I have written about some of motorsport activities in the past, but Bev’s prompt reminded me of a situation that did throw a ‘curved ball’.

To set the scene, the event was held at Sydney Motorsport Park in October 1999. The event was the Alfa Romeo Club’s six-hour relay race. This event is not actually a race, but a reliability test, run over a period of six hours. There are teams of between two and six cars, with from one to three drivers. On the first day, all cars must complete testing and then complete a number of laps to establish a nominated lap time for the following day.

Points are awarded for the greatest number of laps completed closest to the nominated lap time.  Points are deducted for times over and under the nominated time.

The qualifying runs and times had been set for the day, when the Team Captain called all of our team drivers to a meeting. This is where the ‘curved ball’ appeared. He advised the team that I would be starting the race the next day. This meant a one hour stint on the circuit, completing laps as close to my nominated time as possible. The unfortunate aspect was, that it is usually in the first few laps that the incidents occur.

An experienced driver suggested that if we were to draw on the inside of the grid, then just stick to the lefthand side and go.

One car from each team starts the ‘race’ and at predetermined times during the race, the ‘sash’ is transferred to the next car. The Velcro slip is transferred from the front mudguard of one car to the next as shown here. The ‘sash’ is the red item in the man’s hand.

The 1999 6 Hour Relay at Eastern Creek comprised 42 Teams, 166 Cars and 214 Drivers. Believed to be possibly a world record. Guinness took photos of the grid set up on the Saturday. It was the largest participant motor sport event in Australia that year.

The next morning,we did in fact draw the inside of the grid. I was rather nervous about the start, however when the start lights went out, most of the drivers veered to the right, giving me a clear passage all the way down to the first turn, and being on the inside I had ‘right of way’ at the first turn.

I managed to complete almost thirty laps without incident, when the alternator warning light came on, so I signalled that I was coming into the pits. The sash was then transferred to the next car, with the Escort being taken out the back of the garage to cool down before being refuelled for the next driver.

Whilst I was very nervous starting the race, after around five laps you seem to get into a rhythm, and then only have to watch for slower cars, or incidents on the circuit in front of you.
​
I must have settled down very well, as a few days after the event I received a phone call telling me that I had won the driver’s performance award for the number of laps completed closest to my nominated time. This was from a field of 214 drivers.  ​

Barry O'Connor
​October 2025

In August 1994, I was transferred to Sydney by my employer Nissan Diesel, to take up the position of National Parts Manager.  Upon arrival the General Manager informed me that I was also the National Marketing Manager for both trucks and parts. I did enquire as to the possibility of two remuneration packages, however that request was met with a fairly negative response! My wife was also able to secure a transfer to Sydney with her employer, Komatsu Earthmoving Equipment.

With a view to our eventual retirement, in 2000 we commenced a search for a potential property. My wife had never lived on a farm; however, I had been fortunate to have spent all my life except for 15 years, growing up and living on farms, in small rural communities.
After an extensive search commencing at Armadale in NSW and following the ‘rain shadow’ down the Great Dividing Range, in February 2002 my wife and I purchased ‘Condarra’, a 570-acre property in the Samaria Valley. The property was leased out, with the longer-term view of moving onto the property when we eventually retired.

In May 2006 I was asked by the Managing Director to complete a ‘due diligence’ report for Mack, Volvo and Nissan Diesel, Australasian operations. This was completed as part of the impending take-over of Nissan Diesel in Japan by Volvo and involved a complete assessment of staff and manufacturing capacities, distribution/dealer network, market penetration, sales and profitability, along with market projections for the next five years.

On completion of the report several issues arose. Our efficient distribution and support for Nissan Diesel products had us placed within the top 100 companies in Australia for sales per employee. The ‘due diligence’ report highlighted the fact that our division was by far the most efficient and profitable of the three companies. I was further swayed by the fact that I would have to move a 15,000-line-item warehouse to the other side of Sydney, whilst maintaining a level of service to our dealer network.

Following the confirmation of the proposed company take-over by Volvo extending to Australia, the sudden death of a close friend, and forecast changes within the structure of our respective companies, and the fact that the tenant on the farm wished to move on, my wife and I decided to take early retirement. For me it would be a ‘home coming’, for my wife ‘a change of direction’.

We moved to ‘Condarra’ in August 2006 and became active in several community groups. This was a complete change of direction for my wife; however, I was very familiar with the community support structures that exist in the ‘bush’. As a former farmer, and a successful manager in the corporate world, you tend not to be idle for any length of time. In Swanpool there were seventeen community groups for a population of only six hundred people. I re-joined the CFA in 2007 after a break of fifteen years.

During the initial period of ‘retirement’, I also became involved with the Benalla U3A and two of the local history groups.  I have written several history books on the region, the latest being the history of the Benalla & District Fire Brigades Group which looks like being 400 pages.

I often stop and ask myself, “How t did I ever have time to go to work?”
 
Barry O’Connor,
​September 2025 

​I did my driving lessons with my mother whilst driving from Wollert to the Epping railway station to catch the train to and from work. After several months, it was decided that I should have a couple of lessons with a licenced driving instructor, which I did. After two lessons, it was in the driving instructor’s opinion that I was ready to go for my licence test as soon as I was eligible.

In 1966 I was 18 and went for my driver’s licence at the Epping Police Station. At this point in time, the Police Station was manned by a single policeman by the name of Mr. Gray. The Police Station was a weatherboard home with a small lock-up in the garden.

Whilst I passed my licence test on the day after my 18th birthday, I did not have enough money saved to buy a car at that point. I was working in the Commonwealth Bank and whilst I was paying board at home, every available cent was being saved towards a car. I did eventually save around the anticipated amount, along with a small loan from the staff credit union, to buy a secondhand car.

The FC Holden was selected, as my father had purchased a new FC Utility in 1958 for his building business and had a good run with it, having been driven from Wollert to Box Hill six days a week.

In 1967 I found a car at a dealership in Bell Street, Preston.

