William Hepburn LISTER
Born 31 March 1888 in Fossaway, Kinross, Scotland [28]
Son of farm servant John LISTER and Annie HEPBURN [28]
In 1901 he was living with his father and elder sisters Isabella and Janet at Grant Cottar Houses in Kennoway, Fife, Scotland [28]
At this time he was working as an assistant cattleman, his father a cattleman and his sisters as farm worker and housekeeper [28]
In 1911 he was working as a Lorryman at a market garden and living by himself at Springfield in Kinross North, Kinross, Scotland [20]
Migrated to Western Australia, where he initially worked as a Labourer [204] and Tank Sinker [309] in Carnamah [35]
Departed from Fremantle, Western Australia on the steamship Omrah and arrived in London, England on 21 June 1915 [304]
Private 26444 in the 11th Reinforcements of the Royal Scots Lothian Regiment B Company during the First World War [309]
Married Jane Thomson DOWNIE on 30 August 1916 at 8 Woodened in Kelty, Fife, Scotland [28]
By the end of the First World War he was Driver 312533 in the Royal Army Service Corps [309]
On 20 January 1919 he applied for and was granted repatriation to Australia for both he and his wife [309]
Farmer of Glen Devon Farm in Yandanooka, Western Australia 1921-1948 [19] [50] [86: 17-Feb-1948]
His farm was 1,196 acres in size and consisted of Lots 70 and 92 of the Yandanooka Estate in Yandanooka [44]
Yandanooka Estate was said to have been "the most successful soldier settlement in the Commonwealth" in 1927 [39: 19-Nov-1927]
Owner of a Ford car or truck registered with the Mingenew Road Board with numberplate MI-27 in 1925-26 and 1926-27 [325]
By 1927-28 he'd replaced his Ford with a Chevrolet car or truck, which contained numberplate MI-123 [325]
He was one of 133 who signed a petition in 1927 requesting the granting of a Publican's License for Yandanooka [39: 12-Jan-1927]
His wife gave birth to their son in 1927 and it was reported that he thought he "was the best baby in the Midlands" [4: 14-May-1927]
He attended the Second Annual Reunion Dinner of the 3C Zone of the Returned Soldiers' League in Morawa in 1933 [86: 4-Nov-1933]
While harvesting in Yandanooka on 13 December 1933 a fire started from an overheated bearing on his harvester [86: 14-Dec-1933]
It started two small fires, one of which he quickly extinguished but his horses were then unsettled and bolted [39: 14 & 15-Dec-1933]
He ran after the horses and by the time he'd caught them the second fire was out of control due to a strong east wind [39] [86]
The fire destroyed ten acres of his crop and 65 bags of wheat that was in his paddock waiting to be carted away [39]
Approximately 200 men rushed to help combat the fire but it had soon burnt across 10,000 acres of farm and grazing land [39]
Ten farmers lost a combined 490 acres of crop, 6,250 acres of feed, 445 bags of wheat as well as cornsacks and fencing [39]
No livestock was lost but large numbers of sheep and cattle had to be quickly mustered out of the path of the fire [39]
In 1938 he lost his entire 180 acres of crop and all of his feed from the destruction of grasshoppers [39: 10-Nov-1938]
His wife was the Sewing Mistress of the Overland State School in Yandanooka in 1941 [4: 9-Aug-1941]
He and his son John travelled from Yandanooka to Perth by train for a short holiday Tuesday night 27 February 1942 [4: 21-Feb-1942]
Through Elder Smith & Co Ltd he held a clearing sale on his farm in Yandanooka on 12 February 1948 [86: 17-Feb-1948]
The sale attracted local buyers as well as others from Geraldton, Three Springs and Carnamah [86]
Livestock sold included 651 Merino and Corriedale ewes, ten farm horses and a bullock, milking cow, heifer and steer [86]
In 1949 he and his wife were living at 504 Hay Street in Perth [50]
Later resided in the Perth suburb of Rivervale [2]
Father of John [4: 21-Feb-1942]
Died 5 August 1966; ashes interred at the Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth, Western Australia (Crematorium Rose Gardens, 9N, 73) [2]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'William Hepburn Lister' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 26 December 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/william-hepburn-lister [reference list] |
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