Thomas Hallam

Male 1844 - 1933  (89 years)


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   Date  Event(s)
1920 
  • 7 May 1920: Birth of Thomas Joseph William Hallam
    Birth of Thomas Joseph William Hallam at Hamilton Victoria to William Frank & Marguerite Hallam
1922 
  • 25 Jun 1922: Birth of Theresa Mary Hallam
    John Joseph & Lucy Troy celebrate with the arrival of a baby girl Theresa Mary Troy (later Hallam). Theresa grew up on our farm until she was 14 years. Life on the farm unrelenting with the milking of 40 to 50 cows and it was an irrigation property. Though Theresa enjoyed the farm and had a pet cow. Mum has noted she remembers when autumn came and it was time to plant crops after a fall of rain. I would carry this with a bottle of cold tea to my father. There were nights when irrigating a paddock of crops when Dad would have to get up in the night and walk with shovel in hand to cut the water off or divert the flow.
1927 
  • Feb 1927: Thomas Hallam starts Primary school
    Thomas was born in Hamilton and lived in Cavendish Victoria some 20 miles out on a sheep and oat farm. Dad started school at 7 years of age at Loretto Convent boarding school for girls but they also took boys also at Junior school up to 12 years of age. Dad (Tom)says he was a good student and as a kid would talk a lot. He went as far as intermediate year 8/9. Thomas's ambition as a child was to be a solicitor.
1929 
  • 1929—1936: Tom’s family moved to Port Fairy where his father still farmed. The Depression hit the family quite hard. His father William consequently started a small butchering business from 1929- 1934. The family stayed on this farm when in 1936 they moved to Portland.
  • 4 Oct 1929—7 Sep 1932: Australia's Greta Depression
    The Great Depression, generally accepted as beginning when the stock market crashed in the United States in October 1929, was a time of hardship for many people in Australia. By 1932, about 30% of Australian workers were unemployed. The high unemployment and poverty during this period had a great social impact, with many families affected. Single parents as well as many married couples struggled to support and provide for their children. Theresa Mary Hallam was 7 years old at the start of the Great Depression and states she does not recall great hardship. For her father John Joseph with his small farm had poultry, cows and grew some of his own produce. John Joseph and Lucy (mother) would barter with neighbours the essential items between them for their survival. Many unemployed men who had left their families in the big cities in search of country jobs. Theresa remembers her Mum Lucy and Dad John Joseph being very hospitable feeding the men looking for work and at times giving them brief work. Theresa recalls her mother packing a lunch for the men as they moved on from their home in Kerang. On the Myall farm Mum- Theresa has good memories of farm life-"I remember life on the farm unrelenting milking of 40 to 50 cows and it was an irrigation property. I remember when autumn came and it was time to plant crops after a fall of rain. My father worked his team of horses through what would have been lunch time. My mother would cut slices of roast lamb onto a plate always with a tomato and cucumber (home grown). I would carry this with a bottle of cold tea to my father. There were nights when irrigating a paddock of crops when Dad would have to get up in the night and walk with shovel in hand to cut the water off or divert the flow." Mum had a pet cow and was quite attached to it.