Rae's documents/James Herbert Wilson continued.doc

James Herbert Wilson continued.

In the middle of June of 1914 my father bought as farm at Quairading for which he paid 1000 pounds sterling. This was a forfeited block of 1000 acres, consisting of 600 acres of first class forest land, mainly York gum, Salmon and Gimlet, second class land mainly white gum (200 acres) and 200 acres of third class land, plain and scrub country. There were some improvements, the price paid was 20 shillings per acres which included six shillings per acre for existing improvements. This was done through the Avon Roads Board and Lands Department and my father had been there to see it for himself (there was a reference in a letter to “his old campsite”). The actual location was Avon Location 8286. My father spent his long leave of six months getting things started there, going by train back to Perth as necessary. At times he took each of the children with him for a brief time and it was something I looked forward to immensely as the others had always enjoyed their time there. However this was now war-time and everything changed and my turn never came. It was sometime in the early twenties that he had to sell it. There was a lot of pressure on him to sell it as his brother Charlie had started a timber business in Murray Street in Perth and my mother had decided that she did not want to go to Quairading, and eventually he sold it for two thousand pounds which went into what then became C.M. Wilson Propriety Limited. Charlie was a typical shrewd businessman and was doing quite well. His friends David Arclay and Bill Fawcett, both members of the Presbyterian Church, as were all the Wilson brothers, also had some shares. I have clear recollection of the place in Murray Street, near Milligan Street and extending to St. Georges Terrace where trucks came and went. The Murray Street entrance was an ordinary double-fronted office, cream cement rendered brick, with the name on top also in deep-cut cement. I remember being taken to Perth to get shoes and left at the office while my mother did other things and it was Bill Fawcett who looked after me, my father was in the yard supervising the stacking of timber being unloaded. So perhaps it was before 1920 that the farm was sold. My father had gone to Devonport in Tasmania to arrange some contract for the supply of timber, probably Huon pine, or maybe what was called Hoop pine (like deal), and on the boat returning home he had a heart attack and was in the ship’s hospital for some days. This was in the mid-thirties. I remember him telling us about it and his obvious amazement that so many of his fellow-passengers had shown such concern, especially the young people, even girls who used make-up! I think he was able to show his real self instead of the over-worked husband and father that we saw. Charlie insisted that he cease work immediately which meant a quite serious lack of money. I had started at Perth Hospital by then so had little to do with the running of the household, Gordon was working in the country, Jean was married, Bruce at fifteen entered the Navy so Murray and Adele would have helped, (we all, as soon as we started work, handed the greater part of our pay to our mother, I remember when I was paid 35 shillings I gave mother a pound and bought my clothes, paid fares etc from the rest, Adele did the same). My father died in June 1942, I had seen him for a few hours when our ship called in at Fremantle, we had five hours leave, and it was two weeks before I was able to speak to Perth from Adelaide we had set up a hospital.