QUARTERMAINE Rueben Daisy. QUARTERMAINE Rueben Daisy. QUARTERMAINE Rueben Daisy. QUARTERMAINE Rueben Daisy.
Written by Fay Jenkin, Beth Quartermaine and Joy Stonell
This is anecdotal account of Reuben Quartermaine and his family while farming at Nyabing.
Rueben & Daisy Quartermaine
Reuben was born in 1894 and died in 1953. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s his parents, William Frederick and Sarah Quartermaine, lived on a farm south of Nyabing called “Badgeminnup”, which was situated alongside what is now Goodchild Road. They raised twelve children whose names were: Sophie, Ernest, Alicia, Reuben, Ada, Elsie, Clara, William, Percy, Keith, Ruth and Charles.
Rueben & Ern Quartermaine
Sometime before 1920, Edmund Frank (Ted) Goodchild bought “Badgeminnup”. William Quartermaine moved his family to a farm called “Spring Hill” which was on the Warren Road, north east of Katanning.
Reuben acquired and developed Wolfe’s farm on Kuringup South Road, near Reeves Road. In 1917 he married Daisy Gertrude Blundy whose family lived on a nearby farm called “Hazelwood”, which was close to the junction of Chinocup South Road (Titicup Road) and Reeves Road. Daisy’s parents were Alfred and Catherine Blundy.
Les, Rob & Bernard Quartermaine
Daisy and Reuben had seven children. They were Les, Ron, Bernard, Keith, Esma, Bill and Fay. The older children attended Chinocup School which was in the vicinity of “Hazelwood”.
Farm expansion
When Les was old enough to take over this Kuringup South Road Farm, Reuben bought and moved the family to Batt’s farm on the south side of Nyabing-Pingrup Road, close to Nyabing. They lived on this farm until they moved to live on the farm on the opposite side of Nyabing-Pingrup Road, which was even closer to Nyabing. This farm, “Broadacres”, had previously belonged to the Mitchell Family. During this time, the three younger children attended the Nyabing School. Fay remembers; “during 1941-42 our family had tea at Charlie Francis’ home (he owned the local shop) every second Sunday. I can remember myself and brothers and sisters, walking about two miles with a billy of cream on the Saturday morning, so Doris (Charlie’s daughter) could make ice-cream for us. We then walked home again. Francis’ were the only one to have a kerosene fridge as I remember.”
Nov 2nd 1916 – Reuben Quartermaine, Rupert Blundy & Les Blundy
In 1944 Les married Beth Goodchild, whose parents were Ted (E.F.) and Joyce Goodchild. Les and Beth’s four children, Joy, Bernie, Ivan and Errol attended the old Nyabing School, and the new school which is on the current site. Later on Les acquired some extra land which was known as “Rules”. It was situated south of the rabbit fence, near what is now South Quartermaine Road.
Les Quartermaine
War Service
During World War 2, three of Rueben’s sons were accepted for War Service.
Ron Quartermaine. Ron joined the Air Force, and on his return to Nyabing, bought Alfred Blundy’s farm “Hazelwood” on Chinocup South Road. He married Winifred Heaver and raised four children. Tereena and Venita were born before Ron sold his farm and moved out of the district.
Private Bernard Roy Quartermaine WX35821. Bernard enlisted in the army, was killed whilst on active service in Borneo (Balikpapan) on 16th July 1945, aged 23. Through the Australian War Memorial, he was with 2/10th Infantry Battalion [2] and is remembered with honour at the Labuan War Cemetery [2] [3] through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (per notes from Robin Tiffen)
Keith Alfred Quartermaine. On returning from serving time in the Air Force, Keith took over “Broadacres”. He later married and had a daughter, Diane who attended Nyabing School.
Move to Katanning
Rueben, Daisy and the three youngest children then moved to live in Katanning. Rueben bought and farmed “Spring Hill”, the farm his father had once owned. Two of Rueben’s brothers, Percy and Ernest, each owned a farm on the Kuringup Road. Percy’s was on the south side, close to Nyabing while Ernest’s was nearer to Kuringup.
