Johnston Family. Johnston Family.
1909 – Current
Written by P & W Johnston
Percy Heaton Johnston (DOB 1883) arrived from Yarra Junction, Victoria and took up land on March 10th 1909. His first home was on the west side of Davies Road (property now owned by Noonan Family). A pepper tree still stands on the location of the home. He then built his house, which is still occupied today (and owned by Joe Davies) on the east side of Davies Road and this is where is family grew up.
He had two children with his first wife Ann Louise Mew (dec. 1922), May and Edgar. His second partner was Gladys George, (widowed) who had a daughter Daphne. They had four sons, Roy, Clifford, Geoffrey and Donald. Gladys died in Katanning in 1944. Percy remarried in 1945 and he and his wife Flo retired to Perth. He died in 1965 aged 82.
Today those still living in Nyabing are Peter and Wendy (nee Elliott, married 1974). Peter is the son Cliff and Kathleen (nee Ashcroft of Boongadoo, Nyabing, married 1948) and second of four sons. They farm Cliff and Kathleen’s property on Johnston’s Road in conjunction with their own. Peter and Wendy have a son Braden and daughter Megan.
Braden married Kate Gray of Esperance in 2006 and they work in partnership with Peter and Wendy as well as farming their own property. Braden & Kate have two sons, Campbell (born 2007) and Spencer (born 2010). Megan has worked in the Mining Industry since finishing her studies at Curtin University WA in 2004 and has spent time in Perth, Singapore and now in London.
Peter and Wendy now live on their property on Ditchburn/Brays Road Nyabing, (in the Shires of Kent and Dumbleyung). Braden and Kate, with their boys, live on the family farm on Johnston’s Road.
