In December 2019, the Amos family celebrated 100 years of farming in the Cowra district, with a reunion held at the family's generational property Rockdale.
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The home of Colin and Faye Amos, where they raised their five daughters, Gayle (Newton), Narelle (Leach), Sharon (Spolding), Rosalind (Thompson) and Annette (Kemp), 'Rockdale' was purchased in 1919 by Colin's grandfather, Reginald Amos.
Reginald was born in Taralga in 1878 and his father died the following year. In 1885, his mother Jane Amos re-married George Whiteman and the family moved to Westville near Cowra.
Travelling by horse and cart, they followed the Lachlan River towards Cowra and over what is now Wyangala Dam.
Reginald left school and started working on properties for his stepfather and neighbours.
In 1906, Reginald married Miss Mary Cameron of Noyeau Creek (near Woodstock) and he bought his first property in 1919, named Rockdale situated on the Canowindra Road, not far from Cowra.
Many long and hard years were put into the land by Reginald, building the current homestead on the property, as well as many sheds, the original metal working forge still remains at Rockdale.
Reginald and Mary had four sons, Harold, Edley, Oscar and Reginald (who died in infancy) and one daughter Ena (Snow).
Oscar (born 1913) continued farming Rockdale after Reginald's retirement, whilst Harold and Edley farmed nearby properties.
Oscar married Dorothy Moore in 1935 and had three children, Donald, Colin and Joan.
Colin was about eight years old when the Japanese prisoners staged a mass breakout at the Cowra POW camp in 1944.
He remembers being woken in the middle of the night by his father Oscar, who took them up to the Rockdale homestead for shelter.
At the time, they lived in a separate cottage on the property (a demountable home moved from Wyangala after the original Dam was constructed in 1935).
Colin and his family could hear machine gun fire and see the search lights moving around at the POW camp, as well as several fires.
It was a moonlit night and Colin's father, Oscar armed himself and waited in the paddock.
They could see the silouettes of the prisoners moving through the paddocks but the Japanese caused them no harm.
Colin's uncle Edley and his wife Vera also drove up from their property a short distance away and sought refuge in the Rockdale homestead, Edley also armed himself and assisted Oscar.
Colin and his siblings played in the house while waiting for their father to return.
When Edley went home the next day, they saw some Japanese prisoners had taken their own lives, which was quite confronting.
In the coming days, during the roundup of the surviving escaped prisoners, Edley noticed his horse continually looking towards a haystack on the property.
He informed the patrolling guards who found an escaped Japanese POW hiding in the middle of the haystack.
Other prisoners were found hiding in the bullrushes along Binni Creek.
Some POW camp guards later stayed at the Rockdale homestead in the days following the breakout. Other guards also set up viewing barricades in the hills nearby, including Henleys Hill.
Prior to the breakout, Donald (Don) Amos fell off his horse while riding on the Canowindra Road.
His horse was spooked by a passing POW truck carrying Italian prisoners, who were heading out to cut wood.
Don ended up with a few cuts and bruises and one of the Italian POW's caught the horse and rode it back to Rockdale, while Don arrived home in the back of the POW truck, much to the surprise of his mother.
Colin distinctively remembers the day his mother came running down the driveway towards their cottage yelling out, 'The war is over, the war is over'.
Colin (born 1937) continued farming the property until Oscar's retirement.
Don purchased the neighbouring property, 'Corana', which his sons Garry and Wayne continue to farm, while Colin married Faye Porter in 1963.
They remain at Rockdale to this day.
Reginald died in 1965, aged 86 and is buried at Cowra cemetery.
Since 1919, Rockdale has seen five generations develop, all family members helping to give it the true character they all know and love, and it has always been a place to come home to.
Ian Amos (son of Harold Amos) his wife Helen, children and grandchildren also attended the reunion however sadly Ian recently passed away.
In March 2021, the local Amos's hope to attend a 200 year Tasmanian 'Amos Bi-centenary', as descendants of John Amos and family, who migrated to Australia from Scotland in 1821, as part of the first free settlers.
They settled in Cranbrook, Tasmania where they began farming.
