Kangaroo Island Read online

  In 1958 Robert was awarded the O.B.E. in recognition of his services to the community. This is accepted as an award for the people of Kangaroo Island and their pioneering efforts.

  Robert and Mary celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary in 1970.

  Robert died on August 21st, 1974 aged 88 years.

  October 22nd, 1984 was Mary’s 100th birthday. It was a special day for the people of Kangaroo Island, as she had lived there all her life. She was honoured as a beloved citizen.

  Mary died on September 11th, 1987 just before her 103rd birthday.

  Robert and Mary are buried in the Kingscote Cemetery.

  Robert Wheaton’s service to the local community through the council resulted in an O.B.E. being presented to him for service to the community. The years of service totalled 27 years.

  1912-16, 1919-23, 1925-36, 1939-47 From 1921-23, 1926-34, 1939-41, 1946-47 Robert Wheaton served the council as Chairman/Mayor . Robert’s son Eric served as Chairman/Mayor from 1966-69. During the period of the Great Depression (1930) there was farming pressure due to low commodity prices and high prices for farming inputs such as fertilisers. At this point in time land owners found it difficult to pay rates and the council were able to manage this situation and provide ‘sympathy’ during this difficult time. In these early years the development of roads, agricultural industry, medical services and sea transport dominated the council minutes.

  Councillor Wheaton (extract from People, Places and Serious Business by D.G. Kelly)

  On 30th June 1947, Councillor Wheaton announced that he would not seek re-election to the council. It was 34 years since he first contested a council seat and in that time he had served for 26 years. In his retirement speech he referred to the changes he had seen and in particular to the vast amount of voluntary work done by the ratepayers. Coming to Kangaroo Island in 1910, it wasn’t long before Robert Wheaton became interested in more than his farm, and as he lived some 18 miles from the one and only town, the time and discomfort involved in travelling to and fro was a concern to him. He offered to cart stone to form seventeen chains of road, free of charge, if the council would form it. It took eight or nine three-horse dray loads per chain and he carted one hundred and forty loads, but he ended up with a serviceable road over a bog and sandhill for his efforts. When he was able to get more roads done, he wasn’t quite so generous, but he still provided the dray and the team, the horse feed and the stones. Of course, he was not alone in those days of self-help with instances abounding where the land owner, with a degree of self-interest, made substantial contributions for the common good.

  His energies were not confined to council business only, he served on any project likely to make his adopted home a better place. It is not surprising to see it recorded that in one evening he chaired five separate meetings, surely the best possible incentive for the generation of clarity of thought and brevity of speech.

  His period of service covered two wars, a depression, times of hope and times of sorrow, his sound sense often providing an anchor for the community.

  Some years after his retirement he was presented with the long service certificate awarded by the Minister of Local Government and in 1957 the community was honoured when he, as one of its own, was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

  The children of the district attended the Wattle Grove School, later Wattle Grange School, with one teacher for the eight to ten pupils in Grades 1-7.

  Wattle Grove school which is located at the northern end of the property. The school operated in the early 1900s for the community, which schooled 20-30 children of MacGillivray.

  Robert and Mary realised the need for further education beyond Grade 7 and made arrangements for the children to attend schools in Adelaide. Howard, Eric and Doug attended Norwood High School in Adelaide while boarding with Mary’s parents William and Janet Howard. Howard and Eric later studied at Roseworthy, as Robert had done from 1903 to 1906, and all received their Diplomas of Agriculture. Farming became the occupation of three brothers on Kangaroo Island.

  All were keen sportsmen and were members of island football teams and cricket teams and they also worked on projects for the progress of the community.

  When Robert and Mary retired to Kingscote, Doug continued to farm at Stranraer. He maintained his interest in sport and was manager of the Kangaroo Island cricket carnivals for many years. Doug was always involved in the Kingscote Show Society, had been a member of the committee and served two terms as president.

  Eric Lancelot Wheaton- 24.6.1916 - 18.6.1992 (76 years)

  Eric farmed at Redbank’s near American River for thirty years, where his family continue to farm today.

