I was born in 1931 in Tumby Bay. My father, Thomas Secker, managed a Yallana Station owned by JT Mortlock. My father came in as a wool classer and that’s where he met my mother, Amy Whyte. I was the youngest of 5 children by about 10 years. My siblings were Bill, Molly (who became Sheehan), Jack and Tom. As a young child I remember my father taking me down to the jetty to watch grain being loaded aboard the big Wind Jammers.

Dad was the manager of Yallana Station until he got promoted to manage Martindale Station at Mintaro, in 1939. We moved when I was 8 years old. I was enrolled at the local convent with about 10 other kids. When I started school, we had slate and chalk, and I had to walk about 3 miles to school, until I got a bike. Then in my last year, I was given a pony to ride. This made getting to school a lot easier.

I went to Rostrevor College boarding school in 1945, I had never been away from home on my own before, so it was quite a shock. However, I did get 2 bob a week pocket money! I didn’t get many academic or sporting achievement awards and I was glad to leave in 1948. By this time my parents had retired on a dairy and orangery in Salisbury. I worked for my parents after leaving school. They had 75 acres which had a couple hundred oranges trees and cows. Mum loved cows and we used to milk 25 cows every morning. We also grew and cut lucerne for the cows.

I saved up and bought a motorbike. I had a couple of prangs on the motorbike, so my parents bought me a Vauxhall Wyvern. They thought this to be a safer mode of travel!

While I was growing up in Salisbury, my brothers had established themselves as farmers here on Lower Eyre Peninsula. Bill had a farm at Wildeloo, Jack had a farm at Cockaleechie and Tom was farming at Yeelanna. I had seen Genny about the place, and I was keen to get to know her. I said to a friend, “I like this girl and want to know more about her, and I am not sure how to do this”. My friend asked, “Does she have a brother?” I replied, “Yes”. My friend said, “Then become good friends with her brother!” Genny’s dad was a policeman and I thought that was sound advice, so I became friends with her brother. Genny’s dad was in fact a Sergeant at Salisbury and got shifted to Gawler which wasn’t far away. I would drive up and visit her when I could. My mother had a heart attack and passed away when we were at Salisbury, she was 60. Unfortunately, this was 2 years before Genny and I got married. We were married on the 3rd of April 1954. It has been 69 years this year. My brothers were all farming when we got married and they said, “you should have a go at buying this farm here at Yeelanna”. We did and we got it. The farm was called Taluna Downs, Section 12 Hundred of Shannon. My father sold the farm at Salisbury after my mother passed and remarried and moved to Toorak in Adelaide. He lived on until he was 70. Genny and I had 4 children; Annie was born in 1955, Louise 1957, Marrett 1958 and Pete in 1962.

I had to learn a lot of about farming but I had good neighbours, and my brother was 3 miles up the road. He gave me a lot of advice and when he retired, I bought his place. We had sheep, cows and pigs. The house there wasn’t any good. It was made of limestone and pug; the roof was rusty and leaked when it rained. It had no running water, an outside toilet, the fences were falling down, and the sheds were old and low, but the land was good. After work each day I would make cement bricks. In total I made 12,000. Then we got an old builder, Des Hammond and I laboured for him. He was the builder, and we were the labourers. It took 12 months to complete but we shifted in on the 15th of August 1959, after 5 years in the old house. I remember it was a drought that year. We had to cut most of the crop and use it for hay. We had a good year the year after, and that made up for it.

Growing up I played centre half back at Salisbury Football Club and I also played cricket. I didn’t play football here in Cummins, but I played cricket for Yeelanna. I did take up bowls and played bowls here in Cummins for 50 years. I am Life Member of the Cummins Bowls Club and have been Club Patron for 3 years.

