INTRODUCTION and FEATURE ARTICLE dated 1941

Caretaker's dwelling at Dolo Tank 1928

Let me live in a house by the side of the road

where the race of men go by -

The men who are good and the men who are bad

As good and as bad as I.

I would not sit in the scorner's seat

Or hurl the cynic's ban:

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,

And be a friend to man.
 (Poet: Sam Walter Foss)

                                                          INTRODUCTION

What follows is a selection of newspaper articles printed about Frank Olerhead who was born in May of 1855 at the New Bendigo gold diggings, now the town of St. Arnaud, Victoria Australia. Frank's father Robert and mother Caroline went from dig to dig in Victoria's famous "Golden Triangle" and with a continuing growing family they eventually settled in nearby Inglewood (Vic). Robert, who grew up in Bromborough on the Wirril peninsula near Liverpool and Chester was baptised with the surname Hollerhead, which later became Ollerhead on his marriage certificate, to finally become Olerhead either in the Unites States where he resided for several years, or on his arrival in the Australian colonies. All his descendants in Australia have the surname Olerhead.

Oral history relates that Frank, who was in conflict with his mother, left home never to be heard of again by family members. We now know he first moved to Melbourne and later, in 1881, to outback New South Wales where he died at Broken Hill in 1942. The last decades of this life were passed as caretaker of Dolo Tank, a government watering trough situated on the Wincannia- Broken Hill road. There he became so well known that newspapers across the nation wrote of his kindness. Perhaps he was, as one of his friends stated after his death, "one of the grandest men of the outback."
 

All newspaper articles have been retrieved from the electronic archive of the National Library of Australia and here republished for interest in family history and without any financial gain.

Wool Team at Dolo Tank 1938. source:State Records NSW

                                                                     ***

Keen Interest In World

Affairs At 90  

Sidelights in the life of

MR. F. OLERHEAD

Was Host At Dolo Tank

Source:Keen Interest In World. (1941, January 8). Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), p. 1 Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48391524

 KNOWN throughout the whole of the West Darling district, and particularly to travellers along the Wilcannia Road. Mr. Frank Olerhead ls still in excellent health and taking a keen Interest in world affairs in spite of his 90 odd years. He does not know his exact age

When a reporter from "The Barrier Miner" Called on him at 512 Argent Street yesterday. Mr. Olerhead told something of the early days, but was more keen to discuss the war and world affairs.  

Mr. Olerhead has his own wireless set and does not miss one news broadcast or comment on the overseas position. He thinks that the end of the war will see some big changes in the methods of living.

"People nowadays have not got the same Christian spirit they had when I was in the bush. There seems to be more churches and less Christianity and civilisation," Mr. Olerhead said.

Mr. Olerhead first came to this district in 1881, when he arrived in Wilcannia with some travelling sheep. He had joined them in Victoria when the adventure of the outback called him.

He was the first white child born at St. Arnaud (Victoria), where his parents had settled when they were attracted to Australia from America. They originally came from England.

On his arrival at Wilcannia Mr. Olerhead gave up his job as shepherd and took up a position minding horses for tank-sinkers. For this he received £2 a week and his keep.

                                      FOOLISH BUSHMEN

"From then until I left the bush I always had something to do with horses," Mr. Olerhead said. He re- called that in those days Wilcannia had five or six hotels, but it was only a short time before there were about 16. "Bushmen were foolish. They would spend long periods in the bush then go into the township and spend it all on drink," the old bushman said.

Rabbiting was one of the money making businesses of the day, and hundreds of people arrived in Wilcannia to seek a fortune from catching rabbits. Some made it.

"But the bush is different now. In those days there was up to a hundred

men working on stations which carry, only about five or six men now, and wool was being sold for only about 8d. I remember hearing Peter Waite, say once that it cost only 2/6 a week to keep a man in food on the stations because of the large supplies of bulk foodstuffs."

"There was always accommodation for people travelling through and always a feed for them, but there is not the same spirit now." Mr. Olerhead added. He said that at Yancannia there was a shed kept only for travelling bushmen. They could always have a rest, a meal and probably some work. Other stations also provided such places.

                                        HOST AT DOLO

Mr. Olerhead has tried his hand at practically all classes of bushcraft. He was boundary rider at Mount Murchison Station for some time. At the end of the last war he decided to go into an "active retirement." He gave up station work and took up the position of caretaker at the Dolo Government tank, which is 86 miles from Wilcannia. He was there for nearly 20 years and probably became even more widely known, particularly to travellers on the Wilcannia coach.

Never a traveller passed by the tank that "Old Frank," as he was affectionately known, did not stop and give a cup of tea and some cake.

"I have received a thousand fold everything I gave away. We are on this earth to do acts of kindness," Mr. Olerhead said.

His white cockatoo, which is almost as well known in the district as Mr. Olerhead himself, is now more than 70 years of age. It still talks and still has all the appearances of a young bird.