My parents, Brian and Doreen Love, built the fibro house (with truck sheds behind) opposite the Catholic Church in 1951. My father had been running milk pickup trucks for a number of years under the name of TJ Love and Sons, TJ being Thomas Love, his father. Dad had moved to delivery of Total petroleum and general carrying, so we moved to Nowra around 1959 into a home that even had a petrol pump in the driveway. Dad was the eldest of six children of Thomas and Gladys (née Mumford) Love, and they lived in Upper Kangaroo River on a dairy farm. My grandmother ran the Post Office and telephone exchange from their house.
However, almost every Saturday after we moved, we would return to the Valley to visit my grandparents Alf and Alice (née Chittick) Napier. They built and lived in what is now known as the Nostalgia Factory. I just love going in there and walking through my wonderful memories. Alf grew the most delicious tomatoes and potatoes on the land between their house and the pub, as well as the land towards the river where the Village Green Nursery now sits. He grew lots of flowers as well. Alf was also the school bus driver for many years, taking kids up over the mountain to high school and keeping them well in line as they went. I am sure many readers would have stories to tell of these bus trips. Alice was a great cook and catered for weddings, usually held in the village hall.
More memories are recalled when I visit the Kangaroo Valley Bakehouse. This was a milk bar in my teens, owned by my aunty and uncle, Edna and ‘Mac’ McKinnon. I often served customers, or helped peel the potatoes for the chips. We also got up to mischief with cousins Julie and Rodney. Mum’s second cousin, Alf Chittick, owned the service station and house which is now Wildes Hotel.
In those days you could park 90 degrees to the very front of the pub. It was tradition to catch up with everyone at the pub after dinner on Saturday night and Dad’s big Chev Impala acted as a sleeping module for us three kids when we were smaller. Then poor Mum was nominated to drive us home to Nowra afterwards under instruction, through the fog usually, by an experienced truck driver, aka Dad. We found it difficult not to laugh out loud in the back seat. We always arrived safely though.
But of course we grow up and move on but we kept some land – a plot at the cemetery where I will eventually be a fifth generation Chittick buried there. My great grandparents are George and Isabella Chittick and my great, great grandparents John and Magdelene Chittick, who came from Fermanagh, Northern Ireland to Kangaroo Valley in 1880, are also buried in the KV cemetery. John and Magdelene received a land grant for a lot that is now part of the Cedarvale Health Retreat.
But I have returned 69 years later!
In April 2021 my husband Greg and I bought a lovely house near the village in Kangaroo Valley. This was fate, not necessarily planned. We pinch ourselves every day. It is such a beautiful place to live in and we look forward to meeting not only the locals, but the relatives whom I would not have seen for many years and those whom I would have never met. And yes, I am heavily involved with the Kangaroo Valley Historical Society. If you have a passion for the history of Kangaroo Valley, come and join us.