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Fruitcake
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18-03-2018, 08:55 PM
1

A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

This is the story of my family's time in Australia between the two World Wars.

My maternal Grandfather was from farming stock near the village of Elberton, South Gloucestershire.
He was good with horses so possibly this is why he joined the Royal Field Artillery during the Great War.



His twin brother fought as well, but I have no information about him at that time.
They had a younger brother who didn't survive.
He joined the Somerset Light Infantry at the age of 18, was wounded at 19, then killed at Passchendaele aged 20. He has no known grave, but he is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

This is him after recovering from his wounds before going back to the front line.



What horrors these young men must have endured.

After the war, my Grandad emigrated to Oz in 1919 under a Government Soldier Settler scheme to farm in the Western Australia Wheat Belt.

He laboured for several years before he bought a share in a 1590 acre plot of land along with several other family members who had emigrated over a period of years.

On arrival at the plot, he and his twin built a shack out of anything they could lay their hands on. Packing cases, corrugated iron, and paraffin tins amongst other things were used, all hauled by horse and cart several hundred miles from their starting point.

The shack.



In order to get the land ready for planting a cash crop of wheat, they had to hand clear scrub and trees before ploughing and planting.
They were on a tight timescale, so my Grandfather ploughed by night, and his twin by day.

A splendid Ozzy invention. The Stump-Jump plough, consisting of pairs of independently sprung discs. Unlike a conventional plough that would dig in if a rock or tree stump was struck, the pair of discs in contact would ride up over the obstruction, preventing damage to the plough, and injury to ploughman and horses.



Three years after arriving in country, my Grandfather sent for his fiance, my Grandmother. My Gran lived in another village called Littleton-upon-Severn, which was a few miles from where my Grandad grew up. I suspect they either met through the farming community when everyone helped everyone else at harvest time etcetera, or through church.

On the way over to Oz, my Gran had her Banns read out on the boat.
She landed in Freemantle, and married my Grandad the following day in Perth. Can you imagine courting your beloved like that? Contact only by surface mail, letters taking 6-8 weeks in each direction, for three years!



The couple had a son shortly after, but he died after only a few months. It was a tough life living in the Outback with limited medical facilities.

A few years later my Mum was born, and lived on the farm whilst a more permanent home was being built.

My Mum and Gran with stacks of homemade mud and cement blocks being sun-dried ready for use. The men made the blocks and the women stacked them for drying.



Eventually a large family bungalow was built from the blocks. It had a communal area plus separate living quarters for each part of the family group.



In summer it was so hot that the family couldn't sleep indoors, so a slatted summerhouse was built at one end of the bungalow. It can just be seen in the background. The bird is called a Galah, pronounced I believe, Ghe-la.



For some reason there was no water hole at the homestead. It had to fetched from a windmill some distance away by horse drawn tank-cart, then transferred to a holding tank next to the house.

This is my Mum on her way to the school at Billeroo, about seven mikes away, ready to set off on her horse Topsy.



Mum also had her own pet Ram, called William Sir Bill. I doubt many of you can top that.



Due to the lack of medical facilities and the fact that my Gran was now in her forties, it was decided that she should return to England to give birth to her next child.
Heavily pregnant, and with my six year old Mum in tow, they made their way to Blighty.

A few months after my Uncle was born, my Mum and Gran with babe in arms made the long voyage and overland journey back to the farm.
On the way back my Mum won a fancy dress completion on the boat dressed as a Daisy.

Here she is with my Gran bustling behind her.



By now most of the horses were replaced by tractors. Here is my Granddad driving with my Granny holding my infant Uncle, on the back of a seed drill.
All health and safety protocols being observed of course.



Harvest time. My Granny sewed up the sacks of wheat. Here she is with my Uncle, Grandad (seated) and his twin brother.



A few animals were kept for food, but the main crop was wheat. Sometimes the odd bush turkey would supplement the family's diet.
Grandad's sister, her Dad, his brother -in-law, Grandad, and his mother.
The rifle looks like it might have been a WW1 British Army issue SMLE. Accurate at 1000 yards in the right hands.



Sadly by the mid thirties, the great depression hit, the price of wheat plummeted, and the farm could no longer sustain the three family groups.
My Grandad moved his family of four back to Perth where he worked as a building labourer until he raised enough funds to get everyone back to England.

