DetailsOur family grew up with a backyard filled with poultry coops and yards. Our Dad, Charles Somerville, was a very keen poultry fancier and we always had plenty of eggs and table birds. His greatest interest, however, was the breeding and exhibition of pure-bred birds. He had quite a few breeds, including Indian Game, Old English Game, Light Sussex and Plymouth Rocks. The Indian Game (or Cornish Game) had first been imported from Cornwall, in England, by my Dad in the early 1930’s.
As a youngster, I used to love Royal Easter Show time, when Dad always used to have a team of birds entered in the poultry section. Our backyard was abuzz with excitement as the birds were washed, dried and preened the day prior to the Show commencing. Val ‘Digger’ Wood was a great help to Dad with the birds and when the show birds were ready and boxed up, ‘Digger’ would load them up on our truck. Graham (Somerville) and I would hop aboard and off we would go. We quite often picked up birds from other local breeders and took them to the Show as well.
The atmosphere at the Moore Park Showground was wonderful. We penned up the birds and then had a preview of the Show, which commenced the following day and went on for ten days. The human achievement on display at these shows was a real inspiration and I was always a bit sad when we had to pick up the birds on the last day and the great Show was over again for another year.
Hedley Somerville (2002)
IMAGES:
*Somerville's Champion Jubilee Indian Game hen. Sydney Royal Show 1973.
*Somerville's Champion Indian Game Cockerel- Sydney Royal and Parramatta Poultry Club, 1967.
*Somerville Poultry Awards
*Somerville's Champion Jubilee Indian Game cockerel c1980.
*The old Jersey Street poultry yard produced hundreds of champions over the years. Tradelink Plumbing Supplies now occupies this site. circa 1965.
*Hedley Somerville feeding some future champions on the back lawn. circa 1971.
