Jeffrey William Burgess 16/10/1930 – 24/1/2023

by Michael Burgess (Son)

Molong and district residents will remember Jeff Burgess who was born into an early settler faming family, Lambert and Bryeena Burgesswho also had two daughters Ruth (Pocknall) and Judy (Piddington) - both deceased.

They were a popular local family who worked hard on their local farm producing grains, foods and meats for their own kitchen tables - and those of many others in the district and further afield.

Both Jeff and his lovely wife, Pam, of some 63 years visited Molong a few years back when they attended the Molong Show and where Jeff was able to enter competitions for his carefully handmade timber products.

We loved their return remembered as the handsome and lovely gentleman farmer and his wonderful wife, Pam, who first came to Molong as a Kindergarten teacher at the Molong Central School.

Jeff was 92 when he passed away on 24 January 2023 after fighting off several rounds of cancer over the last few years.

Deliving his father's eulogy - Michael remembered his Dad's story. "Dad grew up on the family wheat and sheep farm just outside Molong. He went to a small, one teacher school called Pinecliffe School, a few kilometres down the road from the farm.

He rode a horse to school and would carry his sister to school. Dad often told stories about that time. It was wartime and he told us about jumping into trenches for air raid drills and making camouflage nets. The one (story) I loved the most was when he was young on the way home from school when he saw a goanna on the side of the road. Dad raced home and told his Dad that he had seen a crocodile!

Our Dad started high school at Molong Central School but was forced to leave in 3rd form when his father had a coronary and dad needed to run the farm fulltime. We took a trip back to Molong and the farm in 2019 and dad was able to share memories of his life on the farm. Including showing us the timber rafters he had cut from the trees on hills around the farm to make the verandah on the homestead and a shed he had built at the back of the house. He was surprised it was still standing!

Dad had plenty of stories about life on the farm too. One of mum’s favourites was when he went to help a neighbour with shearing and asked mum to pack his lunch. At lunchtime, in the shearing shed, dad sat down with all of the burly professional shearers who pulled out their slab sandwiches and dad pulled out his dainty little triangle sandwiches mum had packed. He copped a razing!

The farm kept him busy so he didn’t have much time for social or sporting activities. When mum started her teaching career - her first school was at the Molong Central School teaching

Kindergarten in the mid 1950's. Most of her students, today, remember the beautiful Miss Matthews - her lovely manner and kindness. Dad and mum met and after an appropriate period of courting dad asked mum’s dad if he could marry his daughter. Mum’s dad refused and said they hadn’t been dating long enough. A little while later dad asked again and mum’s dad said "if you are mad enough to want to get married you can".

Mum and dad were married in August 1959 and lived on the farm at Molong. They celebrated 63 years of marriage. That love was everlasting and was evident each morning and each night during dad’s stay in hospital as mum kissed dad hello and goodbye every time.

Graham and Michael were born during the time on the farm. However, the farm was only a small 500 acres and couldn’t sustain dad's parents plus his young family and his sisters. So, the decision was made to sell the farm followed by a move to Bathurst (mum’s home town) where dad worked as a sales person for (Gardener & Caffin) International Harvesters.

Son number 3, Phillip was born in Bathurst. Being raised in the ways of farming families our dad focussed his time and weekends introducing his sons to rural living (like yabbying) and the farming values of respect for each other and others - the importance of good manners, empathy, forgiveness and of the importance of family. Not forgetting, what he learnt from his early settler family - the value of hardwork, never giving up, and the multitude of practical skills associated with farming.

Dad has left with his family a fine legacy of values from his farming upbringing and that which Molong's early settler families lived by. These will live on through our lives and that of his descendants. Dad made a difference.

(Above Right) Jeff and his wife, Pam.

(Left) The handsome descendant of one of Molong's early settler farming families.

(Below Left) Jeff and his much loved wife, Pam (nee Matthews).

Many locals will remember Alex Ambrus, a WW2 refugee from Hungary. Alex lived and worked in Molong from 1959 until his passing in 2004.

Alex led two fascinating lives, in Hungary and Australia and was multitalented.

Alex’s eulogy, prepared and provided here by William Lee makes for fascinating reading.