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ROGERS Jack

Transcribed as Jack "wrote it"
(very few full stops!!!)

I came to Australia in October 1911 planning to stay for 3 years. Arrived in Adelaide wasn’t like it is today but the things that stood out in my mind was the Zoo with it native animals and birds and the width of King William Street,
I had never seen a street so wide also round the houses were tall brush hedges to shelter the houses from the wind and sand also a place called Semaphore where the trains ran along the side of the street I then had to Transfer from the Wilcannia to a coastal ship the Kyarra for the West and talk about a rough sea one of the sailors told me he’d been on the run for about 20 years and had never seen anything like it before the Bight as it is called rule very calm or pretty rough in fact it was the only time I was sea sick on the whole voyage.
Then on to Albany a very different place to what it is today just a day there and then on to Fremantle where I was met by an old friend Alf Daveson who took me to where he and his cousin Alf were boarding some people named Harwood in Palmerston Street in North Perth,


JACK ROGERS            #1
 


JACK ROGERS WITH HIS BROTHER & MOTHER            #2
 

Well I stayed in Perth for about three weeks and had quite a good time and found out right from the start if you wanted to fit in the Aussie made you welcome I then got a job with Charlie Hume who had taken up 1,000 acres of virgin land at Ongerup which in those days was 50 miles east of Broomhill on the Great Southern Railway in the time the government were building a line from Tambellup to Ongerup, well we left Perth on Boxing Day arrived at Broomehill early in the morning and left there per horse and cart and travelled to Gnowangerup stopped half way and boiled the billy at Telyerup dam and had my first drink of billy tea just tea and sugar, I thought it was the best drink of tea I’d ever had and in fact since I’ve never had milk in my tea since then unless we were out of sugar well on to Gnowangerup then a very small place with only two stores and the hotel not quite finished building we picked up some stores and went on to a farm owned by Hugh Formby and slept in his hay shed and on again the next morning and got to Ongerup that afternoon pretty tired as we had to walk most of the way because our cart was loaded. When all we had to live in was a bush shed with iron roof which half was a room where Charlie Hume and an old man Jim Dalziel by name who used to do the cooking and also a tent for a man named Geordie Daglish and myself our beds were of buck timber and chaff bags and bedding made of chaff I often wonder what some of the grizzling poms would say if that’s what they had nowadays probably if I hadn’t told my father that I wouldn’t be back for five years I might have gone because I still had enough money for my fare back but in a week or two I began to like the life.

 
Charlie had taken up 1,000 acres of virgin land in Ongerup 50 miles east of Broomehill, which had been named ‘Le Rawhite’The railway line was being built from Tambellup to Ongerup but at that time had not been completed.
They left Broomehill by horse and cart, with some supplies.
They proceeded to Gnowangerup which at that time had just two stores and the hotel was still being built.
Loading up with supplies, Charlie and Jack had to walk most of the way to Ongerup as the cart was full. They stopped overnight at Formby’s.
Upon reaching the farm Jack and another worker (Geordie Dalish) were to sleep in tents; their beds made of buck timber and chaff bags, the bags being stuffed with chaff.
Charlie and another man (Jim Dalziel) had a shed with an iron roof, half being a makeshift kitchen, the other a sleeping room.
Jack had enough money for his fare back to England, however despite the tough conditions he began to like the Australian bush life.
They were clearing moort thicket which grows so close neither horse nor human can walk through it.
Jack was given the job of clearing mallee scrub and soon had blisters.
"Piss on yer hands” old man Dalziel told him, “It will harden them up”. Jack was relieved when his hands quickly hardened up.
They became short of water, fortunately a neighbour (a squatter) let them take a hundred gallons a week.
This involved a round trip of 10 miles. This was mainly for the horses, the men used the barest amount they could for a daily hand wash, drinking and washing their face twice a week.
On Sundays they would walk 3 miles to Warperup Creek, to wash their clothes and themselves.
Jack saw rain the first time in April 1912, he took a bar of soap, stripped off and had a good wash “the best I had since arriving in Australia” 6 months previous.
In his second year Charlie bought 2 more horses and put in 50 acres of wheat. It came in at 15 bushels to the acre, quite good for virgin land. They had enough hay and seed wheat for a few months.
The Steam Tractor was in the district; it had a bar across the front and was excellent for bashing down the moort thicket.
Just before the Steam engine finished, a spark from the engine set the moort alight.
Although it wasn’t dried out for complete success, it cleared up a lot of the timber.
By now the railway had reached Ongerup, although there were no buildings there as yet.
On Sundays Jack often visited the neighbour; a squatter by the name of Jack Moir. He had made a tennis court where his daughter Bernice and sons Carlisle, Victor and Lawrence played tennis with Charlie and Fred Stone.

