History Notes - Rotary Bikeathon

History Notes

This week I have been going through a box of papers which have waited too long to be sorted and placed in the museum. They are a collection of poems, some of which are not suitable for general exhibition. However, I have found the poem about the Rotary Bikeathon.

In years gone by Barraba used to get together to raise money for organizations and have a lot of fun at the same time - something we rarely do these days. I do not know who wrote the poem and most, or all of those mentioned are now deceased.

The bike ride was from Barraba to Bingara and most of the riders had nicknames. Those gathering at the start were Stormy Waters, Sawdust and Whiplash - these riders loved 'dawn riding' especially in a car.

The second verse begins with Barefoot {Mo Witten)-who had made his pile when Woolaway was up and Artist (Rupert Richardson) with hair as white as snow. Legal documents (Peter Gilmore) came to lend a hand.

The eight verses are all quite amusing especially for those citizens who remember this Rotary Club. A few others who joined in, such as Trixie Garland who was noted as hard and tough - just the sort that "won't say die". There are lots of other names but I have not been able to connect them to a name I know. Pedaling Pete Pater may be the poem's author and Spring Roll bore the badge of gameness as he came in last.

There is another poem composed by great grandfather, John Spencer of Nangarah describing a cricket match between Barraba and Crow Mountain. There was a man named Jawson playing with Crow Mountain and he was known to play well - he was a man of colour but I do not know anything else about him. Jawson bowled the doctor out, removing the middle stump, for 6 runs.

Then Max Alpirr for a duck. When it was time for Jawson to bat for Crow Mountain the Barraba team managed to run him out which was a great relief. I wonder if anyone knows about Jawson apart from the fact that he came to the Woodsreef area and appears in a couple of cricket matches.

Changing the subject, I have had a phone call from a cousin of Pricilla Williams nee Carmody. He has a collection of things from the Carmody family and will bring them to the society in a month or two. He knows the story of the pony .. who enjoyed a beer and can probably tell us a bit more about the Carmody family.