This story came in from Sharon Gibbins, and it reaches right back to the early days of Toganmain — further than most.
Her great-grandfather, George Henry Gibbons, emigrated from Ireland sometime in the 1850s or ’60s. He and his brother worked their way along the Murray River from Melbourne and eventually made it to Toganmain Station, where George would spend the rest of his life. He worked on the property for over seventy years, and passed away on the station in 1929 at the age of 98.
Sharon told us he’s buried at Toganmain, along with three of his children — one of whom drowned in the river. There’s a photo of his headstone that Sharon has kept.
One of his sons — Sharon’s grandfather — worked on the station too, but there’s a darker story there. As it was passed down to Sharon’s father, George’s son had worked as an engine driver on the station. He was known to drink, and one night he apparently stumbled into a freshly dug dam while drunk and couldn’t climb out. He died there.
George’s grandson, Martin Joseph Gibbins — Sharon’s grandfather — also spent time working on the station as a young man. In 1914, he enlisted in WWI with the Light Horse Brigade, and served at Gallipoli. He was part of the charge on Beersheba — one of the defining moments of the Australian campaign. After the war, he returned to New South Wales and took up a soldier settler block at Mummulgum, up on the far north coast. That’s where Sharon grew up.
There’s one last detail that stood out: Martin promised his mother he’d never drink, after what happened to his father. And Sharon says he kept that promise his whole life.
Stories like this remind you that the Woolshed isn’t just a place — it’s part of the lives of people who crossed continents, worked the land, and served in wars. And thanks to Sharon, part of that story has come back home.
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