Main Story:
Lavinia known as ’Minnie’ was born at ‘Wingidine’ on the 6th February 1913 and was the eldest of eight children. Minnie’s father Bruce was working as a farm labourer at ‘Wingidine’ a property 18km west of Woodanilling.
After the baby arrived Henrietta (Etta) went into bouts of fitting, so Bruce hurriedly harnessed a horse to a cart but before doing this he carefully placed Lavinia into a basket and put it on the kitchen table.
Then making sure that Henrietta was comfortable in the cart proceeded towards the Katanning Hospital that was a considerable distance away.
Some 5 miles (8km) down the track Henrietta enquired as to where Bruce had placed the baby and to his horror he realised that he had left it on the table in his haste to get Henrietta to the Hospital. Had then to turn around and retrieve basket and baby, so Lavinia had a memorable arrival into the world.
The parents later moved to Boyerine and Bruce worked as a fettler on the railway but eventually became a policeman stationed at Northam.
Then from Northam to Broomehill were he was officer in charge, some times relieving at Gnowangerup.
At the time of the Depression Bruce resigned from the police force and purchased a property in East Broomehill near the Katanning shire boundary which had been foreclosed on by a bank because of the debt owing.
About that time Minnie became the receptionist for Dr Pope at Gnowangerup and I can only guess that is where she met Len Eastwood.
Len was born 28 December 1908.
They married at Katanning on the 16th of August 1933 and had five children: Stan, Coral, John, Roslyn and Helen.
Minnie was a very busy person in the early years of marriage for not only doing the house work she took on the task of teaching Stan and Coral by correspondence lessons as there was no school near until the Moortvale School was moved to its final site before a school bus was introduced,
She taught both children for about two years.
Minnie was also involved in First Aid work which was being taught during the war years, Len at the time had joined the Voluntary Defence Corp.
Both Minnie and Len where keen sports people. Minnie played hockey and Len played football for Gnowangerup.
Later Minnie and Len both became Golfers and were members of the Gnowangerup Golf Club. Minnie became the Ladies Captain for a time.
Another task that Minnie did was to be the score keeper for the East Broomehill Cricket Club - a job she did for several years as Len was a keen cricketer, and always went with the team as it travelled to play against Jackitup, Gnowangerup, Borden, Ongerup and Needilup.
Minnie was also quite accomplished at sewing as she made most of the clothes that the children wore as there was not a lot of money available so she made it go as far as she could.
The stone cottage on the property only had the two rooms. Kitchen-come sitting room and Bathroom with a Bedroom where Stan and Coral had to sleep with the parents until Len added a bathroom, laundry and two bedrooms for the children.
Until then, everyone bathed in a galvanised tub in front of the stove and the laundering was done by hand in a bough shed.This was fine until John set fire to this structure and all the clothes that were in it, ready for wash day were destroyed.
One can only say that if it had not been for Lavinia’s being so resourceful she may not have survived the raising of her children; but had a difficult and eventful life, and was all that a mother could be, passing away on the 29th of November 1987 aged 74 years.
