RON & THELMA SUGARS
Written by Pat Brooksby
Ron was a city kid who left school at 14 to work in a bicycle factory but left to be a farm hand in the SA Mallee. He enlisted from Kunlara and served 100 days in the Army in Egypt, Palestine and New Guinnea. After the war he married and leased land at Kunlara until he was accepted into the WSLSS. At first he worked and lived in the South East but grew disgruntled at the allocation system there and moved to Parndana in 1949. The hours worked in the scheme counted towards allocation, no matter which particular area, and in 1951 he was assigned a block alongside what became Birchmore as the established farmers and new Soldier Settlers set up a hall built from materials from the sale of the Parndana East Camp buildings, and tennis / netball courts and an oval.
Both Ron and Thelma were active in the community and served in in official positions as they played sports and raised money for facilities. The intersection at the end of the farm was used as a meeting place to car pool into RSL or Lodge in Kingscote, and for a last drink or two as they parted on the way home. It became known as “Pub Corner”. Later as Parndana township grew Ron attended RSL in their newly built hall and was an inaugural member of the Parndana Buffalo lodge which helped fund that hall. He also had one of the original shares in the Parndana Community Club as that began. Later as the Birchmore residents aged they wanted a Lawn Bowls facility but the original site did not have the water needed. The then mayor, Mr Beinke, donated a parcel of land that had well water available and the Birchmore Bowls club was born. Thelma went on to become Islander Sports Woman of the year due to her successful bowling abilities. She also played golf at the Hilltop Women’s Club set up on Ollie Bald’s land. This was the first women’s club in Australia.
Like many settlers they helped build the local community and created a social and sporting life for their families. The story is similar to that of Stokes Bay, Karatta, Gosse and Parndana districts.