Growing up in post-World War II Corowa, Peter was the eldest of five children to Thomas and Mary Lane.
Thomas was a prominent pharmacist and owner of T P Lane Pharmacy, later renamed Buggy’s Pharmacy after Thomas’ apprentice John Buggy took over the business in the mid-1950s.
He remembers living next door to the Free Press and hearing the clattering of the press machines at night as they churned out new issues, fishing and catching redfin in the Murray River off the common, and going to school at St Mary’s Primary when there were still nuns.
Now living in Melbourne, a bout of nostalgia prompted Peter to delve through his father’s archives and piece together a period of Corowa’s history before it was lost forever.
Last month, armed with photo albums and a USB drive, he jumped into a taxi in Greensborough and made the trip to Corowa, delivering his father’s little piece of Corowa history to Heather Hall at Federation Museum.
“My father had all these negatives and photos he'd taken when we lived in Corowa,” Peter said.
“Once I'm gone, it'll all go to the tip and a little bit of history of Corowa will be lost forever.
“I thought, I've got to get all this together; so, over a couple of years, I went through everything I could find, scanned and copied them into a folder, and kept them aside.”
“Once I'm gone, it'll all go to the tip and a little bit of history of Corowa will be lost forever.”
Peter had his albums organized in 2020 when the Covid pandemic hit, and the ensuing lockdowns dampened his plans to bring them to Corowa.
Not long after, Peter’s wife Gail took ill, requiring his care and delaying any long trips.
“All these things that life is all about were happening, one after another,” he said.
“I finally realized I've got to make the effort to get up there because I'm almost 83, how much longer am I going to live?
“Time was pressing and I thought, if I don't get it up there while I’m still on this planet it all ends up in the tip.”
Gail’s condition meant Peter could only take a day to make the return trip to Corowa, and no longer confident in driving long distances himself, a taxi-driver friend became their most time-efficient solution.
“My wife is confined to bed all the time, so I was fortunate to get time away to go up to Corowa for the day,” Peter said.
“I left Greensborough at 7am and, with a couple of stops, the trip took about four hours.
“The taxi driver joined us for a tour of the museum while he waited to make the return trip; we got home around 6pm and the bill came to about $1,000.
“We have neighbours who are very helpful, so Gail managed okay without me for the day.”
Peter hoped that donating his father’s photos to Federation Museum would give locals a piece of history they might enjoy, and that maybe they would recognise a parent or a grandparent in one of the photographs.
The photo albums are on permanent display at Federation Museum.
