Jade Jungwirth
Kerrie, who has worked at the Castlemaine Post Office for the past 26 years, is a familiar face to many. Following her husband’s recent retirement, she decided it was time for her to follow suit. She will be hanging up her uniform in the next couple of months.
“I’ve loved working with everyone. Being in the public eye, you get to see people progress. I’ve seen their kids born, and then they’re moving on, and their kids are having kids. It’s going to be hard leaving,” Kerrie said.
Having travelled internationally to Bali and Fiji and, most recently, to the UK last year with her sister and a local tour guide, Kerrie hopes to spend her retirement discovering more of Australia and visiting her grandchildren.
“I’ve always lived in Castlemaine or Campbells Creek,” she said.
Kerrie’s mum, Marge and dad, Eddie Farthing, bought the Five Flags Store and ran it from 1970 to ’79.
“It was great. I can remember we’d go down to the swimming pool, down at Campbells Creek. It wasn’t blue, it was sort of a greeny colour, and the kids with blond hair used to come out and their hair would go green. It was a damn shame when they closed it, because it was fabulous,” she said.
“We used to just sunbake there on the tennis court that used to be there. We’d meet our friends and be gone all day Saturday and Sunday. We had a bubblegum tree where everyone used to stick their chewies!”
At 18, Kerrie started working at the State Bank (now the Commonwealth Bank).
“My husband Steve was working across the road as a postie. One day he rang me up, on the home phone, but at first I thought it was another Steve! But I did quite like Steve Adamson,” Kerrie said.
“We went on a date to the pictures. This was in the 1980s, and we went to the drive-in at Bendigo.”
Kerrie and Steve were married in 1985 and had their first son, Cody, in 1990, followed by Josh in 1992.
They followed in her parents’ footsteps and bought and ran the Five Flags Store from 1997 to 2000.
“Back then, it was a general store with a full newsagency. We did fish and chips and burgers and things, and there were groceries, petrol, you know, cigarettes, everything. Steve did a paper round of a morning delivering the papers,” Kerrie said.
“We only did that for three years. It was very taxing, but we met a lot of people.”
Kerrie and Steve’s kids grew up and went to Campbells Creek Primary School and then to the tech. And later went on to study in Bendigo.
Their eldest, Cody has two children and is living in Queensland. He is an electrician who is working fly-in, fly-out at the mines. Their youngest, Josh, is an asphalter living in Echuca with his wife and two kids.
“They’re both really hard workers. I love them so much.”
And the all important questions.
Do you have any hobbies? I like cooking and reading and watching my Tigers play footy.
What sort of books do you enjoy reading? Anything really. I’m into crime. I’m into a bit of dragons and things like that. The Hobbit. I loved Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter.
Who are your three dream dinner guests? Pink, Princess Diana and Bruce Springsteen.
What are your philosophies in life? To treat people as you like to be treated. I mean, I’m a bit of a softie, but then I can be a hard if I need to be. You don’t need to be. My biggest pride and my largest love is my family.
Finally, what do you love most about the place you call home? Memories of being a child here. My childhood friends who went to Winters Flat, then Campbells Creek, and then to the Tech College.