Part Four
THE WAR YEARS 1939 to 1946
This period was marked by great uncertainty as the world slowly plunged into a global war once again. Not a great deal of farming was done in the war years due to shortages of manpower, fuel and the generally dry times that occurred over this period. New farm machinery was virtually unobtainable. The active farmers were the men too old to enlist. WW I veterans like CC Moss and those classed as medically unfit for active service like my father, Dock. The diaries tell us that they all helped each other out with various jobs that had to be done. One example is the story about Phil Harper who owned land across road from ‘Kooringal West’. He had a new tractor and it was commandeered by the authorities to build airfields etc.. He went with the tractor, so it would not be abused. The neighbours did the harvest and helped his wife run the farm. In the case of ‘Kooringal’, it appears that sheep became the backbone of the operation during this time.
The seasons were mixed, after a very wet 1939 (990 mm) dry times were experienced. In 1940 only 350 mm fell with 184 mm during the growing season. In 1944 the annual total was 209 mm with 158 mm in the growing season. The average for the period is 425mm. Extremely dry conditions were experienced in the far west of NSW and huge dust storms were the order of the day as diary entries of November 1944 note: 12/11: ‘Huge dust storm, by 3pm like night time.’ Similar comments occurred in the diary on the 13th and 16th of the month.
After Dock married in 1937 and established his new home on the western end of ‘Kooringal’, discussions about a change in the structure of the family business ensued. Dock purchased about 315 ha and a further 60 ha in about 1946. The diary entry for January 10 1939 notes: ‘Colin met Mr Chisholm at station. Drove around to get valuation. Morning tea at West, Lunch at Kooringal. Discussed selling K West 470 ha and sent letter to bank. Peg and Jean came up later, Bill came out from Wagga. Bill and I went to Harefield in truck to tow Ford home. Hot day 109F’.
It appears that an extended family discussion took place and in the end, 470 ha must have been too much for Dock to handle. Further discussion occurred in February. Mr Hore and
Mr Williamson agreed that maximum value under the present conditions was eight pounds ten shillings acre, so it can only be presumed that was the final price. A property at The Rock ‘Avondale’ sold at this time for nine pounds per acre. There was no date of sale in diaries but guess it must have been some time late 1939.
It is difficult to work out in any detail what happened at ‘Kooringal’ until June 1942 when ‘Os’ Reardon leased it for three years, with some type of option for extension. No references to farming are apparent, so it’s assumed Ina ran it primarily as a grazing operation during these two and a half years. Colin went to the Light Horse camp in Wagga in October 1939 then to an NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) course in Sydney in January 1940. He was only home on and off over the next few months as he was in camps at Puckapunyal, Greta, Cowra, Tamworth and Dungog. After mid 1941, he was only home for a few days leave every month or so.
There is mention of a couple of men working at ‘Kooringal’ and Dock seemed to be up there a fair bit. Col Sinclair also appears to have been there a few times. The business was run as
CA Lamont and Sons.
What of Ina during these difficult years? Until the end of 1942 she lived at ‘Kooringal’. Her mother was also there most of the time. There was certainly not much travelling around or chasing the golf tournaments. Compared to the active life she led during the 20’s and 30’s it must have been a significant adjustment. There was no petrol, not much money, her eldest son and her daughter were married and busy with their own families and her younger son was enlisted and only home irregularly, a few days at a time.
The farm was then leased out in June 1942. I always thought the Reardons lived at ‘Kooringal’ but Bill Cox states in his book [1995] that the lease was exclusive of the house and the diary entries indicate Jean and the children were still at ‘Kooringal’ until the end of 1942. The Reardons may well have moved into the home later on when the family all moved to a house in Melbourne.
Ina’s mental health deteriorated over this period and she had a ‘nervous breakdown’ on Christmas Day 1942. She was admitted into Lewisham Private Hospital in Wagga on Boxing Day. On the 17th January, Dock procured an extra petrol ration of 40 gallons to take Ina to Melbourne as she had not made any improvement. Jean went down with them and Bill Cox and Col Sinclair met them there. Ina went into Kahlyn, presumably some sort of mental hospital. We know no more about this until December 21st when Dock states: ‘Mother came home Adelaide. Arch went to meet her.’ I recall being told she had “shock treatment” when I was a little boy.
Sometime after Bill Cox enlisted in the RAAF in 1942, a house was leased at 105 Balaclava Road, Caulfield. Ina and her mother, Col Sinclair and the Cox family, Jean, Geoff and Jenny, lived there for the rest of the war.
Notable occurrences gleaned from the diaries during this period:
1939: February 28th : 3” rain, all dams filled. Bill and Jean bought a Chevrolet car. By August the international situation was very grave. September: war declared. October: Colin to Light Horse camp in Wagga for a month. Sucker lambs selling for 18/-. Dock leaves CA Lamont and Sons. December: John Sinclair Lamont born.
1940: Colin seemed to be having a lot of visits to Humula. Who was he courting? Jenny Cox was born in July. Old Roley won the cup at 100/1. All crops cut for hay this year. Bush fires at Eric Booth’s property and at Bennet’s property, ‘Kooroogong’.
1941: Col Sinclair at ‘Kooringal’ for a while. Wool price 12 ½ d per lb. Sheep cut 6.5 lbs/ head. December: Japan and USA at war. Jack James who lived at Harefield, began working at ‘Kooringal’.
