by Stuart Kells
Yesterday afternoon, and all today, I have been helping to make a cellar. It is nearly all solid rock and is some job.
Friday, 16 November 1922
Today I have been doing the same work as I was doing yesterday. It is very strenuous work.
Last Sunday, Mac (the one next door), Percy Passmoore (another Barwell Boy) and myself spent a very decent afternoon bathing. Mr Matthews lent us his trolley and horse and we drove as far as we could into the marshes. We tied up the horse under a big gum tree and after we had found a suitable creek we went bathing. It was a very hot afternoon and the water was topping.
I am writing this out in the open and am witnessing a glorious sunset. I have never seen anything like it before, a perfect blending of Crimson Lake and purple. It is fast disappearing; there is very little twilight here.
Saturday, 17 November 1922
While I was writing last night, Mr Matthews came and asked me if I would spend the evening with him and during the evening he asked me if I would care to go for a picnic with them on Sunday. I accepted. I intend to try and write a kind of retrospect, so here goes.
Retrospect
Now that the journey is all over I find that I have learnt many things and gained a good deal of experience. On my next voyage my preparations will be very different. I shall leave out many things I took and take many things I either had down in the hold or didn’t take at all.
Well, I have written everything as it came along and in all sorts of different places. I have written when I was ill and when I was well, when I was happy and when I was sad, when nothing was to be seen save the boat and when I was on the top of Lion’s Head.
Of Cape Town: I enjoyed my visit there immensely, but for me it had and always will have the same feelings as a pilgrim has when he reaches his place of pilgrimage. For me it has almost something sacred about it, for it was there that Father lived for some time. All the time I was there I was thinking about Father – if he had seen this, if he has been there, if he had enjoyed this view, and if he had marvelled at the grandeur of the glorious mountains. Yes, I have been privileged to see Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak, Lion’s Head and the Twelve Apostles from practically the same places as the best man I have ever known, and ever will know, saw them. Please do not think that I write these words because I think they might please Father. If you were to see me now you would not think so, you would see that what I wrote I meant.
I am not ashamed to say that while I am writing I am as near crying as anybody ever was and several blurs on the paper are caused by tears. Not the kind of tear that one tries his utmost to squeeze out but the tear that cannot be suppressed. It is not with sorrow, but with admiration and thankfulness. Some people, were they to read this, might say ‘poor fool’. I may be one, but at any rate I am sincere and every word in this diary is true and what I have written I have meant.
The food I am having now is very good indeed, not like the stuff they served us on the boat. One of the boys – Billie Askwith – renamed the soup ‘Galvanized Sea Water’. Quite a good name for it. I will not talk about the three meat meals and the lack of vegetables and fruit. Life in the cabin was terrible. I know two boys who did not come up on deck for three days although they were perfectly fit. Their complaint was laziness; they would not trouble to dress. The ventilation – well, there wasn’t any. I wonder how the Board of Trade allowed it: an eight-berth cabin with no porthole.
Sleep: some boys in our cabin played cards till 4 o’clock in the morning. We very rarely could go to sleep before 1 o’clock. The language was terrible. I have never heard anything like it before. The pillows were so hard that by the end of the voyage I used to get earache nearly every morning. Mr Ker used to give first-aid classes to some of the boys. I learnt quite a lot through them, but the attendance gradually died down to three or four. We also had dancing lessons. Mr Garvie gave them. They were only started near the end of the voyage but were very popular. I tried to learn, but gave it up in despair after my number nines had landed on Mr Garvie’s feet several times.
The albatrosses and petrels were wonderful, but I have said a good deal about them. This also applies to the sunsets.
The arguments in the cabin were terrible and the language used in them worse.
I do not know what I should have done without Mrs Petheram. I was nearly always sitting in one of their deck chairs and I always had afternoon tea with them. I invariably stayed with them, the two Misses Fletchers, and Messrs Garvie, Tyler and Tomlins the whole day.
Well I suppose I had better stop now. I am writing this in my room by candlelight, sitting on the edge of the bed.
[Note: For Richard, the situation on the King block was untenable. He sought a transfer to a nearby block owned by Mr and Mrs Matthews.]
*
Moorook
River Murray
Dec 30th 1922
Dear Mr Cudmore,
Thank you ever so much for your letter which I received last week.
I have thought the matter over very carefully during the past week and I have absolutely decided that I wish to remain on the river and further to stay at Moorook.
I have met a man here, a Mr Matthews, who is willing to have me on his fruit-block.
Mr Matthews has applied for a boy and if it could be arranged for me to be transferred to his place I am sure I should be perfectly happy.
I quite understand that if I am moved to Mr Matthews there are bound to be some unpleasant questions asked, but I don’t think they will worry me very much and, after all it will only last for a short time as the gossipers will soon find a fresh channel to turn their talk into.
Also there is the fact that there will be no expenses incurred if I am transferred locally.
Mr and Mrs Matthews are two of the best and as regards cleanliness, home life and comforts etc. it will be second only to home, which although it is 12,000 miles away it is still home.
