Harold Garner
| Town/City | Canberra |
|---|---|
| First name | Harold |
| Last name | Garner |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 11/12/2011 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1925 |
| Submitted by | Noelene Garner |
Story
My name is Harold and I was born on 12/11/1911 in Edgebaston, Birmingham, the second child and son of May and Alfred Garner. At the time of our migration to Australia my family consisted of Mother (34) Dad (36), Ron (16) Harold (12), Ivy (9), Dennis (7) and Jessie (turned 1 on board the ship). We sailed from Tilbury Docks on the Thames on 13 August 1925 to participate in the Group Settlement in the south-west of Australia. We only had third-class accommodation, and to some extent it was rather crude, however I enjoyed myself immensely.
At Capetown, we struck trouble by way of a Seaman\’s strike, aggravated by our crew taking us out to sea beyond the three-mile limit during a terrible storm and then going on strike leaving the ship to plunge about in the storm cast sea. Eventually, a skeleton crew together with young men passengers left Capetown for Albany, again through violent weather. We arrived at Albany (although originally intended for Fremantle) on a beautiful October day. We stayed in a barrack type of accommodation overnight and caught a train to Perth and Fremantle. The train was the old fashioned sleeper type and we could stand on the back and watch the Australian bush go past; other than baby Jessie\’s sickness at sea, the trip was very enjoyable and novel to us ‘pommies’.
We arrived at Fremantle and stayed at the Immigrants\’ Home for two weeks. I remember being fascinated with the beaches and rocks around the coast Ð although we had been at sea for ten weeks we had not had the opportunity to visit a coastline. The accommodation was very plain but the food was magnificent and with Jessie recovering satisfactorily, we enjoyed our first contact with Australia and its people
Ron left us at Swan View, for a temporary job picking grapes. We travelled by train to Busselton where we stayed overnight and bought stretcher beds, etc (on credit) and then went on to Margaret River where we were packed onto a large truck (three families), children on the back on top of the packages (much to Mother\’s horror).
We were all deposited in a large shack overnight at a place later called Rosa Brook (Group 77). The shack was a home for fleas and we spent a truly uncomfortable night. Incidentally fleas together with flies were to haunt us the whole time we were at Rosa Brook.
Next morning Ð a beautiful Spring morning Ð a man who announced that he was a foreman of Group 77 arrived with a horse and dray to convey us to our block of land. Dad and I went in the dray which contained axes, hammers, nails, etc. and several sheets of corrugated iron. After delivering us to the promising shack site, the foreman left us to build the shack, promising to deliver the rest of the family later. By nightfall we had a rough building made from saplings and the iron and a shallow well dug.
I often wonder what Mother\’s feelings were when she first saw the home we were to live in for several months.
However, between us all we made the place reasonably comfortable, we had quite a nice garden, vegetables grew rapidly and well in the virgin soil, together with plenty of cow manure. Incidentally we were given a cow (Betty) almost at once Ð she was pastured on a neighbouring developed block. The theory of group settlement was that men should work in groups on each block in turn to clear and develop the first 25 acres (our block contained 137 acres). Each family was paid 3 pounds a week which was funded as a debit to the block by way of a mortgage.
Dad started work with his group at once and I worked clearing a site for our future settler\’s cottage and also to create a vegetable garden. Ivy and Dennis went to a small bush school on Group 22 about three miles away – they had to walk through the bush; although not yet 14 years old I dodged school, preferring to work instead.
These are the early memories of Harold Garner who went on to become a respected and much loved member of the Australian community.
Harold passed away in Alice Springs on 7 November 2001, five days short of his 90th Birthday.
He is survived by wife Peg, and five children, Robert, Patricia, John, Helen (deceased) and Philip; eleven grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.