Mary Wade Family

Albert Harold Holder (Dick) was born on the 23rd of April 1894. Dick built a
small home on his block at Morven, it was close to the front fence near the
lane that ran up to the Hodges. He worked for many years at ‘Mahonga’
station, near Rand. Dick was born with a cleft palate and a speech
impediment, because of this he didn’t have a lot to say preferring to live a
quiet life, he never married. In his own way he was a bit of a character,
and had a good sense of humour, the following stories have gone into our
families history as worth preserving. Dick was heading home one day taking
a short cut through a paddock he bent down to throw a small branch out of
his way when he was bitten on the arm just above his wrist by a brown snake,
feeling quite put out that this had happened he ran the snake down and
killed it, then taking out his pocket knife he made a cut across the bite
before sucking out the poison. He then walked home, his horrified brother
saddled his horse and tore into Culcairn to fetch the doctor. Dick spent a
few sick days in bed, but he lived to joke about it. In his later years he
built himself a small hut on the block of land that once belonged to Morell
and Louisa Brown, this land backed onto our property (Ron and Judy Brown).
Dick did not attend church but without fail he turned on his wireless and
listened to the church service on a Sunday evening. On the odd occasion he
would wander over to the Morven Pub to enjoy a couple of beers. It was on
one of those days that my brother Alister Brown needed a piece of string to
finish a project that he was working on. He went across to his uncle’s
place, Dick had just arrived home from the pub, and as Alister recalled
later, I think he was a little merry, I said to him, ‘have you got any
string on ya Dick’, the reply was immediate, ‘what do you think it is, a
bloody yo-yo. Dick died in the Culcairn hospital in 1974, he was 80 years
old he is buried in the Culcairn cemetery.