then a brief week long Glimpse of Europe with Trafalgar tours.  When we got home, after not wanting to go in the first place, I began to plan our next trip OS for 1997. Since then we have had another 12 trips OS.  On one trip in 1999 after spending time driving around the UK and Ireland again we drove from the Rome airport to the South of France passing through Austria, Switzerland, Germany and into France.  It was a great trip and after getting used to driving on the other side really memorable.  Unfortunately the bucket is not as healthy as it was so I suppose these trips will not be as frequent in the future.

Since retiring I have done nothing, but I do it very well.  I pass the time of day in my shed where I have all my computer gear and use it as my office.  I do the occasional computer job for people and continue to learn more about technology as it grows so quickly.

Marg and I joined Probus in 2008 and have enjoyed it very much.  We have been on 3 CCC trips and other activities and have met some great people.