[Editor: These extracts, regarding agricultural issues, Empire Day, and the First World War (1914-1918), were published in the “Week to Week” section of the Windsor and Richmond Gazette (Windsor, NSW), 31 May 1918. The extracts offer some examples of life in Australia in earlier years.]
Week to Week
We have to thank Messrs. Frank Paul and George Ridd of “Hope Cottage,” The Terrace, Windsor, for a bag of nice chokos.
A market day is to be held at Leet’s Vale on June 15, to provide Red Cross funds. There is to be a good day’s sport for old and young.
Mr. Bert Maguire, son of Mr. and Mrs. T. Maguire, junr., of Magrath’s Hill, is home for a few days. Bert is second engineer in one of the big oversea boats, and looks quite smart in his officer’s uniform.
We have received through Mr. Clarrie Hayes some very fine tomatoes, grown by Mr. T. J. Griffiths, late of Richmond, on his farm at Mount Pleasant, Cessnock. We have never seen finer tomatoes. They are grown at a good altitude, and Mr. Griffiths is still pulling ripe fruit.
What a month for the lazy people this coming month of June will be! Daylight only some 10 hours a day; five Sundays (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th), in 30 days; five Saturday half holidays; King’s Birthday, and King’s Ascension Day, and Prince of Wales Birthday. Any more wanted?
The sectarian-monger who is dragging the question of religion into the Red Cross Hawkesbury Queen competition ought to be booted out of Windsor. Most people would be pleased to have a view of his back, for he has caused no end of strife and mischief in the town. Another thing, he is a liar of the most despicable type, and few people have any use for his sort.
Mr. J. Fairweather, district representative of Messrs. Hodgson’s, Ltd., informs us that he disposed of £450 of furniture, &c., during the three days of the Hawkesbury Show. Mr. Fairweather placed before the public a splendid display of furniture in a marquee at the show, and he is convinced that advertising was the key to his success. He says it pays to advertise, and we certainly believe him.
A couple of freak mandarins have been left at our office during the past few days. One is variegated, the yellow being evenly streaked with green, and grew in Mr. Norman Mitchell’s orchard at Sackville Reach on an Emperor tree. The other is also an Emperor mandarin, from Mr. Alf Watkins’ orchard, at Lower Portland. Half the skin is as yellow as a sovereign, and the other half is green. It is a queer looking freak.
Signaller R. B. Smith, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Smith, of Kurrajong Heights, is reported wounded.
The net proceeds of the sale of work and market day, recently held at Wilberforce in aid of the honor roll fund amounted to £54 12s 6d.
Mrs S. McLennan, of Freeman’s Reach, was officially advised on Wednesday morning that her son, Private John McLennan, was dangerously ill.
The big German offensive is proceeding and this is a time of great anxiety for those who have relatives at the front. Let us hope that the Hun military machine will be so crippled that he will not want another offensive.
Mr. Sid Sandoz announces that he has opened a bootshop in Windsor — opposite Post Office — and has stocked a full range of gents boots in up-to-date styles. Sid says he is not catering for the ladies, because they are too hard to please.
One of the most popular Hawkesbury boys who went away to do his bit, Gunner Carl Beecroft, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Beecroft, of Wilberforce, came home on Tuesday night. Carl had an exceedingly cordial reception, and everybody was glad to see the fine young Hawkesbury lad back. He was badly knocked about by one of the Hun’s heinous weapons of war, a mustard gas shell. It burst over his head, and he was badly gassed, and had one of his legs severely burnt.
At the Local Venture pictures on Saturday night, the star picture will be “Under Handicap,” with that great actor, Harold Lockwood, in the leading role. It is a picture full of thrills with rough-riders, buckjumpers, and cow-punchers mixed up in glorious confusion. The fourth episode of the “Crimson Stain Mystery,” entitled “The Mysterious Disappearance,” will be shown as well as other up-to-date pictures. The fine programmes being filmed at the Local Venture are drawing big crowds every Saturday night.
Mr. and Mrs. James Hartley, after four months on Mr. A. Dell’s farm at Richmond Bottoms, have returned to their home at Jamieson Town, near Penrith. They visited Mr. Hartley’s people at Pitt Town on Tuesday, before returning home. Mrs. Hartley’s friends will be sorry to hear of the bereavement she has sustained by the death of a sister at Katoomba. Mrs. Hartley is a great worker for the boys at the front, and has already knitted 260 pairs of socks, besides making many other articles of comfort for them.
