Ernest Perry
| First name | Ernest |
|---|---|
| Last name | Perry |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 7 Sept 1889 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | circa 1911 |
| Submitted by | Graeme Wickham |
Story
Ernest Napoleon ‘Napper’ Perry
Ernest Napoleon Perry was born the son of a farmer Arthur William Perry at Takeley Essex on 7 September 1889 and travelled from England to Australia as an assisted migrant about 1911 in company with his sister Selina, future wife Emily Sandford and her brother William.
Upon reaching Australia Ernest lived at Haberfield and soon joined Drummoyne Council as a gardener. He married Emily Sandford at St Bede\’s Anglican Church Drummoyne on 4 July 1915. Their marriage was however immediately interrupted by WW1 and Ernest was unable to live with his bride for another three years. After the war they finally settled together at Parramatta before moving to a new family home at the more familiarly ‘rural’ setting of Grandview Street East Parramatta in 1921.
In June 1915 Ernest had responded the Australian military forces\’ urgent call for additional support to the many allied casualties coming from Gallipoli and other bloody battles of WW1 by enlisting on the ‘S.S. Karoola’. S.S. Karoola had later sailed to Egypt and then England for refitting as No1 Australian Hospital Ship ‘H.M.A.H.S Karoola’. He served continuously in a nursing role on board the hospital ship as it ferried wounded between the war zone, England and Australia until June 1918. Although he must have witnessed many terrible things during this time he saw no need to share their terrible details with us and kept them very much to himself. We saw him remain a compassionate and gentle man always able to deal quietly and effectively with the recurring difficulties of his fellow diggers.
His work with the casualties of war continued when he took up duty as a practising male nurse at the Rydalmere Psychiatric Centre about 1919. During his time at Rydalmere he managed the care and well being of all nature of psychiatric patients but remained particularly devoted to the returned men who were still suffering from the aftermath of horrific battle trauma from both WW1 and WW2.
His life was to suffer its own personal tragedy in 1934 when his beloved Emily died leaving him grief stricken and with a growing family of four children between the ages of 17 and 6 years. Life was already tough for Ernest at that time as he remained caught in the financial privations of the great depression and found him self working twelve hour rotating shifts at Rydalmere. But, aided by the support and loyalty of his children, he was able to take on the added responsibilities of sole parenting successfully keeping his family together and guiding them all into responsible adulthood.
An eternally gentle, generous and caring man he continued to support his family by sharing his small home with an ever-extending family of his children, their spouses and grandchildren until they were each able establish themselves independently. He took a major role in the lives of his seven grandchildren exposing each of us to some of our English heritage teaching us many stories and ditties from his childhood in rural Essex and introducing us to English delicacies like squab, kippers and strong cheeses. He is remembered fondly by all of us as the kind and benevolent grandfather all children dream of.
In 1951 good fortune smiled briefly on ‘Napper’ when he shared a lottery win with an old workmate and was able to use the windfall to return to his homeland and visit the brothers and sisters he had left over 40 years before. He found however that England was more cold and uninviting than he remembered and that the intervening years had seen him acclimatise to Australia\’s warmth and more leisurely pace – so he soon returned to his adopted home. He continued living in his old marital home at Grandview Street with his youngest son, daughter-in-law and youngest grandchildren a confirmed Aussie until he died at Gymea Bay, a suburb of Sydney, on 23 July 1962.