PEOPLE who pack up their lives after 18 years in a small town are often headed to the bigger and busier pastures of sprawling cities to be closer to facilities or family.
But for long-time western Queenslander Val Magoffin, the big move from her home town of Julia Creek stopped only 120 kilometres up the road.
Born in Charters Towers in 1925, Val was the eldest of two children to parents John and Edith.
Her successful adaptation to the west may be attributed to her childhood being raised in Julia Creek where her father worked in the railway decrypting Morse code.
“My father taught Morse code to the men during the war years,” Val said.
“A high level of skill was required to key in Morse code correctly.
“It only took minutes to learn but a lifetime to master.”
At the age of 12, Val boarded the train for Townsville where she completed her secondary schooling at St Patrick’s College.
The Julia Creek sweetheart was just 18 when she met strapping young station man, Jim Magoffin.
Val and Jim were married at the Weatherboard Catholic Church on Easter Monday in 1943.
From there the couple headed north to reside on Etta Plains Station.
“When we arrived it was just a hut sitting in the middle of the plains.”
"The nearest telephone was 20 kilometres away and we didn't even have a pedal radio.”
Looking back, Val said 18 seemed terribly young to have embarked on marriage, “especially as I couldn’t cook and had to learn in a hurry.”
“I was taught how to make bread but sometimes it wouldn’t rise and was either thrown in the pig bucket or made into scones.”
“My cooking started off very inconsistent and my husband soon ran out of patience.”
For Jim and Val married life started on the brink of war rationing meaning they were only allocated four gallons of petrol a month, not enough for a round trip to town.
They decided to save it for a couple of months and extended it with kerosene, which didn’t do much for the engine’s performance.
However, there was a RAAF training base 40 kilometres upstream and when two 44-gallon drums of aviation fuel came floating by, it made a much better petrol extender than kerosene for the flat-topped truck they took to town.
But it wasn’t long before Jim and Val decided to start a family with the arrival of their eldest daughter Sharon being a gruelling experience for the new mother.
Two weeks prior to the birth of her first child Val was visiting her parent’s home, helping cook steak on the wooden stove.
“I was very big and round, ready to burst and the stove lid wouldn’t close.
A sparking flame caught a glimpse of Val’s cotton maternity dress, catching it alight.
“I screamed for my mother and for some reason I thought run outside.
“The wind caught hold of the flames and before I knew it I was a ball of fire.
Val’s mother ran her upstairs to place her underneath the shower.
She wept as each droplet pierced her skin like a knife.
Suffering from third-degree burns Val was rushed to the Julia Creek hospital where she underwent punishing burns treatment.
“The treatment was very cruel.
“I spent the next three months in hospital; Sharon soon became a novelty for the nurses and other patients.”
Their family soon grew from one to four daughters Sharon, Lorena, Dallas and Sarita.
Despite living over 100 kilometres north-west of Julia Creek, Val remained heavily involved within the community helping raise money to build the St Joseph’s convent.
“I taught my girls at home for a while until the convent was opened,” Val said.
“It hosted up to 36 boarders and numerous day students.”
The four girls were then sent to Brisbane to complete their secondary education.
All good horsewomen, the girls would return to Etta Plains on the holidays to help on the family property.
“Jim used to call them his ‘blokes’ and bragged to the neighbours who were having trouble with their staff that ‘his blokes didn’t go to town and not turn up for work on Monday’.
“He often saved the mustering until they returned home from school.”
It was the year of 1974 that really stood out for both Val and Jim, the year the Flinders and Cloncurry rivers joined in flood.
“It rained for 40 days straight.
“The Rivers joined across the property, for the first time in 100 years, drowning the 4000 sheep that were caught on the north-western boundary fence.
“A stallion we hadn’t yet paid for was killed.
“The ground became so soggy the windmill supplying the homestead blew over and we were without water.
The Magoffin couple were drowned in property debt, with insurance confusions leaving Jim and Val with nothing.
The girls had all moved out of home, so Jim and Val sold up Etta Plains to buy the smaller neighbouring property Balootha.
But at the age of 62, Jim became ill with a suspected case of gout.
Nurses and Doctors at the Julia Creek hospital became concerned transferring Jim to the Townsville hospital.
“In the words of the Julia Creek nurses, he was bloody sick,” Val said.
Complaining of horrific pains behind his left ear, he was found to have a deep seated brain aneurism. Jim passed away three weeks later.
As her grandchildren reached the age of high school, Val moved to Townsville so the children could stay with her rather than board.
“I had to learn to drive because Jaye wouldn’t catch the bus, she would just sit there and cry,” Val said.
“So it was either I learned to drive or she was off to boarding school.”
Although she misses the station life, at 89 Val hasn’t lost touch with the bush, visiting her daughters at Elrose and Caiwarra stations two to three times a year.
*Prolific novelist Norah Kersh has followed the story of Val and Jim Magoffin, officially launching ‘The Etta Plains Story – It Wasn’t Fancy’ last week at the Mary Who? Bookshop in Flinders Mall.
The book includes letters by Jim during the time of the ‘74’ flood, as well as old photographs and a wealth of memories.
