Local Identity Hugh McLean
Over the years many people have supplied information about the HOPE family - some trivial, some comprehensive - but all of inestimable value in the process of establishing a picture, a profile of the early life of the family. Accounts range from neighbourly observations and the knowledge of life in any small community, whether the families are related to one another or not, to a lesson in Australian History. In some cases it has been a miracle that I have been put in contact with these people and my gratitude and appreciation is hereby expressed. I share with you some of these experiences.
Hugh McLean was another person with whom I was put in touch, to discover more about life in the late 1800's and early 1900's around the South-East of South Australia, including across the border into Western Victoria. His father, Allan McLean Postmaster of Hynam South Australia, drove the first coach service between Apsley and Hynam. Mail was carried to and from Apsley and Hynam 3 times a week, plus private bags from the Newlands Estate, Laurie Park and other private bags. His mother was the Postmistress at Hynam, which was the closest rail point to Adelaide and Melbourne for that area.
In addition, Hugh recalled some of the "good old days" for me. He went on to add: "There were no boundary fences in the early days when the first settlers took up the Selections. They used to have shepherds look after the flocks of sheep to keep them in their own "runs", which they called them, and they would yard the sheep at night into brush yards. The shepherds had little huts in which they lived. There is one little stone hut which is still standing, between Naracoorte and the Naracoorte Caves. My grandchildren always like me to drive around that way so they can see it."
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