Vern Johnson Retires after 40 Years (excerpt from an article in the Cooroy Rag)

” I had the pleasure of growing up on a one square mile mixed dairy property. I rode a horse and walked two miles to school at Cooran and Traveston”, said Vern.

School didn’t sit well with Vern-he held the record for the number of canings one could get at Cooran School (sometimes up to six a day), so it was without any regrets he was forced to leave school because of financial difficulties bought about by drought on the farm with no waterholes in the Mary River.

“I saw dry lightning storms start a big fire at Cooran Mountain which spread to Cooroy and then re-burnt the whole area in four days supported by a swift south east wind. I also saw extensive flooding of the Mary River and Six Mile Creek. This caused so much mud in the river that it killed all the Cod Fish-enough of them to line the bridge in Cooran on both sides from end to end, followed again by more droughts,” said Vern.