JOHN & MELVA COOMBS
We loaded up our worldly belongings, covered them with tarpaulins we had and set off for Parndana. The water along the road from Murray’s corner to Augie Boettcher’s was six inches deep all the way. At the camp itself, the G.M. 6 wheel drive got over to Alec’s hut but my poor Chev 2 wheel drive sunk up to the axle. Still raining, mud up to the knees, and wet to the skin, we moved in. The furniture had to be dried off as best we could. We were there, just five months after we started from Karoonda.
Pat was going to high school and had to be conveyed to the bottom of Kohinoor Hill each morning to catch the bus each morning and evening. Typical KI roads. Ironstone gravel, full of potholes all winter, and corrugations all summer. Our 1939 Chev car earned her keep. The first winter we couldn’t drive over to our hut, so the car had to be left some distance away and everybody had to walk. Rubber boots for all. Quite a change from Karoonda.
Nobody complained much. To go to a dance in the camp hall, we had to wear our rubber boots and carry shoes. Tilley lights for illumination to and from, as well as in the hall. Everybody joined in and we all got along well together – 50 families from all over Australia, and later migrants from Europe.
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