Byron’s Living Icons Tell.
The Year World War II Came to Byron Bay and Dad's Army in Byron Bay
Interviews with Arthur Malin
Tassie III
I was down at the “New Jetty” fishing one morning. It was a very misty morning around 5.30 on 9 June 1945 when I saw this ship coming into the Bay. It turned out to be the Tassie III an American munitions ship on its way to New Guinea but I did not know that at the time. It was looking for safe anchorage at the jetty and went to the “Old Jetty” not the new one,
Due to poor charts or poor weather or just bad seamen ship the Tassie III tried to moor at the decommissioned Old Jetty instead of the New Jetty and as a result grounded and became wedged into the old jetty structure and subsequently sunk. No lives of the crew were lost but the story that developed from there is not so lucky.
I saw it pull up to the Old Jetty from where I was on the New Jetty a few hundred yards west up the beach and did not realise what had happened so I got on my bike and rode home to tell my dad. He must have already heard about it because he told me not to go near it because of some trouble or something.
They way I remember it a few kids who lived at the Bay, who I knew, got onto the boat after the crew had got off and gone into town and broke into the bridge and stole some stuff. One of the things they stole was the captain’s pistol. Well, the police got involved and were questioning everyone in town about it but no one was talking so, the police did not get the gun back. A few months later one of the kids who had taken the gun had a blue with his Dad about something or another and the Dad got really angry and said that he was going to call the police and set off on his push bike to go to the police station down Shirley Street. Well, the young fell who had the gun, he was a wild young bloke, he grabbed the gun which he had under the house and fired a shot or two at his Dad riding up the street. He did not hit his Dad luckily but I am pretty sure he ended up in Grafton jail because of it. Well, that is how I remember it anyway.
Another thing that happened with the Tassie III was some of the kids got hold of some of the munitions off the boat; a flare and some stuff and took it up to the back yard of one of their house. Kids being kids, they decided to try and pull it apart so with a whole lot of them sitting around the started to hit it with a hammer or something. Anyway, it exploded and injured some of them really badly after that the police went to every house in the Bay and questioned every one to make sure that no one else had any more explosives.
Army Target Practice – Julian Rocks Under Fire
Also during the 1940 war years, we had the army blokes always coming to town and they would camp at “The Pass” and up around the beach.
They had a Vickers machine gun and for some reason they decided to give the town a demonstration of how the machine gun worked. So they set up a target drum, painted white, in the surf off the middle reef and had shots at it with the machine gun. It was very impressive to see the machine gun fire so many bullets.
The army also had a cannon but I am not sure what size it was and it was to be used to shoot at any Japanese ships that might sail into the bay, so the army decided to have some target practice with this also and they put another drum target out off the reef and had a few shots at it also.
For some reason the Army also thought that it would be a great idea to have some night practice at the target so they got my father, who was one of the fishermen in the Bay at the time with a boat, to tow the target out to the reef at night and the plan was to give me and Dad (because I went out with Dad in the boat to help), about 10 minutes to get away from the target before they put a spot light on it and started shooting.
Well, when we dropped the target drum and starter to motor back to the jetty in no time at all they started shooting at it. Dad was really upset and I was pretty scared because we thought we could be in the firing line of the silly buggers. The army asked Dad if he would help them set buoys for target practice another time but after that scare he was not having any part of it.
Then because they had no other targets they had a few pot-shots with the cannon at the Julian Rocks. Not sure how many times they hit it but I would not like to be out there when they were shooting. They must have blown a few chunks off it, though.
Interview with Daisy Dare
Interview with Daisy Dare 14 May 2018 at her home 109 Broken Head Road, Byron Bay.
Daisy was born on 23 April 1921 – her maiden name was Lavercombe and she had 1 older brother and 3 older sisters. As her siblings were a lot older she was not very close to them growing up. She was born in Newrybar and lived there till she was nine. Her father ran the blacksmith’s business with his brother. Her grandparents lived in Newrybar and her grandfather was a teacher at the local school.
Daisy said her parents were old fashioned Methodists and went to church every Sunday and Daisy remembers Sunday school run by the Watson sisters (her term ‘two old maids’). Her mother played the organ at their church and other local churches. They had an organ in the home.
