A Nostalgic Return to The Tin Hut
In two incredibly hectic months, the good people of Taroom pitched in to help the oldest Glenhaughton ringers return for one last trip to the Tin Hut. Excitement was building!
The Tin Hut built 1901 in the Amphitheatre, part of Glenhaughton holding 1845-1979” [photo Toni Jarvis]
Day 1 – 29 September 2023
Aging ringers, and a couple of cooks who once called Glenhaughton home, more than 6 decades earlier, were coming back. In those days, the rugged 900 square mile holding was home to many wild cattle, and daring young stockmen got their thrills from catching them.
‘Every young bloke I knew wanted to work out here’
– Lex Smith
Young ringers Lex and Nugget with head stockman Jim Booth 1957, cutting out cows and calves at the station herding yards [archive photo supplied Lex Smith; photographer John Scott]
The ringers’ life brought pleasures that most will never know.
Ringers camped rough on remote outstations for weeks at a time, supplies carried by packhorses for the camp cook to prepare their meals. A ramshackle tin hut stood in the valley of the picturesque Amphitheatre, nestled in the shadows of the majestic sandstone ranges. It was as far from the station homestead as they could get, and their favourite camp of all.
The beautiful Amphitheatre is now a part of the Expedition National Park.1
Life as the ringers knew it at The Tin Hut has changed forever.
‘We had the most fun at the tin hut’
– Bronc Bradshaw
Michael Harvey (15) & Jack Standing (16) at their favourite camp, The Tin Hut 1965 [archive photo credit Christy Curtis]
The Taroom Bowls Club was the place to meet.
The quiet little Bowls Club came to life as travellers arrived from far and wide for the reunion welcome. Live country music by talented local Kaylene Brambrick buoyed the mood while old mates, friends and families caught up again…
Some over a beer, others over a cuppa and cake… and who could blame them for that? The endless home baked treats supplied by countless locals were hard to resist!
Welcome back old friends!
Old friends reunited once more. Nugget, Jennifer & Christy at Taroom Bowls Club [photo Leesa Bongers]
Tears welled, hearts warmed, and tales were told.
1950s ringers Lex Smith, Johnny ‘Bronc’ Bradshaw, Noel ‘Nugget’ Roser, Laurie Pointing and Bob Lambert, reminisced over good times in the ringers hut down by the creek, moist-eyed memories of mates long gone.
Horse breaker Ronny Bostock came to mind – a gifted horseman, boxer, artist, and writer. Lex spoke of Ronny’s sketches and bush poems covering the walls of their modest quarters. “He used whatever he could find, sometimes charcoal, to draw ringers throwing cattle and bucking horses, and he was really good!”
They all agreed, nodding in pensive silence as they remembered their quiet, gentle friend shadow boxing through life, a smile lighting his face.
‘He danced through life,
his smile lit up the room’
– Carol Bostock
Young Ronny Bostock, animal whisperer and talented boxer, a runner-up Golden Gloves Champion. “Ronny never picked a fight, but if someone picked him, he could always finish one!” – Lex Smith [archive photo credit the Bostock family]
The Bostock Brothers were talented, larger-than-life characters.
They remembered Ronny’s brother Bluey Bostock, the talker. Reciter of poems, teller of yarns. ‘Bluey never let the truth get in the way of a good story,’ they laughed. ‘He was as outgoing as Ronny was quiet… they were both good blokes.’ Bronc recalled.
‘We will never forget this place, or those good times’
– Nugget Roser
Ringers united over shared stories of mates passed, and unforgettable experiences at the Tin Hut. (L-R) Christy, Lex, Bronc & Nugget 2023. [photo Leesa Bongers]
Joe Jarvis and his boys built most of the cattle yards and dips in the district.
Imagine the buzz for 13-year-old Johnny Jarvis when his father Joe, a fencing and yard contractor living at Glenhaughton, “lent” him to manager Bill Phillips to help with the muster, out bush with the older stockmen chasing and tying wild cattle!
‘Memories run deep out here’
– John Jarvis
Johnny Jarvis pouring over Glenhaughton photos, Tin Hut 2023. The Jarvis brothers John, Ray, Bill and Henry, with sister Joyce, grew up on the station. [photo Toni Jarvis]
The only women working at Glenhaughton were the wives of Head Stockmen.
Ringers, cooks, and contract workers from the 1960s returned as well. Isabel Penny and children Cyril and Kylie, lived in the Tin Hut cooking for the men when husband Jim Penny was head stockman in 1970.
‘My heart is tied to this place for so many reasons’
– Isabel Penny
Isabel Penny (nee Rose/Close) returned for the first time in 52 years. Ties to Glenhaughton for Isabel, Cyril and Kylie run deep, with connections through both Lester Close and Jim Penny. [photo Cyril Close]
Lester Close was popular. On the lips of his mates, his name is still spoken with quiet respect.
Old mates who returned for the reunion spoke fondly of Lester Close, head stockman in 1965. Priceless stories were passed on to Lester’s wife Isabel, the love of his life, and his son Cyril, who never had the good fortune of knowing his dad.
‘Lester called Cyril his Little Scrubber,’ Isabel said. ‘He was the apple of his dad’s eye.’
Lester insisted on naming his baby son after his good mate from Glenhaughton, old stockman Cyrie Stewart. ‘They were very close, old Cyrie and Lester,’ Isabel recalled. ‘And the bond between the men who worked here together is just as strong today,’ she noted with a wistful smile.
