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HOBLEY, William (Bill) and Edith (nee Bywaters) Hobley
(1912-1968)
Written by his daughter-in-law Sheila, Mrs Richard (Dick) Hobley
William (Bill) Hobley
William Henry Hobley was born at Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula on 31 August 1885, the first born child of William and Elizabeth nee James. His early childhood was spent on his father’s farm at Rosebud and he was educated at Rosebud State school. He left school at the age of fourteen. It speaks well for his teachers that he wrote a very good and fluent hand and was an avid reader.
It was at that time William’s (henceforth known as Bill) father had the mail contract to Cape Schank lighthouse about twenty miles distant, and he (Bill) rode and carried the mail two or three times a week on horseback.
During the summer, the paddle steamers Ozone and Hygeia carried passengers from Melbourne to Dromana twice a week and Bill and his father both drove a large buggy to meet the steamers. They drove the passengers from Dromana Pier [ii] to Rosebud which was becoming a popular seaside resort three miles away. The buggies were know as ‘drags’ and were each pulled by two horses. At the end of their holidays, the visitors were driven back to meet the steamers at Dromana.
During the rest of the year, Bill did part-time work for neighbours. He was known as a ‘crack-shot’ with a rifle and as a young lad was a member of the Red Hill Rifle Club, near Dromana. He learnt to shoot with a Martini-Henry single shot rifle, and later a 303 Martini-action single shot. There were plenty of rabbits and hares around Rosebud and they probably provided good sport and, no doubt, helped to eke out the family rations.
In 1906 his parents decided to move to Gippsland to take up dairy-farming. Bill and his brother George went ahead with the horses and a load of furniture. His mother and younger brothers and sisters went by train. The children were terrified of the engine as it came like a great monster, puffing and blowing steam into the station at Toorradin. They had never seen a train before!
The family only stayed a few months at Wild Dog Creek before moving on to rent a farm at Mardan, seven miles north-east of Leongatha. Bill decided to venture into New South Wales, first taking a job at Bumbaldry in the Grenfell district. Most of the work offering in the area was ‘bush work’, fencing and ‘ring-barking’ as it was called. The timber was not felled, just killed off. The method of ‘ring-barking’ was to cut a deep gash with an axe several inches wide around the trunk of the tree and remove the bark. This would cut off the supply of sap to the tree, which would subsequently die. Grass and cereals were planted amongst the standing timber and stock grazed around them. For many years the gnarled old grey trees were a feature of the landscape until they eventually fell, or burned down.
During this time Bill made good use of his prowess with a rifle and shot a number of foxes. He had some skins processed into a fur and muff for his oldest sister Ethel, and sent them to her. (The sole, which was almost ankle length was later given to her oldest daughter Ivy May who had it made into two furs, one of which she gave to her sister Jean.)
Queensland though art a land of pests
From fleas and flies one never rests!
And so he moved back into New South Wales.
The family of William Henry & Elizabeth Hobley at Leongatha, Victoria in 1911.
L-R, Rear – Charlie, George, Ethel, Fred, Bill, Dick & Joe.
Front – William (Father), Sam (between his knees), Harry, Violet, Elizabeth (Mother), Ern (on her knees).
In 1911 he was summoned home in a letter from his sister Ethel, as George was home on a visit from Western Australia where he had taken up a block of land. So the family were briefly united; the first and only time they were ever all at home together. The Methodist minister, the Reverend William Seamer who owned a camera (a scarce commodity in those days) drove the seven miles from Leongatha to photograph the event.
During this visit home, Bill helped his brother George ‘break in’ a young colt, ‘Peter’, which George had obtained from his father. To explain the process of ‘breaking in’ – the horse would be handled daily, roped, led, patted and touched all over, harnessed and driven until it became submissive and responsive to orders. They subsequently walked the horse to Leongatha, put it aboard the train to Melbourne, thence onto a ship for the trip to Western Australia.
Bill & Edith married on September 5th, 1915 at the Nyabing Hall
(now known as the Settlers Hall)
Bill spent a short time at home before returning to New South Wales and then, in 1912, decided to join his brother George on his property at Nampup (later Nyabing) in Western Australia. There being no overland train in those days he made the trip by coastal steamer. He was very sea-sick and vowed he would not return to Victoria until the railway was in place! He actually did return in 1940 and was able to sample the pleasures of a train ride across the great Nullarbor Plain.
