Stefan Bradley
WHAT’S important to a local community? You can say services or infrastructure – but what makes us unique is character. Not just the scenery – it’s the people and its history.
A former pig farmer, Jim Fairchild, is ensuring those local characters aren’t forgotten through his writing. Mr Fairchild, born 1936, is living out his retirement in Maffra with his wife Lorrayne, having sold off the farming property in Tinamba.
Mr Fairchild’s first book is titled Curly Tales from an old boar’s pen, which he published last year (featured in the Gippsland Times 19/12/23 issue).
He was so pleased with its unexpected success, that he was compelled to write a follow-up.
Despite selling Curly Tales books at only two stores across Maffra and Sale, it sold nearly 200 copies.
“Which surprised me, because I haven’t attempted to sell it further away,” he said.
Word of mouth does wonders. Readers were keen to learn about Mr Fairchild and his father, who became well-known for their pigs.
“This is not an autobiography about me, it’s not even a story about my dad, it’s about the things that happened along the way,” Mr Fairchild says of his first book.
A second volume, Fewer Curlies – More Characters, released a few months ago, has already received fantastic feedback. A superior sequel, perhaps?
There’s almost no stories about pigs, instead it’s about the people in Mr Fairchild’s life, including his relatives from the past 200 years, and locals he describes as “a little bit different”.
He said that some of these tales were written years ago and others more recently, including cut content from the first book.
“With a bit of nonsense for good measure!”
Mr Fairchild said his favourite chapter is the 18th – ‘Saturday Lunch in Morwell’.
Just two-and-a-half pages long, Mr Fairchild details his quest to find a sandwich for his wife in Morwell.
“I really enjoyed writing it a long time ago, and thought it should go into print,” he said.
When this reporter spoke to Mr Fairchild about that first book, he was already in the midst of writing Fewer Curlies. Is there more he’d like to say for perhaps a third book?
“I don’t know if I’ll get another book written. I’m 87. I’ll think about it – there’s a bit of stuff in my head and a bit written down so you never know what I might come up with,” he said.
Asked this question again a few weeks later, he was a bit more blunt: “Definitely not.”
Writing or not, he won’t be sitting still anytime soon.
“I’m never idle. We only have a few acres now, a few head of cattle and about four sheep… I’m pretty busy most of the time,” he said.
“And I’m very lucky with my health.”
Pigs or not – always a farmer.
Fewer Curlies – More Characters by Jim Fairchild, and his first title, Curly Tales from an old boar’s pen, are available from the Maffra Newsagency and Collins Booksellers Sale.
