Memories Belonga Me

Lachlan Terry

Author, Scouts Australia Leader, Radio DJ, Home Barber, Traveller Photographer, Art Leasing Business, Entrepreneur

Lachlan Terry led a vibrant, active life until the unsettling prospect of being confined to a wheelchair emerged. In his 42 years, he had avoided debilitating injuries, relying on a mix of good luck and management. The gradual and unexpected onset of his condition hindered job opportunities and even mundane tasks like picking up a coin.

The question "Why me?" lingered, but Lachlan learned to accept life's unpredictable nature during 13 years of uncertainty, misdiagnoses, and hurdles. His upbringing on an outback station instilled a pragmatic outlook, and he embraced the idea of playing the hand he was dealt.

Despite his undiagnosed condition, Lachlan remained mobile, using a walking frame or electric mobility scooter, covering an impressive 5,500 kilometres in a year. He remained devoted to various roles as a Scouts Australia leader, radio DJ, home barber, traveler, photographer, and Art Leasing business entrepreneur. Grateful for opportunities, he eagerly shared his story, embracing the power of politeness and gratitude that had always guided him. Determined and resilient, Lachlan Terry showed the world the strength to seize every chance life offers.

Memories Belonga Me is a sweeping tale of endurance, migration, and the pioneering spirit that helped shape rural Australia. Lachlan Terry brings together family oral history and diligent research to follow his ancestors from early colonial settlement in New South Wales through to the cattle-rich plains of western Queensland.

Beginning with Thomas, who arrived aboard the Guildford in 1812, this rich narrative follows generations who built lives along the Murrumbidgee, through to the Terry and O'Brien families' bold ventures into the north. With colourful stories of race meetings, droving trails, bush hotels and outback enterprise, this is more than a family record, it's a tribute to the tenacity and ambition of those who saw opportunity in the vastness of the land.

Told with warmth, pride, and a deep respect for the past, Memories Belonga Me captures the lived history of Australia's inland settlers-one story, one station, one memory at a time.