Section 8: The less documented years 1918 to 1928

Part Two

THE LESS DOCUMENTED YEARS     1918 to 1928

We know very little of this period.  Col Sinclair spent a lot of time at ‘Kooringal’ and presumably took a lot of the management burden from Ina.  He possibly he spent most of this time there. From my memories of Ina however, she would have still been very much ‘the boss’.

Ina was also a traveller.  A woman travelling on her own during the twenties was almost unthinkable but Ina’s first recorded trip was to New Zealand in March/April 1922.   From some old postcards in the archives, it appears that at some stage she visited Hawaii and probably the west coast of the United States as well. This was possibly the same trip.

Her ‘grand tour’ of Europe was in 1924.  It appears she left in late December 1923 on the

SS Mongolia, and the first postcard is from Ceylon dated 26/12/23.  A series of old postcards that she sent to Colin and Dock who were both at Geelong College at the time, unravel the itinerary.  The tour went like this: Suez, Egypt, Nice, Rome, Milan, Venice, Lucerne, Paris.  Ina then FLEW to London and visited Lands End, Wembley  (The Great Exhibition), Torquay, London Zoo, London, Canterbury and Dover.  It seems she had a trip to Norway during July and then went to Ireland and Scotland before returning home.  Thomas Cook appears to be the organising agent.

With the trips away, a very active golfing life and three children at boarding school, the twenties must have been reasonably prosperous times on ‘Kooringal’ - until the depression struck in 1929.  Dock’s diary of 1928 gives good insight into life at this time, although it does not shed much light on activities at ‘Kooringal’.  

January was a very hot month and a Sinclair reunion was held at the Wagga beach on January 10^th.  In February he visited Burra and on 13^th, Jean went back to PLC and the boys to Geelong College.  Apparently Dock only went back for the first term for rowing.  He was in the first eight.  A lot of rowing and tennis was mentioned including a rowing camp at Barwon Heads at Easter but no mention of schoolwork, except wool classing at the Gordon Technical College.  He visited Captain Pidgeon about a possible career in the navy for Colin.  He also noted that he went up to Melbourne for the Head of the River and then drove home in ‘Eloise’, a T model Ford he owned with Stewart Read.

In June 1928, there was plenty of socialising, gardening, tennis and golf.  ‘Quail shooting on the 28^th with Uncle Don and Col’.  ‘Got five quail and two parrots’. ‘Sharefarmers started fallowing. 800 wethers sold for 29/6d.’  In July, a Mr King installed electricity at ‘Kooringal’ and Hardy’s laid a floor for an engine shed. Ina won the Riverina golf championship at Henty.  There was also a first mention of Uncle Arch and the property, “Woodside” at Illabo.

During August there was much socialising again with tennis, bridge and parties.  ‘A week in Wagga for the show. Fat cow won second prize at show’.  In September Colin home for holidays and Ina won the Murrumbidgee Golf Championship.  Sheep were taken to ‘Hareenya’ for shearing (the old Kurrajong woolshed).  October notes revealed a Chrysler car being tested. They had a Hupmobile at the time and before that, an Oakland.  Dock told me a story about Ina testing out a Stanley Steamer in the early 1920’s and on a very aggressive test drive up Willan’s Hill, she ripped the bottom out of the water tank on a rock.  That was the end of the Stanley Steamer.  Dock wrote about shearing this month at Uncle Don’s but I think he had it wrong as the shearing was at ‘Woodside’, Uncle Arch’s property, at Illabo.  Uncle Don Sinclair could possibly have owned this property however, before Arch Sinclair bought it.  Hay cutting started this month and Dock spent a fair bit of time at ‘Woodside’ in between gardening, tennis and socialising for the rest of the year.

Little did they all know that the good times were soon to come to an end as grain prices collapsed and the Great Depression took hold of the world.