What’s in a name?: Hazel Campbell at Hazelman's Cottage, Kyabram Fauna Park
Photo by
Supplied
Hazel Campbell recently celebrated her 99th birthday with a trip to Kyabram Fauna Park to visit her namesake, Hazelman’s Cottage.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Originally from Kyabram, Mrs Campbell has called Cobram home since she was married in 1949.
“I took Nan and my children in September to the Kyabram Fauna Park, to visit Hazelman’s cottage,” Mrs Campbell’s granddaughter Melissa Crisafulli said.
Inside story: Hazel Campbell with her great-grandchildren Ella and Caleb Crisafulli at Hazelman's Cottage, Kyabram Fauna Park.
Photo by
Supplied
“I think Nan was named after the family name, more than the cottage itself,” Mrs Crisafulli said.
Theodore and Eliza Hazelman were Mrs Campbell’s grandparents, who built and owned the cottage.
“Nan said her grandparents built the property, or her grandfather would have, then later on Nan lived in it with her mother, father and two brothers,” Mrs Crisafulli said.
“Nan is the eldest, then George is the next brother and Reg is the youngest.
“Later on, the cottage was offered to the Historical Society to use at the fauna park; it was moved into town on a truck.
“The original site was then four miles out of town on the original property.”
Hazelman’s Cottage arrived at the park on February 18, 1979. It was then restored and opened on October 10, 1982.
“I was talking to Nan about Kyabram and she pointed out the little café right on the intersection of Lake Rd, that is actually the bakery,” Mrs Crisafulli said.
“This is the original store and where she had her first job.
“We went in and had lunch, and were saying, ‘This is where you used to work’.”
Mrs Campbell remembers riding her bike to the job, and still has the bike hanging up in the shed.
“It was a two-storey shop and the people who owned it lived upstairs,” Mrs Campbell said.
“It was two ladies, and they lived above the store.
“Craigie was their name, and Mum worked for them for years until she got married, as well.
“With my first wage, I paid five shillings off my bike.”
Mrs Campbell married Dick Campbell on June 25, 1949.
Memories: Hazel Campbell at Hazelman’s Cottage, Kyabram Fauna Park.
Photo by
Supplied
The couple were married for over 65 years and had two children, three grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
“We moved to Cobram after we got married, to a soldier settlement,” Mrs Campbell said.
Originally from Mount Scobie, Mrs Campbell met Dick Campbell after he returned from World War II, where he had been a prisoner of war, interned at Changi.
“Pa was a soldier settler at Yarroweyah, on Kokoda Rd,” Mrs Crisafulli said.
“He had a parcel of land there, and farmed it and that became their marital home, where their children grew up.”
Asked about how she had had such a long life, Mrs Campbell said: “Just having a good family and a happy one.”
“It was having a happy marriage, it was a wonderful marriage,” she said.
“They all tell me that, I am 99, life has just gone on longer and longer.”
29°C