Down memory lane

By Kath Gannaway
FOR Linda Hunt, returning to live in Warburton was the catalyst for a long overdue Damman family reunion.
Linda (formerly a Damman) and fiancée Rod Paykel have just moved to East Warburton and, even before their planned wedding, decided a reunion was in order.
Standing under the Dammans Road sign on the border of what was Hazel Park, the 61 hectare family property, Sheila Catton (Damman) recalled growing up in Warburton.
Her cousin Peter Damman and Linda, his niece, accompanied her on a wonderful trip down memory lane.
Sheila, now 88, travelled down from Queensland for the reunion.
The weekend itinerary included a wander through the old homestead which was moved many years ago to Surrey Road, a drive around the boundary of Hazel Park where Sheila spent the first 15 years of her life and a look at her Aunt Daisy’s old homestead in Dammans Road.
Moncrief, as it was known then, was a five hectare section of land subdivided off the main property for Sheila’s deaf, mute Aunt Daisy and her husband John Muir,” explained Linda who is compiling a Warburton Damman history.
Another historic photo saw Sheila dwarfed by the old oak tree she planted as an eight-year-old on Story Reserve near the swing bridge.
Linda said meeting up with old friends for afternoon tea on the Sunday was particularly special.
“Meeting up again with her long lost friend Joyce Sullivan (Henry) and Ted Chisholm to reminisce about growing up in Warburton in the early 1900s was definitely the highlight,” she said.
“Sheila recalled getting caught raiding her neighbour’s fruit orchard and swimming in the “pond” in the river.
Joyce’s brother Jim Henry built the cabaret (now known as the Patchwork Tea House) and she ran the cabaret where she met her musician husband Denis Sullivan.
Her sister Nancy married John Richards and lived in the large white weatherboard home which is still prominent on Brisbane Hill Road,” she added.
It’s no secret that in Ted Chisholm’s view Warburton was page after page out of a boy’s own adventure book.
He said there was no better place for a boy to grow up – chasing rabbits up the hills and swimming in the river.
“Ted reflected on his days as the head of the “Razor Gang” and Sheila and Joyce remembered him as one of the “naughty boys” at school,” Linda said.
His reply? “Nothing’s changed; I’m still getting into trouble!” she said.
A number of Warburton locals joined the three generations of Dammans who revelled in the opportunity to listen in on some wonderful stories of growing up in Warburton.
“It was an afternoon steeped in history and a bridging of the old and the young,” said Linda who organised the weekend as a way to gain as much information on her family roots as possible before it is all lost forever.