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History of the Central Highlands of Tasmania

Taking my boy fishing up the lakes

What was even more rewarding is when I finally got the chance to take my son up to the Great Lake. Both my brother and I are very excited to take Moby up the lakes, to teach him everything our father had taught us when he took us up, and pay our respects at the memorial gate for his Pop.

When the day arrives, Grandma drives Moby and me up to my brother’s farm. We’ll then jump into Ashley’s Ute to head up the lakes to spend the night at his shack with him and Sharni. My sister Tracey is then going to pick Grandma up, some time after we leave, and take her up to the lakes to say gday and pay respects. Although the length of the time that Grandma will wait is unknown. While it is family folklore that our Pop McGee was always early. It is family folklore that my Sister is often late. To be fair she is a very busy person, with lots of competing priorities, as she organises her family, her business, helping her husband Chris run his business, and steam train hobbies. It all keeps her very busy, which means she is often very distracted and tardy. So, we weren’t in a rush.

We pack our bag into the Ute, jump in, and off we go. I ask my brother to drive past Pop and Grandma’s old farm, just so I can show Moby. Then as we’re driving along we point out Pop’s old school, and the track beside the road that Pop used to ride his horse down every day to get there. Which is story deeply etched into our family folklore. Not because of the content, but because he insisted on telling that story to everyone, all the time, over and over again.

When we reach the farm, the new owner Robbie is parked out the front. So we stop to say gday, he warmly welcomes us, then invites us in to give Moby and Sharni a guided tour of the farm on his ATV, while we sit down with his wife for a coffee. They are such nice people and it’s so nice that they proudly open their property for us. They also speak very highly of the way my grandparents helped them out when they bought the farm off them. Our extended family are regular guests and each member is warmly welcomed back into our ancestral home. Ah nutritious.

On my grandparents’ farm
On a tour of the farm on the ATV

However, by the time we left, it was close to lunchtime and we were still a long way from the lakes. So we did the smart thing and stopped for lunch in Deloraine. My brother took us to the most amazing café called, Cruzin’ in the 50s Diner, which is full of racing car memorabilia and lots of other fancy stuff. Moby found a toy car that he bought with money his Nonno had given him and then he also bought one for Sharni, which was just delightful.

We’re Cruzin in the 50s for lunch

We then consider that perhaps we should let our Sister and Mother know that we haven’t made it up the lakes yet, and that they could meet us at the diner. So we shoot off a text message while we eat lunch and explore all the amazing memorabilia.

We finish lunch and still haven’t heard from them. Turns out they never received the text message because mobile reception up the Lakes is virtually nonexistent. They had beaten us up the Lakes and found a locked cold empty shack. Our sister had beaten us going up the Lakes!

Here you are witnessing the creation of a deeply etched family folklore tale that will told for generations. Trust me, we will never live this one down. It will be used in so many different contexts i.e. there’s more chance of our sister beating us up the Lakes!

Dane McCormack
Dane McCormackhttps://danemccormackauthor.wordpress.com/home/
Dane McCormack was born and raised in Tasmania. He escaped to the mainland to pursue his career and has worked as a Business Transformation specialist for several of the world’s biggest companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and KPMG. His love of writing was reawakened as he explored how he survived and thrived through a recent cancer journey. After being given 24hours to live several times and losing his long-term memories, he set out on a mighty quest to find them and wrote his autobiography. It emphasised just how important history is because it made him who he was, which helped him survive and thrive. It left him determined to leave a legacy for his family. He’s now sharing his stories, to help others dealing with tough times and develop their careers. He is also exploring his family and friends’ history in more detail.

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