Fred Wolstenholme

Frederick Wolstenholme came from Blackburn in Lancashire, born 11 November 1909 and the youngest of three boys. After leaving school, Fred was doing clerical work when he took the opportunity provided by the Dreadnought Scheme. He sailed on the Barrabool from London Tilbury on 23rd of June 1927, in a group of 29 Dreadnought Boys. The trip out to Australia was memorable - the food wasn't up to much (Fred was always hungry), the seas were rough especially between Cape Town and Adelaide, however, the ship was a one class vessel which meant that the boys had the full run of the ship. Most memorable of all was meeting Beryl Lord, a young school teacher from Wales.

The Barrabool reached Sydney 16th of August 1927. Taken to the Empire Service Club in the city, the boys were offered various country Training Farm locations, and, not knowing where any of them were, Fred chose Wollongbar because it was near Lismore, where his mate said his friend lived. The next nine weeks at the Wollongbar Farm would prove to be a very happy experience for Fred and his young colleagues.

In the course of the next seven years, Fred would find work in 11 different farms in the NSW Northern Rivers area. The first place was a Jersey stud at Binna Burra, 20 km north east of Lismore. Fred soon got fed-up with being eaten by fleas, squelching around on his farm tasks while it rained for two months solid, and being stuck on the farm without a break. When he did get reluctant permission to go and have a haircut, he was loaded up with so many tasks for the trip into town, while there and on the way back, that he was lucky to get to the barbershop, let alone home by 3:00 p.m. After several months Fred found a new job at a Bangalow farm, and others were to follow. Farmers were hit hard as the Depression made funds scarce, and employment became short-term at best.

For almost 5 years Fred saw little of his new country, other than the immediate district where the farms were located, but in 1932, armed with spending money, he took two weeks holiday (at his own expense, of course) and headed for the bright lights of Sydney.

Those two weeks convinced Fred that Sydney was the place for him, but not yet. He returned to the North Coast for a further two years of farm work. During this time, he spent 18 months in the Lismore area, working for Charles Cottee, one of the well-known Cottee Foods family. It was a very positive experience for Fred. Then, in 1934, he gave away farm life and finally decided to try his luck in the city.

Of course, Fred had another reason to go to Sydney. In all his years in the Northern Rivers, he had corresponded with Beryl Lord, who was in Sydney.

Almost immediately he made contact with Mr. HW Cottee and became the first male employee in the Cottee Factory in Leichhardt. At that time the personnel of the firm comprised Messrs. HW Cottee and EN Cottee, one female clerk and three girls under the supervision of Factory Manager Mr AB Cottee. There were no branches of the Company yet, and the soft drink Passiona was the sole product. Practically the whole output was exported to UK and India. However, expansion then followed with a contract for the supply of bulk salted peanuts and this led to the output of peanut butter, jams and spreads. Fred was soon proficient in the production of all of these foods. He became the Company’s first salesman, then their Transport Manager. In 1935 Fred took delivery of the Company’s first Sales Delivery Panel Van — the forerunner of what was to become a large fleet.

Fred and Beryl were married in August 1937, almost exactly 10 years on from their original arrival in Sydney. They subsequently settled in the small suburb of Banksia, in the St George area of the city.

During World War 2, Fred was exempted from service because Cottee’s were fully engaged in providing supplies to the Army.

Fred Wolstenholme in 1961

In 1961, after 27 years with Cottee’s, Fred used long service leave to take Beryl and daughter Margaret to UK. They had warm reunions with relatives and friends, followed by a rewarding tour of Continental countries. Two more visits to UK would be made in later years.

In 1965, Cottee’s was taken over by General Food Products, an American company. Frederick Wolstenholme known as Passa by some, but as Fred by the rest of us, retired from Cottee’s in 1969. He had been a core member of the Company for 35 years.

After nearly 57 years of marriage, Beryl Wolstenholme passed away on 20 March 1994. Fred was aged 87 when he died on 14 December 1996.

