Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family. Batt Family.
1927 – 1969
ERNEST ALBERT BATT
Ernest Albert Batt was born in 1881 into a pioneering Western Australian family. He married Sarah Mabel Wise (born 1885) on the 5th September 1906. In 1916 he joined up to fight in World War One returning home in 1919 [Ernest’s War Record].
Ernest Albert Batt
The couple moved to Nyabing in about 1927 with the first of their eight children and settled about 4km south east of Nyabing. They had two more children while living close to town in a mud brick home.
Sarah Mabel Batt nee Wise
Ernest Albert leased the farm and farmed there until he died of a heart attack in Katanning in 1937. He is buried in the Nyabing Cemetery. Three of their sons; Ernest William (born 1907), Victor George (born 1909) and Clifford John (born 1931) all worked on their father’s farm for a while.
1935 L-R Bill Batt, Bob Batt, Unknown, Vic Batt & Charlie Mitchell
OBITUARY
DEATH OF MR. E. A. BATT.
Great Southern Herald
10 September, 1938
His many friends in the Nyabing and Katanning districts were grieved to learn of the death of Mr. Ernest Albert Batt, of Nyabing, who passed away only a few hours after admission to the Katanning Hospital on Tuesday morning, aged 57 years.
Mr. Batt had not enjoyed the best of health for the past 12 months, during which time he had been an inmate of the Gnowangerup Hospital for several weeks and unable to take an active part in his farming pursuits. The last seizure came late on Monday night, death taking place suddenly on Tuesday morning within eight hours of his arrival at the Katanning Hospital.
Mr. Batt was engaged in farming at Carlecatup, Kojonup, until about 10 years ago, when he moved to the Nyabing district and rented an extensive property, subsequently establishing his sons on farms adjoining.
He was actively associated with public life at Nyabing, being a member and constant exhibitor of the Nyabing Agricultural Society and interested in all movements for the advancement of the district. Having seen active service in the Great War, he linked up with the Katanning Sub-Branch R.S.L. and retained his membership with that body up to the time of his death. He leaves a family of 10 children (five sons and five daughters) and a widow to mourn their loss, and to these the deepest sympathy of the community is expressed.
The funeral took place at Nyabing on Wednesday afternoon, the large attendance and long line of cars which followed bis remains to the place of interment in the Nyabing Cemetery being a tribute to the high esteem in which he was held throughout the Nyabing and surrounding districts. A special service, conducted by the Rev. Alex. Macliver, of the Presbyterian Church, Katanning was held in the Nyabing Hall and after the last rites, members of the Returned Soldiers’ League paid their final tribute by dropping Flanders poppies into the grave. Amongst those present were Mr. H. W. A. Tylor (president of the Katanning subbranch) and Mr. Garnett (Gnowangerup sub-branch). Funeral arrangements were in the hands of Mr. John Squiers, of Katanning.
Many beautiful floral tributes and other expressions of esteem and sympathy were placed on the graveside by the following relatives and friends:
His loving wife and daughters, Daphne, Mavis and Joan; loving sons. Will, Bob, Clarry and Cliff; Mary and Victor, Shirley, Ray and Donald; the Garnett nieces and nephews; Dolly and Alf, Bobbie and Clem; loving daughter-in-law and son-in-law, Ethel, Gordon and granddaughter Gwen; Harry and Ruby Garnett and family; Lin and Bert Bray; Mr. and Mrs. H. Atkinson and family; Harry Anderson; Mr. and Mrs. Cronin; C.W.A., Nyabing; the Carrie family; Mrs. Charsley and Dick; J. D. and Mrs. Collins and family; Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Coate; Mr. and Mrs. J. Firth and Mrs. May Gordon, Marie, Lance and John; Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Garnett and family; Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Goodchild; Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons and Margot; the Goodchild children; Bess and Jim Garnett; Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Hobart, Bert and Stan; Mr. and Mrs. Haydock, Doreen and Stan; Mr. and Mrs. G. Hobley and family; Mr. and Mrs. Haltermann and Doris; Mr. and Mrs. R.M. Jury and family; Loyal M.U.I.O.O.F. Lodge, Nyabing; Mr. and Mrs. V. G. Langley; Mr. and Mrs. Jas. McLaren and family; John, Colin, Beryl and
Enid Manuel; Jack and Gert Moore and family; Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Mitchell; Mr.
and Mrs. M. C. Manuel; Reg. and Phyllis Marfleet; Mr. and Mrs. A. McD. Sargent,
and family; Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Moore and family; Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Mills; Nyabing
Agricultural Society; Nyabing Hockey Girls; Nyabing Cricket Club; Nyabing
Tennis Club; Nyabing Men’s Hockey Club; Katanning Sub Branch R.S.L.; Kent Road
Board; Mrs. H. E. Patterson; Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Quartermaine; Staff of Richard son
and Co. Ltd., Nyabing; Directors of Richardson and Co. Ltd.; Mr. and Mrs. G.
