Harris Chappie Elaine. Harris Chappie Elaine.Harris Chappie Elaine.Harris Chappie Elaine.
HARRIS, Hervey (Chappie) Elaine (nee Ward)
Formerly of “Dualling” – 1955 – 1983
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Written by Elaine Harris.
Travelling out the 12 miles north-east of Nyabing, on our first visit to check out the “Dualling” farm we were interested in purchasing from Mr and Mrs George Sargent, felt as though we were going to the ‘end of the earth’. Once we passed “Durranook” farm owned by Neville and Mary Badger, it was all bush and the road was narrow and in not very good condition. Having grown up a ‘town’ girl it was quite an anxious trip, with our six month old daughter Sheryle and more children to come. It was a long way from a doctor and there was no telephone!
Dualling Farm House c1955
On arrival, I was pleasantly surprised……. the house was ninety percent better than our current home on the farm at “Yealing” in Broomehill! It consisted of two very large rooms – one being a combined kitchen and lounge complete with a beautiful combustion Wellstead stove and a large open fireplace making the whole room cosy in winter.
After purchasing the farm – our move was delayed to March due to the January floods – we divided the kitchen/lounge into two separate rooms and did the same with the second large room to make two spacious bedrooms. There was already a nice bathroom and a large pantry with a full sized verandah running around the north, west and southern sides of the house. The original old mudbrick house, which stood alongside to the north, was beautiful and cool in the summer. Unfortunately, we had to make the sad decision to pull it down as the walls were very unsafe, especially with children running around.
At first, we didn’t have a laundry and, on wash days, the “Savage” washing machine was wheeled out from the pantry and placed between the sink and stove where there was an extra tap in the wall for filling the machine. Later Chap and my brother Barry built a laundry on the north eastern end of the verandah near the kitchen, complete with running water, a copper and cement wash troughs. They also built a verandah along the eastern side of the house enclosing both ends making two more bedrooms. Later one of the bedrooms was to become the children’s playroom. My brother Barry, who came to live with us when we farmed in Broomehill, had his own bedroom on the south east end of the front verandah.
‘Savage’ Washing Machine
The house was powered by a 32v lighting plant. We purchased a number of 32v electrical appliances from the Sargent’s including the “Savage” washing machine which was ‘heaven sent’ as prior to this it was a copper and scrubbing board!
At the time of purchase, the farm buildings included a straw roofed stable and pigsties, a blacksmith shop which today is the workshop and a small straw roofed machinery shed attached to a two stand shearing shed. Barry had to be careful throwing the fleece as the straw roof was so low the fleece would cling to it! Two local fellows from Pingrup, Ken Solly and Les Altham came to do our first shearing.
1966 – Neville Lynette & Sheryle with Hervey & Elaine
By 1957 we had two more children, Neville born September 1955 and Lynette born December 1956.
We had also built a new shearing shed, machinery shed, hay shed and in time a few others. Two large chook-runs were built and we sold eggs and cream to Bulla Stephens, the local Store owner in Nyabing. He would pick these up each Tuesday and Friday when delivering the mail and groceries.
We bred lots of free range pigs, growing them out to baconers and selling them at the Katanning sale each month. This was town day for Mum, Dad and three small children in the truck, loaded up with pram and pigs for an early start!
We had a very big job ahead of us in those early days – clearing more land, sinking dams, enlarging others and picking mallee roots until we looked like them! I didn’t mind but was always ready for home when the sun went down; but had to wait until dark when the men were ready!
Clearing the land was done with two tractors joined together with a heavy chain to drag the mallee down and lifting out all the roots. A bulldozer was used to push down the larger trees. We owned a lovely Draft horse named “Kitty” and she would pull the logs together with harness and chain attached making them easier to burn.
A school bus wasn’t available out our way when our children started school so for the first three months Dot Cheetham, Mary Badger and I took it in turns driving the children to and from school.
We built a new brick and tile home in 1966, where the horse stables once stood, and upgraded to 240v powered by a diesel engine! There went our peaceful evenings…. thump, thump it would go! We thought, “Now we’ll kill a beast” as we had bought a large freezer in readiness! Chap cut and boned, Neville minced and I wrapped and packed the meat into the freezer. Looking into the freezer the next evening I found I had packed it too tight so had to take it all out and start again!
The telephone arrived in 1967 and we were connected to SEC power in 1978.
Chap, Barry and I started playing golf and later lawn bowls when the children went off to high school. They boarded at the Katanning Hostel between the years 1967 – 1971. Chap and I also enjoyed a couple of trip overseas together.
We moved to Katanning in 1983 when Chap became ill, leaving Neville, his wife Pam and four sons Jason, Brad, Russell and Dustin to run the farm. Later their family was completed with the arrival of a daughter, Shelley born in 1988.
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