18/04/2026
Over the Easter break we travelled 895km to our relative’s sheep farm in Tomingley, Central NSW, for the triannual Jones family reunion.
One of my dad’s cousins (Graham) took us out for a drive, feeding his sheep and sharing stories of the land. We crossed over to the neighbouring property, which was once owned by my great grandfather.
We spent time exploring an old shearing shed that my grandfather built with his brothers in the early 1930s. Every piece of cypress timber was milled and sourced right there on the property. The main ridge beam alone came from a single tree, roughly 20 metres long.
Graham told us a story that when the boys, still teenagers at the time. Were installing it, the beam slipped off the posts and snapped clean in half. My great grandfather was not impressed. Lucky for them, they had a second length ready to go.
Almost 100 years on and it’s still stands today.
