Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 91
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[Page 91]
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older than I. Our fathers had cow paddocks adjoining, and in taking our two milking cows back and forward, I often saw Jimmy doing likewise. After attending Pharmacy courses at Sydney University, he took over his brother's pharmacy at Parkes; much later he replaced Greg as the member for Cootamundra, when the latter secured a city electorate. In due course he became Minister for Housing, then Premier, and finally President of the Maritime Services Board until he died, rather prematurely, and so ended the McGirr Saga.
The "Grand Old Man" of Parkes was William Metcalfe, who was Mayor for several years. He was a patriarchal personality, tall and slightly stooped, with a long white beard, and very active despite his seventy-odd years of age. In presiding at meetings of the Municipal Council he was very much of a pompous martinet. He and his fellow aldermen were committed to a policy of keeping the property rates down, by expending the bare minimum on Council Works and general maintenance. There was no major flooding protection, and with every heavy sustained rainfall, the central streets became rivulets, impassable on foot, and flooding many houses. Under Metcalfe, the main street was an uneven potholed macadam surface, blindingly dusty in prolonged dry weather, or unpleasantly muddy after rain.
Except at Tattersalls, full board and lodging at hotels for "permanents", was standardised at a Pound a week, and the price of a big hot three-course midday meal at one shilling. In nearly all the hotel kitchens the cooks were Chinese, usually a pair; this was also common in residential hotels in the Sydney suburbs.
Most country towns, including Parkes, had at least one general store owned and staffed by Chinese, and a Chinese market garden down on the nearby river or creek. At Parkes half a dozen of these wily celestials cultivated a terraced garden on the bank of the Billabong Creek, close to the log weir on the Racecourse (Eugowra) Road. In Summer the dammed-up water was a favourite swimming pool for us boys, always in the nude.
The two biggest stores in Parkes - English Howards and Irish McGlynns - used to claim alternate months in which to supply