It was a 1958 model, identical to the one shown here. It was in very good condition and had the optional extras of a sun visor, radio and heater. From memory I paid $480 for it.

​The car got plenty of use. Not only did it get me to and from work, it was also used for a number of outings for friends to such events as Young Farmers Balls at various points around the state. With bench seats front and back, it could accommodate six people comfortably. In 1970 I did fit seat belts but did not retain the car long after that.

Later in 1970 I traded the FC in, and purchased a 1966 model Valiant Regal sedan, identical to the one shown here, which was a real step up, in comfort and performance. It had the slant six motor which was very economical.

​I can remember the registration number of this car - it was JOE-215.


Barry O’Connor
​August 2025.

Many years ago I was in Kununurra in Western Australia, when it was decided to take a scenic flight out over the Bungle Bungle Range and also fly over the Argyle Diamond Mine, which was at that time still operating.

We had flown over the vast mine site and were making a loop back towards Kununurra, when I notice some very straight fault lines, in what is normally very ‘rounded’ landscape. From our altitude it appeared the some of these faults reached the horizon, and were that straight, it looked like somebody had created them with laser beam for guidance.

I attempted to capture these straight fault lines, however by the time the camera took the image we had moved on.

I have never really been sure if what I saw was real. Was it a line on the aircraft window, or was I just imagining this phenomenon?

I was recently watching a beautifully filmed television special on the Kimberley Region, when I spotted these straight fault lines again. Well, I was not imagining anything, these lines were real!!
​
The search began through the many hundreds of images on the internet. Bingo!! The fault lines were located and very real, and located near the Piccaninny Creek area in the Purnululu National Park.     

Purnululu National Park.     

Barry O'Connor
​July 2025

Further to report last month on the aircraft crash at Lilydale in February 1982, this is the reason I was attending the Lilydale event.

I am not sure to this day, how I became involved with this display at the event at Lilydale airport in 1982. I was managing the Kenworth truck dealership in Footscray at the time.  The display had been organised by some of the factory staff in Bayswater, who were members of the local Rotary Club, which had organised the Lilydale airshow as a fundraising event.

Because I was part of ‘the event’, I was required to attend the morning briefing.  As it transpired, I was nominated to be the ‘bad’ person during the display. The basis was that the Rotary Club had set up a ‘tug-of-war’ between the recently released Kenworth C500 and around 100 plus, school children. Although on the day, I recall that a few parents lent a ‘little weight’ to the school children’s team.
​
The basis of the event was for me to drive the C500 shown in the image below, on the right. 

From the Kenworth website: At the time, mining and drilling companies watched with interest. Rapid progress was then being made in the development of Australia’s vast natural resources, with increased production of black coal and discoveries of oil, gas and copper-zinc deposits. The C500 had already proved itself in the harsh landscapes of Arabia and Africa, and the locally manufactured version was soon reporting for an even more rugged workout on the Australian continent. The C500AR (Australian Right-hand drive) found its way into the mining, logging and oil drilling industries, with a number of trucks engineered to lift oil-drilling rigs and to move oversize rigs from one site to another.

This is one of the C500 models that was sold through the dealership in Footscray.  It was capable of moving equipment weighing up to 150 tonnes solo, in 50-degree ambient temperature from Port Augusta to the Olympic Dam mining operations in South Australia. 

On the day, the truck had been set up with a 9 tonne block of concrete on the chassis, so that it would have some grip on the grass where the display was to be held. The truck was positioned and three heavy ropes were attached to the front bumper.

I walked out with my black overalls on, and set up the truck for the competition.

The plan was to allow the children to pull the truck forward about two or three meters and then I would let the clutch out and pull them back.

This all went well and as I brought the truck to a hault, I stepped out of the cab and exclaimed, “You lot didn’t have your Weeties this morning”.

That was followed by my arrest by two local policemen for ‘child abuse’, and I was marched off in handcuffs.

“I was there”… (and then I wasn’t!)

 
Barry O’Connor.
​June 2025.

I was watching a recent news report on the Avalon Air Show when I saw the images of an aerobatic aircraft crash. The routine was almost identical to one I had witnessed at the Lilydale airport some years ago. The aircraft flew in from the left, did a couple of manoeuvres and then a loop, almost identical to the routine flown in Lilydale. 

I had no personal images of that day, so I did a Google search and located the Australian Transport Safety Bureau report on the incident;

On the morning of 14 February 1982 the pilot attended the air show briefing but as the same manoeuvres were to be flown as on the previous day no individual briefing was held. The weather conditions on the day were not ideal for display flying, with a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius and a northerly wind of about 10 knots with gusts up to 20 knots.

The turbulence was reported to have been moderate from the effect of thermals and trees on the airfield boundary. The pilot taxied VH-TBC to the holding point about ten minutes before his planned take-off time. After taking off, the display sequence was flown normally up until the final steep turn manoeuvres. The aircraft approached the airfield from the southwest at a height of approximately 200 feet above ground level and commenced a left turn at an angle of 60 degrees. The turn was continued through 360 degrees and then the aircraft was rolled into a turn to the right at a similar angle of bank. The aircraft appeared to climb slightly in the initial part of the turn to the right and after turning through 90 degrees the angle of bank increased to 100 degrees and the nose of the aircraft began to drop below the horizon. The aircraft then recovered to a wings level attitude, the nose of the aircraft was raised above the horizon, but the aircraft impacted the ground heavily on all three wheels. The wheels and right main plane broke off and as the aircraft slid forward the engine was torn from its mountings and lodged underneath the fuselage. The aircraft slid for a distance of 90 metres and turned through 180 degrees before coming to rest. Subsequent investigation did not disclose any fault with the aircraft that would have contributed to this accident.

The aircraft was a SOCATA (French Aerospace) Model. TB-10.  Registration VH-TBC.