1964 mates Jim and Lester
1964 Jim Penny and Lester Close, the head stockman and the ringer. Destiny united these two Glenhaughton mates forever. [archive photo credit Cyril Close & Isabel Penny]
Young Ringers and their Pommy Mate Christy
Lester was boss when Christy Curtis, The Pommy, (18 years) had the time of his life working with the young ringers, Jack Standing (16yrs) and Michael Harvey (15yrs). Lester’s nephew, Jeff Close, was only 14 at the time.
Jeff returned to school with bragging rights after working through the school holidays with ‘old’ Bronc Bradshaw (23), and the young ringers, at the renowned Amphitheatre. Kenny Bradshaw did the same, helping his brothers with musters from as young as 10, and all through the 60s and 70s. ‘It was every young stockman’s ambition to work at Glenhaughton,’ he mused.
‘Working here with the men was a school boy’s dream’
– Jeff Close
Toby Ward, Cyrie Stewart, Michael, Lester, and Jeff – 1965 Tin Hut camp [archive photo credit Christy Curtis]
Tragedy Strikes Glenhaughton Mates
Christy carried a Box Brownie camera, capturing the essence of that special time in 1965. The importance of those photos understood just a few years later, when tragedy struck two of these popular stockmen.
Lester was killed in a horse accident in 1967, while working on Stuart Downs, a few months after his son Cyril’s first birthday. Lester was 33. Michael Harvey was just 21 when he died in a car crash while working on a Northern Territory station. Their loss was felt far and wide, rocking the Taroom community to the core.
Proud dad, precious memories
Lester with his ‘little scrubber’, baby Cyril 1965, a year before his death [archive photo credit Cyril Close & Isabel Penny]
Everlasting friendships
There’s an unbreakable bond between the men and women who worked on Glenhaughton, for the shortest or longest time. Mates who hadn’t spoken in half a century, or more, were 19 again, laughing and joking as if no time had passed.
Christy Curtis flew from France especially for the nostalgic return to the Tin Hut, refusing to miss this one-off opportunity to catch up with his old mates again. ‘They thought I was crazy to fly out here, but I simply couldn’t miss this reunion,’ Christy said. ‘Nothing compares to the experience and excitement of our Glenhaughton days!’
‘This man is like a brother to me’
– Christy Curtis
Bronc strutting his stuff in Christy’s 1966 Montana chaps, still looking every bit the cowboy – Yellowstone style! [photo Val Bradshaw]
The Simple Life of a Head Stockman’s Wife
Jennifer Bradshaw was the longest serving employee at the Reunion. As a new bride, Jennifer, and her husband Robert ‘Mopsy’ Bradshaw spent their first two years in a tent out on mustering camps and back at the station until one of the workers cottages became available.
Jennifer says she cherished the simple life of a head stockman’s wife. “I would cook for the men and sweep the camp with a leafy branch. Dale made his own fun, he liked to catch the birds coming in for water, and Mark was just a baby, so he was no trouble.”
“I was out there for 6 years,” she said. “I only moved to town in 1969 so Dale could start school.”
‘It was a wonderful place for a little boy to grow up’
-Jennifer Bradshaw
Jennifer and sons, Mark and Dale all lived at the Tin Hut until 1969 [photo Leesa Bongers]
There’s been many Changes Since the Men Mustered Here
Clive Hume, the last of Ray Muirhead’s contract mustering team from Springsure, and his wife Annette, were excited to return to the Tin Hut where they first met, late in the 60s.
Jack Haaijer, the youngest of the ex-ringers, returned from Chinchilla, to tread the Amphitheatre cattle pads again, finding the stock routes much different from those he followed in 1968.
‘Nothing’s the same, it’s hard to find my bearings now’
– Jack Haaijer
Some habits never die. 1968 ringer Jack Haaijer checking dam levels at the burnt-out ruins of Cannondale yards. [photo Leesa Bongers]
The Tin Hut awaits the return of the ringers
At the Bowls Club that day, many long-lost acquaintances were renewed, bulls were thrown, and cattle were mustered, reflected in poems and yarns as the happy crowd mingled.
In high spirits, the aging mates sensibly turned in early, in anticipation of the adventure ahead. The lure of Glenhaughton Station, and the call of the Amphitheatre, was foremost in their minds, as they drifted off.
‘I fancy I felt the old hut smile’
– Leesa Bongers
The moon rises over the sandstone escarpment known as The Picture Palace, and the Amphitheatre Tin Hut [photo Leesa Bongers]
“They rode from camp at daybreak, top horsemen here to stay.”
[extract from Laurie Pointing’s poem “Dawson Country]
As the moon rose over the ranges, The Tin Hut waited patiently for the return of those who once sheltered within her walls. Ghosts of the past soon to return. I fancy I felt the old hut smile.
I wonder if anyone slept a wink that night?
‘when friends meet again, hearts warm’
– Carol Hamilton
Station owners Avon and Carol Hamilton welcomed the group at the station horse yards, before smoko at the homestead where the old ringers had dined together many years ago. [photo Leesa Bongers]
By Leesa Bongers© Glenhaughton Ringers, 2023
Share your Stories
If readers have any yarns or photos to share of their time at The Tin Hut, or any other Glenhaughton recollections, I’d love to hear them.
CONTACT
- EMAIL Leesa Bongers – Glenhaughton Ringers: glenhaughtonringers@gmail.com
SOCIALS
https://www.facebook.com/glenhaugtonringers/
https://www.instagram.com/glenhaughtonringers/
More information
- Taroom District Development Association (TDDA) – https://www.facebook.com/taroomtdda/
- Taroom Historical Society, Taroom Museum – https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaroomHistoricalSociety/
- Expedition National Park – Department of Environment – https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/expedition
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