Despite the purchase, Abraham was still tied to Emmott's Bee-Hive Store, of which he had been sole owner since his father died in 1917, but he visited the farm twice a week, much to May and Jack's delight; they travelled with Abraham on his Wednesday afternoon trips during school holidays and always on the Sunday visit. (May said shops closed on Wednesday afternoons and late night shopping was on Saturdays, hence the escapes from town.)

May had very happy memories of "River-view", which was still then a working dairy farm.

"The bracken was over our heads," she said. "It was absolute heaven for kids."

They swam in the river and had enormous fun with an old vehicle punt and a flying fox. Because the flying fox ran from river level on one side to a high point on the opposite bank, May said she was once marooned in the middle when Jack and his friend couldn't wind her back in, much to her delight.

The call for serious education was answered when May became a pupil at North Sydney Girls' High School for three years and Jack attended Wollongong High School.

Abraham bought and sold several farms from 1923 to 1926. In 1924 he bought "Home Farm" at the second auction of Bodalla Estate farms, in 1926 he swapped "Riverview" for "Silo Farm" and in between he also owned "Elizabeth Farm" for a while.

May and Jack were dismayed when "Riverview" was no longer their playground.

"When I was told we were going to live at Bodalla, I thought it was going to be at 'Riverview'," May said.

"I was so upset when father swapped ‘Riverview' - I didn't think there would be anything there ["Home Farm"] but I grew to love it," she said.

Jack said that his friends were especially upset.

"It was our dream place - it was magical," he said.

"Home Farm" was obviously the pick of the bunch because Abraham built a house on it for the family and that same year he sold the Bee-Hive Store to Messrs Carrick and McIlroy, who called it Emmotts Ltd (it was listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange) and later sold to a Mr Sheridan. May said her childhood home next to the store was later used as storage and, finally, demolished in 1979.

In February 1927 the house was ready and the family moved in.

May said that for her Intermediate Certificate at the end of 1926, she was expected to get six As and one B but in the school holidays the results came through with three Bs and four As. In the confusion of moving house, her parents were too busy to appeal, much to the horror of her teachers.

Jack took a week off school for the move then returned to Wollongong for his final year but May missed Moruya so much she stayed at home.

When Thomas Mort established the Bodalla Estate all the farms had a specific purpose - some were dairies, most with one-breed herds, some had piggeries, some had cheese factories, which were all sited within easy distance of the dairies, some grew crops and fodder. When Abraham bought "Home Farm" it had a renowned cheese factory on it, which was owned separately by the Bodalla Company. In 1927, after the Estate farms were sold off, the Bodalla Co-op Cheese Society was then formed to purchase the milk from the dairies and continue the production of the nation's favourite cheese from Bodalla. Abraham, a foundation director of the co-op, was also chairman of directors for a few years before his retirement in 1946. Jack said the cheese factory on the farm functioned until 1952.

At the end of 1927, Jack joined his father on the farm. He had decided not to stay on at school because life was so good in the country - "forgetting I'd be working hard on the farm all the time". Together, they followed in Thomas Mort's footsteps by once again turning "Home Farm" into a showpiece. Abraham initially stocked the fields with a Friesian herd but phased in Jerseys, a breed on which he became an expert renowned throughout the State and Victoria, and the property excelled in breeding both.

Father and son worked hard enough to win a State-wide dairy championship in 1932 which caused the Agricultural Gazette of NSW to praise their efforts: "Emmott's scientific management of ‘Home Farm' earns him the honour of being a second T S Mort."

May said that silage stored in 1931 endured the terrible floods in 1934 and was used to feed the cattle until 1936, when the land had recovered.

"There were seven floods that year, but January's was the worst."

May was also busy on the farm. "I learnt to cook and I kept the garden."

She remembers herding in cattle from Coila on her horse Ruby and on summer afternoons she went swimming in the river with friends.

She stayed on the farm until she married Len Koellner, except for studies at the National Art School in East Sydney in 1933-34.

Abraham took a leaf from his father John's book and served as a Eurobodalla Shire councillor from 1937 to 1944. John, Moruya's chief magistrate, retired as mayor of Moruya Municipal Council (the forerunner to today's shire council) in 1905. From the Moruya Examiner's report of February 17, council must have overlooked the occasion. "... Mr Emmott has well earned a long rest, and we accord to him, on behalf of the public - the Council having forgotten its manners - a hearty vote of thanks for his long and faithful public service ..."

In 1945 Abraham and Hilda retired from the farm and moved back to Moruya. Jack married Marion the following year after returning from the war and another generation of the family settled in to "Home Farm".

Jack and Marion renamed it "Holm Park" but, Jack says, it is still commonly referred to by the old name.

When the Bodalla Country Women's Association celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, the Emmott name stood out. Hilda was foundation treasurer of the branch in 1930 and May was a junior foundation member. And Marion, now a life member, has been a member for 58 years!

Abraham died in 1975 aged 94 and Hilda in 1979 at 92.

Marion and Jack, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January, have now retired from the dairy industry but still live in the house that Abraham built, though most of the surrounding farm lands have been sold.

"Because this house is the only place we've ever lived, the children regard this place as an anchor - they love coming here," Jack said.