Those of us who knew Fred in his later years, knew a tall man with a distinctive black eye-patch, a quiet unassuming man with a ready grin, who would simply yet proudly say, “I was a Dreadnought Boy”.

Fred Wolstenholme (R) with Noel Fidler at the 1994 Reunion

Ralph Wood

 

Ralph William Wood was born into an army family at Aldershot on 31 March 1911. His family moved to Ireland where his father, a colour sergeant in the Leicestershire Regiment, was sent during the ‘troubles’. In 1919 the family moved to Delhi in India. Ireland, and the trip to Delhi, became powerful memories for Ralph. Back in UK, Ralph left school at fourteen to work in one of many footwear factories in Leicester. Then his employer sent him and Arthur Jefford to the annual engineering exhibition at London Olympia.

 
‘We were in London for the first time. We were goggle eyed at all this huge machinery and thought … there’s a big world out there!’ What they saw and conversations they had there, got them thinking about broadening their horizons. After seeing information about the Dreadnought Boys in a newspaper, Ralph and Arthur (without telling their parents) filled out the Dreadnought application forms. Australia House sent the papers to be signed by the boys’ parents, and references from various people had to be obtained, so it was a great relief when nobody objected.

Ralph Wood and Arthur Jefford arrived in Sydney aboard the SS Baradine on 15 March 1928, and were both sent to Yanco Agricultural Experiment Farm, in the Riverina area of southern NSW. Ralph’s early years in Australia were spent at various farms around nearby Leeton. His experience of sleeping accommodation ranged from the very bad to appalling but was accepted without complaint, and a bit of self-help.

Young Ralph Wood

Five years on, Ralph returned to Depression-hit Sydney. ‘It was the world of soup kitchens and doss houses. I did all sorts of lowly jobs, anything at all. I scrubbed out baths, peeled potatoes in cafes for a couple of feeds. Very rarely were you paid in cash. There were gardening jobs on the North Shore and in Vaucluse and places like that. By the time you’d taken your tram fare out and one thing and another, there wasn’t much left.’

Canon RBS Hammond, the famed Rector of St Barnabas’ Broadway, ran several hostels. They allowed an unemployed man to retain his dignity while looking for work. Ralph lived in one of these ‘Hammond Hotels’. Ralph, who greatly admired Hammond, did odd jobs for him and became his driver. This was the start of better things.

Hammond was a good friend of Sir Phillip Game, the NSW Governor and, one day, got a call from Government House saying there was a vacancy for a temporary worker. It was offered to Ralph who readily accepted. Later Ralph was offered semi-permanent employment with Sir David Anderson, the new Governor. He was a scullery and maintenance man. ‘I enjoyed it. I had a ball. I was getting a reasonable wage and all I could eat. I could even buy myself some clothes from a shop.’

Unfortunately, the governor died and Ralph Wood was made redundant in November 1936. It was back to a Depression-hit workforce. But Ralph had a valuable asset, his driver’s licence had a ‘Government House’ stamp on it. Ralph got a job with a garage, servicing and washing cars at night, ready for senior business men to collect them the next morning. He was servicing and preparing the vehicles, and he was able to sleep in them at night.

In time he was recognised as a motor mechanic, paid enough to rent accommodation and have an improved lifestyle. One of his customers was the United States Trade Commissioner who, impressed by his competence, recommended Ralph to other Americans. One day the Consul called in and explained that his position was being upgraded to Consul-General, and that the new man was on his way. He was bringing his own car and could need a driver.

Ralph met the new man, took him from the ship to the Hotel Australia, offering his services. According to Ralph, ‘He said, “You’ll have to wear a uniform, you know.” I said, “It depends on what you mean by uniform. If you mean a peaked cap and double-breasted coat with buttons down the side and leggings, I don’t think I could be in it.” He said, “Oh no, you’ve been looking at too many American movies. What I have in mind is a dark double-breasted coat and I’ll require you to wear a cap and sometimes gloves. After all we have a position to maintain”.’

