Reconnecting — a blast from the past

Recently, The Courier received communication from a former local resident who had googled the paper and recognised my byline.

The writer wondered if I was the same Barb Love who had joined them on a long weekend in the late 1980s to White Cliffs and Tibooburra in outback NSW in their four-seater aircraft, which took off from Tocumwal.

Well, imagine my excitement. It was indeed a blast from the past — and yes, it was me.

Locals will undoubtedly remember Roberta — or Bobbie, as she is affectionately known — and pharmacist husband Gary Himing, our skilled pilot.

The popular couple were well respected and became involved in many aspects within the town.

The trip, for a girl who had not long been out of Melbourne, was an experience to say the least: from the rocking of the small plane as we were battered by strong winds to landing in outback scrub on a small runway and being picked up by an old utility to go into White Cliffs where we stayed in the local pub.

We enjoyed drinks in the public bar with local characters and a delicious home-cooked meal in the kitchen with the generous publican and his family due to a strong relationship Gary had built over the years. We slept in basic accommodation where if you required toilet facilities after 11pm, when the power was turned off, you had to find a torch or cigarette lighter to light the way as you crossed the car park to use the facilities.

In Tibooburra, which was a larger town with more than 100 residents, our accommodation at the hotel was great but running desperately low on food supplies as the food train had not been able to get through for six weeks after solid rainfall for weeks had made roads impassable. However, the road train came through the very next day, much to the relief and delight of the locals.

So many years have passed since both our families left Cobram and yet time floated away as Bobbie and I chatted animatedly not only about the fabulous trip we shared, but the fantastic years spent with our families in Cobram.

Today Bobbie and Gary enjoy life in Broadbeach on the 22nd floor of an elegant apartment building just one street away from the ocean while their three children, Bradley, Debbie and Linden, live close by on the Gold Coast. The couple have five grandchildren, who are all successfully making their way in life.

Gary is nearing 85 and Bobbie is just a year younger.

Gary plays golf two to three days a week and attends pilates classes, while unfortunately Bobbie, who underwent spinal surgery in 2020, has not been so lucky yet continues to remain stoic despite requiring a flashy mobility scooter to get about. She remains grateful for what she can do assisted by her wonderful caring family.

For many years Bobbie kept a diary of their travels both overseas and locally, and this was to become the basis of a book she wrote entitled A Letter to Lulu, which is available on Kindle and Amazon. A great accomplishment, considering the pain she suffered post surgery, and one that has been therapeutic both physically and emotionally.

Bobbie’s memories of Cobram

Today, on the 22nd floor of an apartment building on the Gold Coast, my memories are sparked to momentarily return to our many years raising a young family with Gary as one of two respected pharmacists in town.

Why did I feel an impulse to google Cobram Courier? Was it the fact we had just received a large envelope from the Governor of Australia with a congratulatory card expressing acknowledgment of our 60 years of marriage, or my thoughts and memories returning to those wonderful years spent in the beautiful state of Victoria on the Murray River.

Then spotting the name of the editor of On The Grapevine, a familiar name from all those years ago I felt compelled to re-connect with, even if only briefly, in appreciation of all that the heart of this town in Moira Shire offered us during the mid-1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s.

Where are the names now that we were so familiar with during the years of the 1975 flood, when the townspeople and farming people stood side by side sandbagging, business folk, those on orchards and dairy farms and not forgetting our volunteer firefighters during the fires a little later on? So many familiar family names that continued the legacy of ‘getting on with it’ serving the community and serving humanity.

The womenfolk of Cobram were never short on fundraising efforts, including baking and selling cakes outside shops on a Saturday morning. Lamington drives were a favourite. We all wore ‘many hats’ as volunteers, including my years with the Girl Guide movement. Where would country towns be without the volunteers?

Sport was a highlight, with Little Athletics on Saturday mornings, tennis, footy with the Cobram Tigers, from Elephants and Ants to the senior teams. Wednesdays were tennis days for the ladies. The mammoth efforts of Apexians preparing for the annual Peaches and Cream festival at Thompsons Beach was always a highlight. Local service clubs altruistically served the community at every level. The Apex Christmas stocking in the main street was always a great hit, as was the Rotary Club’s exchange student incentive. We were gifted many exchange students over the years who came to Cobram to experience a little of country ‘culture.’

And so, thank you Cobram community for being a part of our lives during those precious years. Gary is grateful he can still play golf and attend pilates classes to keep himself fit, while I have a large shiny red mobility scooter to move about the community now and Pinocchio-style wet spaghetti legs, following my spinal surgery in early 2020. While I have lost some of my physical ability, I have, however, written a 400-page odyssey of my life, A Letter to Lulu … by Roberta Beverley.

We have experienced an incredibly colourful life, along with Gary taking Cobram mates on outback flying trips in his four-seater Cessna 182 that was hangered at Tocumwal. His pharmacy days at the Amcal Pharmacy in Cobram were followed many years later as a locum in various country towns, including Lightning Ridge, but sadly Gary gave up his wings soon after and the Cobram pharmacy was partly taken over by Paul Ukich in 1995 who later began a partnership with Tamara Bate.

Thank you, Cobram, with fond memories and warm love from Roberta (Bobbie).

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Sunday, 31st March 2024

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