My Mum attended school there for a few years. The only information I have is that it was Perth South State School in Forest Street, and at the time (1935-38 ish) the head teacher was an E Swift. If anyone has any more information about this I would be really grateful as I have some old school reports I would like to pass to the school if it still exists.
Alternatively, if anyone knows of an Historic Society that might like them, would be grateful for contact details for that instead.

School photo' taken around 1936. My Mum (marked by a cross) would heave been about ten at the time.



Here she is again, second angel from the right, in a church nativity play. The only information I have is that it was South Perth C of E.
Again, if anyone can identify the place and provide contact details I would be very grateful. I have about 8 prints of this event that I would like to donate.



In 1938, the family of four set sail for England on a ship called TSS Jervis Bay, one of several ships operated by the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line.



On the way, my Mum won another fancy dress competition, again dressed as a daisy. Well it is her name. She is sat to the left of the lad dressed as a most excellent traffic light.



This was her prize. The two items bear the crest of the shipping line. They are now part of a collection about migrant ships in the Museum Victoria, Canberra.



Once the war began, the ship was converted to an armed merchantman. It was sunk by the Admiral Scheer whilst acting as the only escort for a convoy from Nova Scotia to England.

Meanwhile, one of my Grandad's sisters married, was widowed, and then remarried. Her new husband, also a widower, had the Margaret River Hotel built in 1936, the first pub in the town of the same name. Here it is under construction.



... and again once it was finished.



The originals and a few other similar pics have been sent to the current owners.

Now back to my Grandad.
Once back in England the family stayed with other family members in South Gloucestershire, before moving to Somerset where my Granddad worked as a farm hand.

My Mum met my Dad when she was sixteen, but that's a whole other story. They married four years later, and that's how I eventually came to be me.

Sadly my Granddad died when I was one, so I never got to know him. It wasn't until twenty three years later when my Gran died that we found a suitcase full of developed but unprinted film, photographs, and a souvenir postcard album from the Great War under her bed.
If only we had known about it we could have asked her questions about the people and places in them.

Over the years I have gradually pieced together some of my family's story, and got to know my Granddad that way as a result.
He was a very talented and resourceful man. He made most of the furniture for the bungalow in the bush, and single handed he built another house in Somerset from traditional block and brick. A remarkable man. I just wish I had known him in real life.

Thank you for allowing me to indulge myself, and I hope you found at least some of it interesting.

Please post comments, pictures links, or anything you may think is relevant.
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18-03-2018, 09:14 PM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

Fruitcake I thoroughly enjoyed reading your family's passage through life and I found it very interesting.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us
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18-03-2018, 09:18 PM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

Fruity you know how much I love this.
It is a wonderful thread.
I am so glad it was prompted to start, at the bar on Friday.
Gummy Bear will be posting, I am sure of that.
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18-03-2018, 10:24 PM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

great stuff fruitcake and very professionally presented - I'll try to look more locally for some information on school and DofE

gumbud

ps: this is an interesting auto-bio if you can acquire it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fortunate_Life
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18-03-2018, 10:38 PM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

A very enjoyable read Fruity, and all laid out so well with the photos superbly placed, well done and thanks a million for sharing your family history with us.
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18-03-2018, 11:45 PM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

Thank you Fruitcake a really fascinating story and great photos.
What hardships those early settlers endured but what courage and spirit of adventure !

Have you read Hell West and Crooked by Tom Cole ?
Another Englishman who left the UK to make his life in Australia.
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18-03-2018, 11:52 PM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

Wow - what a brilliant and interesting story !
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19-03-2018, 04:35 AM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

That was very well presented Fruitcake.
I thoroughly enjoyed every word, and picture.
Thank you!
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19-03-2018, 05:11 AM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

What a thoroughly enjoyable and captivating account of your family, Fruitcake!

It is a fine thing to be the descendent of such hardworking, ingenious, and adaptable people. There is little to be more proud of than to have come from these generations who were swept up in war and the Great Depression - and still managed to build their lives and take care of their families.

I savored every word and pored over every photo.

Bless those horses and farm animals too.

Thank you for sharing.
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19-03-2018, 10:24 AM
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Re: A Journey Down Under and Back, an Australian pictorial story.

Being able to put names to faces and the date brings the people to life. The 'can do' generation who just got on with it.
The photo of your Mum with her pet ram is my favourite.
 
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