Bill worked with George on the property fifteen miles East of Nyabing until George went away to war and he care-took the property during his absence. During this time he met English migrant, Edith Bywaters who was born at Tooting, East London and migrated to Western Australia in 1912. They were married on September 5, 1915 in the tiny corrugated-iron hall at Nyabing. The hall later became the school (and is now known as the ‘Settlers Hall’).
Edith and Bill Hobley in 1947
On George’s return from active service, he married. Bill and Edith went to live for two years on a property known as Elliott’s and later to Cook’s, nine miles north of Nyabing. Times were fairly hard and Bill took on work with the local Road Board, as it was known in those days. A lot of the gravel roads are still mute testimony to the skill of him and others, with the pick and shovel. He also did quite a lot of blade shearing, which took him at times to centres as far away as Gnowangerup.
The country was now in the grip of the Great Depression [ii] and farm produce prices were at rock bottom. Edith and the boys were left to manage things at home. Cows had to be milked and tended. Many people were only able to purchase groceries to the value of their returns from home-made butter, cream and mutton dripping etc.
In 1935, the family, which now consisted of Bill, Edith, George Thomas (born 1916), Richard (born 1921) and William Keith (Keith) (born 1927) moved to the property known as “Charsley’s” which adjoined the Nyabing township to begin a share-farming venture.
Bill Hobley’s Boys- Dick, George and Keith
Bill took a prominent part in district affairs, becoming an initial member and the one-time Secretary of the Nyabing branch, of the Wheat Growers Union. He was very fond of horses and horse riding, had a great knowledge of veterinary skills and was a member of the Nyabing Turf Club, which was formed in 1921. Another form of recreation was rifle shooting and he was an early member of the Nyabing Rifle Club, which was formed in 1911 and by 1916 had 31 active members.
Over the years a few camping trips were made to Doubtful Island where Bill was very handy with culinary skills and no mean hand with a groper line.
Camp setup
Merv Manuel washing day 1933 at Peppermint Beach with Charsley’s Chev 4 Truck
Dick Charsley, Derek Jury & Bill Hobley at Camp
Nyabing Boys Fishing Camp 1933
Barber Bill Hobley, Victim – Bert Quartermaine
Weight 42lbs Big Blue Groper – the largest we caught
Bill Hobley with Breakfast
from Colin Manuel Photos
Stuck in the Gardiner – Dick Charsley’s Truck
The two oldest sons, George and Dick, both saw service overseas during World War II, during which time Bill began negotiations to lease a property known as Fitzgerald’s, eight miles south of Nyabing. In 1946 the property was taken over and Bill and Dick began farming operations.
Listen to Richard (Dick) Hobley reminisce with Peter Aspinall and Dawson Moore on the “ANZAC HOUR” on Albany radio HERE
George had married during the war years and settled on an adjoining property known as ‘Bullocky Stones’ or ‘Mindarabin’. George Thomas married Mabel (May) Hobbs of Woodford, Queensland. William Keith (Keith) married Shirley Browne.
During his years on the property (which was eventually purchased form Jeremiah Fitzgerald, a nephew of the original holder, Edward Fitzgerald), Bill became renowned for his ability to trap dingoes. At this time there was a lot of uncleared land around and the dingoes came in from the bush and caused a great deal of damage amongst sheep flocks. The dingo was an extremely cunning animal and very difficult to trap, which was about the only way possible to catch them. They would not take a poison bait. Bill travelled many miles and many tracks south and east of the property in his endless pursuit of the menace. He travelled by horse and jinker (a rubber-tyred type of cart) and was often away nearly all day on these missions.
Bill with a dingo in 1963
In the summer of 1948 he had the misfortune to fall from a cart load of hay and broke his hip. This incurred many weeks of hospitalisation and convalescence in Perth. He hated the city – “bricks and mortar and ‘pocket handkerchief backyards‘”, as he called it and could not get home to the farm quickly enough. This new-found disability caused him to change from hooves to tyres as a means of transport and he purchased a Bedford utility and taught himself to drive. Although he now walked with the aid of a stick, he was still quite active and able to perform jobs like wood-chopping with comparative ease. He had always been a good axeman and liked to prove, to quote, “that a man is still good for something“.