​Whilst the pilot of the Avalon incident did survive with considerable debilitating injuries, the pilot of the Lilydale aircraft, Mr Eberbach, was killed instantly. He was the sole occupant of the five seater aircraft. Whilst he had experience flying demonstrations at air shows, he was actually employed as an aircraft salesman.

There is a background story to me being at the air show, but that is for next month.
​
Barry O’Connor.
May 2025.

I first wrote about this in August 2020 with the following paragraph:

The current infection status for Benalla, is that we have had three cases reported in March/April so far this calendar year. We currently have no reported cases, or patients in hospital. Our township, and surrounding communities are complying with the regulations, however many of our businesses have closed, some permanently, or are on limited trading programs, due to the restrictions. These restrictions were to be eased in June, but have now returned to previous levels, due to issues in Melbourne.

What was very annoying was the fact that we seem to have had a culture, amongst a noisy minority in Melbourne, of selfishness and blatant disregard for the regulations and the laws currently in place to combat this virus outbreak.

The restrictions were severe. The whole state of Victoria was locked down for 262 days in six ‘lockdown periods’. *Lockdown 1: March 26 to May 12, 2020 – 43 days. *Lockdown 2: July 8 to October 27, 2020 – 111 days. *Lockdown 3: February 12 to February 17, 2021 – 5 days. *Lockdown 4: May 27 to June 10, 2021 – 14 days. *Lockdown 5: July 15 to July 27, 2021 – 12 days.*Lockdown 6: August 5 to October 21, 2021 – 77 days.

One misleading rumour that was spread by social media, was that the virus caused diarrhoea. This caused a ‘run’ on supermarkets for toilet paper stock around the world. Many stores ran out of stock and sales had to be restricted. This did not stop some Melbourne residents, who hired buses to travel to regional areas, to ‘raid’ their supermarket stock. In more than one case, local residents blockaded the bus, until the police arrived and demanded that the ‘raiders’ return the stock to the store.

In an attempt to restrict the spread of the disease, the Victorian State Government set up a ‘ring of steel’ around the Melbourne metropolitan area. It may well have been described as a ‘colander’, as many ‘escapees’ simply used the back roads to get around the blockades. However some of the ‘escapees’ plans  come ‘unstuck’ when regional shop owners recognised them as non-locals and refused to serve them.

The Government health agencies came in for a considerable amount of criticism following the easing of restrictions. However, in the very early days of the pandemic, they had little, or no, information about the virus, and they could only act on the information they had, including setting quarantine periods for those infected with the virus.

Whilst the significant numbers of infections now appear to be behind us, the virus is still within the community. I personally tested positive in May last year, and have had an instance as recently as two weeks ago, where two associates tested positive following an event the previous evening. Thankfully both cases were medicated immediately and both recovered quickly. Fortunately, both my wife and I tested negative the following morning.

One day we will be rid of this virus, as research scientists eventually come up with the ‘solution’.
​
Barry O’Connor.
March 2025.​

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

Disease                      COVID-19
Virus strain                 SARS-CoV-2
Location                      Australia
First outbreak             Wuhan, Hubei, China
Index case                  Melbourne, Victoria  
Arrival date                 25 January 2020
Date                            As of 12 January 2023
Confirmed cases         11,861,161                 
Active cases                79,112 (estimated)
Hospitalised cases      5,025
Critical cases               419
Ventilator cases          117
Recovered                  10,541,594 (estimated)
Deaths                        19,265
Fatality rate                 0.15%
Test positivity rate       21.75% (7-day average)
Health Department.    ​

This ‘trigger’ relates to the November 2024 story that I wrote about the issues with the Federal Government introducing taxation for not-for-profit community groups. The last line of that story was, ‘to be continued’.

Little did I know what was about to unfold.

In the ‘undated’ response received from Dr. Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, last October, the statement was made that the new laws had been introduced by the Morrison Government in the 2021/22 budget. Whilst this seemed plausible and stated in an official Government document, I did not doubt the validity of the statement.

In December, during a completely unrelated process, whilst completing an investigation into the history of a local not-for-profit community group, I came across a section within their 2014 annual handbook, which gave details of new regulations concerning income, taxation and the threshold of $416. (In my original report I had no knowledge of the origins of the $416). Following this discovery and some further investigation, it was discovered that the statement made by Dr. Andrew Leigh, in the undated letter regarding the origins of these regulations being the Morrison government, was false. The origins of these regulations date back to 2011/12 when the ACNC was created by the Gillard Labor government. The Treasurer at the time was Mr. Wayne Swan and his Chief Of Staff was Mr. Jim Chalmers.
​
A copy of a screen dump from the Australian Taxation office website taken on 30th January 2025, is shown here, and clearly shows that these taxation regulations were put in place for the 2011/12 financial year. 

​As mentioned previously in this report the taxation threshold figure that currently exists is in conflict with other thresholds that apply to not-for-profit community groups. We have a basic threshold of $416 for profit declaration, but a requirement to register for GST, when the turnover reaches $150,000.

The only comparable threshold of $416, applies to individual Australian residents who are under 18 years of age.

It is suggested that by far the majority of community not-for-profit groups exist for the community benefit and support structures that are vital within any community, particularly in rural and regional areas. They do not exist to launder money or avoid taxation.

What a lot of politicians and public servants fail to realise is that volunteer contribution to the community is not ‘a given right’ it is a ‘privilege’.

As stated previously, these taxation laws will go down in history as the greatest disincentive for volunteers that Australia has ever seen.

If we are unable to gain some sort of resolution to the issues raised in this report, we will see thousands of experienced volunteers simply walk away from their important community support roles.


Barry O’Connor
​February 2025

This story goes back to August this year when I discovered that the Federal Government had introduced taxation for not-for-profit community groups in the 2023/24 federal budget.

I was encouraged to investigate the matter after one of the clubs that I am a member of, was assessed for a taxation payment of $6,000 for the 2023/24 year. Not-for-profit groups are now required to pay tax on any profits over $416 or any funding that is contributed for the direct benefit of the members. In the above case the group provided a small subsidy for the annual membership fees.

