About Jim…
Name: Dennis James (Jim) Yarwood.
DOB: 9/11/1949 (67 years of age)
Hobbies/Sports: Jim was the captain of the school baseball team in year 7. He also coached tennis on Saturday mornings as he really enjoyed that. He also played football and cricket which he loved.
Family Members
Father: Verdun William Russell Yarwood.
born: Eaglehawk, VIC
1916-1986
RSL Serviceman
Served in WWII
Mother: Isabel Mary (Ducket)
Born: Wynyard, TAS
1921-2005
Sister: Heather Anne
Born: Oakley, 1954.
Brother: Sidney Thomas
Born: Prahran,1948-2012
Brother: Rodney Charles
Born: Burwood, 1956-2011
Growing up:
- St Kilda (After WWII)
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Moved to Mernda
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After parents split up moved to chadstone
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Then he moved to Thomastown with his mum and 3 siblings
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Then moved just with his mum to Coburg
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And finally, he lived in sunbury after his mum past away.
Schooling:
Primary school – Jim went to Jordanville state school. He loved playing his cricket and footy and “rounders”, never a fan of music. Very hands on and loved using his hands and building things like billy carts.
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High school – Went to Keon park tech school, got the train from Thomastown there every morning. Jim studied wood work and sheet metal work. He didn’t really like school at all but did very well considering not having a high level of schooling.
Grade 5
Grade 5 was a very hard year for Jim. He had a breakdown because of his dad and pressure from school. He moved to Camperdown to live with his uncle on his farm, got up at 5am to get the cows & milk them until 7am, then he would clean up and get ready for school.
the school bus picked him up at 8:15am, the school was very small, it had 2 rooms, 1 room had grades 1,2,3 and the other room had 4,5,6. He also played football, the football team was made up of every male kid. And at the end of the day the bus would pick hi up at 3pm from school and he would get home by 4.
Jim’s accident
One day Jim was asked to paint a 3 story house, but it was too tall to bring a cherry picker in. So he started the job being as careful as you can be with a ladder up 3 stories, as he was doing this, he accidentally slipped down the ladder and his leg caught and instantly broke, he screamed out for help but no one could hear, so he tries pull his phone out of his pocket but it falls out! So now he is forced to purposely fall the rest of the way to the ground so he can go get help, but as he hits the ground his other leg breaks!
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Jim Yarwood interviewed by Matt Turner and Brandon Nardone, year 11 and 12 students at Eltham high as a part of the stories of my life project. October 2016
