Presentation to Lakeside Probus, Benalla
“In asking me to speak to you this morning, Cathy has indicated that she would want something a little different from the usual profile. She has asked me to give reference to my early childhood and schooling. Well Cathy here goes…”
I was born the youngest of 6 surviving children in a small farming community called Swanwater on 9th May 1932.
On my mother’s death, when I was 4 years old, the family split and I was sent to Villa Maria, a combined residential and education institute in Ballarat. Villa was administered by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy and was in an old homestead. The nuns were very strict.
There were 6 nuns and 25 boys, with me the youngest.
There were 3 dormitories, 2 extended bathrooms, 2 school rooms and a large dining room.
I was a poor eater and was forced to stay behind in the dining room while other kids were out to play. Somehow, I found a pack of envelopes and used them to store any uneaten food. I would surreptitiously place them in the incinerator and go to play... until I was caught out!!
Winter was very cold in Ballarat. I recall a kid placing a bottle of water in the classroom fire one day. Can you imagine the damage the explosion caused when the water boiled and the bottle burst. Can you imagine the angst of the teacher? In hindsight, it was a ridiculous thing to do, but boys will be boys.
With just 25 boys, aged 5 to 13 years, football games and sports teams were lopsided. Sister Brendan umpired the football, and when the whistle went, you never knew if it was for a free kick, or if you were out of position, the cuts.
The main Melbourne railway line ran adjacent to the Villa property, and there were numerous trains. Word went around the dining room “Save as much butter as you can” The senior boys had a brainwave. Put butter on the railways lines and disrupt the train service. And so, one dark wet night as we lay in bed in the dormitory, we heard a heavily laden goods train come along.
CH….CH….CH….CH….CHZZZZZZZX
The train came to a grinding halt! The Villa boys had struck!
MAYHEM!
For many hours there was a lot of activity by railway officials. Eventually two high powered locomotives had been dispatched from the Ballarat terminal and shunted the offending train over the rise. There was a hula-balloo at Villa with railway officialdom taking over. Sorry, but the penalty I don’t recall. What a let down!
Speaking of railways, there was a considerable increase in goods traffic when the American forces entered Australia and the Ballarat camp in World War 2. Many loads of military equipment were railed to other destinations. Yankee G.I.s with plenty of money in their pockets threw chocolates and fruit from the trains to the Villa kids. Great fun!
At weekends the G.I.s had leave and were regularly seen, with girls on their arms, wandering the woods near Villa. Some of us kids received sex education while secretly spying on the Yanks and the girls’ activities.
One day we had a visit from a former Villa student, decked out in military uniform. He was 14 years old and had put his age up for enlistment. He was serving in Darwin, but on leave. He told me the first crude joke I had ever heard. I still recall it!
December 1944 saw me completing primary education in grade 8. Four of us were to sit for our Merit Certificates at the Brown Hill State school, situated some short distance away. We walked to the school and as we neared the school grounds we were greeted by the State school kids chanting “Catholic dogs sitting on logs eating maggots out of frogs”. Somewhat intimidating.
Fortunately, we all passed the exam and that put ’finish’ to our primary education, or so I thought.
On the home front Dad had gone bust in the 1930s depression and the successive droughts. He was forced to sell the farm to pay off the mortgage. He became an alcoholic.
There was no money, so secondary education was out of the question. I was living with my Aunt Mary (Dad’s sister) and my uncle Ned Caine at that time. I was deemed by my aunts to be too small to enter the work force, and it was decided to send me to a local state school for 12 months to enable me to obtain a scholarship.
And so, I went to the Swanwater North State School in 1945. The school was about 7 miles away, and I rode my horse, Denny. There were seven kids at the school, with me being the oldest. 1945 was one of the most severe droughts on record. During the dust storms it was near impossible to see in front of you. There were frequent heat waves, and I remember that on Thursday 1st November it was 100 degrees.
I won the scholarship which provided me with 4 years tutorial and accommodation at St. Patrick’s College in Ballarat. At St. Pat’s I was a relatively good student, each year being in the top 4 of a class of 50 in the October tests. Inexplicably, I failed my Leaving Certificate in an external examination, and so I did not get the opportunity to matriculate.
I commenced my working life with the Victorian Producers Co-Op in Benalla in February 1950 and continued with that firm in several locations. In Wodonga I worked extremely long hours, consistently till 11.30 of an evening, 4 days per week. This had a detrimental effect on me and a Wagga Wagga neurologist counselled me to “study accounting and work for yourself”
I changed jobs in 1966 and went to the public accounting firm of James H.Smith and Co.. After familiarising myself with the income Tax Assessment Act and accounting procedures I commenced studying accountancy as the specialist had counselled. I registered with Hemingway Robertson Institute Correspondence School in 1968, setting myself a target of 20 hours per week study. (A bit over ambitious!) It took me until 1973 to qualify as a CPA, and then till 1974 to become chartered.
I then purchased, on borrowed money, a half share in the business which became Smith O’Shannessy. And so, as the specialist had counselled…I had ‘studied accounting and worked for myself’.
I retired from the practice in December 2000.
Thank you
Ray O’Shannessy
May 2025.