I started school at Yeltukka in 1942 and had just two terms there because the area school opened after the September holidays. There were probably no more than 14 kids at Yeltukka, I think there was some at each grade up to grade seven. At the time I was in grade one with a couple of others. I spent seven years at the area school. I caught the school bus every day to Cummins School. I suppose as a six-year-old the change wasn't dramatic. It was almost exciting to a degree, especially to travel on a big school bus. Rattly old thing it was! Probably by the time they did the route there would have been 20 on, I guess. I did not get in too much trouble on the bus because every time you did then you had to sit down the front by the driver. I wasn't a model child, but I had good fun.

My brother and I went off to school in Adelaide. My father was an Adelaide boy and had the opportunity to go to Prince Alfred College for a year. And I think he vowed to himself that if he ever could, he would send his offspring there. We both had that opportunity of three years at Prince Alfred College. That connection has travelled on with our three sons and seven grandsons going to Princes. The first term of the first year, I was not going back. Progressively you get more used to it and don't want to leave! You form friendships that are everlasting, and I still have contact with the boys that I went to school with, particularly boarders. It laid a foundation for later life of understanding a bit more about the city and getting around.

I came back to Cummins school for a year as I failed my intermediate. For English, you had to do a précis on a piece of prose. I read it in the negative and not the positive. I think that was what brought me undone. I did alright in all the other subjects, but English was a requirement to get your intermediate. I came back to finish that off. That was perhaps one of the better things that happened as after three years, you lose contact with people, they've formed their own friendships and they've decided this and that. It helped me to assimilate into our local environment. You got to know people that you wouldn't have otherwise known or had any real connection with. So that was a plus.

It probably wasn't my first intention to be a farmer. But you know, at that age, you will have all sorts of ideas and schemes of where you want to be, what you want to do. My father's intention was that he hadn't done all this for his life for me to go off and do something else and I was under a bit of an obligation. I went on with farming and he was very good to me. He encouraged me along and he helped me buy plant. I never had much money, but any money that I had went into building my own plant. That was a good learning curve too. On leaving school, well, I probably didn't look back.

I played sport of course; it was a very important thing for socialising. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I played football for Ramblers. Which was a break because my mother and father had always been Yeelanna. We were situated 7 miles from Yeelanna and 11 from Cummins, it wasn't a problem to decide to come to Cummins. I chose Ramblers because I knew a couple of people. I played tennis as well. Table tennis for a while. But I think that was an excuse to go out and see my girlfriend. When I was too old for those, I played bowls. I have never been particularly good at sports, but it's been good for socialising.

Right from leaving school, I enjoyed the tennis club. Going to the first annual meeting, I found myself as treasurer! From that point on I got more involved in the public side of life. I went on to be president of the tennis club, the tennis association. Likewise in football; do a bit of coaching, then president and on the committee. These things sort of evolve. Similar with bowls, coming through from playing, then on the committee and ending up president. Then that sort of carries on to being a selector! Being involved is always rewarding. In my opinion, there's highs and lows to everything. Looking back on it, it was a pretty good experience to have in my life.

In the earlier days, Wendy was friendly with someone else at the time and one evening after a dance or a beer or something, this other person said he was going to give her up. She was only 16 and wasn't allowed to go anywhere. I asked her to go to a dance at Kapinnie but she had to have someone else go with her. So, Wendy, Janette and I went off and came back to Cummins and it basically evolved from that. We had our ups and downs for a while because she was only 16. It wasn't easy for a while because I wasn't the most acceptable bow on the blocks. I was a Rambler, and she was from a Cummins Reds family. Wendy was Methodist and I was Anglican, and her parents probably didn't think it was really time to be too serious about partnering up with anyone. But eventually, the magnetic draw was still always there. There was always this division thing- not from our point of view, a few hurdles to get over, but we both persisted. Wendy approached her father one morning when he was milking the cow and demanded to talk to him. She said, “I'm going to marry Brian, and I don't care what you say or do”. She was determined that it was going to happen and of course, it did. It was a partnership that lasted 61 years.

We got married on a Tuesday. So we didn't keep anyone from sport. Everyone turned up and we had a great day. We went to the snow (Mount Buller) for our honeymoon, I hadn't even told Wendy that's where we were going. There's a bit of a story to the day. It was late evening by the time we left in the ute. Someone had loaded the back up with all sorts of stuff, so we had to get rid of that before we took off. Wendy had her hair permed prior to the wedding and it didn't work properly. We had to go back to get it fixed and be there by one o'clock the next day. We drove well into the night to Whyalla. We got up early the next morning and got to Adelaide to drop Wendy for her one o'clock appointment. We stayed a couple of days and headed off to Melbourne for the Friday night showing of My Fair Lady. On Saturday, we watched Melbourne play Collingwood at the MCG and on Sunday we went up to Mt Buller to the snow for a week. Then I came home straight back into shearing and reality.

We moved to Cummins in about April of ‘99. Wendys mother had just died in January. John and Meredith were married in the October prior and they were living across the road in a house that really needed quite a bit of attention. John took the initiative and found this house in Cummins for us. Wendy never really wanted to leave the farm or her cow, but we got used to it. The grandkids had just started school and we were close to the school. We enjoyed a close association with our grandkids, the house is full of photographs as they grow up and memories of them carrying on and playing out the back pretending to be all sorts of things.