Mr. R. B. Walker, M.L.A., Mrs. Walker, and Mr. Ronald Walker, accompanied by the Misses May and Ollie Pickup, were among the pilgrims that visited the shrine of Australia’s greatest statesman, Sir Henry Parkes, at Faulconbridge, last Saturday afternoon. The party also attended a function at Emu Plains, in the morning, and at night were present at a welcome home to a returned soldier at Glenbrook, where Mr. Walker made the presentation. The welcome home took the form of a social evening, arranged by Mr. Wurth, formerly teacher at Comleroy Road, and the music for the dance was supplied by Mr. Percy Campbell.
Mr. R. B. Walker, M.L.A., and Rev. E. Coplin Thomas addressed the children of Wilberforce Public School on Empire Day, proceeding thither after they had taken part in the ceremony at Windsor school.
At Parramatta Quarter Sessions on Monday, Mr. R. B. Walker appeared for one Quinn, who was elected Mayor of Penrith this year, and who was arraigned on a charge of alleged embezzlement of the funds of a Friendly Society in Penrith. The jury acquitted him.
Empire Day was celebrated at Windsor Public School with singing by the children and speeches appropriate to the occasion. The speakers were: Mr. R. B. Walker, M.L.A., Rev. E. Coplin Thomas, Rev. N. Jenkyn, and Ensign Jones, of the Salvation Army. There were a few visitors present.
Private Roy Brown, son of Mr. Joseph Brown, of Wilberforce, returned from the war on Friday. Roy refused a send-off when he went away. Owing to short notice, there was no reception at Windsor railway station, as there was no certainty he was coming by the evening train. The report circulated that Windsor Band refused to play is not true. The band would have gladly given their services if they had known in time to notify the members. Miss M. Hall saw that the railway station was decorated. The returned lads owe a lot to this untiring worker.
Private Roy Brown, of Wilberforce, who returned from the front, says that Lieut. Frank Pickup is one of the bravest officers on the battlefield. When he gives the orders for his men to “hop over and at them,” he leads the way himself — not like many officers who come in at the tail end of the hunt. Lieut. Pickup is very popular with his men, and they regard him as a dinkum officer. Another brave lad, Pte. Brown says, is a young fellow named William Shirley, an orphan boy, who was reared by Mrs. West, who lived in Windsor some years ago. Young Shirley went to school in Windsor, and afterwards worked for Mr. F. H. Woods, of Grosewold. He is in charge of a machine gun section, and is a very brave lad — always out in front.
Mr. Herbert Bailey, son of the late Charles Bailey, of St. Albans, met with a serious accident on St. Albans Common on Sunday. He was driving a cow, when his horse trod on some slippery substance, and its four legs going completely from under it, the animal fell heavily on its rider. Mr. Bailey’s right leg was badly hurt. The ankle was dislocated, and the knuckle-bone protruded right through the flesh and skin. The displacement was a very bad one, and some of the ligaments were ruptured. He was alone when the accident happened, and hopped a mile on one leg to the residence of Mr. Matt. Thompson. He was suffering very great pain, and on Sunday evening was brought on to Windsor hospital in a motor car, by his brother, Mr. Henry Bailey, and Mr. Moses Walters. The patient is very comfortable in the hospital, and is doing well, but he has a long job before him.
The “Gazette” has had many experiences lately of the vagaries of our postal service, but if you want a straight-out, unvarnished tale, go to Mr. James Hartley, who, with Mrs. Hartley, has been residing at Richmond Bottoms. Mrs. Hartley was away on the mountains owing to the death of a sister, and posted a letter to her husband, at Mt. Victoria, on May 22nd, advising him of her return, and asking him to meet the train with horse and trap on the evening of the 20th. When Mrs. Hartley got to Richmond there was no one to meet her, and she had a walk of 3 miles, carrying a heavy bag. Mr. Hartley was surprised when his good lady turned up; but was considerably annoyed when he learnt that she had posted a letter to him, which he had not received. It turned up next morning, and had performed the remarkable feat of travelling from Mt. Victoria to Richmond in five days. No wonder people swear at our postal service.
Mr. Albert Ford, who is employed by Mr. Fred. Pye, as a carter, met with an accident while carting goods from the A.M.P. factory on Monday. The dray passed over one of his legs, and one of the bones near the ankle was broken.
