WHITE Norm

Written in 2008

“I am the youngest of 5 children of the late Dorothy Margaret (nee Wentworth) and Arthur John White, of Whiteworth Gnowangerup. Western Australia. My brother and sisters names are Nancy, John, Joy and Margaret.
Our home was a small weatherboard house on a farm at Pallinup 8 miles from Gnowangerup. My room was a sleep-out on the front verandah in the early days and was quite cold in winter. Our neighborhood was typical farming country and our neighbours were the Stewart’s, Freegard’s, Chambers and R.H. White’s.
 My chores were to get the wood for the stove and the open fire, feed the dogs, and get the cows in for milking. My hobby was making things, anything I could think of out of bits and pieces of steel and wood etc. School sports were very popular with me and I had quite a lot of success at running, high jump and long jump etc but as it was wartime I didn’t get many trophies. I also enjoyed cricket and tennis.

NORM WHITE                    #1
 

      NORM WF\HITE WITH DAPNE FREEGARD             #2
 

       NORM WHITE AS A TODDLER            #3

 
 My favorite books were the Biggles series. Our pet dog Rover was a border collie sheep dog and really smart. I had a bike to ride to school, which was about 4 miles. Most of my school years were spent at Pallinup, a small bush school long since gone. It was 4 miles away and quite a long ride on a wet and windy or hot day. This school was closed in 1947 and we were then taken to Gnowangerup by bus, driven by Fred Wolfe.
Teachers I remember were Mr Raymond, Mr Honey (anything but!) Mr Miller, Miss Davis, Mrs Paisley (what a lovely lady) and Mr Nardebaum. My best subjects were none and my best friends were Harry Wright, Ron Freegard, and Bruce White.
During my first year at school my sister Joy drove us in a horse and buggy. When she left Margaret and I rode our bikes.

 

      NORM  WHITE AND HIS SPECIALE DOG  "ROVER"             #5
 

         NORM WHITE AND HIS DOGS          #6

 
 By this time things were improving on the land and my mother after a long struggle to keep the farm since Dad’s death in 1942 and war time rationing of everything needed to operate, had at last acquired a few home comforts (electric lights, refrigeration, etc). We had happy teenage years with tennis and dances most weekends and we were always welcome to bring our friends male and female home at anytime.

The farm which we named Stirling Plains was all bush with no access road, no phone, power, or water, so it was start from scratch. For the first 3 years I still worked at the home farm in Gnowangerup part time to help finance development.
I also had a very good arrangement with Edith’s father and brothers where we helped each other when needed. In 1960 we saw our first born Michael arrive which made our caravan a little cramped.
We built a small cement brick home in the centre of the farm in 1962 prior to Cheryl’s birth in 1963.
Clearing and development continued during this time and Karen was born in 1965. Our small house was getting too small and Louise’s birth in 1967 so we added a back verandah and bathroom to give us more room.
By this time the farm was going quite well and we had bought our first “new car” and were making plans to build a new home. 1969 saw our first drought and we had a fairly worrying time as we had started the new house, however an understanding bank manager saved the day and we moved into it in September 1970. Plenty of room at last!

        EDITH & NORM WITH BABY MICHAEL             #8
 

          BUILDING THEIR FIRST HOME         #9
 

           BUILDING THEIR FIRST HOME            #10
 

         NORM & EDITH'S CHILDREN          #11

Andrew was born in 1971 and farming was going through a hard time until 1974 when things really picked up for eight or nine years, probably the best years in my farming life.
My mother had been in poor health for some-time and she passed away in 1975 after a hard life devoted to her family and the community that she lived in.
In 1976 Edith and I made our first trip to England and Holland. It was really a family finding mission as Edith hadn’t been back since coming to Australia and I had never been overseas. Edith’s Mum and Dad moved in and looked after the family and we had 3 months away and met relations that we had never known etc, it was great.
 

1983 saw us expand our farm with the purchase of Blue Range next door, it called for a large mortgage and coincided with a low point in farm commodity prices and high interest rates, I really thought we had blown it for a while.
In the meantime the family had all grown up and after finishing their education had gone on to various jobs and were starting to find partners of their own.
We now (2008) have grandchildren that we are extremely proud of, 3 son-in-laws and 2 daughter-in-laws that we couldn’t be happier with.
So all in all it has been a fortunate life.
Norman”

        NORM & EDITH WHITE             #13
 

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.