I commenced my investigation by contacting a number of groups that I am a member of, to see if they were aware of these new taxation requirements. To my dismay almost all had no idea that these laws had been introduced.

In 2023 a report was issued by Prof. Ian Hickey advising that collectively, volunteer contributions to Australia’s social prosperity were valued at $287.86bn, equating to 14% of Australia’s GDP in 2021.

During my investigations I received adverse reactions from a number of volunteers who have taken exception to the requirement to provide their myGov details to confirm their identity. Many have stated that they will simply resign. These new regulations require one person to accept responsibility for reporting and compliance for a community group which will almost certainly be managed by a committee.  It is suggested volunteers will find this ‘all too hard’ and we will see a massive drain from this valuable resource. These taxes will go down in history as being the greatest disincentive for volunteers that Australia has ever seen.

Further investigation took place and to my dismay the whole process of the introduction was an absolute debacle. I assembled the information that I had, and sent a copy of this to our local MP Dr. Helen Haines on 12th September. She assessed the content and then forwarded a copy to the Federal Treasurer Dr. Jim Chalmers, on the 16th September, asking him what could be done about the issues that I had raised.

After almost a month an undated response was received from the Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh on the 18th October. This reponse did not address any of the issues raised which will have adverse impact on the community, but simply stated the details of the current regulations. It was simply a ‘go away and don’t annoy me’ response.

Following this I received some further information about the processes introduced by the Federal Government. The main issue that arose from this was the fact that there was no provision within the regulations to allow for an off-set of volunteer hours contributed to running these community support organisations, any fundraising that they may undertake, or the time required to comply with the new taxation regulations. My response to this is:

Whilst the Federal Government is holding out its hand for the revenue raised, there appears to be no offset allowance for volunteer hours contributed, even at the minimal rate as assessed by the Governments in each state, each year. Does the Taxation Department think that somebody waves the ‘magic wand’ and the funds mysteriously appear in the community group’s bank account??

Three weeks ago a report from a Senate Inquiry was released which highlighted the issues that I had raised in my original submission of 12th September. However, the Senate report did not include the issue of off-set time allowance for volunteer input to community support functions.

The situation is perhaps encapsulated in a comment made to me recently by a fellow volunteer who said,

“I have no problems whatsoever volunteering my time for the benefit of the community, but having been a taxpayer all of my working life, I will not, under any circumstances, volunteer my time to raise money for the Taxation Department.”

I have prepared a media alert, highlighting the adverse impact on the community and other issues created by these new laws, which will be released to key media outlets and Federal Parliamentarians over the next two weeks.

To be continued………………..

Barry O’Connor.
14th November 2024.


References cited:
​
Ms Kristen Tran, A/Professor Jo-An Occhipinti, Professor John Buchanan, Dr Sebastian Rosenberg, Dr Christine Song, Professor Ian B. Hickie (2023)  A Contributing Life: A Snapshot of the Value of Social Production  The University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre

Sydney University News (15 March 2023) - 'Australian unpaid social contributions valued at $287 billion' ​

​In August 2024 I was contacted via the Benalla Family Research Group, by the Genealogical Society of Victoria to participate in a verbal survey that they were conducting for people who grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

I was interested in the concept, so I agreed to a Zoom interview in September. There was a preliminary interview conducted, to go over the actual process for the recorded interview. I received a preliminary outline of the process and became aware that most of the questions were formatted towards somebody who had attended University. Such questions as, “Were you involved in demonstrations?”  

The interview time was set and the conversation centred around my early recollections of the suburb of Lalor. The interviewer had not heard of the history of the suburb, and during the interview I explained how the development of the suburb failed in the initial development due mismanagement. I later provided some documentary evidence of the process that saw the project originally commence and then cease.

She was very interested in the information that I had assembled for my family history during Covid in 2022. She was particularly interested in the work that my Mother and my Auntie did for the forces during the war. Both ladies were living with my paternal Grandfather in Flemington at the time. My Auntie worked at the munitions factory in Maribyrnong, and my mother worked at a facility in North Melbourne that made aircraft identification models and wall charts for the Airforce. Both were able to get to work via a short walk to the tram line and then in different directions to their workplace.

An interesting story evolved around the Maribyrnong facility. In later years I was working in the Commonwealth Bank in Moonee Ponds. The bank did the payroll for the factory and it was my job, along with another staff member, to take the payroll to the factory and distribute it to the staff as they come to the cafeteria for lunch.

Another area that she was particularly interested in was the work that I did with our local youth club and the work that we did with children with disabilities at the Kinglake West facility. The facility was a POW camp during the war. It was later repurposed to accommodate children with disabilities for weekend activities to give their parents a break. A group from our youth club would go to the camp for a weekend to assist the staff and provide supervision for some of the activities. These included mini Olympics, which catered for all levels of disability such as darts, quoits, balloon volleyball, boot tossing etc.

Whilst the children had disabilities they all had a mischievous streak, which kept us amused.  One of the children was twelve years old, but had not grown physically from the age of one. He was very small but could have an intelligent conversation with you. For a prank, the other children would put him in a suitcase and place it at the end of the table in the dining room. When one of the newer staff would approach the table, one of the children would kick the case, and it would suddenly start talking. They got away with this prank on a number of occasions.

The overall experience of recalling my early years was a very rewarding one, as the questions brought back many memories that had not been spoken about for many years, or had just passed into history.

Barry O’Connor
​October 2024.

​The story commences with me joining the Epping Football Club at the age of 13 to play in the under 14 side. At that time, I had grown tall and only played a small number of games in the under 14’s when I was bumped up to the under 17’s, as they did not have a ruckman at that stage. I played out my seasons with the under 17’s, when I then took up the ruck position in the seniors Second 18. The First 18 had two very competent ruckmen and I was not up to their standard, or playing experience.

