Neil John’s Memories of Hay 

Neil-John Nisbet is a man who epitomises the spirit of Hay. 

Happy, humble, and involved in so much, he is a man who makes things happen and is the glue that holds a lot together. 

He was born in Hay, in the old maternity unit, then vet, and has lived here all his life. 

Born in 1962, he has many fond memories of growing up in Hay and the way life used to be. 

With father, Neil Nisbet, and mother, Wilma Curtis, both coming from two of the largest Hay families, family gatherings and get-togethers were always huge, lively and bustling events. 

Christmas and backyard cricket were treasured times, with the games becoming very intense as they all vied for victory. 

Going to school, Neil John had three friends who all lived on the same block: Keith Martin, Robbie Parker and Peter Pearson. 

They would all walk to school together, gradually running into other East Hay children on the way, the walking group growing as they made their way. 

An essential stop on the way to school was the Pink Shop. 

There, dear friend Jocelyn Yousef, Calvert at that time, lived, and her parents ran the general store. The kids would stock up on lollies, hiding them in their SOS or Throaties packets. 

The school rule was that lollies were not allowed, but cough lollies were. 

Other children who would join the trek to school were the Prochilos, Schneiders, Camp Bells, Harveys, Bowens and the Hydes. 

They would, after their Pink Shop stop, pick up Jocelyn and then David Smith. 

“They were really good times,” Neil-John recalled. 

Some 40 years later, these friendships are going strong. 

After the recent reunion with Jocelyn and the others from Neil-John’s schooling days, Jocelyn could not extol Neil-John’s virtues enough.

She was so grateful for the reunion he organised. 

Neil-John is modest and says that it was easy. 

“All it took was a phone call or message, and 90 per cent of people said yes, of course,” he said. 

“I organised our school reunion a couple of years back. It was such fun, looking people up and finding out where they live now, what they’ve been up to, and catching up.” 

Neil-John says the common ground they all share growing up and going to school in Hay and their idyllic childhood is what maintained their bonds. 

“It’s a hard thing to get out of your blood, Hay,” he said. 

“Jocelyn and Mark Baird haven’t lived in Hay for 40 years or so but still call Hay home. It’s a beautiful thing.” 

The children always used to take the ‘mickey’, but there was never any malice there. 

They all got along well. 

“We were all born and raised here, and had a great life, there are many places to call home that are worse than Hay,” Neil-John said. 

“If it was so bad, people wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t make it their lifelong home.” 

After school and on Tuesday and Thursday nights after training, Neil-John and his friends would make a point of learning where all the teachers’ houses were so they could rock their roofs. 

“It was all a part of the fun; I think every generation does that; it’s a passed-down bit of mischief,” Neil-John chuckled. 

“There was plenty of mischief, but not much trouble, we always knew that if something went wrong, if we messed up, we needed to own up and apologise. 

“Another mischievous pastime was putting potatoes up exhaust pipes, tying string onto door knockers, and pulling it so it knocked the door, and letting it go when someone came to answer the door.” 

All the children had push bikes and knew that if they were not home by the time the street lights came on, there would be no dinner waiting for them. 

“If we weren’t home by then and were driving around for some reason, we had little generators attached to the bikes to operate the headlight,” Neil-John said. 

The closest river bend in East Hay was MadMan’s Bend, so this was the popular hangout for the East Hay kids. 

“In those days, it was a lot sandier and a really good beach,” he said. 

“We were always either riding our bikes or swimming at Madman’s. 

“We would swim across to the other side of the river. Over there was the Drake, which was a big old log, if you could dive under the log and make it to the other side, that meant you had made it in your age group.” 

The children would ride their bikes up and down the Dippers, and it wasn’t an uncommon sight to have 20 to 30 children all down there playing at the one time. 

Neil-John had two good horses and would take them down to Madman’s, where the children would climb on them and use them as diving boards. 

As they grew older, they graduated to motorbikes. 

“The general rule was, if you stayed off the roads, and just rode on tracks, and stayed out of the way of the police, they would leave you alone,” Neil-John recalled. 

As high school started, the children began to move out of their territory, suddenly awakening to the fact that there was more to life than East Hay, and as Neil-John puts it, sometimes crossed the main street after school. 

“We would also get as far as Sandy Point and Bushy Bend,” he said. 

“There would always be a track you could cross to get to the other river bends without ever having to ride on a main road. Sometimes it was tricky, but we did it.” 

They would also take part in towing old car bonnets around, and three or four children would jump on them and see if they could stay on. 

“Sometimes they would get hot because of the friction,” he laughed. 

“Sometimes it would be on grass and slide everywhere, and kids would roll into fences, nobody ever got hurt.” 

Something that would also get you a big name and credibility amongst peer groups was if you could get brave enough to walk through the cemetery at night, and that was something he shared with his daughters. 

