Bruce Fitzhannim a long-time Ashford district resident, World War II soldier and former tobacco farmer recently passed away. Bruce was born November 10, 1915 in Quirindi NSW. His father Drennan Fitzhannim, was a school teacher in the district but departed shortly after Bruce's birth to join the army in Scotland.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
They moved to the Ashford district Bruce and was raised by his grandfather, George Wells, until the age of nine, attending school at both Oaklyn and Trelawney. Bruce also spent time in Broke, NSW, living with his aunt Grace and proved to be such a bright student attending Broke and Payne's Crossing schools, he was enlisted to teach both 1st and 2nd class students. Life was hard for the studious young man, with 50 head of cows to be milked before school.
Bruce left school at the age of 14 and continued to work on dairy farms in the area and was to become one of the first irrigators in the Hunter Valley region growing lucerne.
During the winter of 1930 Bruce returned to the Ashford region to work on local properties trapping rabbits and, as Bruce often said "the rabbit was a poor man's independence". This was the time of the Great Depression and Bruce slept rough in a woolshed using a woolpack for a blanket. It was during this time Bruce started working on tobacco farms, mainly Beltana.
Bruce returned to Broke during 1936 to drive timber trucks, hauling logs used in the Construction of the Newcastle wharves and pit workings at local underground mines. The timber came from the Watagan State Forest which was extremely rough terrain and made for Some hair-raising journeys in an old, heavily laden truck.
Bruce returned to Ashford in 1938/39 where he began share farming and commenced growing tobacco, often employing his sisters to help out. Bruce attempted to enlist in the Army in 1940 but his application was rejected as his tobacco growing was classed as an "essential service". Bruce was determined to enlist and was finally accepted into the Australian Army in March 1942. Bruce entered the 17" Line of Communications Company and is, to this day, still a member of the association.
Bruce thought himself lucky he had a few sheep and cattle to fall back on in tough times... and there were always the rabbits.
Bruce traveled widely during his years of service and, most notably, was serving in Darwin during the Japanese attacks. Bruce had many tales to tell of the attacks and also possessed some very rare photographs taken with an old camera which he kept secreted away.
It was during leave from the army that Bruce met his future wife at a picnic at Wells' Crossing near Ashford. Bruce and Jenette married in April 1944 and shared 68 wonderful years together before Jenette's death in 2012.
Bruce was discharged from the army in 1945 and continued to grow tobacco for the next 40 years in the Ashford area, finally settling on Oaklyn West. Bruce often reminisces about the days growing tobacco and the hard work it involved. In the early days of growing, tobacco was dried in tall sheds using a wood fire which required frequent stoking, and had to remain lit 24 hours a day for a week.
Bruce firmly believed the young people of today just don't know what hard work is all about. The life of a tobacco farmer was hard, as it is for at those on the land, and Bruce experienced many setbacks including three major hailstorms in his first five years on Oaklyn West that destroyed his entire tobacco crop. He also suffered heavy losses during major flooding in both 1955 and 1976.
As Bruce rightly pointed out, there were no government assistance packages back then and you just had to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going, Bruce thought himself lucky he had a few sheep and cattle to fall back on in tough times... and there were always the rabbits.
Bruce's skills, hard work and tenacity as a tobacco grower were proven in 1953, when Bruce obtained the world record price for the season for his tobacco of 181 pence a pound, which beat the price for leaf from the tobacco famous Mareeba area in North QLD and put the Ashford region on the map for tobacco growing.
Bruce firmly believed that if Australia was to hold its own in the international market, our leaf quality had to be good and he continued to lead Australia in the field of tobacco growing for many years, producing exactly that; top quality leaf. During 1966, Bruce became a director of the Tobacco Co-op and it was a role he actively continued until he ceased growing tobacco in 1984. The end of the tobacco era saw Bruce shift his interests to fine wool and lucerne production, and it is these same fields for which Oaklyn West is still renowned to this day.
Bruce also admits to a passion for cars in his younger days and proudly tells of his first car which was an "A" Model Ford and quite well known about the district. The "A" model was replaced by a V8 Ford Ute in 1937 and then a Vanguard.
Although a very busy man, Bruce found time to enjoy a few games of tennis and was quite the player on the local circuit. He also has a passion for cricket and his fondest memory is of seeing ‘The Don’, Donald Bradman, play at Cessnock. Bruce still followed cricket and tennis to this day but missed the grace and style of players such as Donald Bradman.
As Bruce celebrated his birthday in November, the question arose, as it always does... what is your secret to a long life? Bruce's answer - Live a simple life with everything in moderation, eat your Uncle Toby's Oats out of the same bowl every morning and be sure to add plenty of sugar and salt.