Ramm and family; Mr. and Mrs. A. M. S. Thomson and family; the Shields family;
Mr. and Mrs. H. Venning (Gnowangerup); Mr. and Mrs. Whowell; Keay family and
Jack White; Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ward and family; Mr. H. E. Wise, Roy and Edith.
VICTOR GEORGE BATT
Victor George Batt
Victor learned to shear sheep and had seasonal runs around the district. In the 1930’s a sheep station around Carnarvon sent down a T Model Ford car to collect local shearers to shear their sheep. Victor Batt was one of them, and was overwhelmed shearing in a 40-stand shed. During the summer harvest season, Victor was engaged in stacking bagged wheat at the Nyabing railway siding.
These stacks contained many thousands of bags neatly sewn. Vic was of stocky build – all the bags were man handled as there was no machinery in those days. Vic was a smoker and the story goes that while he was sewing bags of wheat for his brother-in-law, George Hobley, his cigarette had almost gone out. He prodded at it with his bag needle and it rekindled – George remarked “That’s fast sewing to heat the needle that much!”
Nyabing train station and goods shed.
In 1935, Victor Batt married Mary Ada Wisbey, who lived with her parents 1 ½ km’s south of Nyabing. After their marriage they moved to a corrugated iron and hessian lined house 8 km’s south of Nyabing. They had six children; Shirley, Raymond, Donald, Ernest, Frederick and Norma.
Victor and Mary at Nyabing
Victor cleared land adjacent to their home, continued shearing, and enlisted in the Second World War [Victor’s War Record] Second World War when the Japanese threatened Australia. Because he was a farmer, he had to enlist as a contractor as farmers were needed to feed the war effort. He was deployed to an airfield near Darwin as part of an anti-aircraft gun team and was away for about two years. While Vic was away, Mary would have to catch the horse and saddle it up to the cart, to take her family including four children to Nyabing to shop and Sunday school. It was a mad horse!
After the war, Vic went into partnership with brother Bill and farmed grain and sheep – later buying a neighbouring farm from C. Whowell in 1951 – and proceeded to put a new roof and verandah on the house. The house was built of railway sleepers with rabbit netting tacks to the walls and plastered in cement.
About 1954, Vic bought Howard Jenkins’ farm, which had quite a large area of virgin bush, which he set about clearing with the help of his boys (which by this time were in their teens).
When the Batt children went to school there was a single school (now the Brownies Club House) and, at one time, there were only 17 children attending school in Nyabing. Shirley, Ray and Don rode bikes the 8km’s to school for eight years, until 1950, when Harry Gillis started a school bus run which picked them up at their front gate. The school catered for infants (which were in small low chairs in the front row) to sixth standard while some children did seventh standard by correspondence.
During the war when rubber tyres were in short supply our bikes were fitted with rubber hose for tyres which, of course didn’t have air in them, and soon flattened onto the wheels.
After the war, petrol was rationed. Ration cards were given out for fuel and other commodities. Because of that, some farmers had to resort to gas producers to run their trucks and tractors. The gas was produced from charcoal obtained from burning mallee roots in a pit and smothering them when they were well alight, and before they ended up as ash. Gas producing apparatus was attached to the vehicle, and with a combination of charcoal and water drip, it produced gas which was directed to the motor. It didn’t produce a great deal of power!!
Nyabing Garage
In the 1940’s, Richardson and Co Milliners from Katanning used to visit customers with a small van with fabric, thread, buttons and needles etc. They called in on Mary a couple of times per year as they knew that she did a lot of sewing and didn’t get to Katanning much at all. They were memorable times for the Batt kids as they got to know the driver quite well.
Back in those days, Mary made her own soap out of dripping and caustic soda. Dripping came from mutton which was the meat that you most had to eat apart from the chooks and turkeys (and their eggs) that were bred on the farm. She caponised the roosters for many years to fatten them up and produce larger birds. She always had a turkey gobbler lined up for Christmas every year.
In the late 1950’s to 1960’s, Nyabing was a small town but had very active sporting activities like tennis, basketball and football. A new Hall was built and badminton became very popular.
