Long lost treasures return to Hay

Maybe some of us secretly hope to find special treasure when we get around to sorting our house, but Barbara and Robert Gough did exactly that.

They were sorting out Robert’s mother’s and aunt’s houses after their passing and it sent them down a rabbit hole of discovery and wonder.

Robert’s family, the Goughs, used to live in Hay.

A token of appreciation, intricately crafted, and given in a troubled time, is one of the items to see light for the first time in decades.

Robert, Barbara and their family have in the past donated significant items of history to Hay Gaol Museum and Hay War Memorial High School.

“There is a belt with badges on it at the Gaol Museum, and that belt belonged to my grandfather, which he took from a German soldier,” Robert said.

Robert and Barbara brought to Hay a wallet of Robert’s father, which was also found quite recently, complete with shrapnel damage, and two fascinating books with a full history of their family in the war and POW camps.

These were recently donated to Hay War Memorial High School.

The couple also found William’s Grandfather’s original discharge papers, which they decided to keep for themselves.

On their more recent trip to Hay, they brought with them an intricately carved tank, crafted from a wood block, a pair of binoculars and the painted cloth.

The cloth was crafted by Geno Francheschini, a former prisoner of war internee at Hay.

Geno was caught in Libya, which was one of Australia’s first engagements in the war. He was born in 1920, and captured on January 4, 1941.

He was one of the first 1000 captured to come to prisoner of war camps in Australia.

Sent to Hay for a time, Geno was then moved on to Cowra after he came down with dysentery. He then returned to Hay for some months between 1946 and 1947, before returning to Italy.

The stitched and painted cloth was given as a gift to Robert’s grandmother, who was always providing tea and scones to Gino and his group during their time in Hay.

“Mum used to say to treat everyone as equals, even prisoners. We always have to be decent, she said,” Robert recalled.

Robert’s grandfather was William Tyzac, and his father was William George Gough. His father was in the Second 30th Battalion, and a prisoner of war on the Burma side of the Thai Burma Railway.

His mother was Eileen Gough, and Carol Smith his aunt. They lived in Leonard Street for a time.

What was truly touching was the fact that Carol never lost her love of Hay.

“Hay was all she talked about in her later years,” he recalled.

“She would tell tales of swimming in the river, and the wonderful times that she had growing up.”

Carol lived in Sydney for a further 60 years after leaving Hay.

Such was her love of Hay, that Robert would get the Grazier weekly, and read it to her.

Eileen and Carol were born in the Hay Gaol, in the days when it served as a maternity wing.

It was discovered after her passing that Robert’s mother had lost two children in infancy, and that they were laid to rest in Hay Cemetery, but sadly without a headstone.

Robert and his wife Barbara brought the ashes of his mother and aunt home to lay to rest in the tiny plot with the infants.

Both having worked in various roles with the Canberra Times newspaper, they adroitly tracked down the details of Geno, and highly wish to leave the items in a place where they will be valued.

They took the cloth to Ian Fayle to be framed, and are deciding when they pick it up what path the items will take next.