In the Second 18, I was coached by one of two brothers, with the other younger brother, being my rover. Whilst I was very comfortable playing with the brother, the coach had some issues. He seemed to be unable to comprehend that if I was playing to the skill level that he demanded, I would be not be playing in the Diamond Valley League, I would be in one of the clubs in the Victorian Football League.

On more than one occasion I was the recipient of a severe tongue lashing, for my inability to perform to his unrealistic standards. Whilst I was unable to leap tall buildings in a single bound, I was doing my best and for many games, rucked for almost the entire game, as there was no other player in the side that was anywhere near my height.

The situation came to a head during a pre-match pep-talk prior to a home game. The coach was giving his instructions to the individual team members, when he came to me.

​“Barry, when you a resting in the back line, I want you to stick to the Full Forward as if he is your girlfriend. You know, as if you are joined at the hip”, and then he moved to the next player.
 
I thought for a moment and then responded, “I can’t”. The coach wheeled around and with a very angry look on his face retorted, “Why not?”  My response was “I don’t kiss men!!”

The rest of the team rolled around laughing, however the Coach was less than impressed. Needless to say the relationship between the Coach and I deteriorated even further, and at the end of the season I left the club.

Despite representations from my father, who was a committee member of the club, I simply said that if this person was to continue as a coach, I would be leaving the club to play elsewhere.

How did this shape me? Well from that point on, I would not accept insults and abuse from anybody, and if I found myself in a situation where I was not enjoying myself, I simply stopped doing it.


Barry O’Connor.
​September 2014.

​This is not so much a story of ‘found’, but ‘returned’. When my first marriage ended I ‘lost’ a number of personal items and historic photographs. I was led to believe that many of the original photos had been destroyed. It appears that this was not the case. Some 25 years later, my eldest daughter visited one day and presented me with an old photo album, which contained images and certificates from my early childhood, through to my later days at secondary school.

To my delight the album still contained many of the early photographs that had been taken by myself, and other family members. Of significant importance to me were two school certificates, one being my Intermediate Certificate and the other my Leaving Certificate.

​
Barry O’Connor.
​August 2024

During some periods in your life you feel like you are riding the crest of a wave. This was one of those periods. However, I was oblivious to the result that would see me ‘dumped on the rocks’.

It was during one of my ‘in between jobs’ periods, when I obtained a position as the Credit Manager at Gould’s Toyota in Northcote in 1985. I was to look after the Parts and Service departments accounts, along with following up payments from insurance companies for the work completed in the Panel Shop. I was successful in maintaining the accounts and was very happy with my five days a week job.

For one Saturday, I was asked to fill in for the regular salesman who had a family wedding on that day, so I agreed to cover his role for the day.

The ‘wave’ started rolling, when soon after opening on that Saturday morning, a family who had just received their lottery winnings, came into the showroom to order six Toyota Landcruiser Sahara wagons for the members of the family. Whilst we did not have all of the desired colours in stock, I took the orders and the deposit and scheduled the delivery for the following week. Whilst I got the sale and the commission cheque, the regular salesman was less than impressed.

Having seen my ‘sales ability’, the General Manager asked me to leave the Credit Manager role and take up the role as Fleet Manager, which meant establishing the Fleet Department from scratch. This was done and we were successful in establishing relationships with a number of fleet clients in the region. This activity caught the attention of another Toyota dealer, as we had obviously called on a number of their clients.

The Lane family, who had a number of different car dealerships, including Melbourne City Toyota, contacted me and made me an offer that I could not refuse. I was to take over their Fleet Department, as the previous Manager had moved on, and they were looking for a replacement. Initially the department consisted of myself and one salesman. As the activity increased we employed another two salesmen in order to cover the Melbourne metropolitan area adequately.

I was still riding the crest of the wave.

Sales flowed and the department was showing good results……………..until on the 1st July 1986, when Fringe Benefits Tax was introduced.

Sales did not just drop off, they stopped totally. Companies were unsure how the new tax would impact on them financially and simply stopped ordering replacement fleet vehicles, instead opting to hold them for another twelve months.

The Fleet Department was disbanded and I found myself ‘dumped on the rocks’.

There ended my ‘almost brilliant career’.

​
Barry O’Connor.
July 2024.
 

I am not normally a person who rebels, however when I see injustice, particularly where volunteers are concerned, I feel the need to expose any wrong doing and correct the processes involved.

At this time I was a CFA volunteer and the nominated Crew Leader on this particular ‘call out’ with responsibility for the operation of the tanker and the welfare of the crew.
Samaria Fire Brigade had a very busy period from 5pm on 15th December, until later in the morning on 16th December 2014.

After refilling the tanker with water later in the evening of the 15th, we stopped at the control point to check on progress of the possibility of a replacement crew. At that time we were told that they had been unable to locate any replacement crew from Samaria.  We had two crew members with commitments the following day. Myself, and the other two crew agreed to remain on the tanker overnight.  Following the release of the two crew members, the remaining three Samaria crew went back up to the fire ground to continue to patrol and black-out.

At 3am on 16th December we had located two small logs burning on the fire ground perimeter and stopped to deal with them. I was at the rear of the tanker when one of the crew rolled past me on the ground at the side of the tanker. I went over to check on him. I asked what had happened and he said that as he stepped down from the tanker rear deck, he missed the hand rail and fell. The crew member was carefully loaded back onto the tanker.  We radioed ahead to the control point advising them that we had a suspected broken leg. Upon arrival it was assessed that due to pain levels, it was possibly only a sprain, however we continued to treat it as a possible fracture, despite the fact that the crew member was still able to wiggle his toes and move his foot without increasing the pain.  He was very carefully lifted from the tanker to the back seat of a car for transfer to Benalla Hospital.

For most of the early morning the crews just monitored the fire ground situation until earthmoving equipment arrived at around 7.30am to make the area safe for crews to enter and extinguish the fire. Just as the area was made safe, a strike team arrived to relieve us. Samaria tanker was released from the scene at 9.00am on Tuesday 16th December. At this point we still had no update on the condition of our crew member.

