aggie leary & ohn yke

Margaret (Maggie) Cleary was born at Waranga on the 26^th October 1896, the third daughter of the family, she attended school at Waranga.

In her teens she was employed at Brice's Hotel in Rushworth and the Mary-Lyn Guest House at Marysville. Later she spent some time house-keeping for her unmarried brothers under very primitive conditions at Carwarp. After this she worked at the Cricketer's-Arms Hotel in Mooroopna.

Margaret married John Oliver Pyke at Melbourne on the 1^st July 1924 and went to live at Toolamba. John Pyke, a returned-soldier of the 1914-1918 war, had a small mixed farm producing mainly apricots, pears and peaches fro market and cannery. This land had only been recently opened for intensive cultivation with the extension of the irrigation system. Here they raised their three children, John, Kathleen and Betty, taking an interest in school and local affairs. In the 1930s Margaret joined the newly formed Country Women's Association (C.W.A.)

They resided at Toolamba until their deaths, Margaret in 1973 aged seventy-seven years and John in 1982 at the age of eight-six years.

Their daughters spent some time at Wangaratta, working at the woollen-mill. Later they worked at the Albion Hotel at Kyabram. Following marriage both stayed at Kyabram and still reside there. The elder daughter Kathleen lost her husband in 1983.

Margaret's son, John, worked with his father on the land and was a member of the Shepparton Amateur Cycling Club. After his marriage he too reared his family at Toolamba and with his wife continued an interest in local affairs. In 1983 they moved to Mooroopna.