Kathleen’s life at Legerwood
• Kathleen Johnstone reflects on 94 years of eventful life.
By Daisy Baker
December 04, 2019
Scottsdale’s Kathleen Johnstone has spent the best part of her 94 years living throughout the North-East, which she says has changed vastly since her youth.
Mrs Johnstone (nee Williams) was born in Deloraine in 1925 and her family moved to Legerwood when she was three, which was a return to her mother’s home town.
Mrs Johnstone’s grandfather owned a farm at Legerwood which he divided in two, selling half to Mrs Johnstone’s dad.
The Johnstone and Williams families ran the Legerwood Post Office and it was here that Mrs Johnstone said she has many early memories.
“I grew up in the post office more or less and I played with coins from the day I could hold them,” she recalled.
“My great grandchildren won’t know what coins are!”
After spending much of her childhood at Legerwood and attending the first three years of high school at Scottsdale, Mrs Johnstone boarded in Launceston to continue her education.
From a young age she says she wanted to be a doctor but it was unheard of for women to pursue such roles at the time.
“I wanted to do it but people said to me ‘well be a nurse’ but I didn’t want to be a nurse so I became a teacher and that meant I had to go to Hobart for a few years to go to uni,” she explained.
Mrs Johnstone taught at six different primary schools around the state before being to transferred to King Island.
“That is where I met my husband Ian. He grew up on King Island and was farming on his father’s farm,” she said.
“I suppose going over there and meeting him is my favourite memory – I never expected going over there that I would meet the man I would marry.”
The couple lived on King Island for several years before moving back to Mrs Johnstone’s Legerwood family farm in the early 60s following the death of her mother.
Together the Johnstones had four children and eventually they decided to split the farm with Mrs Johnstone’s brother.
Mrs Johnstone’s nephew John Williams and his family continue to run the farm today.
From her light-filled Northbourne home, Mrs Johnstone encouraged young people leaving school to find a job they can do and enjoy.
“I think you’ve got to be in a job you like otherwise life is pretty drab. It doesn’t matter a damn what you do so long as you do it,” she said.
“That’s the whole thing in life I think – being healthy and then happy.”
Today Mrs Johnstone is kept busy with visits from her family, which has now extended to 10 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren.