Family Histories

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WELLSTEAD Lancel

“A Man Of Great Integrity"

Lancel was the third son of Andrew and Delcie Wellstead and was born on the third of February 1929 in Albany.
His mother died when he was only eight years old and after that the family was raised by their father, with the help of Merle Moody (nee Moir) and Granny Harris.
Consequently, he learnt to be very self reliant. An early photo shows him standing next to a kangaroo hanging up, that he had "shot for the pot". He was about 13 years old at the time.
In his teenage years Lancel developed his passion for horses that was to become a life long obsession.
Diaries that he kept in 1952 through to 1956 record him hay carting, shearing, post cutting and horse breaking. Many well known property and family names are scattered through those diaries: "Highdenup", hay carting; "Condeena", horse breaking; Keith Moir, post cutting; Doug Moir, crutching.
He was also a polo groom for the late Edward House, for which he was paid thirty pounds.
His pattern of work seemed to be salmon fishing in the autumn and other occupations the rest of the year. It was in 1952, that he first mentions V.L. Garnett. He was post cutting and clearing for V.L. Garnett and Verdun's kindness is evident by entries that read: "V.L. brought two dozen eggs and a four quarter of mutton" etc. August 1952 found him mustering cattle at Bremer Bay with North and Jim Garnett.

   

LANCEL WELLSTEAD             #

He also mustered cattle in the early days with Uncle Charlie Wellstead at Bremer Bay.
He was also becoming adept at cooking - 23 years old and his diary records that he would bake a cake or bread at night after working all day. He also seems to have had a very busy social life, dancing, playing tennis, picnics etc. He recalled how he once broke in some horses at "Warriup" and took one of the horses for his pay.
There was very little land cleared at the time and when asked how he knew the way, he replied: "That's easy — on the way down the Stirlings are on my left and on the way back on my right."
He also had a stint working for the War Service Settlement Scheme at Denbarker and Eneabba.
In these early years Lancel also had an affair with motorbikes. One Night after cutting posts over the river at "Haxby" all day, he was returning home unaware that Franko had shut the gate. Franko heard his bike and started running towards the gate but Lancel's brakes were wet and after a thunderous bang, with Franko still running towards the scene, a string of invective burst forth much to Franko's relief.
During these years Lancel cut thousands of posts with an axe. He worked hard and played hard. A diary entry sums up his life during this era –
December 31, 1955. After stripping all day, went to a dance in Ongerup and had a few too many. 1st. January 1956: Crook all day.
In 1958 Lancel was allocated Block Number 6206 at Gnowellen and with the help of Ossie Moir he erected a one room dwelling — his first residence. Between then and 1969, he cleared and fenced some land, sowed it to clover and started running some cattle.
In 1969, he met Mary and that was the end of his larrrikin days. They were married on October 24, 1970. Rebecca was born on September 19, 1971 and it was one of the most joyous days of his life. Lancel was working for George and Kath Cremasco at the time.

Rear; FRANCIS, LANCEL & JOHN WELLSTEAD             #2
Front:    IRMA HUMPHREYS, BARBARA GIBBS
 

Alan Stone struck a deal with Lancel to agist some sheep on the block with Lancel to get half the amount after an agreed length of time. A generous deal that started the sheep flock.
Katherine arrived on December 4, 1972 and Lancel was indeed a very happy family man. He was still working for George and running his block on the weekends.
Just before Daniel's birth on March 11, 1975, the family moved back to the block and became serious about developing it. Along with cropping, clearing, raking and the sheep and cattle, pigs were introduced.
The toilet was a "long drop" with no door, the biggest hole and (an essential requirement) faced east. Mary has mentioned that the children all had white knuckles from hanging on. The first shower was a four gallon drum with a shower rose at the bottom. The whole apparatus was suspended from the tank stand and the trick was staying under the stream when the wind blew.

 

At this time the family was living in the original dwelling with a 12 foot by 12 foot room added on.
The new additions saw shower over a bath and : a couple of wash troughs. No door however!
Good water was found and a bore was equipped with a mono pump and Honda motor. A lighting plant was purchased from Bill Moir and electricity made life a little easier.
Just before Anne was born on March 18, 1979, Lancel and family moved into a new transportable house, However a series of bad years ensued and Lancel and Mary sold out in 1985. Lancel was proud of the fact that his conditional purchase block was freehold before he sold it. The day before they left the farm, the children rode the boundary on their horses with Lancel and Mary following in the Suzuki.
After the farm sold, Lancel returned to fencing to car an income, He was 57 years old. Anne was only seven and Daniel was 11, but with the two older girls at boarding school, he felt that he had to make every post a winner.
Before long there were three away at boarding school at the same time and he was often very late home because he was tying-off either by the moon light or the headlights of his ute. Mary would be worried sick, but his stock answer would be: "You panic too much woman".
However Lancel was really happy fencing and he once told Mary that it was what he should have done all his life. He took great pride in his work and as he drove around the district he would say: "Now that's a good looking fence"! if it was one he had erected.
He was still cutting posts off and on, right up until he took ill. However, he now used a chain saw.
When Lancel turned 65, Mary insisted it was time he took on an employee. Jason came to work for him and stayed with him until Lancel was diagnosed with cancer.
When Daniel decided to take on fencing earlier this year, Lancel could not have been happier. He would come out to the job and inspect his work and when well enough give him a hand. Mary only recently found out that when we all went to Perth to see "Les Mis", Lancel had gone out to the job and cut some posts.
However, the family realised he was struggling when Daniel was working at Garnett's and Lancel did not make an appearance.
Dad's memory will live on in the miles and miles of fencing he erected all over the Borden, Ongerup, Gnowangerup and Tambellup districts.
This is just an insight into Lancel's nature and in particular the last years of his life. When he and Mary moved to "Willemenup" to live 11 years ago, it was as though his life had gone a full circle. From having a lot of interaction with Dick's father (V.L. Garnett), when he was younger, he was now enjoying Dick's company.
Lancel's cooking prowess has already been mentioned but one of Anne's fondest memories of him making a shepherds pie and pricking Anne on the potato with a fork. He was also handy with a sewing machine and mended his own clothes right throughout his life. Of course we could not talk about him without monitioning Bremer Bay - the family spent many happy hours up the river fishing as family. He was a great story teller and loved to sit at the table yarning and splitting the hair on his forearm as he tested his knife for sharpness.
Lancel was one with nature and the family have many photographs of him with all sorts of creatures. He loved wildlife shows, The National Geographic, space, stars and the like. When his grandchildren came along he would tease them as mercilessly as he did his own children and he loved all of his family unconditionally.
He fought his cancer with every fibre of his being and had such a positive attitude that kept his whole family up-lifted.
In the last 18 months of his lifetime, time weighed heavily but this was lessened by the men of "Willemenup" who included him in a lot of their everyday activities for which we will be eternally grateful.
He became a bit of an expert in the art of koonak catching but would only ever take the biggest. His pride and joy over the last years of his life was his Landcruiser, the most expensive toy he ever owned.
However, there was one thing that towered above everything else and that was his love for his family. He always put them first and truly was "The Wind Beneath Their Wings".

Compiled by His Loving Family”.

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:       The Gnowangerup Star; 25 November 1999

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Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2024