  Eric served as a councillor in the Kingscote District Council.

  Thelma attended Ellerslie College at Magill, Adelaide in 1927 and 1928 and after six years on the farm, trained as a Nurse at the Adelaide Hospital from 1936 to 1939. Thelma was involved in the Women’s Conference Work at State and Federal Levels whilst raising a family.

  MacGillivray, Kangaroo Island in the 1920s written by Thelma Wheaton.

  As a child growing up in MacGillivray in the early 1920s, my memories are of a community who were neighbours in the true sense of the word. In those times of sickness, need, problems, or accidents at any time, there was always someone ready to come alongside and lend a hand. Each year in February, after harvest was completed north of Adelaide, my paternal grandparents Frederick and Mary Wheaton, from Redhill, came and stayed with us for at least a month. During their stay a visit was paid to all the neighbours in MacGillivray.

  The Post Office was on the northern side of Rush Lagoon. Mail was collected weekly on a Thursday in a sugar bag and when we arrived home the contents would be tipped out onto the kitchen table; a great collection of newspapers, magazines, letters and of course the local paper, ‘The Kangaroo Island Courier.’

  The coming of the motorcar bought great changes to us all in MacGillivray in 1924. Instead of taking two hours to drive the horses, it now took us only one hour to drive to Kingscote. My brother knew all the cars by the tread of the tyres, so if anyone came to Stranraer while we were out, the detectives were on hands and knees tracking them down.

  A friend of my brother, Howard, bought a crystal wireless set when he came on holiday. We watched him erect the aerial, a slat of timber with wire attached, was attached to the top of one of the pine trees. We were all amazed at the result from the tiny set in the bedroom and would line up for turns to listen on the earphones to the voices and music all the way from Adelaide. Radio, electricity, telephone, bitumen roads, television, plane flights to Adelaide and across the world; these and many more incredible marvels were in the future for us all, but we would always be thankful for our experience of life on the farms and the personal benefits gained by being part of the rural community of MacGillivray.

  Barbara was a student at the Methodist Ladies College at Wayville in Adelaide and after some years helping on the farm, joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAFS) from 1942 to 1945. She was married after the war to a 2nd A.I.F. serviceman. Barbara lived in NSW and then with their family, at Kingscote, Kangaroo Island. Barbara now resides in southern Adelaide.

  Howard was the eldest son of Robert and Mary and had a great passion for agriculture. In reading information about Howard and in discussion with his sister Barb, Howard had a real presence and provided great support to his brothers and sisters. Howard was heavily involved in the early development of Stranraer and Redbank’s prior to WW2.

  Howard was involved in the Methodist Church as a lay preacher and enjoyed his quiet times with the family. Football and cricket were also his great interests during his weekend breaks.

  On 15 September 1939, it was announced that Australia would send troops to war. Australia sent Royal Australian Navy, Air Force and Army members to help the allies fight in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By February 1940, Australian forces were fighting against Italian troops in Palestine. They also fought in Crete,
Greece, Lebanon, Syria and other parts of North Africa.

  When the Australian army defended the Libyan seaport of Tobruk against 1,000 bombing raids, the Germans grudgingly acknowledged their own bravery by dubbing them the ‘Rats of Tobruk.’ After a German and Allied battle in El Alamein in Egypt, in 1943, the Germans were defeated in North Africa. 832 Australians died in the siege of Tobruk and there were 3,009 casualties and 941 taken prisoner.

  In June 1940, Howard enlisted in the 2nd A.I.F. and at camp at Woodside became a Diesel Mechanic and Transport Driver in the 2nd/8th Field Ambulance. Leaving Australia in December 1940, the unit spent some time in Palestine before going to North Africa, where they became known as the ‘Rats of Tobruk.’ On October 11th 1941, Howard was one of two men who volunteered to take a laden transport vehicle by barge down the coast and then drive to Alexandria. They left Tobruk at night, under the cover of darkness, because of enemy action in the area, but were not heard from again and were reported lost at sea on October 12th 1941.

