While we produced timber in quantity and quality at Collin’s Cap mill, the main problem was getting paid for our deliveries. Uncle Albert was away often trying to collect back payments, for we ourselves had a heavy wages commitment to the workmen. Furthermore, timber was sold for only five shillings per hundred super feet, which would be about fifty cents to a dollar. There seemed to be no way to keep the mill solvent and pay the workers a fair wage. The hired men were paid of course, but the family members of the team had only the meager leavings.
So the mill team disbanded. Uncle Albert and his family returned to America, where he studied dentistry. Gordon went to work for Uncle Hermann in Cooranbong, New South Wales, and from there he went to Avondale College. Ida found house work at Glen Huon, where she met Herb Brown. They were married and became the parents of Ron, Stanley, and Yvonne, a happy and prosperous family, prominent members of the Glen Huon farming community. I went to work for Harry Otto in his hop fields for a time. I had learned to play the cornet and joined the Bismarck band. This instrument was my constant companion and filled in many lonely hours. I used to love to play the tunes of that era, practised to improve my ability, and reached out after the more difficult pieces. My life seemed to be rather empty apart from this. There seemed to be nothing to plan for, only to earn enough to feed and clothe myself.