Ralph found the Consul-General, Thomas Murray Wilson, a friendly likeable man. He also liked the car, a swank V12 Lincoln Zephyr. Ralph provided the punctual coming and going for the Consul-General, whether around the city or on a country visit. The American was a bachelor, one of the most eligible in town. This involved Ralph Wood in providing discrete advice, and the occasional tactical exit.

Ralph Wood with the American Consul-General’s car

Wilson was replaced by another diplomat in 1940, and the post was upgraded to Ambassador. It was explained to Ralph that, to keep the job, he would have to move to Canberra and find a wife who would be employed as housekeeper. Ralph wasn’t ready for that, so he left, returning to his first love - engineering.

World War II raged, and Ralph took on an adult apprenticeship in fitting and turning, and attended evening classes. In 1941 Ralph applied to join the RAAF but was not accepted because his work was in a ‘reserved occupation’. When he applied to the army, he was accepted. He soon found himself in the Royal Australian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, based in Sydney and the Northern Territory, rising rapidly to the rank of sergeant. During this time, he met his wife, Kathie.

After the war, he spent ten years running an oil pumping station at Woolloomooloo for the refuelling of ships. He was, for ten years, involved in the completion and commissioning of Sydney’s large Warragamba Dam, and then ten years with the engineering company, Hardy’s.

Ralph Wood and his wife were enthusiastic members of the Sydney-based Dreadnought Association, and he was their next-to-last President in 1995-6. Was he pleased that he came out to Australia under the Dreadnought Scheme? ‘Oh yes, it was the best thing I ever did. I wouldn’t have swapped my life for anything with anybody.’

Bootmaker, farmhand, engineering worker, Government House kitchen hand and chauffeur to the US Consul-General. It is hard to find a Dreadnought Boy with a more varied life than Ralph Wood.

Rex Wyndham Watson

 

Rex was born to John and Lily Watson in Woolacombe in North Devon, UK on, it is believed, 17 October 1909. Little is known about his early years except that he succeeded in his secondary education, passing the Junior and Senior Cambridge levels.

Towards the end of 1927, while in Essex, he became aware of opportunities in Australia through the Dreadnought Youth Migration Scheme. At 18 years of age, Rex successfully applied to the scheme, and embarked on the SS Baradine on 25 January 1928. Rex was one of 40 Dreadnought Boys on the ship which berthed in Sydney on 15 March 1928. Of that group, Rex and three other boys were sent to Wollongbar Agricultural Experiment Farm for farm training.

Also on the Baradine, were Fred and Hettie Kille, their daughter Vera (17), and son Maurice (13). They were heading for Lismore in the NSW Northern Rivers area. During the 48-day voyage, Vera and Rex got to know one another in what was later described as a 'mild shipboard romance'. There is little doubt that Rex later made known his preference for Wollongbar (the nearest training place to Lismore).

Following several months of training at Wollongbar, Rex was placed in farmwork, away from the Lismore area for several years. Mrs Kille had a dairy farm at Chelmsford (20 km NW of Lismore) where Rex and Vera lived after they were married on 29 March 1934. Then, in 1935 it was time to move on.

Their first move was to Maclean on the Clarence River, and then on to Perth WA. While there, Rex was injured in a motorcycle accident, resulting in a slight limp. After two years away, the couple moved back east to Casino. In November 1939, Vera’s parents had a car accident - her mother died. Her father needed care, and so Rex and Vera moved to Lismore to live with him. Rex continued to work as a car salesman in Casino.

