WHEN Joe was born in December 1934, his parents Joe and Hilda Hutchinson and his sisters Lorna (now 101) and Marj (dec. 1995) lived at “Bellmeadows,” Long Lane, Maindample. In 1938, they moved to the Hutchinson family home and farm at “Homeleigh,” about two miles away on the Benalla Road, where Joe became the fourth generation of Joseph Hutchinson to live there. His great-grandfather, Joseph Hutchinson (1827–1902), selected his first block of land in Maindample in 1867, which became part of this farm. Joe’s school days were spent at Maindample State School, the site now being the area known as the Maindample Community Park. His secondary education involved a bus trip to Mansfield Elementary School, and he left school in Form 4. His father, who served in WWI, died when Joe was 12, so he felt it was his obligation after leaving school to stay home and help his mother and sister Marj run the sheep and cattle farm, although he was interested in becoming a truck driver. In 1953, he was called up for National Service at Puckapunyal Army Base; this service lasted three months. In 1956, at the age of 22, he became extremely ill when complications arose following his appendix bursting while he was waiting for surgery to remove it. In the 1950s, he had a red Singer 9 car that he raced at Barjarg Car Races on a track now covered by Lake Nillahcootie. The car races held there were run by the Benalla Auto Club prior to the races moving to Winton. In his younger days, he played his button accordion in jam sessions with his musical mates. He also did some drumming for the Tolmie Rhythm Boys when they played for dances. In 1960, Joe married Sheila Brond in the Presbyterian Church, Mansfield, with John Ross, a local minister, conducting the service. Following their honeymoon, they returned to live at “Homeleigh” to continue running the farm in partnership with his mother, who had gone to live in Mansfield. Joe also took on some off-farm work to supplement his income. For a few years, he worked with a partner as a hay contractor, cutting, raking, pressing, and carting small bales of hay. When the grass seed industry began to emerge in the Mansfield district, he worked on a nearby property bagging and sewing up bags of phalaris seeds. Around this time, he got his first truck, which enabled him to cart the bags of seed to Benalla for the growers, as there were no seed-cleaning facilities in the Mansfield district at the time. In 1965, he became a father to a son, who, following family tradition, was also named Joseph. In 1966, Joe began carting sheep and cattle to the local railway yards for transshipment via goods trains to Newmarket in Melbourne until this service ceased in 1978. During this time, he also made trips from local farms directly to Newmarket, as well as transporting stock to Benalla and Shepparton saleyards. For the next 40 years, he successfully combined livestock carrying and farming, with Sheila and their four children helping him out on the farm. When carting livestock, he always prided himself on arriving on time to pick up stock. Joe was a member of the Maindample Fire Brigade for over 70 years. Besides attending fires, he filled the roles of Apparatus Officer, Communications Officer, and Third Lieutenant. He went to his first fire on a motorbike and ended up relaying messages to the crews around the fireground. Joe enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow members and the debriefing sessions at the Bridge Inn Hotel (Dample pub). In October 2000, Joe and Sheila’s family arranged a 40th wedding anniversary surprise party for them at the Bridge Inn. They were devastated when this hotel burnt to the ground in 2010, as it had been the Hutchinsons’ local drinking hole for six generations. Around 1980, he joined the Lions Club and participated in many fundraising events, including catering for the Mansfield Races and the Merrijig Rodeo, manning the spinning wheel at the Tolmie Sports, and driving the Lions train. In 2006, Joe became a member of the new Maindample and District Progress Association, which aimed to document and preserve the history of the area and implement projects to enhance Maindample’s amenities. A special project for him was turning his old school ground into a Community Park complete with BBQ facilities, a children’s playground, and a toilet. A memorial plaque in memory of local soldiers was also placed at the entrance to the gumtree Avenue of Honour, which was originally planted by Maindample schoolchildren. There had been a previous Progress Association founded in 1899. Joe always enjoyed spending many hours in the shed tinkering with and restoring old cars, especially Fords. In his search for elusive parts for his projects, he travelled to Swap Meets. Some of his favourites were Bendigo, Jindera, Wangaratta, and Shepparton, where he had his own site since 1989. These Swap Meets became a great day out with family sharing sites with him. Just two weeks before he passed away, his sons and grandson managed to get him there with his loaded swap day trailer full of goods to sell. While there, he optimistically purchased tickets for his sites for next year’s Swap Meet. A much-loved husband to Sheila and father to Joe Jnr (dec.), Geoff, Pam Kirley, and Bruce, he was also adored by 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and everyone else associated with the family.
