HARMAN Kevin Gayle. HARMAN Kevin Gayle. HARMAN Kevin Gayle. HARMAN Kevin Gayle. HARMAN Kevin Gayle. HARMAN Kevin Gayle.
1963-1998
Written by Gayle Harman
I was born in Katanning and raised in Nyabing by parents Robbie and Dot Stephens (nee Dye), the eldest of siblings Neil, Jane, Jason (Bud) and Michael (Spike). We lived in the house on the corner of Aspendale Street and George Street opposite the basketball courts. This was pretty good in the summer as we used to sit on the front step and watch the basketball or get to play with other kids.
Mr and Mrs Chas Gerhardy use to live diagonally across from us and she used to come over often for Mum to thread her needles. On the other corner was bush which had nice trees in to make cubbies until the land was cleared for the new headmasters house. I think that John and Pat Lockley and family where the first to about the mid 1970’s.
As kids we were called the “townies” and spent our time playing with the Gerhardy’s, Debbie, Mark (Parrot), Glenice, Greg and Christine; the Gilbert’s, Garry, Kim and Russell; The Hobbs’, Graham, Glenda and Murray, and the headmasters children, the Smith’s and then Lockley’s. We would be outside all day riding bikes, making new tracks in the bush, building cubbies etc. We never had TV. It was a great thrill to visit Wally and Joyce Ramm on a Sunday night to watch TV for a short while, only if good and sat very quiet and still!
Before Nana and Grandpa (Nell and Bulla) Stephens sold the shop, I was about six and remember staying with them and being with Nana in the Post Office whilst she manned the telephone exchange in the evening, also being sent down to Treasure’s shop to buy fish and chips for tea.
We often visited Uncle Keith, Aunty Shirley and cousins Kerryn, Darryl, Lorene, Brent and Graeme Stephens on the farm. Picking mallee roots and collecting cow manure (Dad had a very good vegetable garden) wasn’t much fun, but Aunty Shirley always had yummy cakes and fresh cow’s milk with the thick cream on the top for us to take home. There was always plenty to see and do with our cousins.
Pop (Keith) Dye used to drive the train out to Nyabing and when we heard it, Neil and I would always go and meet him, as he would come for a cuppa with Mum and he usually had lollies for us. Sometimes we were allowed a ride on the train. Uncle (Keith) Dye often called in when out Nyabing way buying wool.
I will always remember primary school at Nyabing as a happy place. We would spend morning tea and lunch time up the bus with our cubbies, not something to do today. I always had to go home for lunch; Mum would have it ready on the table. When dad and mum got the second school bus and mum had to drive, I had to stay with Spike (he wasn’t at school) and look after him while the other kids went off to school. When Mum got home, I then went to school and in the afternoons I also had to look after him. I became a Brownie and then a Girl Guide, as most girls did at the time.
When I finished primary school I went to Kobeelya in Katanning. It was 1975 and the first year the high school bus went from Nyabing to Katanning each day. Laurie Gilbert was the driver. Before leaving Nyabing on a Thursday morning we had to help cart the fruit and vegetables into the shop for Sally. Gilbert’s at the time had the fruit and vegie shop, also the best lollies. This was the year we moved into our new house (state house) in Cronin Street. During the school holidays I often worked for Gannaway’s in the shop.
I played netball in Katanning on a Saturday mornings; this always meant a visit to see Nana and Pop Dye after buying a pie for lunch. I remember one trip was netball in Katanning for Jane and I, and then to Boxwood Hills for football for Bud and Spike and hockey for Mum. Dad and Mum never said no to any sport we wanted to play. Being very sports active themselves, home life revolved around one sport or another be it summer or winter.
I played netball for Nyabing when their team joined the Ongerup Association. This lasted several years before I joined the Nyabing Women’s Hockey Club. I enjoyed many years associating with the hockey club, I played in two premierships, represented the association at carnivals and at country week. I played basketball in Nyabing and later in Katanning and Lake Grace. I also played netball n Lake Grace during the summer.
When I left school I worked in the Kent Shire office. Terry Broadhurst was the Shire Clerk at the time. I lived at home up until my marriage to Kevin (Kiwi) Harman in 1984. Kiwi had moved from Motueka, South Island, New Zealand to Nyabing in 1978 to work for the Nyabing Pastoral Co. (owned by Ross Payton).
His brother Colin, wife Lois and daughters Louise and Katy, were working there at the time with Steve Breen as the Manager. This was a culture shock to Kiwi, a menswear salesman, brought up by the sea and loving all that went with it. He lived at home and was spoilt by his mother and she still talks about how one day out of the blue he said, “I am going to Aus” and within a few weeks he was in Nyabing. She always thought he would return home, instead married a ‘bloody Aussie’!!