He had a few well known expressions which included ‘stiffen the billy-goats‘, ‘speed the plough‘ and ‘stone the crows‘. The later were a prime source of annoyance to him. He would sit patiently for hours on the old flour box by the kitchen door, waiting the chance to ‘pick off’ these wary egg-stealers.
Bill with granddaughter Kathryn
Bill’s colourful life ended on 5 December 1968, aged eighty-three years, after a short time in the Katanning District Hospital. His burial in the Nyabing cemetery was attended by a large number of mourners from throughout the district who came to pay their last respects to this grand old man of the bush.
HOBLEY, George Thomas
1916 -1984
Written by Trevor Hobley
George Thomas Hobley was born in Katanning on 20th September 1916, eldest son of William (known as Bill) and Edith Hobley (nee Bywaters) and spent most of his life until retirement at Nyabing. The exceptions being for a period in the late 1930s when he worked in the eastern goldfields and up north. Richard was born in 1921 and Keith followed in 1927. Their parents were pioneers of the district.
Swamp at end of Artesian Bore at Marron Station, Carnarvon
George had little formal early schooling it was only when he reached about 11 years of age that a close by school opened at the 139 Gate. After leaving school he worked on farms around the area until deciding, in May 1937, to seek work away from the area. Initially he worked on the mines in the Kalgoorlie area and later at Agnew and Youanmi. After spending time in the North West he then worked on a couple of stations (Marron Station was one of them) south of Carnarvon.
George enlisted in the AIF on the 5th April 1941 and was discharged on the 2nd February 1946. While posted in Queensland he met Mabel Hobbs (known as May) and they were married on the 29th July 1945. After the war they returned to Nyabing and commenced to farm 14 miles south of town (Known as Bullocky Stones or Mindarabin) and about 4 miles further on than where his father had settled. More than half the access was just bush track following horse and sulky trails from previous times. Early transport was very basic and trips to Nyabing or further away to Katanning, 50 miles away, were generally only made when totally necessary. George and May produced three children. Son Trevor was born in 1947 and daughters Lesley and Ann followed in in 1949 and 1951.
Lesley, Trevor and Ann in 1961
Record wool prices in the early 1950s enabled the purchase of a Holden car and in 1952 the family ventured over the Nullarbor as far as Queensland to visit Mays family and catch up with the Hobley relations and mates from army days in Victoria.
Basic infrastructure was almost non existent and George began lobbying for improved roads, school buses and telephone, he was also actively involved in the movement to retain the rail line from Katanning to Nyabing. During this time there were several families who took up conditional purchase blocks nearby these people really battled and had to rely on George for transport in emergencies, he was also able to supply some work during busy times for these neighbours.
In February 1955 there was a record flood event which caused untold damage to stock and fences; there was no school for about two weeks due to roads being impassable.
George was involved in many local organisations including RSL, Rifle Club, fire brigade, P&C, and the tennis club which both he and May were made life members. He loved fishing and many good times were spent in the Bremer Bay area with family and friends.
The farm was sold in 1973 and George and May retired to Bremer Bay where they lived until he passed away on 15th September 1984. During this period of time they returned to Queensland to visit Mays family.
HOBLEY, Trevor
Eldest child and only son of George and May Hobley. From 1964 to 1969 Trevor was a regular member of the local football and cricket teams. After completing education in 1963 he worked on the family farm until he married Shirley. Trevor left Nyabing in 1969 spending most of his working life with Wesfarmers CSBP residing in country towns throughout the wheat belt.
Trevor and Shirley have two children; Stuart and Kristie. Stuart married Deanna Johnston in Perth 10/04/1999. They had two boys; Tristan born 30/06/2000 and Josh born 30/11/2001
Kristie married Derek Stanton in Albany 03/10/2004. They have a pigeon pair; Tess born 09/11/2007 and Alby born 19/10/2009. Trevor and Shirley enjoy spending time with them all.
BROWNE, Lesley (Nee Hobley)
Middle child and eldest daughter of George and May Hobley. Some of my early childhood memories are of our Grandfather calling in after checking his dog traps and showing us what he had trapped over night.
