“ I was born in 1937 in Kew Hospital, Victoria. Mum and Dad lived in Burwood and I went to Burwood State School number 461. I don’t think it’s there anymore and if it is, it’s a heritage building. I can still remember most of my teacher’s names. Our headmaster was Mr Gallagher and he used a Singer sewing machine strap which really hurt on a cold Monday morning if you hadn’t done your homework. He would come down hard with it like he was cracking a whip. They were cruel back then.
World War 2 was happening during that time and teachers were in short supply because a lot of them had enlisted so I did 5 years of primary school but covered 6 grades. I then went to Camberwell school for Forms 1 and 2 and completed Years 3, 4 and 5 at Box Hill High School. I had a good mate David at Box Hill and occasionally we would just walk out of the room, jump on our bikes and ride down to Mentone Beach. One day I came home red all over from sunburn..’Hi Mum, we had sport today!’ We were a bit naughty. I caught up with that friend years later. I’m a person who likes to keep in touch with people from my past.
I went to an Education Guidance Officer and was told my maths wasn’t good enough for Engineering but I could do Architecture. I don’t think the Architects would be very pleased about that. I did go and work as an Architect in South Melbourne. As luck would have it during those years I was offered a job in another Architect’s office which I took. My salary went up about 2 pounds.
I was involved with the Methodist Church so I applied and was accepted to go to college in Sydney to study Theology and train for the Ministry, which I did. My Dad wasn’t terribly impressed with having a son. I’ve been told by Doctors and Psychologists since, that it’s not an unusual thing if there is another male in the house taking the wife’s attention, even though he’s only a tiny baby. Staying home was going to be an uncomfortable option so I moved to Sydney and studied for 3 years at Enmore. I think I was the roughest student in the place because I probably spent more time on my motorbike than I did on New Testament Greek.
I married at the end of 1960 and my first posting was to Wilcannia out on the Darling River in 1961. You visited everybody, not just the Methodist people, everybody. The people were absolutely wonderful. They’d twist your arm to stay the night, take you out to the shed and fill your car with petrol. Bush people are amazing and I loved it. I’d been bought up in suburban Melbourne and here I was 600 miles west of Sydney, red dirt, dust storms, drought, floods, all that stuff but I met wonderful people that I’m still in touch with. In fact one couple I married I’m still in touch with the wife. The husband has passed but I baptised their little boy when he was 12 inches long. He’s now a Grandfather and he came during the floods and helped clean up my house. There are some good stories. We did 5 years in Wilcannia and had 2 daughters.
I was then appointed to Wittenoom up in the Pilbara, in the bush. I don’t think anyone else applied for it. When we first went to Mount Newman there was half a dozen tents with Geologists and Mining Engineers working out where they were going to mine. We stayed in a tent with the fellas. I used to go around to the cattle stations, it was a country bigger than Victoria. I had 3 years there, during which time we had a house built. When we first moved there was just a lean to on the side of the church which was primitive and hot. My marriage was failing there, not because of the isolation but for other reasons. We separated and my wife came back with our daughters which was extremely difficult and I shed a lot of tears. I used to see the children regularly.
I came back and got a job with Ted Noffs who had been at Wilcannia some years before me. He offered me a job and I said, When can I start? He said, in the morning. So I started at the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross. It was completely different to the outback but a great experience. We dealt with people just out of jail, drug users, prostitutes and people who were in deep trouble. I went to court a lot from the Wayside Chapel and got to know some of the Magistrates. They would say, Mr May, could you possibly find a job for young Matthew? Or could you find a place for this young girl to live? I’d say Yes, I’m pretty confident we can. They were glad to off load the problem to the Wayside Chapel. I spent a couple of years with Ted and I was running fast out of money as the pay was low.
I secured a job with Johnson and Johnson as a Personnel Officer where I worked for a couple of years. I took my boss out one night for a drink to ask what my future held. I had career aspirations in mind. He said, When old mate dies you can have his job. I thought to myself, old mate is looking pretty healthy to me. I ended up getting a job with the French oil company Total and I was there for 10 years. When Total was taken over by Ampol we were all made redundant so I went and did Management Consulting which was also good experience. I went from salary to 100% commission. If I didn’t make any money, I didn’t eat which is great motivation to get up in the morning. I stayed on for about 8 years and began to wind down when I was close to 60.
I worked for a gardener in Wahroonga and was doing woodturning as a hobby. I had lessons from a fellow called John Ewart who has also passed on now and he was an excellent teacher. I learnt a lot from him. I had lathes under my house in Newport, Sydney where I had a house overlooking Pittwater. I saw Charles and Diana coming up Pittwater one day in a boat and when I waved Diana waved back. Well, I thought so (laughs).
I fell in love with a lady who I subsequently married and I came to Evans Head because she had a health problem which was better treated with the climate here. She was better off than me financially which wasn’t my interest but she thought it was so off she went. A couple of years later I got a call from Bernice whom I’d met at the market in Evans Head. We’ve been together now for 18 years and we are such good mates. It’s a very precious thing in life.
After my wife had left Evans head I borrowed about 900 million dollars(laughs) to keep the house which was in Ocean Drive overlooking the ocean. I realised that it was too much. The bank balance was going down but I loved living there. The day came where I put the house on the market, sold it, payed the bank back and buy this place in Woodburn without a mortgage. I was determined to get a place with water out the front which is what I have now. I had already started an interest in Orchids and was a member of the Woodburn Orchid Society. This house had a greenhouse as the original owners had a nursery. After I bought it I built a hot house for my Orchids as well. I ended up with over several hundred orchids. I loved the Orchid Society. It was healthy, happy club, no nasty stuff and no nonsense is tolerated. That was a lovely interest to have till the February flood.”