Kiwi lived with Colin and Lois when he first arrived in Australia. Whilst living with them, he joined the Tennis Club. He then moved into the single men’s quarters. During this time he became great mates with Sam and Astrea Dye and their family Michelle, Mark (Worby) and Bonnie, Charlie Borlini and Darryl Stephens and his family. He played B Grade football for Kent and in his first game at Borden, ended up with broken ribs.
Married life
We started married life living at McLaren’s, (McLaren Road, off Kukerin Road not on the main farm). I continued working in the Shire office. Kiwi drove trucks, carting pigs, grain etc. as well as other seeding and harvest duties about the farm. In 1985 Kiwi was offered a job with Gannaway’s Nyabing, which he accepted and we moved to town.
We lived in the old house behind the shop which Nana and Grandpa Stephens, many years before, had lived in. Kiwi went to Perth on a Monday night and returned late Tuesday night in the truck, for all the shops supplies including groceries, fresh fruit and vegies, hardware and whatever else was needed.
During the time in Perth, he stayed with Aunty Gwen (Ray’s aunty in Bayswater). His job was varied as he also went to Katanning early Friday morning for fresh bread and milk. Delivering fuel throughout the district was also on the agenda. One wet winters Friday night, he was late back and had both Ray and I worried, but he had been having a quiet port with Mike Darwood, nothing to worry about! When not on the road there was plenty to do in the shop.
Many evenings after the shop closed at six, it was tradition to have a drink with the Gannaway family, Ray and Lyn and Mr and Mrs Gannaway (Jack and Mary). This formed a very strong friendship with the family to last many years. We enjoyed life, playing tennis in the summer and hockey and football in the winter, and joining in many community events. I was on the Nyabing Tidy Town Committee and edited the Nyabing News. Kiwi and I both enjoyed the company of family and friends; there was always something to do.
In September 1986 saw our first born, William joined the family, and he was thoroughly spoilt by all the family and the Gannaway girls; Kirsty and Leanne. In March 1988 Sarah was born. Both she and Will would spend many an hour with Kiwi in the truck, or at the shop, and loved to ride on the forklift. They only had to stand at the back gate for someone to give them a ride!
When Mr and Mrs Gannaway retired to Busselton, we moved two doors down into the transportable house. Life at work for Kiwi grew busier and more responsibility came his way. He was heavily involved with both the football club (running the bar) which he enjoyed. Will and Sarah would sleep in the bar – Will under the table and Sarah in the pram. He would also help out in anyway he could, often as a runner for the league side.
Sunday mornings, after a home game of football, I think was Sarah’s favourite. She loved to count the bar money and would help Kiwi. By three years of age, she had it all sorted for him. Timothy was born in June 1991 and completed our family.
During the summer we enjoyed playing tennis and were both involved in the running of the club. Kiwi would organise meat packs and drinks. Many a night was spent playing tennis under the lights after tea and a few drinks. Often some of the cricket players and the bowlers would come down and join us for tea. Having the children, I became involved in playgroup first at someone’s house and then at the CWA using the pre-school facilities.
Sadly in April 1992, after a fall whilst loading the truck in Perth and suffering a head injury, Kiwi lost his battle for life. I was left devastated with three young child, William (5 ½) year one at school with a very understanding teacher in Janet Avdich (now Davies), Sarah having just turned four and Timothy ten months old, having no memory of his father. With the support of family and terrific friends I stayed in Nyabing after Kiwis death until 1998 and enjoyed life in a small country town. You don’t know how good they are until you leave.
During this time I continued with playgroup up until Tim went to school, and became involved with the Nyabing P & C. Will enjoyed junior football and cricket; he also played some boys netball. Sarah joined the Brownies and played junior netball. Neither played junior hockey that I was involved in, Tim being too young. I played hockey and tennis and joined the golf club. I also studied, gained a Teachers Assistant certificate and worked at the school.
Gayle playing in a golfing fundraiser in Albany in March 2018
We moved to Albany in 1998. I enjoy catching up for friends from our Nyabing days and I know Will, Sarah and Tim are the same. Will has been back to play football for Kent, something he always as a boy said he would do and has also worked in the district. He is now working on a farm at Wellstead. Sarah is an accountant and Tim a qualified carpenter. I am enjoying life with my partner of ten years Frank Gray, and working at Flinders Park Primary School as an education assistant.