Know Your Fellow Rotarian
I am the fifth of 9 children born to Ron & Kath. We all grew up in Hawthorn. In the photo Bruce published in the bulletin I am the good looking boy on the right hand end of the back row. The photo was taken in 1962, the only year all 9 of us were in school. In the photo the 2 girls standing in the back row are twins. The only similarity between Anne and Margaret is that they share their surname, nothing else in common!
I went to Marist Bros, St Johns, in Hawthorn which only went to form 4. I then had a short stint at St Patricks East Melbourne which was not very productive.
In 1967 I started work at Craftsman Press in Hawthorn. I trained as a production controller/estimator. While working there I met my best mate, Phil. We are still besties today.
After about 2 years I went to a small print shop in Carlton as production manager/estimator. Quite a responsible job for a 19 year old. During this time I further developed my interest in buying and selling cars from home. After about 18 months at Carlton an opportunity came my way to sell second hand tyres to car dealers. I jumped at the chance. I met lots of people in the car yard industry but I made no money. When I turned 21 I was broke and out of work, still living at home with Mum and Dad.
I found a job at a paper wholesaler/specialist printer in Richmond. I was employed as a trainee salesman and this was a great place to work. While working here one of the office girls caught my eye but she resisted my overtures for a while. I wore the girl down and we went on a few dates and then she said that we shouldn’t continue going out if we worked together so I left my job so as I could continue going out with Barbara. My boss was very disappointed in my leaving but he understood. This gave me plenty of time to buy and sell cars and to supplement my income I got a job as a milkman chasing the horse and cart around the streets of Wattle Park. This lasted a few months until the horse kicked me in the ankle and I said enough is enough so I left that job. I then got a job cleaning KFC shops. These shops had to be cleaned between the hours of 11.00pm and 6.00am which suited me fine as I had plenty of time to learn about buying and selling cars during the day.
The love affair with the office girl was going strong and Barbara and I decided to get married in 1974.
My mate Phil and I opened a car yard in Dandenong in 1973. Not only did we make a living there but we had lots of fun!
In 1979 Phil and I decided to build a roller skating rink in Bendigo. The idea was to rent a factory, convert it into a skating rink, get it up and running then sell it to a local. This was going to be a 6 week project but it didn’t quite work out that way. What unfolded was we bought a block of land at the top end of Mitchell St and built a rink from the ground up. We opened ZOO ROLLER DISCO ON 17 January 1980.Not bad for 2 blokes that had never built anything previously and neither of us could roller skate. Once again we made a living and had lots of fun. Our wives had now moved to Bendigo. Mid 1981 we sold the business and opened a car yard in Kangaroo Flat, Jed Clampett Motors. Still making a living and having lots of fun!
In July 1979, just as we were about to start building the skating rink Barbara and I were in a horrific bus accident at Falls Creek. The bus fell off the side of the mountain when the driver pulled over to the left to let a car overtake. Barbara was taken to Albury hospital in a critical condition with severe injuries. The surgeon did a fantastic job repairing the internal injuries and keeping Barbara alive. There were complications with Barbara’s leg injuries and this has resulted in countless operations over the years trying to keep Barbara mobile. Fortunately we were able to have children.
Our daughter, Lavinia was born in 1983 and Henry was born in 1986.
Phil left Bendigo mid 80’s and went to Queensland for a few years. Phil returned to Bendigo 1988 and together we built a car yard at Epsom and we were appointed LADA dealers, those great Russian vehicles. Things didn’t work out at Epsom and we sold the premises to the Ford dealer who then converted the premises to Mitsubishi. Today those premises are home to Prestige Jayco.
I went back to Kangaroo Flat with Lada and then Hyundai. Lada stopped bringing cars into Australia and we couldn’t make any money out of Hyundai so that was the end of my new car experiences. In those days Hyundai was imported by the Alan Bond group of companies and they were not car people and they had their own financial issues. Just after we finished with Hyundai Alan Bond finished also.
I continued to run my own car yard in Kangaroo Flat until I retired in 2007.
Our daughter married Brent in 2014 and they have a 4 year old son, Finley. Brent is a Paramedic and Lavinia is a Mica Flight Paramedic. They live in Nagambie and Lavinia is based in Bendigo.
Henry and Natalie have been partners for 10 years. They have a 2 ½ year old son Theo and they live in Seaford. Henry is an engineer and works for dormakarba, a large European company. They have a very big complex in Hallam and Henry is manager of engineering for their Australian works. Natalie is trained as a nurse and acupuncturist and is currently working on contract tracing for the department of health.
Since retiring in 2007 Barbara and I have travelled overseas extensively including me having a 3 month sabbatical in Rye UK. (Apart from having children the best experience of my life).
Most people assume that because I was a car dealer I would have a collection of cars etc but that’s not the case.
In 1973 I bought a 1954 BMW motor bike with a sidecar attached. I lost my car licence for 6 months and in those days my motor bike licence was separate to my car licence so the BMW outfit was my daily mode of transport, daily Hawthorn to Dandenong and back and then to Nagambie on the weekends to see Barbara. I wanted an outfit with key start so in 2018 I bought a near new Royal Enfield motor bike and I had built a replica of a 1940’s Dusting Sidecar to attach to the Royal Enfield.
Barbara finds it hard getting in and out of the sidecars so with encouragement from Barbara and Henry I have just bought a Can Am Spyder which is easier for Barbara to get onto. This is quite different to ride/drive. It is automatic, has cruise control, ABS brakes etc etc. The biggest difference to riding an outfit or driving a car is that on the Spyder the rider is actually in the centre of the vehicle whereas in a car the driver sits on the RHS of the vehicle. One has to learn to reposition oneself on the road. I have also just acquired a Murphy sidecar. This was found in a shearing shed on a farm in Yea. The sidecar is in remarkably good condition considering it was built about 1950. I need to find a bike to put it on and then I need a bigger shed!
I am a charter member of RCOBS, I was president in 1990/1991 and Rotary and Bendigo Sandhurst have been a big part of the Cannon family for many years and I have truly benefited from being a Rotarian.