Rex decided to join the Royal Australian Air Force and was enrolled in the Air Force Reserve, for air crew, on 29 May 1940. To be young enough for pilot training, Rex dropped his age by five years (as well as hiding his limp)! Rex went back to life in Lismore until he was called up for service on 8 November 1940. After initial training at Bradfield Park in northern Sydney, Rex was selected to do flying training at the No.4 Elementary Flying Training School at Mascot Airport, where the DH 82 Tiger Moth was the basic training plane. Graduating on 3 April 1941, Rex went on to the No.2 Service Flying Training School at Forest Hill, near Wagga Wagga NSW. Selected for single-engine training he began conversion to flying Wirraways. Rex completed both service and advanced levels, received a Flying Badge (his ‘Wings’), was classified Airman Pilot on 22 August 1941, and promoted to Sergeant. Rex was then on his way to UK for operational training on Spitfires.

After a slow trip via North America, Rex reached England on 21 December 1941 - nearly 14 years since he left as a Dreadnought Boy. After two months in Shropshire, Rex was sent to RAF Llandow in South Wales, where he flew Spitfires for the first time. In May 1942 he was finally posted an operational Squadron, No. 457 RAAF in Surrey. Here he flew the latest model Mark V Spitfire, just before the squadron, with No. 452 RAAF and No. 54 RAF squadrons, were shipped south to Australia.

With the Japanese attacks on Darwin, and the advance of Japanese forces, these three squadrons of Spitfires were needed for the air defence of Northern Australia. Subsequently, their pilots and ground crew reported to Richmond RAAF Base west of Sydney, and formed No. 1 Fighter Wing under the direct command of Clive 'Killer' Caldwell. When the reassembled new Spitfires finally arrived and familiarisation was complete, the Fighter Wing was transferred to the Northern Territory. Rex Watson was promoted to Flight Sergeant just as the Wing was ready for action there on 1 February 1943.

Rex Watson      (AWM Photo NWA0123)

Rex was in the North until January 1944. In that time attacks occurred about every three weeks, and he was able to play a significant part in the defence of the Darwin area. From the 13 attacks, he destroyed two enemy planes, shared destruction of another and damaged another two. He was one of the most successful pilots in No. 1 Fighter Wing. Early in this time, a photo of Rex in the cockpit of 'Jiminy Cricket' (his Spitfire), was used in a recruiting poster. Other publicity followed his successes. Promotions continued for Rex, first as Pilot Officer in May and then Flying Officer in November 1943. However, the sting of war was always present. On one mission in July 1943, the three other pilots in his section were lost, while he was diverted by radio failure. The loss would hit Rex hard.

In January 1944, Rex was posted to No. 2 Operations Training Unit at Mildura. Here Rex instructed new pilots on Wirraways. This continued after he was transferred to No 8 OTU at Parkes in July 1944. His wife Vera was able to join him while he was at Parkes, for their longest time together during the war. However, after a year as an instructor Rex Watson was keen to get back into action. Somehow, he gained a posting to No. 452 Spitfire Squadron which was based on Morotai, midway between New Guinea and the Phillippines, arriving there in early April 1945. No. 452 Squadron was conducting ground attack missions against Japanese camps and shipping. In his short time there, the now Flight Lieutenant Rex Watson needed every bit of his previous experience, against enemy fighters.

The Squadron participated in the Borneo Campaign during the final months of the war. The Spitfires commenced operations from Labuan on 19 June, with the primary roles of providing air support to Allied troops in the area and air defence for the island. The squadron’s last action occurred on 10 August 1945 but Rex had, just then, been admitted into Brisbane’s Greenslopes Hospital. He was there for the next six weeks, before returning to No. 3 Personnel Depot at Sandgate, Brisbane, and his discharge from the RAAF on 19 December 1945.

Now Rex faced peacetime life. There were opportunities in the community, and on 19 January 1946, he was elected as an Alderman on Lismore City Council. He had been nominated by the Returned Soldiers League. He resumed in car sales, and, he returned to live with Vera and her father Fred in Barham St. East Lismore.

After his wife’s death, Fred’s relationship with Vera had become close and dependent. There were tensions as Rex sought to find his place in the home, and life started to go downhill for him. He began to miss Council commitments, his place on Council being declared vacant in early 1947. He changed from selling cars to selling insurance, which meant often being away from home as he covered his area of the Far North Coast of NSW. Then Rex headed for Sydney.