My schooling years were good and I am still in touch with some of the girls from school. We had great teachers and even today enjoy catching up with some of them, Mr Moran and Mr Varnivides. After finishing school in Nyabing and working with Del and Bill Treasure (two very special people in my teenage years) at their business I was accepted into Ngala Mothercraft Training Centre in 1965. I commenced my training in the October, and at the age of 16, left my quiet country life behind. These two years were interesting and I made lots of lifetime friends. It was great in the summer when Trevor would come up to play Country Week Cricket, where we were able to catch up.
Early in 1967 I was taken ill and came back to Nyabing where I took a while to recover. I married Roy Brown on the 10th May 1969, and we have three children: Peter, Kylie and Troy.
Peter was born on 20th October 1969, and married Jodie Haddow, in Rye Victoria on the 21st September 1991. It was a very special wedding with very wet Victorian weather. They have a pigeon pair: Lochlan born 13th May 1998 and Lauren born 23rd August 1999.
Next we had a daughter, Kylie, born on 10th August 1972. Kylie married Darren Retallack on 24/02/1996. They were married in Bremer Bay on a very warm Bremer day. They have twin boys: Todd and Braden born on the 7th April 1999.
After nine years Lesley and Roy produced another son, Troy who was born 20th October 1981. Troy announced his engagement to Sarah Westphal on the 1st February 2011.
I also have a previous son, Chris Ganzer, who was born on the 21st April 1968. He has married Jacquie and they have two children, Thomas was born on 5th December 2001 and Grace was born on 27th September 2004, whom make our lives complete.
COLES, Ann (Nee Hobley)
Youngest daughter of May and George Hobley. My schooling years I enjoyed and am still in contact with some of the girls. I worked around Nyabing for Robbie and Dot Stephens in their shop. I married Brian Coles in 1968, and have four children; Ronald, Robert, Stephen and Natalie.
Ronald Coles married Noelene Barrett in Katanning on the 12th December 1998. Noelene has two children Christopher Robert and Ashley Stephen. Ronald and Noelene have two children. Amy was born in Rockingham on 2nd May 1998, and Courtney was born in Katanning on the 10th August 2000.
Robbie is not married, but has one child, Jasmin who was born on the 20th September 1994.
Stephen married Wanda Diamond in Perth. They have four children: Steven (born in Katanning on 28th June 1994), Eliesha (30th May 2001), Chloe (21st July 2005), and Chelsea was born on the 13th March 2009.
Natalie married Morgan Jones on the 25th November 2000 in Katanning. They have three children; Craig born 25th March 1998, Mitchell, 10th May 1999, and Brodie on the 22nd November 2001.
HOBLEY, Richard (Dick) and Sheila
Dick Hobley married Sheila Doreen Goodchild on Nov 30th 1948. They had seven children – Jillian, Terry, Richard (known as Neil, born on 13th January 1952), Michael, Jeffrey, Kathryn and Stephanie. Neil and Terry had been farming with their father Dick and younger brothers Michael and Jeff. In 1973 Dick bought his Brother George’s farm known as “Mindarabin” as George and May were retiring to Bremer Bay.
Richard & Sheila Wedding Day
Dick and Sheila retired to “Glenidle” at Gardiner River and still live there. They have 23 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
Dick & Sheila with Helen, Bryan, Jayne and Matt Hobley
Dick & Sheila with their Family
HOBLEY. Terry and Beth
“Wilardry”
1950 – current
By Terry Hobley
Terry & Beth Hobley
I was born on the 19th August 1950 in Katanning “Colleraine” Hospital. I grew up on the family farm with three brothers, Neil (Richard Neil), Michael and Jeffery, and three sisters, Jill, Kathryn and Stephanie.
Attending the Nyabing Primary School from 1956 – I completed all my years from 1-10 at Nyabing. I remember teachers Clare Boxall and Elizabeth Murray as my first teachers. The final three years were both difficult, as the schooling was done by correspondence and errors made one week were not corrected until your lessons were marked and returned, which could be a couple of weeks later, and it was socially limiting.