“We used to drive through there at night, and I would kick the door; the girls were used to it, but it would put a scare through their mates,” he laughed. “It was always a bit of fun, something passed down. I always told them that it was ok to have a bit of fun and mischief, but if it got out of hand, to own up and apologise, like back in my day.” He got into Rugby League at a young age, six years. “It was a funny story, how I got into football,” Neil-John recalled. 

“My cousin Cyril Curtis and in coaching League Tag, initially,” he said. 

“We were walking to soccer training, and we saw a huge group of kids having a kick, and we thought oh there’s the soccer, from then on, I was hooked.” 

Jock McRae was a coach that influenced Neil John when he was young. 

“He was a big Scot and the de-facto of Roma Beissel,” he said. 

“He was an institution in the Hay Magpies. 

“He had a favourite saying, “If I can catch you, I’ll kick your backside,” and that inspired us to run, to never be caught by him. 

“We would travel away on the bus every Saturday, teams never travelled to Hay back then. And we would get a little rowdy, but never to the point where it got out of hand. 

“The only adults would be the bus driver and the coach, and we knew that if things got out of hand, that we would get a kick. We knew the rules, and knew how far we could push it.”

Back in the day when Neil-John started his football career, there was a coach named Ron Hunt, and he was quite big also. 

He bought two buses out of his own money, to take the children away to football. 

Ron decided to do this so that the children would have the opportunity. 

In return, the children would sell raffle tickets for 10 cents each, and that would be their fare over to the games. 

“Ron’s team was the team to be in if you could, as when his team won, they would be taken to get an ice cream afterwards,” he chuckled. 

“I was lucky enough to be on his team one season. 

“We learned a lot being around these influential people, ones who taught us good values and respect.” 

In those days, there was often only the people who coached or an event that attended these events, with parents busy working sun up to sun set, and completing necessary home duties. 

It was part and parcel of the times, and kids knew to go there and straight home and also knew the old rule of being home by the time the street lights came on. 

“In those days, people looked out for each other, and everyone knew everyone,” he recalled. 

“We always had heaps of friends and older cousins around. 

“Anyway, half the time, if we got into mischief, our parents would know all about it before we came home. 

“The old bush telegraph is not a bad thing at all.” 

A well-known fact about Neil-John is that he bleeds black and white, the Magpies, his club, where he has always wanted to be. 

In a long-time passionate involvement with the club, and highlights that include coaching four premiership sides and playing in seven premier ship sides, the biggest highlight for him was coaching his two daughters, Courtney and Kristin. 

“The girls were the only reason I got involved,” he said. 

“We had played mixed touch games together before, and I was glad to be a part of something that kept them involved in the club. I see no difference between women and men playing sport. 

“I have always been passionate about them having a crack and believed if they wanted to have a go, they should have a go.” 

Neil-John was 45 when he decided to conclude his playing career. 

“I hate to say this, but Shayne Kennedy ended my playing career,” he said with a laugh. 

“We were playing Darlington Point at their home ground, and Shayne was playing for them. I had already had the same rib cartilage injury seven times before, and Shayne hit that. 

“When I was going off the field, I said to him that I would be back, but once I actually got off, I was in that much pain I decided that if I could not get back on, that it was time.” 

It was not an emotional decision for Neil-John, though, as he never gave up his association with the Magpies. 

“I had played since six and coached from age 16, so I still had the ties, he said. 

“If I had stopped playing cold turkey and had nothing to do with the club, it might have been emotional down the line. I just knew it was time to stop playing and time to focus on helping other people.” 

Neil-John enjoys coaching immensely and only gets frustrated when he feels as though someone isn’t giving their all. 

“You don’t have to be the best; you just have to give your best,” he said. 

“Anyone who coaches would agree, people are volunteering their time and just want to see that effort reflected back, they don’t want to feel as though they are wasting their time.” 

Neil-John’s first job out of school was as an apprentice panel beater at Martin and Ashleys, which later amalgamated with Royce Curtis Motors. 

“I used to do some odd jobs to make a little pocket money, to buy motorbikes, but I started out doing that quite late, at 15, whereas a lot of my friends were doing odd jobs at age 12,” Neil John said. 

He met his wife, Yvonne, at school and went out for a while, but they broke up, as often happens with school romances. 

However, they got back together a year later and have been together ever since. 

The couple were married in 1986 when Neil-John was 24. 

Neil-John worked at Royce Curtis Motors for eight years before moving on to Kim Thompson’s Smash Repairs. 

He stayed there for 30 years, a big commitment, in Neil-John’s usual fashion. 

He is still a massive part of Magpies life, and a Hay institution. We as a town are so lucky to have dedicated, faithful people such as Neil-John enriching so much of Hay life.