1935-2016
Father
Mother
Siblings
Norman John, Clifford George, Kenneth William, June Elsie, Gordon Bruce.
Married
Lyn Boaden
Children
Edward James, Graham William, Malcolm Douglas, Colin Matthew, Marcus Samuel, Benjamin Harold, Kristine Elsie
Ron’s Life
Ron was born in Tullamore, he lived with his parents at various sites around Tullamore, often in a tent following his father’s work of contract timber clearing and tank sinking until they purchased ‘Slapdown’, Fifield in the late 1930’s early 40’s which was to become their family home.
Ronnie worked the farm with his father and brothers and also supplemented his income as a shearer, he worked hard, shearing is a highly skilled job performed in searing heat and the cold of winter. The health of the sheep is also an issue – flyblown, cancers and cankers and the inevitable burrs that are cruel to hands, arms and thighs. It is a relentless day, 4 two hour runs where you only get paid by productivity, per sheep, any slackening off affects the pay cheque.
Being the third child with two elder brothers is often difficult but Ronnie earned a place for himself in the family taking no nonsense from anyone.
Ronnie married Lyn Boaden on 4th of April, 1964 in Orange. Lynny was a constant visitor to Slapdown as a child and she and Ronnie developed a lasting love for each other.
They started their life with the purchase of a farm at Condobolin. The 60’s were not kind to farmers – drought, crop diseases, exorbitant interest rates that severely tested farmers across the district.
Ronnie and Lyn made the decision to leave the farm and moved to Orange where he found employment in the manufacturing and construction industries. They welcomed a family of six sturdy sons and one treasured daughter. They bought up and educated their family in Orange.
Ronnie died in 2016, at home, in the heart of his family. His family scattered his ashes around sites in Condobolin and Fifield districts where he lived and worked. They returned a man of the land to the earth.
Authored by Leah Burnheim