Leaving school at the age of 15, I worked on the family farm, with land development and general farm work. I went out shearing to earn my keep, working with other sons of local growers as “Cocky Shearing”. As an economics memory, what we earned per hundred sheep was equal to a 44 gallon (or 200litre) drum of fuel. E.g. $22 per hundred sheep/$22 for a drum of fuel. Because the Kiwis introduced “wide gear” for shearing, we learned to tweak our narrow gear to get that bit extra wool into the comb.
I also enjoyed football – firstly with the help of my cousin Trevor, taking me to the games, and then under my own steam – first in the Katanning Association, and then in the Ongerup Association – it was a great time with good people.
1970 remains a memorable and provocative year for me. At the time for parents, it was terrible, as it was during the years of ‘conscription’ for the Vietnam War. The birth dates were drawn out and the dates fell left and right of my birthday. While Mum and Dad felt relief – I felt I had missed out/copped out, as even though we now know of the horrors, my friends and family were called up – some doing service and some the training and having the experience, a very confusing time.
A family tradition in those teenage years was to pack up all the gear required to rough it at the coast – Peppermint Beach – where we would continue going for many years. Firstly with our Dad and then as young blokes, bogging utes, sand buggies and learning the art of survival, and then taking our families camping in more sociable turnouts for school holidays.
In 1973, Dad bought his brother Georges’ farm, which we cropped as a family business for a year and then Neil and I leased it. In 1981, all the land owned by Dad was divided into thirds and we commenced our own businesses.
One of the sports that I tried and enjoyed at this time was rifle shooting, and spent time trying to master this craft – having good, bad and great days, but it was a wonderful social and family club.
In 1978 Beth Johnson (Mackay, Queensland) and I married in Mackay, and then travelled home across the top of Queensland in time for our first harvest. We lived in the second house on David and Kate Ogle’s for two years. We moved down to ‘Wilardry’ on 31st January 1981, with our daughter Jayne Louise (Born 26th August 1980), then welcoming Helen Rachel (Born 19th December 1981), Bryan Ross (Born 3rd November 1983) and Matthew Henry (Born 22nd May 1985). This original homestead had a great little history being one of the early four roomed mud brick homes built in 1932 by an Italian builder from Katanning. It was firstly owned by Edward Fitzgerald and then was the home of my grandparents William (Bill) and Edith Hobley.
Beth and I continue to farm, with our children having completed tertiary education; not that some did not wish to continue on the land.
HOBLEY, Richard (Neil) & Christine (Nee Borlini)
“Mindarabin” Kent Location 4263
1952-Current
Richard (known as Neil} was born on 13th January 1952 and, In October 1971 at the Nyabing Agricultural Show, met Christine Joyce Borlini (born on 23rd October 1955) who had come from Collie to farm at Nyabing with her stepfather Barrie Addis, mother Dorothy and brothers and sisters, Ricky (known as Charlie), Kerry, Joanne, Julie and Geoffrey. Charlie is still in Nyabing and owns Nyabing Transport. Neil and Christine married on 15th November 1975 in Nyabing at the All Saints Community Church and had a reception at the Nyabing Town Hall.
Neil and Christine on their wedding day at Nyabing’s All Saints Community Church, November 1975
In 1973 Neil and Terry went into partnership and leased the farm off Dick. In 1981 Dick decided to split the land and Neil, Terry and Jeff each started their own business. Michael decided to leave the family farm and pursue other ventures. Neil farmed “Mindarabin” with his wife Christine. Neil and Christine had three children – Benjamin Joseph born on 23rd January 1978, Jarrad Neil born on 21st September 1979 and Jayde Liane born on 9th April 1983.
At seeding time many cold long days were spent out the paddocks picking mallee roots and then coming home to a cold house to clean out the fires and light them, bath and feed children and then into the car to take tea out the paddock. Shearing was a busy time of the year as meals had to be cooked for shearers and roustabouts. At crutching time Neil would mostly do this himself with Christine roustabouting and three very helpful children! When times were a bit tough Neil would also shear the sheep to save money and Christine would roustabout.
Neil also went off the farm to do shearing in the early days to bring in some extra money, no such thing as an overdraft, if you couldn’t pay cash you didn’t have it. It was after shearing or after harvest! Once the children were all at school Christine also earned an income off farm to help supplement the family’s income.
