EULOGY OF ERROL SELLIN 16-10-1940 to 28-04-2008
Errol Francis Sellin was the first born son of Leslie and Jean Cameron Sellin (nee Thomason). He was born on the 16th of October 1940 in the Woodford hospital. As a young boy he enjoyed mucking about with his two brothers Brian and Gary, fishing in Terrors Creek and listening to “Greenbottle” on the wireless.
If his mother couldn‟t find him at home he was more often than not down next door at Uncle Herman and Aunt Polly‟s place.
Errol attended Dayboro State School but because of hard times and theirs being a small farm, he left school at fourteen. He worked as an offsider for local builder Ernie Butler, at Henzell‟s pineapple farm and at Boney Rohlf‟s farm at Ocean View. Errol and his family then ventured to grow pineapples on their own farm which proved to be unprofitable in the long term. In his younger years Errol was heavily involved with the Pine Rivers Rowing Club which operated out of Lake Kurwongbah.
At the age of 21 Errol, his father Leslie and brother Brian formed a partnership. They purchased the neighbouring property from Merv and June Sellin (Merv being Herman and Polly‟s son). Here they established “Pasture Glen” Friesian stud. After five years the partnership dissolved and Errol continued operating the stud with his parents. In 1971 Margaret Brown came to work for them and Errol and Margaret fell in love. The following year they married in May and Tanya was born in November. Son Les was born in 1976 and Robbie was the surprise baby in 1983.
Errol had several interests in the early years of marriage, one of which was rodeos and he was a member of the Dayboro Rodeo Committee for many years. He was also a member of the Buffalo Lodge and loved speedway racing. He regularly attended speedway meetings at the Exhibition grounds in Brisbane. This passion led him to owning his own saloon car, which gave him many memorable times – even if it wasn‟t always financially rewarding. When the family grew from three to four and he had to ride home from Brisbane in the back of his Holden ute in wintertime, he decided it was time to buy a Holden V8 Station wagon instead!
Errol and Margaret started showing their Holstein Fresian cattle in the mid 1970s. They travelled from Beaudesert to Toowoomba and all the way to Rockhampton with an average of ten shows per year. On the eve of judging at the Rocky Show, Errol had been watching the cows until late, and he went to go to bed in the caravan they had hired. However he got into the wrong door on the van and forgot that it hadn‟t been properly secured.
The van tipped up with his weight and nearly shot Margaret out of bed at the other end! One of his proudest showing moments was when his star cow “Lynette” produced 42 litres of milk in 24 hours at the Brisbane EKKA in 1987. Once he gave up exhibiting cows in the late 1990s he was then found in the middle of the ring judging them instead. Errol was also president of the Dayboro QDO (Qld. Dairyfarmers Organisation) and Near North Coast Sub-branch of the Holstein Association for many years.
His enjoyment of country music led Errol to become a member of the Pioneer Country Music Club at Petrie which saw him going to their concerts once a month on a Sunday afternoon. He also joined the Dayboro Masonic Lodge in the 1990s in which he worked his way up through the positions to become Grand Master in 1997.
Being a Freemason gave him a new circle of friends and got him away from the farm occasionally.
For about the last ten years Errol had his annual holiday in January when he went to “International Dairy Week” in Shepparton, Victoria with his mates Joe, Graham and Garry. As part of the trip they toured dairies in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
In 2003 Errol Margaret and Robbie bought a lucerne farm at Laidley. This gave Robbie his start in farming and fulfilled Errol‟s dream of owning a place in the Lockyer Valley.
After Margaret passed away in April 2006, Errol was lost for a while and found running the farm by himself pretty tough. At Tanya and Paul‟s encouragement he went on a ten day holiday to Tasmania in March last year with the Mt Mee bus group. On the trip he met and straight away clicked with Merle Smith, a widow from Mt Mee. They grew to love each other and became engaged on Valentine‟s Day this year. Over the last twelve months Merle showed Errol there was life after cows. They enjoyed travelling, visiting family and friends, dining out, gardening, going to church camps and music concerts.
February saw Errol finally have his hip replacement surgery and he made a great recovery. Errol was suddenly taken from us when he had a heart attack on Monday 28th April at 3pm. He was 67. He leaves behind children Tanya, Les and Robbie, brothers Brian and Gary, grandson Peter and fiancee Merle.
Errol was a hard working, well liked and larrikin bloke. He could tell a bloody good yarn and mimic other people‟s voices to a tee. He was also known for giving people nicknames, since he was referred to as “Sweeney” in his early years.
He will be sadly missed by all.
