Colin Stanley

Colin attended the Windsor Grammar School and afterwards was involved with the family undertakings including farming, store≠keeping and bakery business. He was an all-round athlete, enjoying shooting, tennis and cricket.

Around 1909 Colin went to Cobar to assist Frank with his business interests. He later engaged in trading in horses for the Indian Remount and shipping them to India.

At this time there were properties existing in the Cobar, Hillston. Condobolin and Riverina Districts with suitable horses, the Walers.
These horses were popular cavalry remounts bred largely from Arab, thoroughbred and Cob stock. Colin travelled with the horses to India and spent a considerable amount of time there. His curries were famous.

From Cobar there were two routes to travel a mob of horses to the Victorian shipping port. The main route was from Cobar to Prior≠ey, Sandy Creek, Gilgunnia (known then as Early Gilgunnia), Hill≠ston, Griffith, Narrandera, Deniliquin (or Finley), Echuca, Mel≠bourne and Geelong.

The other route being from Co bar to Priory, Nymagee, Condobolin, Forbes, Wagga, Albury, Melbourne and Geelong.

The stock routes from Cobar followed the Bores, Dams and Govern≠ment Tanks. There were about 600 to 640 acres in the Government Tanks areas with a cottage and caretakerin each. The first River was at Hillston and they followed water and rivers all the way from there to the sea.

Colin made many friends in the Narrandera and Yanco areas, the closest of them Paddy Grace and Sam Kefford. In 1914 Colin came to Yanco, soon after the opening up of the new Irrigation Scheme and bought out Mr Leo Whyte who had shortly before commenced a store in what was then the railhead for the new MIA Scheme. Mr Whyte was the third storekeeper to operate in Yanco.

In the struggling early days of the Settlement, it was considered by those in authority that an inventory should be taken and the Scheme disposed of to syndicated interests. Colin, assisted by Ted Robson, Alf Hall, J Emerson, Wm Nulty, J Grace Snr and G H S Bow, fought the move with every means at their disposal. He was a staunch supporter of the Yanco Progress Association and
Yanco Labor League, prior to the development of Leeton and the Mirool area, when Yanco was the hub of the irrigation scheme.

It became increasingly evident that land-holders on the South side of the Murrumbidgee River needed a bridge to give them direct access to the irrigation area. The only stock crossing was at
a shallow point below Middle Beach when the river was down.

Colin, with some of his associates, was an original sponsor of the Uroly Bridge which now spans the river near Yanco. The bridge was eventually built in 1928.

Also around this time, Colin's buggy horse 'Tommy' was known over a wide area these early had to race of the Riverina as the best in his class. During days, before the coming of the motor car, Tommy often to Narrandera with ill or injured residents.

Colin continued in business at Yanco until 1923 when he sold his store and returned to Sydney. He then conducted a Real Estate Agency in Pitt Street, Sydney. Ada Mary and Fanny Sarah (Eileen) Tate were also involved in business during this period. Ada had just returned from an overseas trip and was anxious to tryout a new electric hair curler that Colin had a half share in. Eileen was able to demonstrate the hair curler in her hairdressing salon with Lily (Gloria) her niece doing the modelling.

Over this period Colin and Oc spent many pleasant times with family and friends at Oc's cottage 'Miami' on the waterfront at Wagstaffe. They were able to journey down the Hawkesbury from Windsor to Wag≠staffe in Oc's boat. In 1927 they travelled by car to see the opening of Federal Parliament in Canberra.

Colin also purchased many blocks of land at Blacktown, Coogee, Manly, Riverstone and other suburbs. In 1929 he purchased a block of land in Booker Bay, 420 Orange Grove Road, complete with boat shed and swimming pool. He built his home on top of the block which backed onto Brisbane Waters, around the corner from where the Rip Bridge now stands.

The same year Colin married Gloria, daughter of Frank Davies and Lucy Jane Tate of N.Z. Their children - Yvonne Lucy (born 1930) and Gloria's son, Julian (Pat) Almao (born 1920) who was in N.Z. with Lucy ~ne. They moved into their Orange Grove Home, a favourite meeting place for members of the family. When the tide was in, there was about 6' of water in front of the boat shed, great fishing in the Bay and a tidal swimming pool.

Later in 1929 Gloria visited Lucy Jane for her confinement and Yvonne was born in Napier in 1930. Gloria and Yvonne returned to Orange Grove shortly afterwards. Pat came over to Australia to join the family later.

In 1933 Colin sold the home and the family moved to Farm 543, situated between Yanco and Leeton. Mr Ivan Day and family share≠farmed a large portion of the farm (divided by the canal) and ran a dairy herd. Colin and Gloria lived in the home near the bridge on the dry area section of the farm.

