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This location was the limit for ship navigation on the Manning River when ocean-going coastal ships ran up and down the NSW North Coast before completion of the North Coast Railway line.

The following photos of the Doon-Ayre platform were taken during a visit to Doon-Ayre in the 1950's by the neighbouring Latimore Family who had the Wirradgurie Platform on their property.

Time to tell "tales after school"......

I was a real "tom boy" as a a young girl whilst attending the Pitlochry School and more than held my own with the boys as far as pranks and running were concerned.

My most memorable prank involved the Pitlochry station waiting shed after school waiting for our mixed goods train to arrive to take us home.

The timber cladding on the waiting shed had numerous knots in the timber planks forming the sides of the shed and the boys had knocked out several knots leaving open holes in the planks. Someone decided to start a game of "show and tell" with a boy putting his exposed penis through one of the holes and the others having to guess who it was - this became a regular afternoon event to pass the time until the train arrived.

One afternoon I decided it was time to teach the boys a lesson they would never forget - the base of the shed had stinging nettles growing around the base of the shed timber sides. I quietly picked a bunch of stinging nettle stems with leaves on and waited for the inevitable start of the penis "show and tell".

I waited until the game was in full swing and when a suitable penis appeared in the hole, I wacked it with the bunch of stinging nettles. There was an immediate cry of pain from the exhibitionist and a roar of laughter from the boys watching that had to be heard to be believed.

The other girls present couldn't believe I was game enough to do this and being farm girls, we were all aware of what male animal appendages looked like but had no idea how sensitive the human version were to pain.

Needless to say, this episode became an undocumented part of the school history treasured by we girls where we went "one up" on the boys.

UP NT32 from the Doon-Ayr Homestead 15th April 2020