Gnowangerup History

Family Histories

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WISE Herb & Daisy

In 1925 Herb and Daisy were married and travelled by horse and cart to Needilup. Herb had named his property "Yatelands". At last they approached the property through winding bush tracks, and Daisy became excited at her first glimpse "Oh look, I can see the shed '' I'm sorry Daisy",said Herb "But that's where you've got to live.''

The house was weatherboard, with a galvanised iron roof. It consisted of just two rooms and was lined with hessian, and the family often referred to it as "the shed". The rooms were divided with hessian. Some of the hessian was painted with whitewash, but some remained uncoated. Later a "lean to" kitchen was added which had three sides. In later years their children would all sleep in the same room which had a hessian divider between the boys section and the girls'. Herb made some improvements to the house, adding a "lean to" kitchen, a separator room and a wash house. The furniture was very basic, with cupboards made from the pine wood packing cases from kerosene tins, with curtains added. The separator room was never finished, Herb always intended to put down a concrete floor but it remained dirt. He put a large rainwater tank in between the separator room and the wash house. The wash house had tubs and a copper.

DAISY WISE #1

HERB WISE PLOUGHING AT YATELANDS #2

SHEEP YARDS #3

Herb had enough material left over to build another toilet, so he put one in line with the wash house. It was some distance from the house but he had the idea to attach a washing line between the two. With the enormous amount of washing that a family of nine generated, the line was a "real boon". Three props made from tree branches supported the

line. When it was loaded with washing and the wind blew, the toilet would start to rock. Another time the "dunny" rocked was when Gwen (who hated doing the dishes) would need to go to the toilet. She would spend a long time in there, reading the newspaper that was their only toilet paper. Her siblings would go out and swing on the clothes line and the

toilet would get a real `rock up'! How it never tipped over is a mystery, but the toilet was, still standing in 2009!

HERD WISE'S CAMP WHILE CLEARING #4

HERD $ DAISY WISE'S HOUSE #5

About 1945 Herb managed to purchase two cottages the had been abandoned at a Group Settlement in the South West. They were mostly dismantled and arrived in Ongerup via the train, and Herb carted them out to the farm by horse and cat and tuned the two cottages into one house. This house was still standing on the property at Needilup in the 1990's. Mr.

Truscott now runs an engineering business from the building.

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

References: Article: Research by Merilyn Stewart

Image: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5