  Howard enlisted in the late 1930s and with his diesel mechanic qualifications would become an integral part of his battalion.

  Howard was a very active sports person prior to his departure from Kangaroo Island to Tobruk in 1941. Both, a cricketer and a footballer. The development of the MacGillivray Cricket Club is a legacy he has left behind which the community benefits from today. The loss of Howard in 1941 was devastating for the family.

  Howard attended Roseworthy College to study agriculture and then turned his skills to becoming a diesel mechanic. This diesel mechanic trade was to assist in World War 2, where Howard lost his life in Tobruk.

  Howard had a passion for farming and on his return to Australia would have returned to this passion and contributed to the local community as he did prior to his departure for Tobruk, in World War 2.

  It wasn’t until I was older that I was able to comprehend and understand the sacrifice Howard made, to provide Australians with the way of life we have today.

  Fifty years on Kangaroo Island 1910-1960, By Robert Wheaton.

  A talk given by Robert Wheaton at Kingscote Literary Society in October 1961.

  About 1905, my father, Frederick Wheaton, visited the island and purchased some land in the Hundred of Haines on the border of the District Councils of Dudley and Kingscote. It was only natural that I should come to the island in 1907 to see the land, although, at the time it was not intended that I should become a resident of the island.

  My first voyage was on the coastal steamship Ceres, a small boat making the midweek trip to the island, while the S.S. Kooringa, a bigger ship, made the trip at weekends. It was not a particularly rough day, but the Captain put the sails up to steady the ship and no doubt help in the sailing. I have never seen this done since.

  At the time of my arrival, Kingscote seemed a prosperous sort of township, no doubt due to the land boom at the time. The S.S. Karatta brought the mail to the Post Office down at the jetty, and people went down on Saturday nights and waited for the mail to be sorted, and the Post Office opened. It seemed a long wait on a cold winter’s night.

  Schools were at Kingscote, Cygnet River, Wisanger and Penneshaw, with part-time schools at other parts of Kangaroo Island. In the Dudley District for a time a teacher had three schools, spending a week at each. She had a horse and rode from one school to the next.

  Scrub clearing was not easy. Rolling the scrub was done with the use of 10-12 bullocks. This was hard work as both driver and bullocks had to scramble over the rolled scrub. After the scrub was rolled the spring backs were cut and then after burning, sticks had to be picked up by hand to get the ground clear enough for ploughing. The ground would be then ploughed, farrowed and seed drilled in wheat or oats. The idea was to get enough straw to again burn the shoots but this was not often done.

  Wood cutting – Alas! Not an easy job. There were hundreds of tons of wood shipped from Kangaroo Island to Adelaide. The wood was cut into 6 foot lengths, carted to the beach and then when the ketch came, was carted out on the dray to the cargo boat and taken to the ketch. Grain and wool was shipped in the same way.

  Wood carting was not easy either. There are no men cutting wood now, the work is too hard, although hundreds of tons were sent away then. Only two weeks ago I was in a shop in Kingscote when a man came in and wanted an axe. He only wanted a light one as it was for his wife.

  Harvesting - While I had only seen strippers or harvesters on the wheat land in the lower north, a lot of hand reaping had been done on the island. Men used to come over from Rapid Bay for the job. One day I saw a man, hand reaping so I went over to him while he was having lunch. I said, “Now can I see you cut a sheaf.” So he set to it in good style. The crop was short and he cut the straw as long as he could and when enough for a sheaf, he pulled up two handfuls of roots and joined them all together to make a band. Then he tied up his sheaf by twisting it and went on to cut another. This would then be carted to the threshing floor, a circular area of ground perhaps 30 feet across. The grain was either trodden out with horses or by a roller smaller at one end than at the other. The small end had a fixture and a horse on the big end would go around in a circle. Threshing machines were just coming in when crops were cut with a binder, carted and stacked and then put through the thresher.