Colin purchased a store in Yanco (next to Mr McCarthy's) and facing the road that runs down the side of the post office and the present R.S.L. The home behind theshop was occupied by Mrs Noonan and family and Biddy Noonan served in the shop. Gloria and Colin travelled daily from the farm to Yanco to run the business.
The store was also a community meeting place for old friends, with drovers waggons, stock horses and sulkys pulled up outside. One of the smartest sulky horses belonged to Mrs Kefford - a blue mare called 'Peggy', nothing else could match the mare for speed and carriage. Mrs 'K' would sit braced in the sulky, a rein in each hand and Peggy would respond in magnificent style. The Keffords, great friends of Colin and Gloria's, lived about 7 miles out on the Narrandera Road.

Commercial travellers called on a regular basis and business transactions were discussed in a small room at the rear of the shop - complete with swapping yarns and a nip of whisky. The produce was duly picked up from the rail - also boxes of butter from the Leeton Butter Factory.

Yanco rail was also an important centre for the movement of stock and on one occasion when unlading a stirry mob, there was a stampede of wild Queensland long horns down the main street (with everyone racing for cover). Some of these cattle were found as far away as Wamoon.

There was a constant stream of Swaggies looking for odd jobs and convoys of Gypsies, travelling in black sedans (with an incredible number of people to each car). The Gypsy women offering to read fortunes - if you crossed their palms with silver. The bullock teams were still being used and Mrs Bennett and son Dave would bring their teams through Yanco carrying logs etc., and the crack of the bullock wip could be heard for ages.

When the season was over, shearers would stay at the Yanco Hotel drinking out their wages. As time wore on, some of them would play the gum leaves for the price of a drink. The Barber Shop at the Hotel ran a book and there was always a lot of fun on Cup Days. Gloria's judge of horse flesh was no longer treated with reserve when Old Rowley stormed home at 100 to 1.

One hot afternoon an Indian Hawker arrived in town with a waggon filled with bolts of cloth etc., pulled up at the side of the shop, tied his horse to a post and went for a drink. The horse was in a pitiful state - half starved. Gloria, horrified, went to his rescue and unbuckled every strap on the harness (not being familiar with such things) and left it all in a heap by the waggon, took the horse under the shade and gave him a drink and a feed. Every≠one was most impressed, except the Hawker.

And later in the year, the night Santa visited the shop proved to be an exciting event. Santa arrived in .sty!e on Harry Newton's horse drawn lorry. Harry proudly driving his old horse (covered with ribbons and decorations) and with a large bell attached to the lorry. Santa dutifully looked after the children with his 'Ho Ho's' getting a little louder and Colin looking anxious. Suddenly shrieks from the youngsters "Santa's on fire", and pandemonium broke out with children running around in all direc≠tions. With great haste Santa was 'put out' and all was saved.

The shop was a favourite meeting place for young mums as Gloria took a great interest in the arrival of the new babies and
worked tirelessly helping the C.W.A. to organise the visit of the Clinic Sister to Yanco. Unfortunately other things some≠times took place and late one afternoon, Jim, an inebriated friend of Colin's, came into the store. He commenced making a
nuisance of himself by jabbing Colin in the stomach and was told to stop it, or he would be dealt with (he kept on jabbing). As Colin was normally a pleasant easy going person, everything came
to a sudden stop with all eyes on proceedings. Suddenly Colin hit him and Jim landed upside down in the barrel tipping axe and
broom handles allover the floor. Jim was finally extricated and could be heard complaining that Colin had hit him, as he wobbled out the door. Surprised looks all round!!

Week-ends away from the shop were often spent going duck shooting. Colin and Pat were keen shooters. On one occasion Pat (aged 17) and a young friend were duck shooting on Kefford's Creek. While walking through the bush, the dog put a rabbit up a log and Pat crouched down at one end to catch the rabbit, while his friend poked a stick, down the other. His friend was not 'gun wise'
and instead of finding a stick, used the gunbarrel. The gun
went off hitting Pat in the face. In the terifying moments that followed, the young man panicked and ran away. Pat was crawling around on his hands and knees, face covered in blood and unable
to see. His dog, Mark, ran back to Kefford's home and howled and barked and kept running back to-wards the bush until they realised he wanted them to follow him. The dog took them back to where Pat was shot and Mr and Mrs Pearcel, market gardeners on the farm, took him to Leeton Hospital in their truck.

Pat was transferred to Sydney Eye Hospital, and Gloria stayed at his side. There were pellets in his head, too close to the brain to be operated on, and they placed leaches on his wounds to remove congealed blood.He lost the sight of one eye.The first thing Pat did when he came home, was to tryout his shot gun. He adjusted his sighting and carried on winning many trophies at the Leeton Clay Pigeon Gun Club. Over the years pellets still worked their way down into his mouth.

In the meantime Colin had the farm planted down in peaches and apricots, leaving a dry area paddock adjacent to the house. He also had his cattle running on river country behind Cudgel Creek. It was his intention to live on the farm when he retired.

Late one hot afternoon, while Colin was opening a box of butter in the shop, he felt ill and sat on the floor while Yvonne tried to give him a drink. Mrs Grace hurried over from nearby - he had suffered a heart attack, and had died on 11 October 1940, (aged 58). Pat arranged to go to Windsor by tra~n with the casket. Colin was buried in the family plot at St Matthews Church grave yard, Windsor.