In Sydney, Rex seriously needed help, and by mid-1947 had been admitted to the Repatriation General Hospital at Concord for physical and psychiatric care. By April 1948, Rex was boarding, but in accommodation unhelpful for either his mental condition or general health. Apart from a Newcastle Sun photograph on 25 June 1953 of Rex with Clive Caldwell and others, at the Air Force rooms in Newcastle the previous evening, details of his life are unclear. On 27 August 1959, the family were informed of his death in Sydney. He had taken his own life.

Like thousands of returned service personnel, Rex Watson showed the symptoms of what, today, we know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although he received treatment, it could not break his downward spiral. Yet his story needs to be known – the Dreadnought Boy, the Farmer, the Fighter Pilot and Ex-serviceman!



(Much of the material for this story was sourced from an unpublished family memoir ‘Searching for Uncle Rex’ written by his nephew Brian Kille.)

Albert Bailey

 

Albert Bailey was born on 17 October 1908 in South London. The family lived in East Street in Camberwell, near Old Kent Road. By 1911, Albert had four brothers and four sisters; his father George was a motor cab driver. The First World War and its aftermath hit the family hard, so that by the 1920s they were in the grip of poverty. His mother Rose, now on her own, struggled to provide for the large family. Even though he had been learning to be a fitter, the Dreadnought Scheme gave Albert the opportunity he needed.

SS Demosthenes left London on 11 September and arrived in Sydney 28 October 1924, after a very rough voyage. 16-year-old Albert was one of the 60 Dreadnought Boys on board. The group was met on arrival and told of their respective training places. Albert was to go to Scheyville Training Farm.

On completing his farm training at Scheyville in early 1925, Albert Bailey was sent to ‘Malongulli’, a farm on Limestone Creek, between Lyndhurst and Woodstock, in Central West NSW. It was a successful placement and he was able to put his skills to good use there.

He stayed there until he was 21, and in 1929 he returned to London to see his family. However, when the weather became too cold, he decided it was time to return to Australia. He travelled to Australia via Canada. At the time, large numbers of impoverished men were criss-crossing the country looking for work, many getting on to freight trains any way they could, to ride-the-rails.

(Edmonton Journal Photo)

Albert Bailey joined them for travel to Vancouver. From there he paid for his fare across the Pacific Ocean to Sydney, on SS Aorangi.

On board ship he met a man who had a travelling Picture Show, and decided to travel with him around NSW. During their travels in the state’s north, they came to Emmaville, where a local publican hired the Picture Show. When the Show moved on, Albert stayed at Emmaville and was able to get work in tin mining and road construction. In 1934, Albert married Elizabeth Jane Munday, the grand-daughter of the publican.

Around 1938, they moved to Cracow in Queensland, about 500 km north west of Brisbane. He was into mining again, but this time it was gold. It also saw the start of their family.

World War II began in 1939, and when Japanese bombing raids on Darwin and other parts of Australia started in February 1942 and persisted into 1943, Albert Bailey responded by moving with his family to Guildford in south-western Sydney, and enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force. When the war ended, he stayed with the RAAF until his discharge in 1961.

He was posted to No.2 Aircraft Depot at Richmond Air Base west of Sydney. The Base had sections involved in - armament, erection, radar, airframe repair or modification, metal work, engine repair, wheel /tyre repair, instrument, parachute, and electrical repair. Motor transport repair was also done there. During the war years, crashed aircraft were salvaged, some repaired to fly again, some to provide spare parts.

The aircraft were mainly those of the Transport Wings based at Richmond. After the war these were C47 Dakotas and, from 1958, C130 Hercules became the focus.

                                     C130 Hercules at Richmond Base (Wikimedia Commons.)


Albert Bailey made Sergeant during his service at Richmond Air Base, and his trade skills were put to good use in his years in the RAAF. He remained at Guildford and passed away on 26 June 1986, aged 77 years. His wife Elizabeth survived him by another 26 years.