She started school at Newrybar and as it wasn’t far to walk to school. She enjoyed school and then at age 9 the family moved to Broken Head and she went to the Broken Head school – opposite the hall. The family bought a dairy farm and her father still had the blacksmith business. They supplied cream to Norco and the cream carrier picked it up from the farm.
With grandparents and other relatives in Newrybar, Christmas was celebrated at her grandparents with around 35 attending and a suckling pig for lunch. Daisy left school at 14 – then there was no bus to Ballina for her to continue her schooling. She helped her dad on the farm – milking the cows and other farm work – she enjoyed outside work.
At age 17 she started work with the Gray family at St Helena – family friends - and did housework, helping with the children and milking cows and her pay was 17/6 shillings per week. Whilst there she met Allan Dare, who was working and also living at the Gray farm and they began courting. She remembers being on the back of Allan’s pushbike coming down to the Bay and going to the pictures at the Literary Institute and also going by bus to the Lismore Show. Then she came down to the Bay and worked for a family – housework and childminding - and although the pay was less she enjoyed that job. Then she worked for the Richards family – they had a shop in town and although the pay was better she didn’t enjoy that job. She then went back to work on the family farm and became engaged to Allan.
When Daisy was back on the farm, she used to ride into town on her horse and tether it at her uncle’s house (the brick house opposite Mitre 10) and walk to town for dressmaking classes at the Literary Institute (she still has the ruler from that time). She also used to ride with Isobel Foster (still lives up from the Broken Head hall) to a friend's house (currently RSL nursing home) and then catch the bus to town to go to the pictures and they would then stay the night at the friend's house.
Daisy married Allan Dare – she was 20 and he was 23 in 1941 at the Byron Bay Methodist church. Her cousin made her wedding dress and they went over to Lismore for the material and her bouquet was orchids from her aunt – both local. She got dressed at the house of her first employers in town and a friend from Bangalow had a funny old car and drove them to the church. They had around 30 guests and the reception was a local café (now a chemist up from NAB bank) and sandwiches, cakes and a wedding cake. They caught the train to Brisbane – first time there and stayed for a week at a friend’s house. When they returned they lived with Allan’s father in town and Allan worked on Daisy’s dad's farm at Broken Head. In 1942, Allan went into the Army and was based in Newcastle and Daisy went down to stay with relatives in Maitland. After that, Allan was posted to New Guinea and Daisy came home to her parent’s farm. Allan was discharged before the end of the war as he was needed to work on the parents’ farm. Val, the eldest of their four children, was born prior to his return at Bangalow hospital. At that time Byron Bay wasn’t open.
Alan and Daisy bought the farm from her parents and were there for about ten years – supplying milk to Norco and also beef cattle. The NORCO delivery truck drivers brought the mail and newspapers, and bread and meat came from Newrybar. Using Allan’s War Service loan, they bought another farm at Broken Head and on both farms Daisy helped with milking and other
farm chores.
The four children went to Broken Head primary school and later caught the bus down to Ballina High. Daisy was involved in school activities mainly doing Tuckshop duties at Ballina High. Alan was involved in organising social nights at the Broken Head hall. With the four children, they came by sulky up to Tallow Beach. They also used Daisy’s dad’s ute to come up to Main Beach and watch the surf carnival. They built the house at 109 Broken head Road and moved there 50 years ago. After moving there Daisy applied to Walkers Meatworks and worked there for five years. She drove to work – had a Valiant. She did packing, cleaning and enjoyed her time there. During that time, she had an accident – the string went around the hacker and she lost half a finger. She was looked after at Byron Bay hospital. Daisy left the Meatworks as she decided to go to Cairns on a holiday with her daughter and husband. Daisy played competition tennis and she and Allan loved gardening and fishing. They fished at Tallow Beach, catching Swallowtail, Bream and Taylor.
In 1979, Daisy and Alan travelled around Australia for over four months in a caravan. They went north up to the Atherton Tableland and then across to the Northern Territory, onto Alice Springs. From Alice Springs they drove across to Western Australia and after that travelled across the Nullabor to Adelaide and then onto Melbourne. They visited their daughter in Sydney and then travelled back to Byron Bay. Amazing trip.
