b'F R O M T H E B E G I N N I N GThehappinessofhisboyhoodlifespentontheMountainsfrom Lithgow to Katoomba never left Bill Nimmo. He returnedtime and again throughout his life, with his wife and children, withhis grand-children, and alone. When he was five years old, his formal education started at theSuperior Public School in Katoomba. Here he would have comeunder the guidance of John Douglass, headmaster.An even greater influence entered Williams life when he wasabout eleven years old. Frederick Vicary Pratt, then aged twenty-seven, newly married and a recent graduate of Camden College (the Congregational Theological College) had just been given theCongregational Church at Katoomba as his first posting, from 1897to 1907. Here he was following his father, Mr. William Pratt, whowas one of the early lay preachers in Katoomba. He had conductedservices in the home of Mr. J.B. North about twenty years earlier.F.V. Pratt was born in Petersham in 1870. He was educated atNewington College and later at Sydney University, where he won anM.A., three gold medals, and was offered the chair in Latin, whichhedeclined.WhilehewaswaitingtostudyattheTheologicalCollege, he spent a year teaching at Singleton Grammar School, asBill Nimmo was to do some twelve years later. While he was there,Pratt met his future wife, Elizabeth Waddell.Pratt was to become greatly loved in the mountains and in thevalleys around. He re-opened the church in the Megalong Valley,coming down Nellys Glen and taking services in the Public Hallthere. He would ride to Burragorang (a laudable feat) and to otherlonelyandout-of-the-wayplacestotakeservices.However,heallowed himself the luxury of a horse and sulky when he went toMt.Victoria to conduct services there.He loved to walk. His tall, slender figure would often be seenstriding briskly along the street, or roaming the countryside. Heundertook many hiking and camping expeditions, taking with himcompanions including Douglas Mawson, Canon Garnsey and, nodoubt, on occasion, the young William Nimmo. Years later, whenwalking in the mountains with his grand-daughters, Bill would beable to name for them every plant and bird they saw.1 2'