Albert Bailey, although one of the quiet ones, had fulfilled the hopes of the Dreadnought Scheme.

A Hiccup for the Dreadnought Scheme

 

After the break caused by World War 1, the Dreadnought Scheme resumed in 1921 and reached full swing by the start of 1922. By the end of 1924, the number of these new arrivals had just passed the pre-war total, with 1803 more working age lads being brought to Australia from UK. This ultimately proved to be the halfway mark of the whole Dreadnought Scheme.

During 1924, a new player began promoting the need for more of these lads to be brought to Australia. Richard Linton, a recently retired businessman, was keen to see a scheme based on his own experience. When he arrived in Sydney from his native New Zealand many years before, he was helped to settle by his older brother who had arrived in previous years. While Linton was in England for the British Empire Exhibition, a group of his colleagues met in Sydney on 15 April 1925, and began what was later called the Big Brother Movement. This movement would provide mentors (Big Brothers) for the lads it brought from UK (Little Brothers).

The first one of these Little Brothers reached Sydney on 31 October, on the SS Sophocles as one of 44 Dreadnought Boys. Another group arrived on the SS Jervis Bay on 14 December 1925, after over a hundred of that contingent had been landed in Perth and Melbourne.

So, what was the problem?

The way Richard Linton chose get his scheme under way in UK, resulted in widespread confusion among prospective Boys and their parents, Immigration officers here and in the UK, amongst others. It had the potential to derail the Dreadnought Scheme, angering the Dreadnought Trustees. The Prime Minister’s file Dreadnought Scheme and Land Settlement 1921-29 provides some behind-the-scenes insights.

As the first large group of Little Brothers was being farewelled, with great publicity, in London, the Australian High Commissioner there received a disturbing Cablegram, on 2 November 1925. “…little brothers sailing…under Dreadnought Scheme. Trustees do not approve such arrangements, parents and lads should be so advised.” Having learnt unofficially about what was happening, the Dreadnought Trustees had re-acted.  The London HC staff had been assured by Richard Linton “… that Dreadnought Trustees had accepted his Scheme”, and that the PM’s office “were advised on 31 July and 2 October, that Dreadnought Boys were included in the Big Brother List”. Meanwhile, Mr Linton was aboard ship on his way back to Australia.

Following a meeting here in Australia with the Dreadnought Trustees, Deputy Director Hurley of the Commonwealth Immigration Office tersely messaged London on 15 December 1925, “Misunderstanding with Dreadnought Trustees adjusted who now agree all future Dreadnought Lads may be enrolled as Little Brothers.” Some adjustment! This was the polar opposite of the Trustees’ previous position. One suspects that it had been a robust meeting, with the Trustees being reminded that the Commonwealth Government had the final say over who and how migrants came to Australia. Ironically, the High Commission in London had already stopped further inclusion of Dreadnought Boys in the BBM arrangements.

Meanwhile, the High Commissioner Sir Joseph Cook had sent a long cablegram to the Prime Minister, about the “difficulty” with the Movement. In true bureaucratic style, Cook asserted that “the whole cause of the trouble is absence of reply to my cablegram of 3rd November…” (That particular cable did not actually pose questions requiring a specific response!) He went on to express his frustration with Richard Linton, the lack of clear arrangements between the BBM and his office, and bemoaned the (unauthorised) £548, already spent on the movement by his office.

During the following years, operating separately, both the BBM and the Dreadnought Scheme were kept busy bringing working age lads to Australia. But it is little wonder that the Dreadnought Trustees took a dim view of Richard Linton and the BBM. It was unfortunate that, for some years, relations were strained between two effective organisations, who were major contributors to Australia’s immigration story.

And what of the Boys who came on the SS Jervis Bay?