Over the years Les, Ron and Keith sold their farms and moved on. All of the sons, including Bill and one daughter, Esma, are deceased. The sons’ wives and one daughter are still living in various parts of southern Western Australia. Fay and her husband have retired to Albany.
TIFFEN, Robin (nee Quartermaine)
c1900’s-1951
Written by Robin Tiffen (nee Quartermaine)
I was born in 1936 in Katanning to parents Percy John Quartermaine and Grace Evelyn Penberthy (more family notes in the Reuben Quartermaine family story above). My parents were married at St Georges Cathedral [2] in Perth on 9th November 1929. My mother was born in Cue and raised in Perth from the age of 16. My father was born in Katanning and his parents had a farm outside of Katanning. After the wedding they moved to a virgin bush block five miles out of Nyabing. They lived in a tent for six weeks, and then my father went off shearing up north. My mother’s brother came out from Perth to keep my mother company whilst he was away.
When my father returned they started to build a three-roomed house, a dining room and bedroom built of timber and a lean-to kitchen made of corrugated iron which was very hot in summer because of the wood stove. A tin bowl was used for the washing up and the iron for ironing clothes had to be placed on the stove to heat it up.
For water we had a tank used for house water and my father dug a well which was covered in for emergency use. A bucket attached to a rope was used to keep foodstuff and beer cool in summer. For clothes washing we had to use a copper on a wood fire in the backyard. All the clothes were boiled and wrung by hand, and then hung on a wire line propped up in the middle. We just hoped that the prop did not break, because if it did all the clothes would have to be rewashed. We had a vegetable garden, sheep, chooks galore, cows and some pigs.
During WW2 we had rationing. We traded eggs and butter for flour and sugar and other incidentals. The only form of transport during WW2 was the horse and buggy or dray. I can remember my mother taking 24 dozen eggs to town with butter, and me falling backwards onto the eggs!!
A doctor came once a year to immunise all the children in the area. There would be a very long queue of crying children and mothers handing out lollies to keep them quiet. The nearest doctor was 50 miles away at Katanning where the hospital was.
A Minister of different denominations came every three months to the Roads Board Hall to officiate at church services. The Roads Board Hall was also held for meetings and dances.
There was a gravel tennis court about a mile away from the town which comprised of three buildings (the boarding house, the grocery shop and the Roads Board hall plus the railway siding on the opposite side of the road. A train came once a week but, in the cropping season, trains were more frequent as there was a silo next to the siding. During summer, with shortage of water in dams, you were permitted to use water from a communal well which was about a mile from town.
My mother taught me from the age of four by correspondence and, from the age of six, I went to the Nyabing School which was a five-mile bike ride each way. I was too short to sit on the seat so my father took away the seat so I had to peddle all the way. If I wanted a rest I would get off the bike and walk. The school had one teacher with about 20 children from infants to 6th grade all in the one classroom. You received a rap over the knuckle if you didn’t sit up straight or were caught talking in class.
At this stage I started to help around the farm by bringing in the cows and milking them. Also bringing in the eggs from the thousands of chooks we had.
In 1949 we sold the farm to one of the Jury boys and moved into town where we bought the boarding house next to the grocery shop. My father turned the front section of the boarding house into a butcher shop. We also had the petrol bowsers at the front. My mother took boarders in. We lived in town until 1951 when we sold the boarding house and moved to Mundaring in Perth.
I went to high school in Albany and lived at the Priory for three years. After high school I worked as a shop assistant for Boans and then went nursing. Unfortunately I could not stand the sight of blood and only lasted a couple of months. I was then a telephonist at Caris Bros Jewellers, and went to Melbourne to see the Olympic Games in 1956. In 1957, when I was 21, I went to Sydney where I met and married my husband Leon Tiffen. We have a daughter Jane and two sons, Steven and Richard. I now have six grandchildren.
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