Around that time young first year teachers came to town and joined in badminton matches each week, which were very enjoyable. Dances were also very popular, and when a local turned 21 years old, many had an open dance party in the hall. Come supper time, trestles would be put out down the centre of the hall, and all donated cakes and biscuits would be put out to enjoy. Mary Batt was highly respected for her delicious sponges.
School Teacher’s House, Nyabing
Also in the late 1950-60’s, large scale land clearing was undertaken in the Nyabing District. Vic Batt was a fire control officer for many years and ultimately, the three boys in their late teens, were called upon as fast fire lighters when these land clearing burns were put through.
Kent District Football Club was very active around the same time. All the Batt boys played for a number of years, travelling to Kojonup, Katanning, Tambellup and Nyabing. Vic Batt was the goal umpire and then time keeper for the Kent side for many years. He was also involved in the RSL activities, and did a term on the then Roads Board as a member.
Victor bought another part-cleared block from Fauld’s, 18 miles south east of Nyabing around 1953 and set about clearing the remaining bush. He sold it to Ray around 1955. Don Batt took up a virgin block close by and cleared and built a house there.
A popular occupation of the young men of the district was to take up sheep shearing, mostly in pairs, and at that time they were mainly accommodated at the place where they were shearing. It was an opportunity to earn money, in many cases to pay for fuel, food and fencing materials booked up at the local store. “Bulla” Stephens ran the store at that time, and was very generous in allowing credit for a short period to get you through the tight times. Prior to1966, the shearing rates were eight pounds ($16.00) per hundred sheep. That rate seemed to be stable for a long period of time.
Nyabing Store
Nyabing Store and Hall
Here is a general week in the late 1950’s during the spring shearing season: We would start the day shearing from 7.30am, finishing at 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday – 8 hours a day for 6 days a week – that came to 48 hours. Then Saturday evening go home and clean up, have tea, then off to a dance either at Nyabing or Pingrup until about midnight. Up early Sunday morning to wash greasy shearing clothes, go to play football, which could be at Kojonup for a 12.30pm start for reserves. Home at dark. Up early Monday morning to travel to where the shearing was to start for another week.
How things have changed! A number of local young men went contract fencing to earn money. Mostly it would be after harvest time, when the ground was at its hardest!
Shirley Batt married “Bulla” Stephen’s oldest son Keith in 1959, and they moved onto a farm at Kuringup where they raised five children.
Raymond married Jennifer Lynne Cheetham, a local in 1967. Theirs was the second marriage in the new All Saints Church in Nyabing. Lynne worked as a clerk in the Shire Office before she married. They have three children.
Donald married Janice Hudson in 1965. Jan was one of those young first year school teachers that came to Nyabing for work. They have four children.
Ernest married Judith Hosking in 1965, a Katanning girl, and they have four children.
Frederick married Patricia Williams an Albany girl. They have two children.
Norma married Denis Escott from Mandurah. They have two children.
Victor and Mary sold their Nyabing properties and surprised many by retiring to Mandurah when Vic was 60. He took up lawn bowls and achieved great success and pleasure from the game.
Vic was a quiet, steady person while Mary was a quiet, very family orientated person who loved to see and welcome her family and grandies. She spent a lifetime in expert cooking and sewing. The Batt children were always dressed neatly in clothes that she made. She continued crocheting rugs by the dozen until a few short years before she passed away.
Front – Shirley Joyce, Mary Ada, Victor George, Norma Mary Batt
Back – Raymond Victor, Donald Carlton, Ernest Albert, Frederick Batt
at Golden Wedding Anniversary Celebration
Victor and Mary are ancestors to 69 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Both lived to good ages. Vic died in Mandurah in 2006, aged 97 years. He was an avid West Coast Eagles supporter to the end. Mary died in Mandurah in 2010 aged 95.
Bill Batt never married and was a character around town as he liked a beer and was sometimes under the weather. He often had his bluey jacket on, and his pink and grey galah perched on his shoulder. He eventually sold his farm to Ernie Batt and moved to Bremer Bay and then Walpole. He drowned tragically in a boating accident on the 9th March 1972, and was buried in the Nyabing Cemetery. There is a large photo of him with his galah framed and hanging in the Nyabing RSL Hall.
Speaking with Peter Goodchild in January 2012,he remembers:
“Bill was fairly colourful. He was Chief Fire Control Officer of the Nyabing Bush Fire Brigade for a number of years, and if you were wanting a permit, you could get him down the pub. He was a very talented blacksmith, and there wasn’t that much that he couldn’t do with a forge and anvil. He used to make pocket knives and put them into the Ag Show. I don’t think there would have been anyone living here that didn’t know Bill, he was a good man.”
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