NameBonnie the CowDescriptionThe Graham family lived at Lake Illawarra. Mr. Charles Graham worked building the roads in the area in the 1920s and 1930s. Bonnie was the Graham family’s pet cow.
When Mr. Graham was working on the roads he would have to feed the team of men working with him, and for this reason he bought Bonnie to supply the milk.
Ron Graham (Charles son) had to milk Bonnie every morning before he went to school and then when he came home again.
Bonnie never had a paddock, she would just roam all over Lake Illawarra, sometimes walking up to three miles almost all the way to Shellharbour.
One day Ron found her on Windang Island. She had walked all the way across the sand through the entrance of the lake to get to the grass on the island.
About three o’clock every afternoon, Bonnie would begin to make her way home again to be milked. Ron would meet her half way and walk back with her.
After giving her a feed of some chaff and bread, Ron would sit on his little stool with his milking bucket.
Ron’s parents later bought a block of land and built a shop, 'Graham’s Store'. Charles built a jetty into the lake and hired out boats to holiday makers.
Ron’s mother Gladys ran the hire boats and would let out holiday homes in the area. Owners would give Gladys the keys to their weekenders to let them out to holidaymakers at the lake.
‘Voices of a Lifetime’, Shellharbour City Libraries, 2009
Bonnie the Cow and the Graham kids, c.1930's.