RAA LIAISON LETTER 2025 – 2026 EDITION CANNONBALL SUPPLEMENT 114 So today, I’d love to share just a few of Bill’s pearls of wisdom - passed from him, through Mum, to me, and now to you: • “When faced with difficult people - “Keep your dignity - Don’t bring yourself to their level.” • To me, this means: hold yourself to higher standards. Rise above, rather than sink to playing games or acting out of spite. • “Put their arrogance down to their ignorance.” • This was his way of encouraging empathy. If someone is difficult or full of pride, try to see it as a lack of understanding, not a personal attack. They simply • • Everyone is different, and they’re allowed to be! Tolerance, acceptance and kindness reign here. • “When you see someone with something you wish you had, say: ‘I wish I had this one - and that you had an even better one!’” To Bill, admiring something someone else had was never about jealousy or one-upping. It was simply an honest appreciation of something wonderful—and a generous wish that others might enjoy even more. But further to this, I want to share a story from my mother’s childhood - one that has stayed with me as a powerful example of the kind of man Bill Carlin was: a man far ahead of his time. In the mid-1940s, when the White Australia Policy still governed the country and open prejudice against First Nations people was widespread, Bill stood for something better. The Carlin farm, Minadong, stood opposite a large farming enterprise called Kangertong. Each year, shearers would arrive in gangs to Kangertong for the shearing season, staying in huts along the banks of the Moyne River. One year, an Indigenous man named Sam arrived with his brother and both of their families. However, the manager of Kangertong at the time, Mr. Swan, refused to allow Sam and his family to camp on the property. So, Sam crossed the road and approached Bill to ask if they could set up camp among the trees at Minadong. Bill was happy to oblige. (Mum actually became great friends with one of Sam’s daughters, Carol - a friendship that endured long after.) However, as Christmas approached and the shearing neared its end, the shearers - celebrating hard and often - began making the three-mile trek into Hawkesdale to drink at the pub. Things got rowdy enough that the shearers declared their own early cut-out. Mr. Swan was furious. But as it turned out, it was Sam and his family - the very people Mr. Swan had turned away - who stayed behind, finished the shearing, and saved the day. I often wonder if Mr. Swan ever apologised or even acknowledged his prejudice. But I do know this: Bill didn’t need a policy or permission to do what was right. He simply did it. have to admit, I am passionate about social justice and about treating all people with kindness and dignity – especially those that are different to ourselves. I believe most of my family has often leaned on Grandpa’s sayings for guidance, and I truly feel the echoes of his influence not only in my own values, but in the values of our wider family. The Carlin Family – circa 1940 My mother, the youngest daughter sitting beside her much-loved dad. Bill passed away at home on his farm, Minadong, in 1952, after battling chronic bronchitis and emphysema. He was just 63 years old. Bombardier William Carlin DCM Service records: RAGA: No. 703 Enlisted: 12 March 1912 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve /Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=30111682 AIF: No. 199 Enlisted: 7 June 1916 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve /Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3204903
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