Edmund Evans Jnr was born on 31 July 1920 in Ipswich, and some point after 1929, he was raised in Pindi Pindi. (Edmund Evans Snr wound up his business of Evans and Sons in Dinmore and moved to Pindi Pindi) He learnt his brick making and laying skills from his father.

Dad listed his occupation as “brick maker” when he enlisted in the army in 1941. They were living in Cairns at the time. At some point after 1941, dad moved to Ipswich. He was discharged shortly after enlisting after contracting a severe kidney disease.

He married our mother Lorna in 1947.

He converted a workshop into our home that was on one of the blocks of land that he owned. He turned the workshop into the kitchen, dining/living area, main bedroom, one additional bedroom and a bathroom. He added a recess with a chimney in the back wall of the kitchen for their wood fired stove. All outer and internal walls were brick, with cement plaster on the internal walls.

The blocks of land had clay deposits suitable for making bricks. He used this clay to make the bricks that he used in building the stove recess and chimney, inscribing 4800, for how many bricks he made, on the last brick for the recess. This brick was midway up the chimney.

He made a mould that he packed the clay in by hand. He fired them in-situ in a makeshift kiln (small gully). I remember when they were preparing the block on the right side of our house (facing the house from the street) to build on, they unearthed burnt logs and ash. Mum said that was where dad fired his bricks.