I'm sure my childhood had a lot to do with how my life was shaped.  My life was a simple existence, growing up on the family farm at Lima with strict parents who expected our chores to be done.  This taught me and my siblings a work ethic which has stayed with us and which we have passed on to our children. 

My parents also taught us truth, compassion, love and fairness. And, never to take things for granted.  We lost our father at a time when we probably needed him the most in our lives for special events. He was to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day, in three weeks time from this tragedy, so was a sad occasion that was meant to be one of the best days of my life.

I suppose we were lucky to have two older brothers to drive our mother and two younger siblings around to continue our lives.  My father's death was sudden, but we had to carry on, sad as it was.  Life on the farm couldn't stop, not even for this terrible accident.  There was no time off to mourn our loss.  We missed him every day and, sadly, we didn't get to say goodbye.

Growing up fifteen miles from Benalla, we just couldn't step out to down or up a street, or frequent the shops.  There was also no pocket money.  We worked for our keep, as our dad often said, and we sure did!  This taught us to realise money doesn't grow on trees, as some may think.  I also grew up in a different time, long past, but not forgotten.  A time when you were taught, taught to cook, taught to clean, to appreciate what we had and to respect other people's property.  In my mother's words 'If it's not yours, you can't covet it'.

Families that grow up in rural districts have a lot in common. We all walked to school, were never driven as children today are.  We rode bicycles if our parents could afford one; our farm was never able to give each sibling a bike, so we shared one that was given to us.

Friendships were made and kept. I am still close to all my state chool classmates.  We catch up back at the old Lima school that was handed back to the community when the school closed.  Each year there's a reunion and a dedication to the fallen soldiers from the district held at the old school.

I now live in Benalla where I raised my family and worked.  All those childhood learnings came with me.  I'm now retired, but seem busier than every with my sport croquet, my house work and my vegetable garden ... .  I now have four great grand children who love to entertain me!  They too are being taught manners, respect and self discipline.

I do believe I'm a product of my upbringing and find myself torn between the past and the present.  The past with its stricter side and the present with a more relaxed side. 

​I still believe I grew up in the best times.  

I sometimes wish I could take my children back to my uncomplicated life at Lima.


Trish Rogash
12 May 2023

Growing up in the country was one of the best experiences a girl could have.  We had open paddocks and hills to explore.  We had family around us, and very good neighbours.
 
Living where I lived was a way of life we all experienced; even the parents grew up here, went to the same school.  We knew our neighbours well.  Our neighbours were more than neighbours, they were great friends, they were all there to help out if needed. 
 
We met at the local football matches, we gathered at the local dances.  We played sport at the weekend, be it football in the winter months, or tennis in the summer months.  Tennis and football involved more than immediate neighbours - they involved people from districts all around.  Each district ran successful sports days as well. 
 
The sports days were great fun and were another way of catching up with our neighbours. 
 
Held at the local football ground, the arena held horse events – show jumping and the like - that proved to be very popular.  The arena was also where the foot races were held.  I remember these events clearly as I was a keen competitor. 
 
A man in a red jacket and black cap rode a horse around in the arena making sure things ran smoothly.  His name was Mr Betts, and he had a daughter whose name was Lynette.  Now this girl could run!  The stage was set for a great competition between the young ladies of the districts.  I believed I was a good runner and that I could beat Lynette.  I didn’t always win, but was known to be there, close by, at the end.  Enjoyable days!
 
There was also entertainment outside the arena.  The spinning wheel was very popular.  We bought tickets with numbers, and when they were all sold the wheel was spun.  If our number came up, we got to choose a prize from the shelf, from prizes donated by the shops in our local town.
 
There was also a watering hole known as the bar, which the men frequented.  We got to know which fathers drank more than they should, a lot more than they should.
 
Lunches and afternoon teas served at the grounds were organised by the women of the district, special people, our neighbours.
 
The neighbours around us, as I said before, were the first to come to help out in all kinds of crises, to assist as and when needed.
 
I particularly remember a family crisis when my mother had noticed that my father hadn’t returned from getting the cows home to be milked.  He had left sometime earlier on the tractor to round up the cows and had not returned by the time my brother had come from his house on the property to do the milking.  They heard the tractor still running and found it bogging itself in the swamp.  They back tracked it to find my father dead on the side of the hill.  He had fallen from the tractor, and it had run over him, continuing on to enter the swamp.
 
This tragic event was one of those times in my life that good friends and neighbours came to help out and were there for me.  My mother and her family needed them, they were there for me.  This was a time when we knew how important family, friends and neighbours are.
 
Growing up on our farm with special neighbours and their families holds great memories for me that I will never forget.  I still see the children of the adults from these farms.  They are still my friends today and are just as important in my life as they were on that tragic day, and other days, many years ago.
 
 
Trish Rogash
April 2023

I’m writing this as a failure of my parents, due to the circumstances at the time, to not see that I received an education…. because, I would never say I was a failure.  However, I could say my education very much was.
 
I attended a small school in the country along with my siblings.  The one teacher school taught prep to grade six.  For some reason, my father decided I was to stay on at this school to do Grade 7 and Grade 8 as I was needed to milk cows while my brothers carted hay.  Out of a family of three boys and three girls, I was the only girl who would go to the dairy and milk cows. 
 
Who was I to argue with my father?
 
As you can imagine, the teacher then had to give, or try to give, me harder work than was possible from a small state school.  I don’t remember my schoolwork from that time, but I’m sure it wasn’t as hard as what was taught at high school, or the convent.
 
On completion of those two years spent at the state school I was sent on to complete my education at the convent in town, fifteen miles away.  I was placed in class to repeat Grade 8, or Form Two as it was known.
 
What a shock to discover subjects that I had never heard of.  Just some that I recall – Geometry, Algebra, Latin and French.  How was I to deal with these dreadful subjects after missing the first year of them?  By the end of the year, after a dreadful fail, I was placed up to Form Three to be humiliated yet again, with more of the same dreadful subjects.  At the end of the year I was glad to walk out the gates, and not look back.
 
I would never say I was a failure, but I strongly believe my education was.  I went on to hold down many jobs over many years in the work force.  I was the bookkeeper in one of my first jobs, a job I thoroughly enjoyed.  I’ve worked in supermarkets on checkouts.  I’ve worked in a nursing home in the kitchen, laundry and as a cleaner.
 
And… I married and raised four children.
 
I believe, had I been given the education I should have been given, I may have been a nurse. 
 
My other passion was hairdressing.  I have been known to cut hair when someone needs their hair cut.  My niece wanted to give me job in her business, as she thought that I was a hairdresser.
 
I’m also very proud to have taught myself to play a keyboard, to have a group which helps me to entertain the lovely residents in nursing homes around Benalla.
 
So, I’ve turned my failed education into the will to achieve.  To develop myself.  To be self-determining.   To put behind me those awful years I call my horrible school years and just get on with life.
 
I’m left wondering, however, what I could have achieved had I had a better education.
 
 
Trish Rogash,
March 2023