John William Newlin

Then following is the eulogy delivered by Bob Noakes at John's funeral

JOHN WILLIAM NEWLIN

John William Newlin was born on the northern bank of the Karuah River on the 12th April 1922 to John William Newlin Snr. and Violet May Feeney.

He was educated at Pindimar School where he and his sister were rowed across from Soldiers Point to Pig Station and then they walked along the beach to school and the reverse in the afternoons, and by his family. In his early years John spent a lot of time with his grandfather, Martin Feeney and it was from him that he learned the things that a young man needed to know to exist in the world. As a child, John would often cause concern for his well being by going swimming in the river and then disappearing. When others noticed that he had gone swimming and had not come up for air, they would raise the alarm. All the while that people were looking for him, John would swim with a piece of seaweed on his head and then come ashore away from the onlookers then go back and ask the assembled crowd what were they looking for. He copped many a hiding for his humour.

In his teens John was often called upon by his mother to help feed the family. John was a fine marksman and Violet would often give John the rifle and two bullets and told to get tucker.

Most times he would come home with a wallaby or kangaroo AND one bullet. In recent years when the BiLo shopping complex was being built, he commented that where it was situated was his old hunting ground where he got his supplies for his family.

John enlisted in the merchant marine in 1938 at 16 years of age and served on many boats in peace time and in times of war. He later resigned from the merchant marine and enlisted in the Army in 20 Australian Labour Company in 1942 as a Gunner. During the Japanese invasion of Darwin, John shot down one of the Japanese planes with his .303 and dressed in his birthday suit.

John had a mate, Jack Bramble and one time when he and Jack were home on leave, John went with Jack to see his girlfriend who was John’s sister Laurel, or Toppy as she was known. Jack Bramble’s sister Ella and Toppy were great mates and when John and Jack arrived together and John saw Ella, it was love at first sight. They subsequently married in 1945 and had five children, George (deceased), Brenda, Roslyn, Debbie and Murray.

After John left the Army, he went back to the Merchant Navy and served on many ships.

In his time off on leave, John would work at other jobs to keep food on the table for the family.

He kept in touch with other members of his extended family on the other side of the bay and occasionally rowed his mother, son George and the three girls Brenda, Roslyn and Debbie over to relatives at Soldiers Point. Murray was not born then. It was not uncommon to stop occasionally on the trip over to wait for marauding sharks to pass by, many larger than the boat they were in.

John’s nature as a Koori man was one of sharing with those less fortunate. In many instances he would literally give someone the shirt off his own back and sometimes that meant that he and his family went without. It was the same if someone was hungry; he would raid his own family’s shelves to give them something to eat and often, this was achieved without Ella’s concurrence.

John had a quirky sense of humour. He would put an old gas mask on and knock at the window where the kids were playing at night and shine a torch up into the mask and scare the kids. Although this was in fun, it had a message; trust no-one who you don’t know, especially when they come prowling around windows at night. John’s humour also extended to playing jokes on his wife Ella. He would delight in putting green frogs in her side of the bed when she was going to bed early.

On occasions, he would wake up the children when Ella was going to bed and say to them “listen, frogs in the bed”. When Ella got into bed she would then scream, to both John and the kids delight.

While home on leave, John also worked on the droghers; in particular the Salamander whose hulk lies off the northern shore of Witt Island. He also worked as a timber getter, fisherman, and oyster shucker. John loved fishing and along with others would engage in a fishing competition with Bill Moreton the butcher at the time. They fished for Jewie. One night, he came home with a 60 pound jewie and being late at night, put the fish into bed with Ella and then woke her up. Ella was not amused, especially since she had done the washing that very day.

He eventually left the Merchant Marine and went to work in Newcastle at the BHP for a few years until he came back to live in Tea Gardens full time again and started working with the council.

In his time in Tea Gardens, John contributed much to the town and community but with little or no fanfare. He didn’t ask for recognition for his work or deeds, he just did them for the benefit of the community.

It is little known that John was a founding member of the RSL Sub Branch in Tea Gardens along with his great mate Jack Bramble and the late Max Ninness. The first meetings of the Sub Branch were held in the beer garden of the Old pub. He helped dig the foundations of the old RSL and Bowling club when the club first started. He also helped lay the concrete cricket pitch at the school. In those days concrete was mixed by hand, there were no ready mixed concrete trucks to deliver the concrete.

In his retirement, John liked to play his part as a Recycling Engineer at the local dump. He scavenged through rubbish and could be relied upon to find something that someone might have wanted. He also loved to fish and was adept at finding fish wherever he went. Rarely did he come home empty handed. As a Koori Elder, he also liked to pass on his stories and traditions to those he left behind.

In 1996, his world fell apart when the love of his life, Ella died suddenly. Since then, he has taken a few holidays to Queensland to stay with daughter Roslyn and son-in-law Phillip, on North Stradbroke Island but on each occasion, couldn’t wait to get back to his beloved Tea Gardens. In later years, John’s health started to decline and he didn’t travel much.

Last year, 2004, John was devastated to learn that his eldest son George had died from cancer.

John will be sadly missed by his family, both close and extended and for his contribution to our piece of paradise.