Neil played football for Kent District Football Club and Christine played netball for Nyabing Netball Club and a short stint for Nyabing Women’s Hockey Club. Neil played in the grand final team which won in 1973. Both held positions on different committees over the years and were inaugural members of the Kent District Pistol Club. Neil coached the Kent District Junior Football Club to a Grand Final in 1991. He also coached the senior team in 1997 and 1998. Ben and Jarrad both played while Neil was coach and then went on to play in the winning grand final team in 2001.
Following family tradition, camping trips to Peppermint Beach were made over the years for fishing. Neil and the children mostly did this; Christine was not a big fan of camping out in the bush! The children attended Nyabing Primary School for their primary education and played football and netball for Nyabing. They then went to Katanning Senior High school for secondary education and boarded at St Andrews Residential College in Katanning.
After leaving secondary school Ben attended Muresk Agricultural College and graduated from there in 2002. He was the dux of his class. Jarrad worked as a farmhand after finishing school and saved his money to buy a super modified car to race at Speedway, a hobby he enjoyed very much. He won the WA State Title on 13th April 2003, the same weekend Ben had his graduation ceremony, a very proud weekend for Neil and Christine.
Four generations of Hobley’s:
Left to Right- Jarrad holding William, Dick, Neil, Ben holding Charlie
Jayde attended Business College in Perth after finishing school. She worked in Perth until 2002 when she successfully applied for a position at the Shire of Kent. Ben came home to the farm after graduating from Muresk and Jarrad joined Neil, Christine and Ben a couple of years later. To be able to have both sons on the farm, extra work had to be done off farm.
A Rogator was purchased in 2003 and Ben organised a client base. With everyone working long days this became a successful venture and enabled them to move forward. They also bought a spreader and did off farm spreading. It was a busy few years but eventually they were able to lease land from the next-door neighbour, Thomas and Heather Riley. Also in 2006 land was purchased from Phillip and Carol Riley, and in 2007 land was leased from Dave and Kate Ogle. By now there was not as much need for off farm work as there was plenty to do at home.
In 2004 Terry, Neil and Jeff, together with their families, bought a property which bordered on all their farms. This was named ‘Gnowanellup’, and subsequently in 2009 Terry and Neil bought Jeff’s share out as he was purchasing some other land.
Four Generations of the Borlini family;
Dot, Jayde holding Ruby, Christine holding Madison
Jayde met Scott Steele at Ben’s 21st birthday party in January in 2000. They were married on 19th February 2006 at Caversham House in Upper Swan. They have two children – Madison Jayde born 31stMarch 2008 and Ruby Emily born 22nd December 2010.
Ben met Fiona Janet Martin while they were at Muresk University. They were married on October 9th 2009 at Wise Winery Dunsborough and have one child – Charlie John born on 29th June 2010, and another due to arrive mid August 2012
Jarrad met Ellaine Janelle Brown in 2002 when she was studying to be a nurse and working at the Mindarabin CBH bin for harvest. They were married on 12th February 2010 at Esperance Golf Club. They have one child – William Zac born on 16th Sept 2010 and another due a week after Ben and Fiona’s.
Update on Hobley family:
- Dick and Sheila retired to “Glenidle” at Gardiner River and still live there. They have 23 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
- Jill married Ray Anderson and they currently live in Dalwallinu. They have three children and five grandchildren.
- Terry married Beth Johnson and they are still farming in Nyabing. They have three children and one grandchild.
- Michael married Jenny Cheetham and they are currently living in Katanning. They have two children and two grandchildren.
- Jeff married Karen Johnson and still farming in Nyabing. They have five children.
- Kath married Rob Badger. They have recently sold their farm at Pingrup and live in Albany. They have three children and two grandchildren.
- Steph. married Dominic Pontillo and currently live in Katanning. They have three children.
HOBLEY, Jeff and Karen
“Gnowiringa”
1956 – Current
By Jeff Hobley
Jeffrey William Hobley was born on 7th January 1956, the third son of Richard and Sheila Hobley. I grew up on the family farm known as “Gnowiringa” which is located 13 km’s South of Nyabing. As farm kids we helped out when we were old enough; seeding, shearing, harvesting. I still remember loading bagged grain onto the back of the old Bedford truck in the late 1960’s.