On arrival back at the station around 10.00 am, we checked again with the hospital, who advised they were still waiting on x-rays.

Both the driver and myself were exhausted after being awake continuously for around 28 hours and operational for almost 17hours of this time. We both headed home to bed. I arrived home at approx. 10.45am to be briefed by my wife following a phone call just received. The X-rays had confirmed that our crew member did have a fractured leg and he would be taken to Wangaratta for an operation to have the leg pinned. The crew member was eventually released from hospital some days later and returned home, but was unable to return to work.
 
The CFA initially refused to pay ‘loss of income’ compensation to our injured volunteer.

In January 2011 legislation was introduced that considered all volunteers to be ‘workers’ and therefore eligible for protection under all the regulations that applied to the workplace.

This is when I started to ‘make waves’. The Kennett Government had passed legislation stating that loss of income compensation would not be paid to ‘workers’ over 65 years of age, because at that age they should be on either superannuation, or a pension. Our volunteer was over 70 and had regular seasonal work.

Following consultation with the volunteer representative body, Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria, I compiled a report, and with a little assistance from a retired County Court Judge, a submission was made to the CFA pointing out that their policies were in breach of at least two Federal laws.

Compensation was paid, and the CFA amended their policy. They confirmed this to all brigades in written form, in September 2016. Loss of income is now paid to all CFA volunteers, irrespective of their age.

The response from the CFA set a precedent for all organisations in Victoria with a volunteer component.

This was all achieved ‘pro bono’ with no cost to the Volunteers of the CFA.


Barry O’Connor.
6th June 2024.

(Note - this is an edited version of Barry's 'Rebellion' story written in 2022.)

'You've travelled through time and encounter a younger version of yourself.  What life lesson (or lessons) would you share?'

This was a subject that I suggested, so I had better contribute something!

My life experiences have been varied, and during the process I have encountered some very helpful people and some very unhelpful people, some of whom turned out to be downright fraudsters. Fortunately, I was aware of the possible implications and avoided the losses.
 
My father was a Master Builder and I worked on sites with him at weekends from the age of 10 until around the age of 18 when I purchased my freedom, in the shape of an FC Holden Special sedan. One of the very early lessons that you learn on building sites is to watch where you are walking. In those days all homes were built on a timber sub-frame with wall frames, ceiling and roof structures all fabricated on-site. My advice to a younger version of myself in a similar situation would be to always look down when you are walking across floor joists, or foundation bearers. You only need to slip once, and the pain and the ‘barking’ of your shins will certainly ensure that you do not do it again.
 
The second piece of advice that I would impart would be to always go to an older experienced person if you need considered advice. Don’t listen to your mates, as they are as inexperienced as you are.
 
My third piece of advice would be to look upon anybody who suddenly befriends you with suspicion. My experience is that these people are general not interested in your wellbeing, but are more focussed on obtaining information that you have, or taking credit for something that you have contributed to your employer, or the community.
 
The fourth piece of advice I would share is the information that was given to me by a very wealthy Solicitor, who told me during a discussion about wealth creation, that you should never owe money on a depreciating asset. Not only are you paying interest, the item is depreciating in value. His logic was very clear, an asset appreciating in value, is not only providing an offset for your interest, it may in fact cover the interest cost and offer some form of additional return.  Real estate does not depreciate, unless you have purchased in the wrong location, such as a flood area, or you paid too much for it the first place.
 
Lesson five, is the realisation that you will make mistakes. What you do with these adverse results is to consider what went wrong, or how could you have done better with the issues that you were presented with. Making a mistake once is human, making the same mistake again is stupid.
 
And finally, enjoy yourself before you get married, after that it’s too late!!   
 
Barry O’Connor.
May 2023

Looking at a supermarket television advertisement for steak, it reminded me of a memorable event whilst in Manjimup, Western Australia in 1988. To this day, I have never again experienced the quality of steak that I had that day.

I had just refuelled the car and asked the attendant where a good place for lunch might be. He responded that if I liked steak, there was a little café run by two girls that was very popular in town. The instructions were to continue on the main street, take the next turn to the right, then go straight over the next street, and turn left into the second. The café is down about 200 yards on the left. I duly followed the instructions and arrived outside a classic 1950’s group of three shops, complete with verandah.

Walking into the small shop in the middle of the group, I was greeted with black and white vinyl tiles on the floor, laminex tables and vinyl chairs. A number of tables were occupied, with many patrons obviously enjoying their meals. I was advised by one of the girls, to take a seat at any vacant table and she would come over and take our orders. I duly ordered rump steak and the meal came out a short time later. The steak was exceptional, tender and almost melted in your mouth. Whilst I was consuming my meal, a number of other guests finished theirs and were very complimentary to the two girls as they left.

I finished my meal and as the shop was now empty, except for myself and my son, I motioned to the girls to come over to my table. When they arrived, I posed the question, “You do not get meat of this quality unless you know the butcher. Which one of you is going out with the butcher?” Both girls started to laugh, and a short time later the shorter, and it would appear the older of the two, responded. “I am married to him!!”, and the other responded, “And I am his sister!!” That explained the exceptional quality of the steak.

Whilst I could not remember the exact address of the café, I did a Google search and followed the original instructions and located 31B Rose Street, which is still operated as a restaurant today, however under another name. : Sales History: 2016 Sold $438,000 July 28, 2016. 1993 Sold $316,000 December 22, 1993. It would appear that the girls sold the premises in 1993. It now trades under the name of the Blue Tiger.

Barry O'Connor
​April 2024

Reflecting on the celebration of women in our community, I reflect on the contributions made by the female members on both sides of my family.

On my maternal side, there were women who stepped up and contributed ‘above and beyond’. My mother was the eldest in the family and was therefore assigned assistant home duties. All of her four sisters went into nursing.

On my paternal side there was only one female in a family with four boys. This must have been a challenge for my auntie, as her mother died when she was 19, which obviously left the bulk of the household duties under her guidance.