I enjoyed sheep farming, and our local Ag Bureau ran a Hogget competition. I won this a couple of times and then we competed against the winners of the other Bureaus, and I was lucky enough to win that a couple of times also. We won a lot of trophies over the years for our sheep. I was awarded a Life Membership of the Yeelanna Ag Bureau. We had a few cows early on, but they were a bit of a nuisance and would knock the fences down. The boys weren’t keen on looking after them, so we ended up selling them. Farming was a family affair. Whenever we worked up new ground, I would say to the kids, “Come on kids, let’s go pick some rocks!”. We had some milking cows, chooks, and I built a pig stye for the pigs. I remember one day Genny got knocked over by a sheep into the sheep dip. Pete was just a baby, and we could park the car near the sheep yards, and he would play in there while we did sheep work. We had done this with all the kids when they were little. At night we used to play cards and listen to the radio. We had good neighbours, the Treloar’s, Robins’ and Howell’s and they are still good neighbours. We had a few working men over the years that we are still very friendly with and in contact with one of them.

Genny and I were heavily involved in the Cummins Drama Club. We acted, produced and directed plays. We mostly did comedies and on occasion had actors stay with us, and one of our favourite plays was The Brides of March. In 1980 the club won the Flinders Festival of Drama in Port Lincoln. Anyone who wanted to be part of the Drama Club could join, we were an odd bunch, but people just got hooked on it.

We were part of The Continental at school for many years and loved being part of that. We did the Wax Works for a few years as well, and people would try and make you laugh. By the time it was over, all the food and drink was gone! One year Genny was the Statue of Liberty with all these sheets wrapped around her. We had so much fun. We made our entertainment, and it was marvellous. I had a terrible knack of walking on stage before my cue.

I emceed many footy windups with United Yeelanna Football and Netball club over the years. I had a heart bypass when I 40 but I stayed active and busy with my bowling and veggie patch. We lived on the farm until about 1995 when we moved into Cummins. After we moved into town, I went out to the farm at seeding, harvest and shearing time. I also joined the Beef Steak and Burgundy club. In 2009, our daughter Annie was in Port Lincoln working when she was diagnosed with cancer. Her daughter came over while she was having treatment. This was on and off for 3 years and then we had confirmation that it had travelled throughout her body. She died on my 78th birthday. It was 4am. She didn’t want to die on my birthday. It was an awful time because there wasn’t a thing we could do to help her. She died in my arms, and this was a terribly sad time for us.

I gave up bowls about 3 years ago and I recently sold my prized possession, my 1965 Ford Ute called Priscilla. I had Priscilla for 50 years; she was in car shows and street parades. I loved that ute and was sorry to see it go. I have a wonderful picture of my ute, drawn by Cyril Pedler, it is in my room. It’s a pretty good picture. I have made 112 corks boards over the years. They make great notice boards. All have my name and their number on the back of them. I have given many of these to friends and family over the years. We have 6 great grandchildren, 5 of them are boys!

We went on an overseas trip for our 25th Anniversary. We went to Singapore, Hong Kong and on the train to China. It was fantastic. We have been on many road trips over the years. Wherever the kids were living at the time we would go and visit them. Our UK trip was great, and we went to Wells-next-the-Sea. My ancestors had been servants in a well-known House called Holkom Hall. I had an ancestor who was Master of the Rolls in Ireland. And another who was the Archbishop of Canterbury. We went on a European river cruise. We saw the Rhine River, Amsterdam to Budapest and we went to Italy as well. We had plans to go to Canada but then Annie got unwell and we cancelled.

It is awful getting old. I have had a few falls. And after each fall the Doc would start the conversationwith, “Jim I think it’s time we had a chat about Miroma”. This last fall I had, I walked out the back door, the same door I have walked out so many times. I fell and fractured my pelvis. The Doc started on me again and I told the Doc “No way”. Then the nurses started on me. Room number 14 became available, and Genny and Louise came and checked it out for me. It’s a nice room. I never wanted to come to Miroma because it’s full of old people. But here I am! Many of my close mates have passed away in recent years; Colin, Ted, Bas, Frank and Bob, they’re all gone. I have had a good life, getting married, buying a farm and then another. Raising the kids on the land, my bowls and community work. It has all contributed to this good life I have had.”