From newspapers of the day, it is quite clear that the group arriving in Sydney, comprised 28 Wembley Exhibition Scholarship winners and 56 Dreadnought Boys.  Of the latter, according to Dreadnought records, 37 Boys went to Scheyville for farm training, 11 went to Cowra, 5 to Glen Innes and 3 went to Grafton for their training. The Big Brother Movement was said to be “co-operating “, and on completion of training each boy was linked to their mentor. So now they were all “Little Brothers.”

 

References

Alan Gill, Likely Lads and Lasses – Youth Migration to Australia 1911-1983. (Sydney NSW: BBM Ltd, 2005).

Dreadnought Scheme and Land Settlement 1921-29. (Prime Ministers Department file held in the National Archives of Australia).

Sydney Morning Herald, Wed 9 December 1925, p11. Boy Migrants.(http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16260096) 

Sun, Mon 14 December 1925, p10. Little Brothers – Welcome to new home.(http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223923661)

Bill Miller

William John Ernest Miller was born on 11 May 1908 at Catford, London to Ernest and May Miller. Soon after this the family moved to South Croydon in Surrey, where his father worked in the footwear industry.

In the years that followed World War I, conditions were tough and prospects seemed limited for many young people. Then Bill saw

                                            ‘Boys Wanted for Australia, Apply Within’

As Bill later wrote: “This is the advertisement that changed my whole life around. In 1924, at the age of sixteen, I applied to come to Australia and, with the approval of my parents, everything was arranged through the Dreadnought Scheme”.

SS Demosthenes

Bill travelled from London to Tilbury Docks and boarded the SS Demosthenes, which took about six weeks to reach Sydney on 19 March 1925. Bill arrived in Sydney with another 60 boys connected with the scheme, and, with 36 of them, was transported by train and road to Scheyville Training Farm. Here they stayed for the next three months to learn Australian farming methods. Following this farm training, Bill was sent to work on a farm at Dyraaba (21 km north west of Casino) in northern NSW.

During the next eight and a half years, Bill finished his time at Dyraaba and moved on, working on a number of farms in the Casino district. Then, after his marriage to Lorna Oliver on 20 January 1934, he commenced share-farming at Hogarth Range (west of Casino) and later at Ellangowan (south of Casino). The couple went on to have six children.

By 1938, Bill had a growing family and needed a more reliable income than his farmwork was providing so he applied for work with, and was accepted by, the NSW Department of Railways. His decision was well-timed. Drought conditions which had begun occurring in 1937, worsened in 1938 into what became known as the World War 2 Drought. Bill was initially based in Casino for several years before being transferred to Murwillumbah, where he remained until he retired from the Railways in 1970.

A reserved, reliable man of modest expectations, Bill Miller passed away in 2001, aged 93. His parents and sister had predeceased him, and wife Lorna passed away in 2002.

Among the thousands of boys who emigrated with the Dreadnought Scheme, there was a great variety of reasons for doing so. Difficult family relationships and family breakdown were part of the story for many of them. But there were also many who left home, with the approval and assistance of parents who wanted a better future for their son. In Bill Miller’s case, there was always a strong family connection, with his parents and sister Margaret coming as “Ten Pound Poms”, to join him in Murwillumbah in 1948.

Ironically, they each paid the same fare as Bill did, 23 years earlier.

Bert Bridges

 

“Whoah, that was close!”

Probably not the words used, on the day Bert learnt how dangerous machinery could be. He had fallen off a steam-powered road engine and was run over by one of its big rear wheels. Being a small boy, Bert fitted between the high grips on its tread and escaped with his life, but with serious injury to his pelvis.

Albert William (Bert) Bridges was born on 25 March 1908 in Hendon (North London) to Robert and Rose Bridges, the fifth of seven children. His father had served in the British Army in the Sudan, Egypt, and the Boer War. Bert was six years old, when his father re-joined the Army to serve in France.

