“ I want to tell you my late husband John’s story because he was a fine man with a fine story. (John passed away in December 2017)
“John was born in Lismore. His mother came here from Sydney to have John and when he was a week old she moved back to Sydney. He was reared around Stanwell Park. John’s father was from Northern Ireland and was the second last of 9 children. He drove light rail in the war. When the war finished he came back and found out that his brother had died, a sister had died, another brother was killed by a horse and his mother had died. It was all too much, he needed to get away from everything and he came out here to Australia. He never went back to Northern Ireland.
His first stop was Lismore. John’s grandmother was English. She came here and ran a boarding house in South Lismore. She ran two I think and she homed male boarders who worked on the railway. When Johns father came up he worked on the railway and that’s how he met his Australian wife Maude. Maude lived with her mother in the boarding house. They married and moved to Sydney where they bought about 12 acres of land, lived in an old farm house and grew vegetables. He was a market gardener. They reckon he was the best white Chinaman in the area.
When John was growing up he had the music in him. They had this old piano and the white keys stuck so he used to play on the back keys. He only played the black keys for the rest of his life. One of his cousins who’s wife was an opera singer and son played in the Dusseldorf Orchestra said that he was very clever to be able to do that. John asked his father for a mouth organ. John picked it up and played it upside down for 80 years. He attached an oil can to his Harmonica and he could make the sound of a Didge or the sound of a train. We have had some great concerts where he entertained.
John left school at 14 and got a job as a porter on the Helensburgh station. One of his jobs was cleaning the toilet seats with the old gritty sand soap. The station master told him to stop using it as the commuters were complaining about getting gritty bums. He rose from that junior position to work on the steam trains. One day he was feeling very sick and he went home to the boarding house he was staying in. Even though his home was not far away it was easier and closer to stay in the boarding house. He went to sleep and while he was asleep a bug crawled in and ate the gristle inside his nose. It ate away the bridge of his nose. Nobody helped him or called the doctor. His nose was flat on his face. Eventually a local doctor had a go and botched it up. They ended up taking a piece of his rib to form the bridge in his nose.
John ended up scoring a Boilermaker job at one of the local hospitals in Sydney. At that time he heard that the Fire Brigade also needed some men so he did his training at Burwood and was sent to Broken Hill under my father. My father was the head man there. When John arrived in Broken Hill the mines were offering a big bonus and John said to my father…I’m sorry but I’m joining the mine but I will still volunteer here with the Fire Brigade. He got into the mines because he had his certificates.
He boarded in the same street as me and I used to see him come on his Norton motorbike. One day I asked my father who the good looking guy on the motorbike was and Dad said ‘That’s Jack Chestnut (they called him Jack) and they call him the singing fireman.’ He had a beautiful tenor voice.
One day he was playing the piano in the fire station hall. I thought I would go down and see this fellow. He was such a handsome fellow. I went down and stood behind him. After a while he sensed someone was there and he looked around. He told someone after…”I looked around and there was this angel.” That was the beginning of the romance. We went out a few times in Broken Hill which was like the wild wild west but you don’t care when you’re in love. We courted and he proposed. He asked my father for permission. John tells the story “ I asked Vic Dolman to marry his daughter and he said to me, ‘Can you keep a family? and I said “How many are there of you?” He loved a joke.”
“John was born in Lismore. His mother came here from Sydney to have John and when he was a week old she moved back to Sydney. He was reared around Stanwell Park. John’s father was from Northern Ireland and was the second last of 9 children. He drove light rail in the war. When the war finished he came back and found out that his brother had died, a sister had died, another brother was killed by a horse and his mother had died. It was all too much, he needed to get away from everything and he came out here to Australia. He never went back to Northern Ireland.
His first stop was Lismore. John’s grandmother was English. She came here and ran a boarding house in South Lismore. She ran two I think and she homed male boarders who worked on the railway. When Johns father came up he worked on the railway and that’s how he met his Australian wife Maude. Maude lived with her mother in the boarding house. They married and moved to Sydney where they bought about 12 acres of land, lived in an old farm house and grew vegetables. He was a market gardener. They reckon he was the best white Chinaman in the area.
When John was growing up he had the music in him. They had this old piano and the white keys stuck so he used to play on the back keys. He only played the black keys for the rest of his life. One of his cousins who’s wife was an opera singer and son played in the Dusseldorf Orchestra said that he was very clever to be able to do that. John asked his father for a mouth organ. John picked it up and played it upside down for 80 years. He attached an oil can to his Harmonica and he could make the sound of a Didge or the sound of a train. We have had some great concerts where he entertained.
John left school at 14 and got a job as a porter on the Helensburgh station. One of his jobs was cleaning the toilet seats with the old gritty sand soap. The station master told him to stop using it as the commuters were complaining about getting gritty bums. He rose from that junior position to work on the steam trains. One day he was feeling very sick and he went home to the boarding house he was staying in. Even though his home was not far away it was easier and closer to stay in the boarding house. He went to sleep and while he was asleep a bug crawled in and ate the gristle inside his nose. It ate away the bridge of his nose. Nobody helped him or called the doctor. His nose was flat on his face. Eventually a local doctor had a go and botched it up. They ended up taking a piece of his rib to form the bridge in his nose.
John ended up scoring a Boilermaker job at one of the local hospitals in Sydney. At that time he heard that the Fire Brigade also needed some men so he did his training at Burwood and was sent to Broken Hill under my father. My father was the head man there. When John arrived in Broken Hill the mines were offering a big bonus and John said to my father…I’m sorry but I’m joining the mine but I will still volunteer here with the Fire Brigade. He got into the mines because he had his certificates.
He boarded in the same street as me and I used to see him come on his Norton motorbike. One day I asked my father who the good looking guy on the motorbike was and Dad said ‘That’s Jack Chestnut (they called him Jack) and they call him the singing fireman.’ He had a beautiful tenor voice.
One day he was playing the piano in the fire station hall. I thought I would go down and see this fellow. He was such a handsome fellow. I went down and stood behind him. After a while he sensed someone was there and he looked around. He told someone after…”I looked around and there was this angel.” That was the beginning of the romance. We went out a few times in Broken Hill which was like the wild wild west but you don’t care when you’re in love. We courted and he proposed. He asked my father for permission. John tells the story “ I asked Vic Dolman to marry his daughter and he said to me, ‘Can you keep a family? and I said “How many are there of you?” He loved a joke.”