Wendy missed her cow, Cadbury (glass and a half) a lot. One day she couldn't find her, and Michael admitted he sold her. That was the end of the cows. It wasn't a bad move. Like a lot of others back in the late 60s, we went into cattle when wool prices crashed. We learned a lot of things very fast, and the cattle didn't last very long. There are always a few experiences in life, you try things once and it works, otherwise you call it an education. Cattle was definitely one of those educations.

I am amazed at how farming has evolved in the last 10-15 years. Direct drilling, fertiliser and agronomy analysing your farm per square meter of what it needs. It's amazing the progress that's been made and being witnesses to that. Compared with my father's early years, using horses and very narrow machinery at a very slow pace to what can be done now. It's just mind boggling where technology is leading. When you’re farming you try lots of different things. They are experiences of life that you learn from. And as I've always said to our boys, you will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But don't make the same mistake twice.

I've been involved in a number of activities. Freemasonry has been a very big part of my life. I probably joined because the Triggs were all Freemasons, and it was probably at Bills suggestion. I joined at 25. There were 6 of us under the age of 30 at the time and it was very strong throughout the state, but it's lost its momentum. It's not a Christian organisation, but it’s based on biblical stories from the Old Testament with references to everyday things and when using certain tools that have a moral significance in life. I became a junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of South Australia in 1992. That took Wendy and I traveling around the state doing installations. We still have the Freemasons in Cummins. But we have been going round in circles because we do not have new members.

I was on the council for 21 years. I enjoyed all the time on there and got to know a number of people. As a councillor, you work collectively and are not always held in the highest esteem like any person in politics. There's critics there asking why this is done and why it wasn't done, but those people look at things on the surface rather than the whole picture. From council evolved a few outside opportunities. As Chairman of the Council here, I was involved in the South Australia regional councils association and with LGA (Local Government Association). They were all experiences where you get a broader, wider perspective of rural and city councils. I learnt to look at the whole picture and not to judge quickly. You've got to fight for what you stand for, work with others and agree on different things that are important to make change. So that was an experience.

The church has also been important to me. To me the Anglicans, Lutherans, and Catholics of all have a similar dogma. We shared an appreciation for that. I am still an active member of the church again, there are not the numbers. While we've got a group that wants to meet, we will. We have a church service every Sunday and sometimes we share it with the Lutherans or the Unitings. It doesn't matter what organisation you are involved in, it's a nice way to connect. Even though a community of this size where you know basically everyone there is always a different group of people that you can associate or connect with.

I was told three months in advance that I'd been successfully nominated to receive an OAM and was asked whether I was prepared to accept the award or not. I was quite overwhelmed as there was someone who must have thought I’d done something worthwhile. I was grateful as the people that nominate you go to a lot of trouble to present the case for you, and it's not done without effort or sincerity. I did not tell Wendy until the day they came to interview me. The interviewer asked what Wendy was looking at when taking a photo, she replied ‘the hairs in his nose, they need to be trimmed!’ She would have been thinking don't let him get above his station or let it go to his head. There are three of us in the same street with an OAM; Stan McKenzie and Wendy Holman.

It's a bit over two years since Wendy died. 21st November 2021. I am very fortunate to have family around. It's a bit like when you finish your job, and there's no connections to rely on. Similarly, when you lose a partner. As difficult as it is, my family is very good and there's always somebody calling in. Jan Phelps has been very good to me. I've got a positive outlook; we had 61 years. There's a lot of people that don't get that. You look back on it and say you can't dwell on the past but you're very appreciative of what you did have, it's all part of living and dying. You don't live forever, and you just have to be grateful for the years we had.

I do go to fitness on Wednesday mornings to keep active. I still do some gardening but not as much as I used to as I don't need to grow as much. I've got some chooks and give some eggs to the kids. It keeps me happy. Since Wendy has gone, I have the inside of the house too! I have some cleaners come to do the wet and the traffic areas. I'm very fortunate.

Memory is one of those things that starts to go on you, I sometimes go and get something out the garage and you get out there and wonder what it was you were going to get. We’ve got very little control of our declining years as to what is ahead of us. I'm hoping to be at home for a while on this big block. I know that I'm going to need more help from time to time, but at this stage I'm managing.

We are very fortunate with the health provisions in the town. We've got a hospital, the doctors, the extra ancillary and visiting specialists all provide a great service. I am monitored by doctors with a health plan, and you get this check and that check, and they always ask you; “what are you looking forward to?” I always say; “well, I just hope that I can continue to do be able to do the things I'm doing and know that they'll be at a slower pace. I look forward to life as normal, and I can appreciate what's going on around me and be part of it.”

You can have ambitions in life. And you know, you achieve some and some you don't. I always keep an open mind about what the future holds. Life deals you a hand just like the deck of cards. I believe in thinking things through and being respectful. That's one thing I learnt from Wendy. We are all different. There are some people that we don't associate closely with and there are others that we do. Be mindful of people, and they are what they are, and respect that. Being critical is not the way to go about it, you will have your differences of opinion. That's life.