Young Bert got work in a picture theatre at Marble Arch. His job was to provide sounds during the screenings of the silent movies. Movies like The Retreat from Moscow and The Angel of Mans called for drums to be beaten off-stage for the thunder of gunfire. It needed imagination and good timing to create realistic sounds, and Bert enjoyed doing it. In 1922, Bert got work with leather goods specialist Garstin’s, in Hendon. He was there for three years, and received a valuable reference from them when he was about to leave England.

Bert had decided to emigrate. Bert, with his younger brother Tom and their friend Dick Willis, applied to travel with the Dreadnought Scheme, which brought them to Australia. They left on the SS Bendigo on 11 November 1926. Bert and Dick were 18 years old and Tom was a year younger. They reached Cape Town and, while there, decided to continue to Australia, on the toss of a coin. And so to Sydney, arriving on 7 January 1927.

In Sydney, they were given £2, put on a train to Cowra, sent to its Agricultural Experiment Farm. Bert’s first eight (hot) weeks were mainly spent cutting burrs. After training at the Farm, he went to Jack Pierce’s dairy in Taragala, South Cowra. This was followed by a brief time back at the Experiment Farm and then with Ernie Goodacre at Penrose, a farm north of Cowra. This was a positive time for Bert, the Goodacre family were very good to him.

The farm jobs were temporary at best, times were difficult, and men needed work. When construction of Wyangla Dam began, jobs became available on road-works to the site. In the hope of getting work, Bert and others were camped in a reserve on Waugoola Creek. They were living off rabbits, and food scraps from a bush kitchen which had been set up for the men working on the dam road. Dick Willis was working at a Mr Scott’s dairy at Warwick, a few miles down from Cowra on the Lachlan River. In 1929, Dick managed to get work in Newcastle, and when he gave notice, the Scotts asked whether he knew of someone to take his place. He went to Waugoola Creek to find Bert. Bert started with Scotts straightaway.

Dick and Bert were not the first Dreadnought Boys to work at the Scott farm. Before them were John Frith and Les Hirst (Check out the story posted back on 31 May 2017).

Despite the Depression the farm remained viable. People still needed to be fed and the farm was self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. Mr Scott had died in 1926 so his wife and daughters, Maud and Lil, were running the farm.

Tom Bridges had eventually left the Experiment Farm and found work locally, but he gradually went further away, from Grenfell to Young and then Western Australia. He had become a travelling show-man, moving around Australia before staying in the west.

Bert was able to go back to UK for five months in 1933. On return, aged 25, he settled into dairy farming life with the Scotts, who became his family. Then, just before World War 2, he met Grace James. War intervened in their plans - Bert enlisted in December 1941, being posted to the 2/7 Australian Field Ambulance in Canberra, and then in Gympie (Queensland). Brother Tom had also enlisted and was in Darwin when the Japanese attacked. When both Mrs Scott and her daughter Lil had died, Bert was manpowered out of the army in 1944, and returned to the farm.

                                                         

                                                                               Bert Bridges’ Army Photo

Bert and Grace married in April 1945, and had four children in the ensuing eight years. Maud Scott continued to live with the Bridges family. In 1955 the family, with Maud Scott, sailed on a trip to UK. When the ship called into Perth, Tom met them. It was their last contact for some years.

When Maud Scott sold the farm to Bert, he continued to supply milk to the factories at Cowra and Canowindra. He also supplied to the kitchens at Fagan’s Mulyan and Edgell’s Lombardy, which operated at harvest time on these large asparagus farms. His side-line in vealer production also prospered.

Through his contacts Bert heard that Dick Willis was in hospital, ill with lung cancer. Dick lasted until 3 April 1967, aged 58 years. Meanwhile, Bert’s brother Tom had re-established contact with a surprise visit in the early 1960s. In 1974 Bert became ill with failing kidneys. He died on 10 June 1975. Tom continued to visit until his last trip in 1995. Tom died in Perth in 1996.

Back in 1911, one of the Trustees of the Scheme was confident that the young Dreadnought Boys would be our ‘future farmers and soldiers’. Bert Bridges fulfilled that hope and, with his family, made a lasting contribution to the Cowra District as well.