Skip to main content

A visit to a farm at Koondrook in 1910


The following story appeared in The Leader in 1910 of a farm visit by my great-uncle Bill Empey. In August 2018, I went to Koondrook to visit the country town by the Murray River in Victoria. I captured some photos of the town to add depth to his story. 











Notes
A visit to a farm’ by William Empey.
Correspondence’, The Leader, 16 April 1910, p. 50., Accessed 27 August 2018.
Photography by Jennifer Empey, 2018.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Private Walter Lindley: A Soldier, Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Brother-in-Law

The life of Private Walter Lindley was cut short when it abruptly ended in the killing fields of Flanders amidst the ‘Third Battle of Ypres’, now acknowledged as ’Passchendaele’, in 1917. [1] The same year World War One broke out, 1914, he married, his first daughter was born, and his brother died on the Western Front. He was one of more than 330,000 volunteers who served in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) overseas resulting in over 61,000 deaths. [2] Amongst other reasons, he likely volunteered for the patriotic cause. Some photos and postcards survived and in addition to his war records, they underpinned his life in the AIF. Walter was born between 1892-1894 in Balby, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England to John Lindley and Adelaide Lewis. [3] When he was about seven years, his father died. [4] In 1910, he enlisted in the British Navy and about three years later he did a runner in Sydney. [5] The next year, Sarah Lovett became his wife, in Port Melbourne. [6] Then within six ...

8 January 1969 Fires in Victoria. (Content Warning: May be Distressing)

On 8 January 1969, the temperature climbed to a century . Sixty miles per hour winds swirled in a west-northwesterly direction. Percy and Ivy, my grandparents, left Bookaar and travelled home to West Footscray. Outside of Geelong they rattled along the Geelong-Melbourne highway and neared Lara. ‘Look at the dark black smoke, Perc,’ exclaimed Ivy. ‘Something must be wrong,’ said Percy. Sweat ran down his face. ‘Cars are turning back. There must be a fire.’ He made a U-turn and headed back in the direction they had come. They pulled up on the side of the road, got down low in the car, and covered themselves with the blanket. A knock at the driver’s window startled them. Percy peeled back the blanket and wound down the window. ‘Are you alright’, said the policeman. ‘Yes, thank you. We are fine’, said Percy. Ivy peered out from under the blanket. ‘The fire has moved on. You can move out now. Be careful! Electric wires have fallen along the road. Up ahead, a pole...

Tree attached to his Bicycle

“My father said, his father used to ride a bike with a tree attached to it,” said my dad, "to stop it from going too fast". In the 1890s bicycle riding and races were a common occurrence. Bikes were categorised as ‘machines’. They could be hired or bought new and second-hand at the local cycle agent. Cash or terms could be negotiated. Old ones could be traded in as partial payment for another. Some brands included: Red Bird, Beeston Humber, Singer, Swift, Raleigh, Coventry Cross, Dunlop, Popular Star, James, Dux, Massey Harris, and Rudge Whitworth. My great-grandfather, William Arthur Empey, was a contender in bicycle races. A fine day prevailed on 17 th  March 1898 at the St. Patrick’s Day Sports. They were held at the show grounds in Heathcote, Victoria. ‘Bookies’ and ‘Spielers’ were not welcome. Trees supplied shade. Stalls had fruit. Competitors were allocated up to 250 yards in the one mile and 300 yards in the two-mile races. In the one-mile, my great-grandf...