| Details Autobiographical manuscript covers Jack's early life up to 1941. John (Jack) Gargan was born at the end of the 19th century. His father was a railway worker in Gippsland and his mother, a farmer's daughter was from the Wangaratta area.
His early years were spent going to school and working on the farms owned by his parents in and around Gippsland with his four sisters and three brothers. By January 1920 Jack had saved enough money, by growing beets on land rented from his father, to head for Queensland as there were "millions of acres of vacant crown land available for selection" and Jack felt he should leave home and try to establish himself elsewhere. Jack worked in Longreach as a tank sinker and in Clermont as a ringer. By 1921 work was scarce so Jack made his way to Millaa Millaa and found work as a scrub cutter. On a job picking maize in Kairi an opportunity arose for him to lease acreage to grow his own crops. He purchased land in Kulara and leased land in East Barron and by 1926 was growing over 300 acres of maize. During the 1930's Jack also tried tobacco share farming at Carbeen but after 10 years, of average success, he started growing lucerne and potatoes. He married Lily Claringbold in 1931. They led a happy life until her death from a lung infection in 1937. During the war Jack grew lettuce, beetroot and carrots for troops stationed at barracks around the Atherton area. Jack remarried in 1941 and had two sons and a daughter. His sons eventually took over the farm, selling carrots to southern districts as well as continuing to grow maize. | 