Allan died in 2009 aged 90 and since then Daisy has had home help from Feros via eligibility from Veteran Affairs from Allan’s war service. She has help with showering, cleaning once a week and transport for shopping, meetings and outings. Daisy is amazed at how much the town has changed since she was young but is generally positive about the changes – overall Daisy is a very positive person. She has had cancer but is fine now and at 97 is in excellent health. She has a small exercise bike – sits in her chair and uses it daily to keep fit - cooks her own meals and is driven to Suffolk Park supermarket to do her weekly shopping, manages her finances (her daughter takes her to the bank but she sorts out any details). Daisy said she loves going out – her son-in-law takes her out to dinner each Thursday at the Suffolk Park Hotel (her daughter died from MS in 2013) and she still attends the monthly meetings of the Ladies auxiliary of the RSL and her son-in-law takes her to the ANZAC day service. She is still a member of the garden club, regularly attending the meetings. She is entitled to a weekly outing of around two hours, enjoys getting a muffin and coffee and the staff member from Feros takes her up to the beachfront to enjoy what is happening. My thoughts – how modern and up to date at 97.
NB: Daisy turned 100 on 23rd April 2021, and unfortunately cannot now live in her house at Suffolk Park. She is currently a resident of Bangalow Feros.
ANZAC Day 2015 Speech
By Ella Whan, Byron Bay Public School
There is one member of my family who gets talked about a lot although no one has ever met him. This is my great great uncle, George Stent. He died at the age of 21 in the 3rd infantry brigade at Leans Trench, Anzac Beach. I'd like to share with you his story put together through his letters, his diary, and stories my grandmother has told me.
George Stent was born in 1894 in the gold fields of Central Victoria. He was the eldest of 5 children and had a difficult childhood as his mother died when he was only 11. After his mother’s death, his father migrated to the Kalgoorlie goldfields, Western Australia, to try and provide for his children. He took George and Ethel, leaving the three youngest behind with a Scottish lady. George left school when he was 14 and he began to work in the Kalgoorlie post office. In March of 1915 he finally passed his medical exam for the army. After getting knocked back three times because of a past injury to his leg. George was formally enlisted as Private 2220, into the Australian Imperial Forces on 7 April 1915.
He was sent to train at Blackboy Hill and in mid-May the troops were being prepared to go away. So before my great-great uncle went to war, he went back to Kalgoorlie to say goodbye to his friends and family. George's sister Ethel was sick with diphtheria and George was only able to say goodbye through the hospital window. When he returned to Blackboy Hill he stayed out late in Perth with his girlfriend Edie. This was probably one of the best nights of his life.
On the 7th of June 1915 George got on a boat to go to Gallipoli. He wrote in his diary…."The men were very pleased with the news, singing and cheering and when we were all ready and leaving Blackboy Hill we were cheered by the other recruits who were training there. There were people all along the railway line wishing us goodbye. Arrived at Fremantle and left the jetty at about 1.15pm amongst cheering and yelling of people….."
It took them 3 weeks to cross the Indian Ocean before they started traveling up through the Red Sea towards Port Suez, Egypt. The sites of Cairo were too hard to resist and George and some of his mates got into trouble for missing parade and going to the movies in Cairo one night. He was confined to camp for 7 days. They embarked for the Dardanelles on the 31st of July. George was issued with 150 rounds of ammunition, a hatchet knife and a cholera belt. They arrived at Lemnos Island at 6am on Tuesday 3rd of August. From there the troops were transferred to a mine sweeper. George's last diary entry says "Boys very happy, in good spirits. Destroyer accompanying us all the way. About 800 on board." On Wednesday 4th of August 140 men, including George, reported for duty at Anzac Cove. The men had a day to settle in before the events of the following day.
At 4:30 in the morning on the 6th of August the Turkish attacked in force at Leans Trench. They delivered a heavy bomb attack and the Anzacs tried to fight back but the Turkish were already in the trench. George was one of those killed. He was severely wounded by a machine gun fire. He died on Anzac beach and was buried at Shell Green Cemetery. He lies there to this day.
In his hometown of Kojonup there is a memorial plaque with George's name on it and the words "their names liveth for evermore". At home I have a memorial plaque that has been handed down to my dad and even though George never got to have a family or children the memory of George Stent is kept alive through the stories that have been told and handed down the generations and through his great, great nephew who was named George after him. On this Anzac Day, I would like to say in honour of my great, great Uncle George Stent - "Lest We Forget".