I went to Nyabing School for ten years, the last three we did by correspondence, and work was sent off to Perth to be marked. At the age of not quite 16, I left school and the following year went to work for Don and Jan Batt for about three months, then came home to work.
Bagged grain from harvest in the horse paddock.
At times, I went out crutching and shearing with my brothers, Terry and Neil and others; Keith Butcher, George Patterson, Steve Tuffley to name a few. This would be our main income for the year. For sport we played football. Kent Districts played in the Ongerup Association and it was at a home game in Nyabing where I met Karen, a girl from McKay, North Queensland. She was on a working holiday around Australia; we were married in October 1981 and then took on a share of the family farm.
Left to right- Gregory, Karen, Samuel, Allan, Daniel, David, and Jeffrey
During the next nine years, we had five sons; Gregory, Allan, Daniel, Samuel and David. As the family grew so did the farm size. We added a block to the west of us on Wallacup Road in the 1990’s, and then after leasing for two years, we decided to purchase one of the first farms in the district, known as “Nampup” in 2010 (Charsley’s).
Whilst Greg and Allan have remained on the farms, Daniel is completing a University Course in Broadcasting. Samuel has spent around four years with Landmark in the stock game before an overseas trip and David has qualified to be an Auto Electrician.
HOBLEY, Keith
1912-1947
By Keith Hobley
Keith Hobley, age 2
My name is Keith Hobley, youngest son of Bill Hobley who was one of the original settlers in the Kent District. I can only comment on memories about Nyabing for the first 19 years of my life. After that I moved to Moora to further an interest in radio and electronics. My earliest memories are from about 1930 when I was three years old. At that time I lived on a property approximately nine miles north of Nyabing, on the Kukerin road, roughly a mile to the west, with my mum and dad – Edith and Bill and eldest brothers George and Dick. The property was rather humorously called Marlborough Farm (I thought it was such a glamorous name). This farm was later taken over by the McLaren family (now the Ferry Family).
1978 Edith Hobley, 3 Boys and wives
I have vague memories of travelling in dad’s four-wheel-horse-drawn-buggy whenever we went anywhere important, which wasn’t very often. Dad was very proud of that Buggy. At that time there were very few motor cars in the District. Don Moore had the nearest car to us and that was about four miles toward Nyabing. We travelled to school in a horse-drawn-sulky, it was nigh on three miles to the ‘139 Mile Gate School’ on the No.2 Rabbit Proof Fence, near the Ramm’s family farm. I remembered having my first taste of a banana and a date when I was six years old, per favour of Mr Dawson, the Tuesday mail truck driver, who called at the school with fresh bread from Katanning.
1935 Keith, Dick and George Hobley
Around 1934 things weren’t very good on Marlborough Farm. To make ends meet Dad did shearing (with hand blade shears) for neighbours and also built some roads for the Kent Road Board, to get a little money, but finally he gave up and walked off the farm (depression years). We then moved to the Charsley Brothers farm ‘cottage’, which was west of the Nyabing town-site, to take up share farming with the Charsley’s. I was terrified of the shift to the ‘big’ Nyabing School. Brother Dick was okay, he was nearly 13 years old and back then you could leave school at 14 years of age. I think George was working as a farm hand at that time, for a few shillings a week.
The next few years were fairly uneventful. George bought an almost unused car from Paul Gerhardy for £15 (a lot of money at that time) and with a feller named Jack Evans they made it into a utility. Around 1937 George went to Kalgoorlie to work on the gold mines. Later still, George shifted to Agnew via Lawler’s and later worked on Marron Station near Carnarvon, before returning to Nyabing and joining the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in early 1940.
The 10th Light Horse Regiment going through the centre of Perth in 1939
Not long after this, my other brother Dick was accepted as a voluntary recruit into the 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment. Dick Hobley was able to take his own horse and his friend Ross Moore was able to join at the same time. They spent some years patrolling the coast, north (to Yanchep) and south (to Bunbury) of Perth. Later they transferred to the AIF (without the horses) and took part in the landings on the island of Borneo against the Japanese. As it happened, brother George was there too.