To continue the story, we need to move forward to the 1940’s. At this point in time my mother and my paternal auntie were living with my paternal grandfather in Flemington, having moved from north western Victoria in 1940. At this point my mother was in a relationship with my father, who was at that time serving overseas during WW2. They did marry on 20th May 1944 whilst my father was home on leave.

My maternal Auntie’s all went into nursing with three going into general hospital nursing, and one into psychiatric nursing.  This Auntie did serve in the military during WW2 and returned to her normal nursing duties at the Bacchus Marsh Psychiatric Hospital after the war.

During WW2 both my mother and auntie stepped up to contribute. My mother worked at a facility in North Melbourne making aircraft identification models for the services. My auntie took up duties at the munitions factory in Maribyrnong. Both continued in their positions until the war ended.  My mother then took on the task of raising a family and dealing with the issues that the war had inflicted on her husband.

My auntie later married but did not have children, however she and her husband successfully operated news agencies and sub-post offices for many years.

I am sometimes asked ‘Who runs the world?’.  After some considerable deliberations over many years, I would submit that it is, banks, insurance companies and women……not necessarily in that order.
​
Barry O’Connor.
10 March 2024. 

16th February 2023

On this day I received a phone call from my eldest Grandson to alert me to the fact that I was to become a Great Grandfather in August. As predicted, Loui Timothy Laffan, arrived on 17th August at 9.09 am, weighing 2.49 kg. and 46 cm tall. Since his birth he has developed to be a very healthy and placid young man.

Given that he is our first Great Grandson, he may come in for some special attention in future years, however we need to take care, as we have eight other Grandchildren who may add to the number of Great Grandchildren that we may be able to enjoy.

It is great to see the family expanding; however the O’Connor name will vanish from history within a generation. Whilst there is only my brother and myself remaining in our branch of the family, my brother has three daughters and I have two daughters and a son. My one son has two daughters, thus the male branch of the family, and the name, will eventually pass into history.
__________________________

I did have a previous contribution prepared; however it was far too long and was a further development in the search for the history of my Great Uncle, Lewis O’Connor.

20th October 2023

On the 20th October 2023, I received an email with an attachment from my relative, Pamela Dexter. She had found a note that had been written at the time of Lewis’s death and gave some insight into his whereabouts, during the fifteen years that he had vanished from the Electoral Rolls. The information from this email did supply some validated information about Lewis, who appeared to have been operating as a bookmaker at various horse and greyhound racetracks around the state. It also confirmed that he did in fact still live with his wife, and was involved in a number of financial ventures with family members. The email also included two images of Lewis, one as a younger man (about 40) and one taken on the day of his 80th birthday. I did some research based on some information in the document and located Lewis’s ledger book and a blank betting ticket, which are held in the MCG Racing Hall of Fame!! Did the information provide the missing evidence? No, it simply added to the mystery.

The expanded and updated history on my Great Uncle will be presented at the Family Research session on 23rd November.


Barry O’Connor,
November 2023

I have been fortunate to have grown up and lived in small rural communities for over 55 years of my life thus far. The early experiences in small communities shaped my broader attitude to life and fellow community members.  Whilst I did leave the smaller communities for the ‘big smoke’ to further my career ambitions, I have always kept in mind the community spirit and self-help co-operation that exists in the ‘bush’.

My father was a master builder, and whilst I had a very early grounding in the building industry, the corporate world paid a lot better, and there was no capital outlay. I have successfully managed multi-million dollar divisions of large international corporations.

Many of my management roles required me to restructure the organisation to return it to a profitable operation. This almost certainly required change management, in which over the years, I became very experienced. I always took the ‘carrot’ approach rather than the ‘stick’. Change management requires that you incentivise staff in order for the desired result to be achieved, and maintained.  These incentives may be a simple, “Thank you, great job”, or a more mercenary incentive of tangible rewards. In any case, all staff must feel like they are contributing equally to a better workplace environment.

In the years since my ‘retirement’ I have been able to inject some of this experience and expertise as, and when, required. Country people don’t appreciate those who go around boasting about their achievements, and I have been well aware of that. I tend to maintain a low profile until I see a situation progressing into an area that may cause some adverse consequences for the organisation, or the broader community. This is where I will generally make a quiet suggestion to key decision makers of the community, to consider what the consequences may be if they do not ensure that the benefits will flow to the broader membership, not just a few selfish, self-centred individuals.

On 1st January 2012 the whole structure of regulations surrounding community organisations changed.  The new Government regulations placed volunteers under the same regulations and work place requirements as paid employees, or workers as they were described in the legislative changes. One of the hardest aspects of this change was to have the mind set of longer term community volunteers accept the new regulations. I have however, been reasonably successful in bringing about change, which will serve our community organisations into the future. One of these organisations was the Country Fire Authority.

​
Barry O’Connor.
2nd October 2023

My first employer was the Commonwealth Bank. During my first four years I was assigned to a number of branches with a variety of accounting systems from totally hand recorded records, through accounting machines and then computers. As soon as I had a car I was seconded to Relieving Staff, which meant travel to branches all over the state, including many branches in suburban Melbourne.

In 1967, on one relieving assignment, I was sent to the bank branch at East Brunswick, located on Nicholson Street. The branch was located at the tram terminus in Nicholson Street, at the corner of Blyth Street.  The branch was closed many years ago, as part of the bank’s restructure program. (From internet images it appears that the building that originally housed the bank, has been demolished and replaced with an apartment building.)

The assignment to East Brunswick was for four weeks, as one staff member had to attend a training course, and another was going on annual leave. During my time there, I was filling in for one of the tellers, when to my surprise, Pat Carroll and Olivia Newton-John came into the bank. They were at this time performing as a duet under the name of Pat and Olivia. I had seen them on television, but never expected to see them in person. They were in the bank, because this was in fact their local bank branch. They were both living within walking distance of the branch. I accepted their money into their account, and could not wait to get home to tell my family and friends that I had met both Pat and Olivia. I received the usual reaction from most friends, “Yes, pull the other leg”, but my parents were suitably impressed.

