Francis Hogan celebrated his 90th Birthday with his wife Joy, children grandchildren extended family and friends at Oberon RSL Club recently.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Born in 1932 in Oberon to parents Henry and Mary Hogan. He had a brother Phillip and sister Margaret both deceased. They lived in the family home Mt Erin on Oberon Street.
Francis started work as a 14 year old with an after school job skinning and boning rabbits at the freezer works for Arthur MacArthur. As he got older, he would bone rabbits till 9:45pm then pick up the mail in Oberon and deliver it to Tarana Railway Station he would then sleep in the truck till mail and papers arrived at the station in the morning to be delivered back to Oberon.
Work was seasonal and he carted peas and potatoes to Sydney in the summer, boning rabbits was in the winter.
The freezer works closed when myxomatosis was introduced to reduce the rabbit population.
In 1957 Francis married Joy Dwyer and together they bought their first bus, they also over time had 4 children.
The bus fleet expanded to 4 school buses with the school runs picking up children from Duckmaloi, Bathurst Road, Wisemans creek and Tarana, he gained a great reputation with all the school kids who to this day remember him with great fondness. School excursions were also part of the business, even taking many buses down the 2 mile to Jenolan Caves.
In 1999 after 42 years Francis and Joy sold the bus company and retired to their 5 acre property. This has kept them very busy especially the lawn mowing for Francis.
They have both enjoyed many trips around this great land firstly in their Campervan and now in their caravan with a yearly stay in Moree in the winter. Francis has been the best Husband and Father the family could have wished for and we are very blessed that he is still with us.
