Cyril was born in Young on November 27, 1909, the third son to parents George and Lydia Holgate who were living at “Warrunga” homestead, part of Iandra Station at that time. Younger sister Joyce  completed the family.  After moving to the Grenfell area, George also worked in the manganese mine and contracted for the Tyagong mail run which he conducted until ill health caused him to retire.

Cyril lived in Grenfell for 70 years and became most well-known during his 30 year association with the Grenfell Post Office. Home during his younger years was along the Quondong Road in the Willow Dam area, up the road from the sand hills. He attended the Grenfell Public School and one of his early memories was catching a ride to school with Dan Charters with his white-faced chestnut horse and sulky. This was particularly exciting because Dan Charters was a bushranger - well, an ex-bushranger. Dan had taken part in the Eugowra gold hold up but later turned witness supporting the Crown - and for many years afterwards was a groom and horse breaker for the NSW Police. In his later years he returned to Grenfell and lived near the Holgates. 

After leaving school at age fourteen, Cyril went to work for retailers and bakers, and then worked on the land for several years for the Pfeiffer and Bembrick families. Prior to the war, he became a partner in a butcher shop with Haslers and Mendhams.

In 1941 Cyril married the love of his life, Beryl Rogers from Bondi, and they had two sons, Roger born 1942 and Geoff born 1945.  In 1942 when Roger was just 3 months old, Cyril enlisted in the army. After training in Sydney, Dubbo and Canungra, he served as a cook in North Queensland and New Guinea. Cyril received early discharge from service to return home and take over his ailing father’s mail run for which he was guarantor. The mail run took in the Eualdrie, Back Piney Range Road and Tyagong areas and Cyril worked in conjunction with Tommy Dykes, Wally Frampton and Eddie Thompson who covered mail runs in other rural areas. A notable sidelight was the role played by Cyril’s sister, Joyce, during this period to maintain the family mail run. At the suggestion of Mr Chivers, the Post Master during the WW2 years, Joyce took leave from her hospital job during the week and maintained the run for a month until Cyril was able to return home. Joyce speaks fondly of Mr Chivers, and his concern for her well being during this very wet period, warning her ‘not to go into any water you shouldn’t.’ 

Memories of Main Street

After the mail contract ended, Cyril was encouraged by Mr Chivers to sit for an examination for a position with the PMG Department.  Cyril passed the exam and was later offered a position as postman.  He sorted the mail, then rode a heavy push bike for twenty four kilometres each day, delivering mail around town, rain, hail or shine. After just a few years, he was promoted to a position on the Post Office counter where, except for a few months during 1954, he served the public until his retirement in 1974. Cyril was always a friendly, professional face on the counter, very patient with children, even tempered and helpful. A short time prior to his retirement he received a Vocational Service Award from Rotary for service to the public. During those years, Cyril knew everyone and everyone knew and loved Cyril. The Post Office has long been an essential service in Grenfell, being established on December 3, 1866. The town’s first storekeeper, Frederick Taylor, became the Post Master.  The first mail left Grenfell on December 6 at noon and the first gold escort by the Cobb and Co. mail coach in February 1867.

In 1968 a well remembered and popular postie joined the Grenfell Post Office, to work with Cyril and the other Post Office employees – Billy Lowe. Billy, real name Aubrey, born October 13, 1928, to Walter Lowe and Eliza (nee Fogarty) delivered the main Grenfell mail service for twenty years, riding forty kilometres a day.  Before being a postman, Billy worked for Western Stores, making deliveries by bike. Because of these two jobs, Billy knew and was known by people all over town, and was especially helpful to the elderly whom he saw on a regular basis as he did his rounds.  Billy was always very fit as a result of his work, playing Rugby League for Grenfell, becoming a professional sprinter and playing tennis and squash until 50. Personal postal deliveries were made every day to the businesses in Main Street.  Some businesses kept boxes at the Post Office and ‘walking up to get the mail’ was a pleasant, daily job for many shop employees, including Saturday. There were various short cuts up to the post office from the Main Street, with arrangements made to go through private yards in Camp Street, provided promises were made to close gates behind. There were several post boxes for mail in the Main Street, emptied regularly. The Post Office exuded a very busy atmosphere, being the nerve centre for contact with the outside world.  Joyce (Simpson) remembers trying to send a cake baked by Mrs Ercole for her daughter, Velia, in England during the war years. ‘Mr Lappin told me it hadn’t been sealed properly – so I had to take it home and pack it all up again’. Mr Chivers had the sad duty of personally delivering telegrams relating to the death of service personnel and those listed as missing or having been taken prisoner of war. The Post Office later became the focal point for Henry Lawson High students, waiting anxiously for the delivery by mail of their state exam results.

Community Involvement

Away from work, Cyril was always very active within the Methodist Church, serving as Sunday School teacher, Circuit Steward and treasurer. He was treasurer with the Parents & Citizens Association while the boys were at school, and later, treasurer for the Senior Citizens Welfare Committee. He was honorary auditor for Rotary for a period and also served as a Justice of the Peace, and helped Beryl deliver Meals on Wheels. 

Billy undertook his job with pride, and in turn was greatly respected by the community. While he was a member of the Lions Club and many sports clubs, his community involvement was best summed up by his role as a postman – he was a presence on Main Street and around town, available to those who needed him, the elderly and lonely.

Where are They Now?

Cyril was never idle. He worked hard to provide for his family, always had a large and productive garden, ran chooks, and for many years had a partnership in a milking cow. As a result, there was always plenty of fresh milk, cream and homemade butter, eggs and vegetables and quite often a chicken was killed and dressed.  He also collected and cut up all the fire wood himself with just an axe. At the end of 1979, after a health scare, Cyril and Beryl moved into Mirranji Retirement Village in Canberra, with Cyril saying that he was “on the way out”. They in fact enjoyed 15 happy years together there, again being active with organising activities and his little garden.  A huge hole was left in his life when Beryl passed away in 1994. Cyril continued to live on alone for another 10 years and then spent his remaining 5 years in Linton Hostel in Yass.  Cyril sadly passed away in Yass on 16 November 2009, just 11 days before his 100th birthday, which he was so looking forward to.

His sons, Roger and Geoff, are now retired. Roger spent most of his working life involved in and around the motor and machinery trade and now lives in Yass. Geoff, apart from his stint in the air force, was involved in sales and now lives in Pendle Hill. In a happy twist of destiny, Roger married Tommy Dykes’s granddaughter, Marjorie – bringing together two great families so connected with mail delivery in Grenfell. Billy Lowe retired from the Post Office in 1988 and continued to live in Grenfell until his death just this year on 5 July.  Billy had two sons – Bruce, who now lives in Kingscliff on the NSW and Queensland border, and Gary, who worked for many years as a telecommunications technical officer for Telstra. Gary now lives back in Grenfell. After he retired, Billy played golf until he was eighty, maintaining his high level of fitness; had a renowned vegetable garden; and loved looking after his ‘girls’ – his chooks!

Thanks to Roger Holgate, Joyce Simpson, ‘Ted’ Simpson and Gary Lowe for their contributions to “Faces in the Street”.  References also sourced from original interviews held at the Grenfell Museum and information from “The Golden Granary”,William A. Bayley, 1954 and ‘People of the Weddin Shire, ed. Bruce Robinson and Gaynor England, 2001.