Good old days are long gone
By SARAH ALLELY
JOHN Fraser recalls when the surfers discovered The Farm in 1960.
But the "farmer" wants to amend Killalea's history books.
Although he and his wife Joan bought the land from his family in the 1950s and managed it after it was sold to Imperial Chemical Industries, they never charged surfers a cent to enter.
"ICI charged the money, not me. That's what really upsets me," Mr Fraser said from his Kiama home.
He sold the dairy farm which his family had owned since 1923 after pressure from the chemical company.
But the Frasers stayed on in the homestead on the ridge until 1963, leasing and then managing the land.
Tenants on neighbouring farms charged surfers and fishermen to enter Killalea, but Mr and Mrs Fraser preferred a sharing approach.
"But it's always read like the family charged, and we had the farm, so naturally people thought it was us," Mrs Fraser said.
"It sounds tacky. We never stopped anyone using the beach.
"I remember when the children were young and it was dark and I came home and put my hand on the back door. Suddenly there was a great commotion and clattering.
"A fisherman had tied four lobsters to the door knob as a present," she said.
The homestead was burnt down and bulldozed in the late 1960s, but Mr Fraser didn't return to Killalea for 20 years.
Now the pair return from time to time, and check on their old gardenia tree.
The Frasers are not opposed to the land being leased, but hope what is built is "not objectionable or unsightly".
"None of us know what it's going to be, that's the problem," Mrs Fraser said.
Killalea's history
1923-1955: Fraser family owns Killalea and runs dairy farm
1955: John Fraser buys off his family
1957: John Fraser sells to ICI, but continues to lease and then manage land
1963: "Farmer" John Fraser and wife Joan leave
1969-1970s: Industrial park planned for land stopped
1980-1984: Gradually becomes State Recreation Area
1997: Killalea State Park born
Illawarra Mercury - 28 April 2007
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