Past Student 1973-1976
Mark came into the world on the 21st of March 1960 at the Millmerran hospital, born to Elizabeth and John Caldicott. A week later he was taken home to “Monmouth”, the family farm, in a new Holden ute. It was heatwave conditions and there were 50 miles of rough dirt track, barely two wheel tracks through Bulli Creek forestry. The home was a four room affair, quite isolated, 32-volt power for lighting and a kerosene fridge – luxury was a 32-volt fan.
Mark was soon joined by Lexi in 1961, followed by Haig in 1967 and finally Scott in 1969. From quite a young age they went around the property with their father, mustering sheep, fencing and helping. Like most country kids Mark learnt to drive early. By the time he was ten, a new tractor had arrived, we were out of sheep and into farming. Mark took to the big John Deere 5020 like a duck to water and many an hour was spent going round and round with the new plant. Weekends and afternoons after school were spent, farming, mustering, fencing – life on a family farm was busy. With primary school finished with at Kindon State School, it was time to go away to boarding school at Scots College in Warwick, where he got involved with cadets and other school pursuits. It was all quite a challenge after being schooled in a small country school with no more than 20 pupils.
After secondary schooling, Mark attended Emerald Pastoral College for two years where he graduated in 1978 with a special award for Machinery Operation and Farm Work. At the finish of this course, he gained employment on a property outside Capella where he stayed for several years before an overseas experience beckoned and he joined in with the IAEA (an international agricultural exchange programme) to go to Canada for 6 months. He had such a great time he transferred from there to Denmark for the following six months. He came home broke, but having thoroughly enjoyed his experience, to take over share farming Carinya (the property next to his parents). He built his house and his life around the farm at Monmouth through good years and bad – some cropping seasons were excellent, but then others were very trying. He made time to follow his various interests and was always keen to have a try at anything – water skiing, windsurfing, camp drafting, skydiving, paragliding, to name a few.
Being 80km from the nearest town sometimes made things difficult but Mark cultivated interests in various fields. Rifle shooting at Goondiwindi, rifle and clay target shooting at Millmerran, with trips to nearby clubs, Brisbane and as far as Innisfail in North Queensland to attend competitions, where he was successful and won awards at a national level. At this time he also joined the Millmerran Apex service club, where he served as president of the club in 1988. In 1998 he transferred from Apex to Lions, where he served as president in 2001-2002. Many a good time was had with his mates in Apex, serving the local community. The community of the Kindon district formed a sporting club during this time, to bring locals together for social occasions such as the annual Kindon Picnic races. Mark also put in many hours volunteering for this club.
After he and Cheryl married in 2003, they moved to the Bundaberg area where Cheryl would be closer to her daughter. Mark found employment in the agricultural sector, working with sugar cane, macadamia, small crops etc. He enjoyed the new challenges and responsibilities that came with this.
Cheryl passed away in 2019 when they had both been very ill. Unfortunately, Marks life ended too soon, less than a year after his wife Cheryl, when he passed away suddenly on January 10th, 2020.
