Local Family History.

Sarah our Marketing Coordinator has been a contributor for our monthly editorial in The Hills Gazette for the past two years. This week she decided to share some of her family’s local history of Midland.

My interest in Midland and its history has definitely increased since being involved with the blog and our monthly editorial in The Hills Gazette- I Remember When.That is why I was surprised to realise that I had yet to write about my grandfather and his family’s history. I called him last week and he had so many stories to share.

I will give a little insight into some of his memories about Midland. Jack Gartrell (Grandad) was born in 1934, the middle child of seven children. He grew up living on Newcastle Road, now known as Great Northern Highway, in Midland and went to Midland Primary School, which was located where Dome is now. The Gartrell family have long been a part of Midland and even have a street named after them. 

Grandad loved growing up in Midland and has fond memories of playing sports with his family and friends. He told me about the vacant land located across the street from where he lived. He and his siblings saw this land as an opportunity and sought approval from the owner to turn the space into a cricket pitch for everyone to play. They were allowed so they built the cricket pitch themselves. All of the neighbouring children would come over to play but of course, Grandad and his brothers always got to bowl and bat. Grandad, his family and all of the other local children created many great memories on that cricket pitch. Grandad mentioned that in later years he had people come up to him and speak fondly about their time spent at the pitch. It was so nice to hear Grandad talk about his childhood with such fondness; he really enjoyed growing up in Midland.

The best aspect of our conversation is how we connected speaking about old and new Midland. He talked about the old infrastructure and buildings then we spoke of the new Midland hospital and the potential Midland oval development. It was so much fun chatting to my Grandad! Hopefully I will be able to find some images of Grandad growing up to post on the blog soon.

Sarah Rendell, Marketing Coordinator