By Jack Rogers Part 2 of 4
 (Speaking about his time in Ongerup)
 We were clearing the timber Geordie was on a moort thicket and I was on some mallee scrub and I soon had blisters on my hands pretty bad when the old fellow said piss on your hands and what a relief and they soon hardened up well we got short of water a squatter about 5 miles away let us have a hundred gallons out of one of his dams a week had to water the horses and
 do for us we used to wash our face twice a week and leave the water to wash our hands before meals and walk about 3 miles on Sunday to a salt pool in the Warperup creek and bath and wash our bodies and rinse our flannels and trousers and socks this went on until the beginning of April when we had an inch of rain when we all stripped off to birthday suits and with a cake of soap had a good wash the best I had since coming into the bush. In my second year Charlie got a couple more horses and I had one and we put in about 50 acres of crop and got enough hay and some wheat for seed in the meantime he had some timber rolled down by the
government with huge traction engines and just before they had finished a spark from the engine set the clearing on fire it would have been a better burn if it could have been left a month or two to dry out a bit more still we cleaned it up and put a crop of wheat in if I remember rightly averaged about 15 bushels to the acre not bad for virgin land I drew about 50. Of my wages and had a trip to Perth at that time the railway had reached Ongerup my word there were some funny things happened then as there were no houses at Ongerup town site then one thing stands out in my mind three of the farmers now passed away got out a case of beer out on the train (which used to stop overnight) got stuck into the beer and got dead drunk went to sleep and the young fireman thought he’d have some fun so got his grease pot and blackened their faces and when they woke up in the morning started to laugh at each other neither one knew what the others were laughing at until Jack Rickeby the fireman took a mirror and gave them a look I think they’d like to have caught him but were still too drunk to run I met Rickeby years after and we had a good laugh over it. While I was at ‘’le Rawhite’ the name of the farm, on Sundays’ I used to go to the old squatters place Jack Moir known as Warperup Jack and play tennis with his sons Carlisle, Victor and Lawrence and daughter Bernice and two other Poms Charlie and Fred Stone but they were no relation. Charlie Stone afterward married Bernice Moir.
 

By Jack Rogers -  Another Part

“We had some good times. I often remember those days of course the Moirs had been in the district for years before Ongerup was settled they held practically all the land from Warperup down east of the Stirling Ranges to Cape Riche in those Days.
They just settled on the land and ran their sheep. I heard that when settlement started Jack Moir drove his pair of horses and buggy to Albany in a hurry to get title to the property.
Playing tennis there on Sunday I twisted my ankle so badly that I was laid up for a week or two and then could only hobble about for months and ever after I had to bandage it pretty tightly to play any kind of sport.
Fred Stone joined the army and was wounded in France and came back. He then got on with Westralian Farmers and finished up as their leading sheep and wool man. I met him again years after in Denmark.
About the end of 1914 Charlie Hume picked up with other settlers nearer Gnowangerup. We were all asked over to a dance at Arthur Clemesha’s place there were three of us went Charlie and Bill Whyatt of WA came down to open who was working with us and myself had quite a good time. I met my first wife Muriel D’Suza a young widow out from India with her sister Ruby Burke well we were married in 1915.
I went to work for Arthur Clemesha and he built a two roomed hessian hut for us. I wonder what the Poms would say to that nowadays!
We moved around quite a bit and I done various jobs such as wheat lumping and went shearing out at Jerramungup a big property of the Hassell's another old family. And was called home to Gnowangerup as my wife was very ill in hospital with a baby Daughter Pat that was 1 November 1919 just before my 30th birthday which was the 7th November. I worked around the District. My wife died in February 1920 well her sister Ruby came and got my baby and put her with a married couple in Katanning where she was teaching and kept an eye on her for me.
I went clearing contracting for nearly 7 months and then back to shearing while shearing was offered a job on a farm just out of Gnowangerup with Charlie Henning. I had a good job - started taking off his harvest after that general farm work while there I started to play cricket the first since I left England it was at a little district called Jackitup.
I played cricket there for three or four years there was one instance that happened there an old farmer named Charlie Stutley (called ‘Dad’ by everyone) put down a cricket pitch on his farm for us provided he called it Rockview the name of his farm.
I was captain of the club and our first big match there before we started old Dad called me and the opposing skipper on to the middle of the pitch and out of a bag produced beer and glasses to Christen the pitch with the other players looking on of course he gave them all a drink afterwards.

