By KATH GANNAWAY
POWELLTOWN was still shrouded in black after the 1983 bushfires when John and Ronietta Edwards took over the tiny Powelltown General Store on 20 August, 1984.
On Monday (1 February) the couple who have raised their family and become part and parcel of the close-knit community, are moving on.
John was a fire-fighter with the MFB and working part-time as a fencer when the Powelly shop came up for sale.
He used to visit the area as a youngster and his old school friend and then brother-in-law, Colin Kobiolke, had a sawmill in the area.
“We were living in Epping and I was pretty much sick of both jobs and started thinking about the shop,” he said.
“We came out, had a look, and the rest is history.”
The shop was just a small general store and bottle shop, with the major upgrade to a pub happening about 14 years ago.
Ronie said the kids, Jarrod, Jay and Sheridan all attended the little Powelltown Primary School.
She said they went from a big suburban school to a school of about 30 children and were a bit of a novelty for a while as ‘the new kids’.
“All the kids came out just to look at these three kids, but they just made friends and formed some lasting friendships,” Ronie said.
John said the most significant change had been the formation of the Powelltown Residents’ Water Association, of which Ronie was secretary for 20 years.
“Every house has water now and there is a reticulated fire service,” he said.
John has been president of the Powelltown Hall committee for 30 years and they have been involved in school and other groups over the years.
“I can say I’ve been here at a time when Powelly won a Grand Final,” John said thinking of some highlights.
“It might have been around 1986 or ’87”, he said.
Powelltown is still a tight-knit community, but it has changed.
“When we first came here it was mainly timber workers, now it’s diverse,” John said.
“There are carpet layers, machine operators, bricklayers and they commute to the suburbs for work.
“People come to Powelltown now for what it is now, for the peace and serenity … drug-free and graffiti-free.”
Working a seven day a week business has been hard work, and meant sacrifices, but Ronie said it hadn’t been a hardship.
“We will miss the people. We have formed some wonderful friendships,” John said.
“We have seen all the old identities pass away, and they were just that, old identities with their own little characteristics.”
One of the sacrifices has been missing family events, and they say they have a bit of catching up to do – starting immediately with their grandson’s BMX championship events over the next couple of weekends.
Then, it’s hitting the road as grey nomads in a 20-foot full off-road caravan.
They say they are leaving one of the most beautiful parts of Australia, but looking forward for the first time in over three decades, to seeing what else is out there.
