Ronald Herbert Hayman (Sarge)

Ronald Herbert Hayman was born on the 18 January 1927 to Cecil and Ernestine Hayman.

Ronald was born in Richmond Hospital, and he spent the first 13 years of his life living on the river flats at Agnes Banks. At that time his father worked in the gravel quarries and was also a share farmer with a small dairy farm. When Ron was nine, his father gave him two books by Banjo Paterson, “Old Bush Songs” and “Rio Grande”. Those two books, along with a later one titled the Roma Poetry Book, launched Ron into a love of poetry, particularly Australian poetry. It was a love that lasted all his life. Even in the last few months of his life, one of the staff at his nursing home told me about the day that Ron recited poetry to her.

Unfortunately, according to Ron, his father was an alcoholic and, at the age of 13, Ron and his mother left him to live in a house that was part of the Inall’s property on the outskirts of Richmond. Ron’s father later died having walked in front of a truck and was killed. Ron attributed his alcoholism to that incident happening and most of you would know that if offered alcohol, Ron would not partake.

At about the age of 15 Ron got his first job at Hawkesbury Agricultural College. He had a few different roles there. Initially he worked in the poultry section. He also worked in the science section as a lab assistant and he also had a job as assistant to the Head of the Ag College, Mr E A Southee. Ron thought Mr Southee ran a good ship, and I think that he learnt a lot from him.  I’m told that it probably helped him to get chosen for his job at Trinity some ten years later. Apparently for much of the interview, the Headmaster, Mr Hogg, wanted to know about his time working with Mr Southee.

In the second half of the 1940s Ron worked for a few years for a well-known vet in Penrith called TG Hungerford. I think Ron learned a lot from TG Hungerford.

Following that job, he then went off as a roustabout in shearing sheds working for sharing contractors. He spent three or four years doing that and worked in many places around NSW particularly from Coonamble in the north to Michelago in the south. Some of you will know the story of how Ron came to choose Cooma as a place to retire. It goes back to a Saturday in January of 1949. There was no shearing that day and Ron decided that he wanted to have a haircut. So, he hopped on his bicycle and rode to Cooma where he got a haircut and at that time decided it was a place he’d like to retire. It's a distance of 62 kilometres each way from Michelago to Cooma and it shows that Ron was pretty fit in those days.

On one occasion in the late 40s or early 50s Ron was cycling with friends. They were at Glenbrook in the lower Blue Mountains and Ron said to his friends, I’d like to bet you that I can ride all the way to Penrith no hands on the handlebars and if I do, I'll get a milkshake. And he did it!

In 1952 Ron first started at Trinity Grammar School as the School Sergeant and he got the name ‘Sarge’. Ron worked at the School for 27 years and it was certainly a big part of his life. There’s just one incident that he told me about in relation to Trinity that I'll pass on to you now. Currently, there have been train strikes in Sydney. Well, sometime back while he was working at Trinity there was a train strike. Ron knew about it. He got up early, got on his bicycle and rode from Penrith to Summer Hill. Apparently the Headmaster, Mr Hogg, was very impressed. Ron never took ‘sick days’ He was very conscientious.

Ron also spent two years working at Barker College after leaving Trinity and on top of that he worked for five or six years at Bankstown Grammar School.

Upon retirement Ron loved his time living in Cooma. He loved reading. He loved inventing ways to make things work better for him. He took an interest in engineering. He knew a lot about the Snowy Mountains Scheme and would often remind me of the fact that it was completed under budget and ahead of schedule. Up until the last few weeks of his life, his mind was alert and active. About six months ago he learned that John Kell was interested in engineering and water diversion and he asked me to get some books out of his extensive personal library and give them to John. Ron thought that excess water from Warragamba Dam should be piped out west and about two months ago he phoned up the local member of parliament and asked him for a meeting to discuss this.

Ron loved going on drives around the district and he loved friends calling in to visit him. He loved photography and helped pass on that love to me and others here.

Throughout his life, from teenager on, Ron had been a steadfast Christian. It was the foundation of how he lived his life. He loved reading his Bible and thinking about the background behind the passages, the geography of the land and the way people lived at the time the Bible was written. If he was doing a bible reading in church, he would research the background of that passage first. He was a keen member of Saint Paul’s Anglican Church in Cooma. I was particularly impressed with the folk of St Paul’s who, when Ron was no longer allowed to drive his car, would pick him up to bring him to church and to take him to other events. It was Christian love working out in practical ways, in everyday life. And that's the person that Ron Hayman was, a man who was steadfast in his beliefs and put his beliefs into practice in his everyday life.

He had a great influence on many people during his 95 years.

Graham Collins