 

THE CRICKET TEAM
JACK ROGERS LAST ON RIGHT BACK ROW            #3
 
Now a little more of the old chap I was shearing for him with another chap and when we finished I must tell you Dad could neither read nor write but they taught him to sign his name to a cheque he said to the wool classer make out what I owe Jack and Dave but don’t tell me the amount just tell me when you have got it. Well we sat having a few drinks when the classer said he’d done Old Dad said “I owe Jack so much and Dave so much” - he was right to the last bob the classer nearly fell off his chair and said “But Dad you can’t read or write!”
“No”, said Dad “But I’ve got a bloody head haven’t I?!”
Another amusing thing about Dad was when he built a new house he happened to be on the Roads Board and the Gnowangerup Roads Board built a new hall in the town and the Governor of WA came down to open it now Charlie Henning was also on the Board and he had to take Sir Francis Newdegate and Lady Newdegate around the district they had to take him out to Dad Stutley whose house was not quite finished. Well Dad meets them on arrival with “Happy to meet yer Mr Governor” and showed them through the house with which room was which and says: “This one is Mother’s” room goes on a bit further and says: “This is Dads’ room and I may tell you Dad will walk in his sleep sometimes!”. What Lady Newdegate thought of it all I don’t know!
Well I played soccer at Gnowangerup until I was thirty five, and one night I went to a dance drove in a sulky with another chap about 4 miles into town when half way through the dance a young girl who worked on the next farm came over to me and said “Jack you’ll have to drive me home because Trevor’s’ drunk”. He had driven her in, in his boss’s buggy I said to her I can’t do that Trevor drove you in , with that all the girls got to me and made me promise I would take her home so I had to swap places with Trevor.
I took her home, her name was Ida Jones, and that was that I married her on March 20 1924 out on her brothers farm about sixteen miles from Gnowangerup got the Parson to come out to the farm which was owned by Les Jones The name of the farm was ‘Boobooroo’ commonly called by the boys as ‘Bugger You’!
Well we had a nice house to live in the boss had built himself a new one across the other side of the road. Well we went to Katanning and fetched my Daughter home with us and at the end of January 1925 our Daughter Betty was born.
Well things went on but by this time Charlie Henning had sold out to Tom Richardson of Broomehill a stud sheep breeder who at the time sold one of his rams for a hundred and seventy Guineas which was then the second highest price for a WA bred ram. Well, he didn’t keep the place long and made some sort of swap for a farm at Marraconda about four miles west of Katanning but only stayed there a few months when he sold out and bought ‘Eticup’ a farm adjoining ‘Langwell’ his farm at Broomehill.
The house at Eticup was a stone building in fact it was one of the oldest settled places in the South West I think it was a stopping place for the old coach days Albany to Perth. While at Eticup our second daughter Norma was born that was November 1928.
Well soon after Christmas I left there and went on a farm at East Broomehill for Bruce Spry he was the policeman at Broomehill and just stayed there for a few months until he retired.
My wife Ida went and kept house for her brother who was a bachelor - Lea Jones - and I went shearing. One place I shore was for Monty House at Eugenup just out of Gnowangerup. One thing I remember was I had to shear a sheep with all the wool attached belly and all to go the Royal Show for the most valuable fleece. We were beaten by one farthing.
When I finished shearing I went on the weigh bridge for the wheat loads of wheat used to come in the bags the wagon was put on the scales was weighed and then the empty wagon was put over the scales so as to get the net weight of wheat that was just before bulk handling came in well that was the end of me for wheat farming and on January 30th Ida and I and the two girls Betty and Norma came to Denmark.”

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References:                 Article:      June Hodgson

 

                                  Image:    1, 2, 3   June Hodgson

 


Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2024