Mrs. Mary Ann Pitt, relict of the late Charles Pitt, who carried on the business of a blacksmith in Windsor for many years, died on Monday last, after great suffering, at the age of 70 years. She leaves a large and highly respected family of Windsor natives and was herself a native of the old town. An extended obituary notice is held over.
The death took place at Clarendon on Tuesday of William J. Borley. He was a widower, a man of independent means, and had been living at Clarendon for some years. He was 68 years of age and died of pneumonia. The late William Borley was very highly respected. The remains were buried beside those of his wife, in Waverley cemetery, on Wednesday.
A double accident occurred at Mr. C. W. Farlow’s slaughtering establishment on Wednesday. Mr. Farlow was driving a bullock into the slaughter house. The beast rushed back and jammed him against a door, breaking four ribs. His man, Mr. Col. Wellington, was thrown from a horse and sustained concussion of the brain. The latter was unconscious for some hours, but we are pleased to hear that he is doing well. Both are suffering a deal of pain.
Source:
Windsor and Richmond Gazette (Windsor, NSW), 31 May 1918, p. 4
Editor’s notes:
A.M.P. = Australian Milk Products, Limited (the company owned a factory in Windsor, NSW)
choko = (slang) Chayote (a pear-shaped fruit, belonging to the gourd family, usually cooked like a vegetable)
See: “Chayote”, Wikipedia
Clarrie = a diminutive form of “Clarence”
Col. = an abbreviation of the name “Colin”
d = a reference to a penny, or pennies (pence); the “d” was an abbreviation of “denarii”, e.g. as used in “L.S.D.” or “£sd” (pounds, shillings, and pence), which refers to coins used by the Romans, as per the Latin words “librae” (or “libra”), “solidi” (singular “solidus”), and “denarii” (singular “denarius”)
dinkum = genuine, authentic, on the level
Empire Day = an annual celebration of the British Empire, which was held on the 24th of May (Queen Victoria’s birthday)
Fred. = an abbreviation of the name “Frederick”
Hun = a German (singular), or Germans (plural); “Hun” could be used in a singular sense to refer to an individual German (plural: “Huns”), as well as in a collective sense (e.g. “the Hun”) to refer to the German military or to Germans in general (similar to the usage of the word “Fritz”)
junr. = (also spelt “jun.”) an abbreviation of “junior”, especially used as an appendage to someone’s name (normally a male) to indicate that he is the son of someone of the same name, whilst the father’s name may be appended with the abbreviation “snr.” to indicate that he is the senior of the two (e.g. “John Smith, snr., and John Smith, jun.”)
Lieut. = an abbreviation of “Lieutenant”
M.L.A. = Member of the Legislative Assembly
Mt. = an abbreviation of “Mount”, regarding the name of a mountain (e.g. Mount Kosciuszko, Mt. Kosciuszko, Mt Kosciuszko)
native = born in the local area, and usually implies growing up in the same area; (in the context of Australia) an Australian-born person, a native-born Australian; can also refer to an Australian Aborigine
Pte. = an abbreviation of “Private” (the lowest rank in the army; aside from “recruit” in the modern army, being someone who has not as yet passed basic training)
Rev. = an abbreviation of “Reverend” (a title given to a minister of a church, a priest, a member of the clergy)
s = a reference to a shilling, or shillings; the “s” was an abbreviation of “solidi”, e.g. as used in “L.S.D.” or “£sd” (pounds, shillings, and pence), which refers to coins used by the Romans, as per the Latin words “librae” (or “libra”), “solidi” (singular “solidus”), and “denarii” (singular “denarius”)
sectarian-monger = a sectarian (a dogmatic religious person) who tries to start trouble between different sects or branches of the same religion (the term is akin to “war-monger”)
welcome home = (as a noun) a “welcome home” social event; an event held to welcome a person, or several people, back to their home, home town, home locality, or “home” area (including local, regional, state, or national)
[Editor: Changed “Kurrajong. Heights” to “Kurrajong Heights” (removed a full stop); “Rev. E Coplin Thomas addressed” to “Rev. E. Coplin Thomas addressed” (added a full stop); “he weny away” to “he went away”; “lateley” to “lately”; “Ann Pitt” to “Ann Pitt,” (added a comma); “jambed” to “jammed”.]
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