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Bob and Edith Furner
Cooma
 

Submitted by John Furner: furnerj-at-acr.net.au
 

Harold Hughes (Bob) Furner and his Fiancé Edith Green	Bob and Edith Furner
Sam Green and Ruby Tivey	Left to Right: Nellie Green (married Spearing), Sam Green, Elwin Green, Ruby Green (nee Tivey), Edith Green (married Furner) and Eric Green

Eric and Olive (nee Page)  Green with Franky and Mary

Bemboka to remember Edith Furner
Cooma Monaro Express 28.08.1986

Edith Lillian Furner was the daughter of Samuel Green of "Greenbrook" Bemboka and Ruby Green, formerly Ruby Tivey of Mole Station, Kybeyan Road, Nimmitabel.

Edith will be remembered as the mother of her six children, Bernine and Rosalind now in England, Jennifer, john Deirdre and Robert - living in the eastern part of Australia and by her husband of over fifty years - Bob (Harold Hughes) now living with daughter Jennifer and Bill Mach. She will be missed by her many friends from both town and country, the Furner home has always been a place for a cup of tea and a chat.

After being born on the Kybeyan Road at "Gannawarrah", east of Nimmitabel, Edith was educated at Bemboka, then onto Bowral High and Sydney Teachers College. Her first appointment was to a small school outside Crookwell (called McAlister) where she met Bob, a farmer, from a small property "Watallabah" near Crookwell.

Bob Furner was born on August 20th, 1899 in Goulburn, the son of O H Furner an Auctioneer with Furner Bros. His mothers family were storekeepers from around Richmond nears Sydney, called Hughes. Bob had returned from the first World War, done a two year course at Wagga Experimental Farm and eventually ended up on a mixed farm at Crookwell after starting his own Stock and Station firm in Goulburn, then leasing a property out of Canberra.

Times were tough and so it wasn't until 1932 after a five year courtship, that they scraped together sufficient funds to get married. The marriage took place at "Greenbrook", Bemboka. Edith had a happy marriage rearing six children, two were born at Crookwell; Bernine then Jennifer. two more children arrived after moving to "Bidgee" on the Mittagang Road out of Cooma in1935; John and Deirdre. Rosalind and Robert were born after the family moved into Cooma township around 1941.

Both Edith and Bob were active members of the Cooma township and district. Edith was awarded the Laurel Wreath for Service of a Lifetime in the Red Cross, having joined as a girl and still being a member when she died three months from being eighty years of age. During their fifty years of married life in Cooma, Edith was involved in Parents and Citizens, Country Women's Association, Hospital Trolley Service and supporting or befriending the various country families who called in for a cup of tea while in town for a sale or supplies. They were both involved in the Arts Council and the Historical Society, plus the Church of England and Combined Church activities.

With the sale of the 'turn of the century', brick and granite foundation home in Boundary Street, Cooma called "Towrodgee", a chapter of Cooma history will close, spanning more than half a century of happy family life in the Cooma District. During hat time Cooma changed from a sleepy country town of one thousand people depending on Merino Sheep and beef cattle for survival to a thriving busy center, changed for all time by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme and tourism.

The Furner's took an active part in all this change as Bob worked in several different jobs from farming in the thirties through to Stock and Station agent, rabbit inspector, land inspector, and finally valuer with the Snowy Mountains Authority. Bob moved in his occupation throughout the Far South Coast and Tablelands in his various jobs and was involved in establishing the families on Soldier settlement blocks throughout the Monaro. He was also involved in the shifting of families from Adaminaby and Jindabyne during the flooding of those villages in the fifties and the sixties by the SMA dams.

Both Edith and bob have always kept strong links with Bemboka, being the Green's home. At one stage in the last quarter of a century three were farming there, having taken over from their parents.

Following the passing of Edith, Bob has moved to live with daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Bill Bach in Brisbane.