  Household - With the great improvements on the land the houses have not been altogether overlooked. From the kerosene lamps that had to be filled and cleaned every day, candles made in winter time, up through the stages to electric lights, power on the farm with 32 volt lights where town supply is not available and to drive the cake mixer, washing machine and carpet sweeper to nowadays when cows are milked by machines and with motorcars to dive about in, it must make the women shudder at what had to be done years ago.

  Industries

  Oilmaking - Many farmers had a still. The old type was a 400 gallon tank used as a boiler with wood used for heating. The top of the tank was cut out to form a lid with the pipe outlet, to convey steam to the condenser. The tank was filled about 1/3 with water, then the leaf boughs about two feet long, cut and stacked in the still. The lid clamped down and the fire started up. When the water boiled, the steam, also carrying the oil, escaped out of the pipe in the top and was conveyed to the condenser - either a coil or pipes in a trough. The steam condensed and with the oil ran into a 10 gallon drum with a pipe from near the bottom taken outside near top. This ran the water off and the oil, floating on top, was tipped out. Improvements have now been made and a 1000 gallon boiler used instead of a tank with a winch erected to lift the cooked leaf out of the frame. Oil making, although not very profitable, was a means for farmers to secure a little ready cash. There is not much oil made now.

  The MacGillivray area was renowned for eucalyptus distilling, with over 48 distilleries in operation. In the early days, roadside collection of the eucalyptus cneorifolia, commonly known as the Kangaroo Island mallee or narrow leaf was permitted by council for income generation. This tree dominates the vegetation at Stranraer, especially along the eastern side of White Lagoon. These trees grow to 12 metres in height, their flowers are small and white in colour. This variety of eucalypt is ideal for oil distillery as it produces abundant oil. These oils are used in a variety of products from soaps to deodorants and the cineole can also be extracted from the oil to be used as an additive in motor fuel or as a solvent.

  The young leaf is preferred as this contains the most oil. The older trees at 12 metres high have very low oil and are difficult to harvest. Even though eucalyptus is indigenous to Australia, only 5% of the world’s eucalyptus oils are made in Australia. This industry is labour intensive and the cost of producing the oil is high in Australia.

  At Stranraer we have been involved in the direct seeding of eucalyptus species that are native to this area.

  Yacca Gumming - This was also an old industry. Land owners might cut the gum or there were generally small gangs of gum cutters looking for gum to cut.

  Yacca was harvested predominantly
on the western end of Kangaroo Island. This provided work for large teams of men who would remove the yacca from the ground and bag it for shipment. The yacca was used for the production of varnish that was used in explosives during World War 1 and 2.

  With regards to the picture above, the yacca can be seen on the top left hand side. The spines on the yacca were removed and the yacca was then dug out of the ground and bagged. Dad recalls, men who worked this task in the early days would have discussions about the fact that as it was a summer job there would be snakes often bound up in the spines on the yacca. The farmers in this picture are looking at the development of subterranean clover with the use of phosphate fertiliser.

  In the land clearing of the 1920s and 1930s yaccas made it difficult for land clearance, so to have it as a saleable item for explosives provided income and work for many men.

  Salt – In the early days, salt seems to have been gathered from small lakes on the island, as has been recorded by sealing boats visiting there. The big salt lake near the head of the of American River close to the south coast began in a big way in 1908, when a tramline of about 5.5 miles was put down from the lake to Muston on American River. Trucks were first pulled with horses and then an engine was used. In its heyday the S.S. Kapoola made three trips a week carrying 180 tons of salt.

  The salt was used for curing meat and skin hides.

  It was estimated in 1909 that 100,000 tonnes of salt would be available for export off the island, per season. (KI Courier 23rd Oct., 1909)

  Gypsum - Under the Salt Lake bed was found to be a deep bed of gypsum (six feet deep) and now the Colonial Sugar Refining Company is working the gypsum and shipping it interstate. It’s strange to say the salt company had to wash the salt to get rid of the gypsum and now the gypsum has to be washed to get rid of the salt.