1942: No petrol. Dock and Peg to Geelong by train for holiday. Local Volunteer Defence Corp formed in March. It was a sort of “Dads Army”. Dock always said he and Charlie Moss had the job of defending the Wallacetown bridge if the Japs came! Bill joined the RAAF. ‘Kooringal’ was leased in June. Dock put in a plunge sheep dip and Jack James dug the hole in three days. Jack was a Welshman who lived in a now demolished house at Harefield with his large family. He was a great worker and at different times must have worked for everyone in the district. Prior to the construction of the dip, the sheep had to be driven to Harefield to be dipped at Kennedy’s farm ‘Harefield Park’ (later owned by the Patey family and currently by Jack and Lola Lloyd). The first run with the new dip resulted in 637 sheep dipped in forty minutes. I can well remember the local farmers bringing their sheep over to ‘Kooringal West’ to be dipped. The dip had to be filled up the night before and the Cooper’s arsenic powder mixed up and poured in. It was ‘all hands on deck' at daylight and the object seemed to be - to dip the sheep in the shortest possible time so they would dry before walking home in the afternoon. It was a very exciting time for a little boy. There was a district meeting about getting Phil Harper’s crop off then, as mentioned earlier, Ina had a nervous breakdown on Christmas Day.
1943: Ina went to Melbourne and Arch returned home to Australia from the Middle East. He was with the 9th Division. All Bill Cox’s sheep were sold. Moss bought 280 acres from Lehmann for 9 pounds per acre. Ann Murdoch Lamont was born on 19th April 1942. A concrete meat house was built at ‘Kooringal West’. All the ‘Kooringal’ records were boxed up and put in the cellar. From my memories, a lot were found to be seriously water damaged when they were taken out at the end of the forties. An Italian POW, Angelo Franciosi, arrived at ‘Kooringal West’. Nearly everyone had an Italian POW and big places like ‘Overdale’ had several. They were attired in maroon clothes and I can just remember the army trucks that came around with the maroon clothed POWs in the back. Sometimes they seemed to be a bit battered about. Dock said ‘too much wine’. Sucker lambs were selling for 17/-. Dock took them to Wagga in a trailer pulled by two horses. It was a four wheel trailer made from one of the ‘Kooringal’ Dodge Whippit trucks and was known as ‘Old Roley’ as it was made up when Old Roley won the Melbourne Cup. A plane made a forced landing at ‘Kooringal West’. My first real memory of anything in my childhood. The sheep cut 7 ¾ lbs and made 14d lb.
1944: ‘The big drought year’ with only 210 mm of annual rainfall. All the local farms were pumping from the creek at Wallacetown. The Italian POWs worked the hand pumps filling furphy water carts at a rate of 100 gallons in five minutes.
Babette visited ‘Kooringal West’. Jean, Geoff and Jenny visited in May. It seems no crop was planted this year. Rome was liberated by the allies in June. Farmers were buying wheat from Harefield @ 2/10 bushel. There was a big storm in October that filled all the dams and put an end to the water carting. Wool yielded 6.6 lbs/head and sold for 16d/lb.
1945: The big dam at ‘Kooringal West’ was finished. It was 3,160 cu. yards, 55,000 gallons and it cost 184 pounds. It was built by Alexander. A big storm occurred east of the railway line the day after it was finished but there was no rain at ‘Kooringal West’. As a result, a huge flood came down the creek and covered all the paddocks with rubbish. Angelo was months cleaning it all up. They used a very primitive sort of a hay rake called a dump rake to windrow the rubbish and then burnt it.
Colin was to go to New Britain with the 5th. Div. HQ staff. Laurie Lord was sharefarming at ‘Kooringal West’. Gran Sinclair died in April in Melbourne, aged 82, and was buried at Rupanyrup. Peg’s mother, Mrs Scott, died in Geelong in May. VE Day Holiday on May 9th. Robert Randell Lamont was born on 20th February 1945.
In January 1945, all the POWs left. Albert Goldsworthy was fallowing at ‘Kooringal’. Reardon left about the end of July. Alexander called about building a dam at ‘Kooringal’.
October 5th 1945 THE WAR WAS OVER. All went to Wagga to celebrate. Jean Cox and her children returned to ‘Kooringal’ in September. A garage and sleep out were built at ‘Kooringal West’. Ted Cartwight was scarifying at ‘Kooringal’. John was bitten by a dog called ‘Bruce’ and spent eleven days in hospital. Colin bought 300 XB ewes for 32/9. Bill Cox was discharged from the services on December 1st. On November 24th, Ina, Jean, Jenny, Colin, Peg and Dock all drove to Albury for Babette’s wedding to Fred Booker. It must have been a bit of a squeeze in the Chev! Wool this year yielded 6.25 lbs and averaged 15d/lb.
1946: Bill and Jean stayed at ‘Kooringal West’ for a month while Peg and Dock went on holidays. John started school at Harefield with R L Turnbull as the teacher. RL Turnbull also taught Dock, Jean and Colin. He came out from Wagga each day on the mail train. The Cox family returned to ‘Kurambee’ in March. Peg and John came down with scarlet fever. There was a welcome home party for the returned servicemen at Harefield. The woolshed at ‘Kooringal West’ was being built.
Colin flew to Perth en route to Katanning. Joan Elizabeth Balston and Colin William Lamont were married in the chapel at Joan’s school, Kobelya, in Katanning on 29 June 1946. They arrived back at ‘Kooringal’ on July 17th. Ina had a week at Tumbarumba with her Sinclair cousins. On the 31st August a big party was held for Joan to ‘meet the district’ at ‘Kooringal West’ (42 guests). The next day, another party was held at ‘Kooringal’ for Joan’s 21st birthday.
Eric and Grace visited ‘Kooringal West’ and this is my only memory of this big man who was a stretcher bearer on the Western Front during WW 1. He was awarded a DCM for his efforts. Wool this year was 18d/lb, an improvement on the previous year but significantly better than 12d in 1940. END
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