FROM the Royal Berkshire Regiment to laying bricks in Swan Hill, Lake Boga’s Frank Ballam has seen a lot.
Now working as a director on the Swan Hill RSL sub-branch board, Frank is a recognisable face around town.
He moved to Swan Hill in 1990 with his wife Joyce to take up a job at the Pioneer Settlement, where they would sell their unique dolls.
Frank fondly remembers being conscripted to the military in his home country of England and said it shaped him into the man he became.
He found his way into the British Army after completing his bricklaying apprenticeship, heading off to train in August 1957.
“The Queen sent me a letter and said ‘look, I have some problems’ so I said ‘alright, I will go and sort them out’ and off I went,” Frank laughed.
“I did the two years’ national service with the Royal Berkshire Army, it was an experience a lot of young people have and they change … we did training and then in 1957 we were off to Cyprus.”
While serving, Frank was part of a force that kept riots calm, moving through the country with the motor transport section.
His time with the army came to a close on August 9, 1959 when he left to return to his trade.
It was then Frank met his future wife Joyce.
Flash forward to February 1973, and the Ballams, along with their children Deborah, Vincent and Lee, landed in Sydney for a life Down Under.
“When I got here, I found a job straight away,” Frank recalled.
“I went to Centrelink and they wanted to find me a job. But I said I found one, and the bloke asked me ‘how did you do that?’ and I replied ‘I went out to the site and asked for one’.
“I started the next day, laying bricks for the Hilton Hotel.”
The family stayed in the NSW capital for six months before moving on.
The Ballams made their way to Canberra in 1988, where Frank was a council worker with the Queanbeyan Shire.
During his time there, his son Lee was offered an apprenticeship in Swan Hill.
“He got an apprenticeship down here, and the boss said I should come make and lay, so I came with him to make and lay all the bricks on the Swan Hill Art Gallery,” he told The Guardian.
“I didn’t know Swan Hill existed before then.”
While in Swan Hill, Frank struck a chord with one of the bosses, who asked if he and his wife Joyce would return to the region.
They were making a name for themselves selling dolls in Canberra part-time and management of the Pioneer Settlement took notice.
The boss asked Frank to set up shop and, with the approval of Joyce, the Ballams arrived in Swan Hill in 1990.
“My wife was an artistic type and she used to male dolls … I would fire them [to turn them to glass] and she would then paint the colours on and we would sell them,” he said.
“Eventually, we decided to open our own shop at Lake Boga and we did that for six years. We were selling them and making all sorts of dolls for people who came by, it was good.”
Frank and Joyce decided to retire in the late 1990s when insurance prices jumped from $300 to $900 almost overnight.
In retirement, Frank has worked with community groups like the RSL.
Since he arrived in Australia all those years ago, the 79-year-old has only been back to England once in 2006.
