Tallong bids farewell to David Leese, who died on August 29.
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David and wife Christina's early life was spent in North Sydney, where they raised their boys; upon retirement in 1999 they moved to their property in Tallong.
Before the move and as preparation for farm life David, studied horticulture and joined up with the permaculture movement.
David's other passion was genealogy, which he was very good at, and Tallong's Anzac ceremonies and historical displays benefited from his expertise.
David and Christina were founding members of the Tallong Community Focus Group (TCFG); David at first appointed vice president then became the second president.
The setting up of the TCFG in 2005 was at a time when Tallong was attracting a larger population (called "newbies" by long time locals), who, like Christina and David, wanted to give up city life and integrate into a rural community.
This widespread phenomenon was later called making a "tree change".
Many took up the subdivided lands of older properties like Warrima, Bosworth, Bumballa, Tee Tree and most recently Caoura Station.
The creation of Tallong Park Estate also made small acreages available.
This was also a time of change in village life as it was proposed that Goulburn City Council would amalgamate with Mulwaree Shire.
Public meetings were held in the hall about interim measures before the council elections and then how the new council would proceed.
Villagers found the new council "Goulburn-centric" and saw the need to have a stronger voice to speak up about, as they perceived it, Tallong's neglect.
Over the previous century various progress associations were formed and provided a voice to lobby and liaise with authorities for improved amenities in Tallong.
There seems to have been a thrifty hands-on approach, as for example the hall was built as a memorial after the First World War by the villagers themselves.
Newspaper reports tell of numerous projects carried out by these associations: planting trees on various Arbor Days, a weather shed built for the school in the 1920s, between 1914 and 1916 requests for a loading bank at the goods siding was successfully forwarded to the Railway Department and a cricket pitch and a tennis court were provided in the 1930's.
Village events were staged; of note "Back to Tallong" celebrated in the 1980s and protesting in the 1960s when the recreation reserve was to be turned into a sanitary dump.
By 2004 the association of the time was winding down so in 2005 a public meeting was called to form a new representative group to meet the challenges of changing times.
The new organisation, after much discussion, was named Tallong Community Focus Group (TCFG) and the committee proceeded to organize the first Apple Day Festival to be held in 2006.
With the intention of building a stronger community, the first festival not only honored Tallong's apple-growing past it also brought residents together.
The first two festivals were staged with the help of the Marulan Lions Club under their insurance policy but it became evident that the group needed to incorporate so that their own insurance could be taken out.
David Leese called public meetings to formulate the group's objectives and to forward the process of incorporation.
Another project initiated by David was turning the unseemly bush block in the village centre into a native plant reserve.
Villagers came together to remove rubbish and with the fire brigades help tackled weeds and invasive species that had taken over.
Two other projects initiated in this period involved villagers engaging with local artists and Boral to "Paint the Pot" and to write a booklet about the history/heritage of Tallong.