I believe that during my time at East Brunswick branch, I spoke to them both at least three or four times, as they came in each week, or when they had cash payments, to do their banking.

For a young lad of 19 I was very impressed. In later years I do tend to forget certain incidents in my life, however the recent publicity surrounding the passing of Olivia, brought back a flood of memories.

​​
Barry O’Connor.
September 2023.

​Barry O'Connor
August 2023

In 1993 I took up a position with UD Trucks, or Nissan Diesel. My initial appointment with UD Trucks Oceania was as Southern Regional Manager. This position was based in Melbourne, and covered the dealer group in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

In August 1994, I was transferred to Sydney to take up the position of National Parts Manager, however upon arrival the General Manager informed me that I was also the National Marketing Manager for both trucks and parts. I did enquire as to the possibility of two remuneration packages, however that request was met with a fairly negative response. I dutifully performed in both roles increasing sales and market share.
​
In February 2002 my wife and I purchased ‘Condarra’, a 570 acre property in Samaria. The property was leased out, with the longer term view of moving onto the property when we retired.

In May 2006 I was asked by the Managing Director to complete a ‘due diligence’ report for Mack, Volvo and Nissan Diesel, Australasian operations. This was completed as part of the impending take-over of Nissan Diesel Japan by Volvo, and involved a complete assessment of staff and manufacturing capacities, distribution/dealer network, market penetration, sales and profitability, along with market projections for the next five years.

Following the proposed company take-over by Volvo extending to Australia, the sudden death of a close friend, and forecast changes within the structure of our respective companies, my wife and I decided to take early retirement.

We moved to ‘Condarra’ in August 2006 and became active in a number of community groups. I spent my formative years, and have spent around fifty five years, living in small rural communities.    I am very familiar with the community support structures that exist in the ‘bush’. As a former farmer, and a successful manager in the corporate world, you tend not to be idle for any length of time.

​In Swanpool there were seventeen community groups for a population of only six hundred people. I rejoined the CFA in 2007 after a break of fifteen years. In 2009 I was approached to take over as Chairman of the Swanpool and District Community Development Association. I initiated a number of programs that supported and acknowledged the contribution of volunteers within the community.  We hosted the Bald Archy Exhibition from 2013 to 2017 and attracted record crowds. We put significant funding back into the community organisations that participated.  In 2018 we were not allocated dates for the Bald Archy Tour, so I created the Swanpool Creative Recycled Art Prize, or SCRAP. I wrote the initial Community Plan for Swanpool in 2011 and the later update in 2018, ‘pro bono’. I also wrote business plans for the Swanpool Cinema and Benalla U3A, both ‘pro bono’.

During the initial period of ‘retirement’, I became involved with the Benalla U3A and two of the local history groups.  I have written a number of history books on the region, the latest being the history of the first Engineer for QANTAS, who was born and had his early education in Benalla.

I often stop and ask myself, “How the hell did I ever have time to go to work?”


Barry O’Connor
July 2023

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s I was working in a management role for a large international vehicle manufacturer. I was performing well in my role, and did in fact attract the attention of the American Managing Director, of the privately owned company. In the early 1980’s the world was going through another of the cyclic ‘financial crises’, when the division that I was managing, and another division in Canada, were the only two divisions of the company world- wide, that were making a profit.  This resulted in the MD making a trip to Australia to meet me during his round of other business meetings.

Following this visit, it was announced that we were going to have an Australian MD, instead of the traditional American one. What followed was somewhat of a shock. The company operated on the fiscal year and my salary and bonus structure were set during the first calendar months of the year. My base salary and the bonus criteria had been set and signed off.

The new Australian MD decided that mid- year (September), he would change the bonus criteria, which would result in a substantial drop in the bonus payment. It not only impacted me, but all of the senior managers within the company. I was told that my bonus structure would be amended and that I would be paid based on the new criteria. After some deep and meaningful discussions, the new MD agreed to pay my bonus payment based on the original criteria, as I had already exceeded the fiscal year targets agreed. Following this discussion I handed in my resignation, as did another six senior managers in the company.

Looking back on this action, it became apparent that what the new MD was doing, was ridding the company of anybody who might prove a threat to his position in the future.  The company did continue to function, despite the negative and regressive attitude of the new MD.  

​
Barry O’Connor.
June 2023.

During my time with this group I have written about a number of lessons learned from my past. I will not repeat any of these writings, however I will state that a number of instances from my past have made me very suspicious of ‘shallow’ friendships that have presented in my past.

On a number of occasions I have been befriended by people who may not have my best interests at heart. On the other hand I have been contacted by certain members of the community who require my expertise to assist certain community groups with special projects and activities. Having spent 50 years of my life so far, growing up and living in small rural communities, I am well aware of the ‘self-help’ and ‘community support’ philosophy that exists within rural communities. I have always been willing to participate in any activity that will be of benefit to the broader community, and it has always been done ‘pro bono’. Unfortunately there are a very small number of people in the community who participate in these activities, with their own personal benefit being their priority. I have learnt through experience, over many years, to be somewhat suspicious of any person who puts themselves forward in a forthright manner to become involved in any such community activities.

Over the years I have also been the target of baseless and defamatory rumours about certain community activities, however upon investigation, these rumours have been initiated by the very people who are involved in these activities for their own benefit.

Needless to say, that over the years I have developed a very cynical approach to people, until they prove themselves worthy of my trust. I trust nobody, until I am satisfied that they share my passion for supporting the community by way of voluntary contribution, not self-gain.  Many may find this ‘probation’ offensive, but that is the way it is, and if you don’t like it, then you best leave, because you will not fit the desired criteria, and will most likely not show the desired commitment and passion for advancing the benefit for the broader community.

​
Barry O’Connor
10 May 2023. ​