Meanwhile on the Charsley’s farm at Nyabing, farm hands were not easy to find. Now this was an entirely horse powered farm. The only mechanical things on it were – a Bedford one-tonne truck and a diesel stationary engine that powered the chaff cutter. Dad used to say “we can grow our own hay, but we can’t grow our own petrol” – how true! Anyway, the Charsley’s had a lot of horses; probably about 30 (I don’t think I ever counted them all). Quite a few of them, of course, belonged to Bill Hobley.
The horse team
Around about mid 1942 the Nyabing School ran out of teachers and it had to close for a while. As a result I did my last couple of years schooling by mail (correspondence tutoring). But I transgress. Without a school to go to, I was able to be a bit more help to Dad by lending a hand with the horses. I was able to harness the teams – each horse had to have a collar put on and then they were assembled into a team (usually eight). After that they were driven by rein, out to the paddock, to pull the cultivator or whatever machine was waiting to be used. This was a time consuming job! I also fed the horses, usually with chaff, distributed in a trough, twice daily. Incidentally all the horses had a name, like – Bess, Kate, Smokey, Baldy, Flash, Dopey, Tess, Star etc.
At this point I would like to express a vote of admiration for our mother Edith, an English migrant with a fairly staid background. She coped very well, with the hectic activity at the ‘cottage’; she provided all meals for the farm, sometimes up to an extra eight or more, on top of our family of four or so. Apparently she did this without much trouble.
John Simon Hobley – Roper River Jack
Around Easter time in 1942, a smallish wiry looking bloke with a big moustache, turned up on our doorstep. He said to Dad “I think we are cousins“. So that’s how we met John Simon Hobley, better known as ‘Roper River Jack’. He and his wife Harriet had walked off their ‘cotton farm’ on the Roper River in the Northern Territory. They had moved to Darwin for safety reasons, only to have their house destroyed by the Japanese during the ‘Bombing of Darwin‘. So they came to Western Australia to settle.
In 1943 I had a part time job in the local store – Richardson’s. The jobs I had to do were: weighing up bulk groceries – sugar, flour, rice, wheatmeal etcetera and packing them into brown paper bags. Putting eggs into boxes, cutting up bacon rashers, sweeping floors and pumping petrol from the bowser, which was about 2 shillings and 10 pence (£sp) a gallon! Charlie Francis was the Manager and Ken Prosser was the assistant. Later ‘Bulla Stevens’ took on the role of the assistant. Mrs Marshall ran the Post Office within the store.
In 1944 I was still helping on the farm – with the horses, plus milking cows and selling the milk to local residents at 3p per pint delivered. I also trapped and sold ‘dressed rabbits’ for 2s each. The rabbit skins were worth 10s a pound in the local store.
Keith Hobley Family not long after moving to Fremantle
Late 1944 I went to Perth and I stayed with Roper River Jack at Canning Bridge for a few weeks. I got a job as a Postman and my round was in South Perth. My wage was about £3.20s ($7) a week for 8½ hours (6.00am to 2.30pm). I did this for 10 months of 1945 (the wettest year ever in Perth) – not pleasant, riding a Postman’s push-bike. On August 11th I turned 18 years of age and on August 15th World War II ended. Soldiers began returning home and in November 1945 I left my Postman job and returned to Nyabing.
Dad had had a very good crop (share farming) and was able to put an offer in, to lease the Fitzgerald Farm (nine miles south of Nyabing) for three years. The offer was accepted and we moved south, eventually purchasing this property. Brothers George and Dick returned from the war and were able to take up adjoining and close-by properties. We were all very busy for the next year or so, settling in and getting some crops to grow – hopefully!
Urged on by the 32nd cousin Aunt Harriet (wife of ‘Roper River Jack’) who was a Certified Electrical Engineer, I had taken on a correspondence course in Radio Service Engineering. I eventually passed this, then applied for and got a job as a Radio Serviceman in Moora. I arrived in Moora by train in early June 1947. I soon settled in and few years later married a local girl, Shirley Browne. We had a family of four, Jennifer, Steven, Susan and Mark. In 1959 a new broadcasting medium for transmitting moving images with sound, known as a Television (TV) had come to Western Australia. And so another move occurred due to my interest in electronics. This time, with family in tow, I took on a job to repair TV sets with Urquhart’s Electronic shop in Fremantle, where I remained for the next 35 years.
Keith Hobley Family 1986
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