There can be no comparison between the King’s and Mr Matthews’ houses although originally they were practically identical the standards you would judge them by are as far apart as the North Pole is from South. To put it shortly where one is spotlessly clean the other is filthy, there is no other word for it.
Mr Matthews is a conscientious worker and, I am sure, as good a boss as you would find in the whole of Australia, exactly the same can be said of Mrs Matthews.
Please excuse this somewhat disjointed letter but at present I have not much time for writing. I rise at 5am and after milking and breakfast I go down to Moorook and cut apricots for another block owner all day. Whatever I earn over 5/- a day I can keep but as I am inexperienced at the job I assure you I don’t earn much. I usually get to the block after 6 oc sometimes after 7 oc, after milking and tea there is not much time for anything also I am pretty tired.
I have only been down there a few days but I shall have to work Sundays the same as ordinary days. You can easily imagine that it is not all perfect here.
Again thanking you for your kind letter
Yours sincerely
R.G.W. Lane
Moorook
River Murray
Jan 8 1923
State Immigration Officer
Dear Sir
In answer to your letter of the 4th inst I have to advise you that farm apprentice Lane has been in my care, we have been helping Mr Duncan of Moorook with an apricot crop. He was unfortunately late in occupying his block and their being no casual labour available I decided to help him as it is Mr Duncan has lost one third of his crop of fruit so it is not doing any one else out of a job and it’s the custom of country people to all help, when one man is in a hole. The lad is not hired to him or fixed any set of wages. If you require further information Mr C. Murdoch of the Bank of Adelaide is the nominee for the Loxton district Council welfare Committee. Your informant or a party to it is trying to make things bad for me; he has had a boy of his own (a Farm Apprentice) and if he requires another one just send a petition form along and it will be signed
by nearly 100 Pl. that no more lads be put under his care.
Trusting this report will be as satisfactory as your informants
I am Sir
Yours faithfully
L.A. King
‘The Warren’ Chowilla Street,
Renmark, S.A.
Telephone No. 43 Renmark
8th January 1923
Immigration Officer
Adelaide
Sir,
I enclose form for lad filled in. If you will let me know the time of arrival of boys I will endeavour to be down to select one or will ask someone in Adelaide to do it for me. As the boy will be entirely in the house and as there is only my wife and self I am anxious to get hold of as nice a lad as possible.
He will be well cared for and looked after and given every opportunity of learning everything about vine culture and fruit growing and if he turns out anything at all it will be a splendid opening for him. Both myself and wife are from England and would like to do the best we can for one of the lads.
Yours faithfully
A.B. Withers
I might mention that I have had a similar trainee through me and you could apply to this Dept. as to the home he would have.
Moorook R M.
Jan 16th 1923.
Mr Victor H. Ryan
Dear Sir,
For about two hours tonight I have been in conversation with Dick Lane the Barwell boy under the employ of Mr L. King of Moorook. What he has revealed to me regarding his experiences in his new home have prompted me to write you to recommend strongly a speedy transfer of the boy if it is within your power. He did not make the first approach to me, but gathering from what I had heard and from the conditions under which he is living I invited him to call in and see me and confide in me.
As far as I can gather the boy is from a very refined home and is highly educated. I know the conditions under which he lives for I have been to his employer’s place many times and as far as Lane’s complaint of filth and dirt is concerned I know he is telling the truth. The house is not fit for people with the ordinary amount of respect for cleanliness to inhabit let alone one of highly sensitive nature.
In addition to the above the boy says for about a fortnight he has been employed off his employer’s block not by choice but by order. But he has had to rise at 5 o’clock daily on these mornings in order to milk cows and perform other duties and to be at his other work by 7 o’clock. having finished the day’s work there he has had to return home and again do milking, and is working after sundown. Also included in the days were Sundays on which he was compelled to work as usual. Now, Sir, I think you will agree with me that such conditions ought not to prevail to provide the lads a healthy and congenial moral and physical environment and is quite out of keeping with the ideals of the Barwell Scheme therefore I do strongly recommend his transfer and that speedily for the boy is eating his heart out.
I am given to understand that it is possible for a transfer to be executed. In that case I have a second recommendation to make. During Lane’s stay here he has become very friendly with his neighbour Mr A.E. Matthews who at one time was employer of MacEwan. Lane’s intercourse with Mr Matthews has led him to attach himself to Mr Matthews who seems to be in temperament similar to Lane. I understand Mr Matthews is very anxious to secure another lad and after conversing with him on the matter I find he is very agreeable to accept Lane as his new boy and as Lane is quite prepared yea even anxious that the transfer be thus effected I strongly urge you to do all in your power to bring it about. I make this recommendation with the greatest of confidence as I am well acquainted with Mr Matthews and know the living conditions well. I can say truthfully that there is not a better place in Moorook that any conscientious boy could be allotted to. The fact of the transfer of MacEwan indicates the man’s high standard of living and having had opportunity to judge Lane as he didn’t MacEwan he is satisfied they will hit it well.
Sir I would make this an appeal as well as a recommendation that the boy be given this chance to prove himself. It is for the boy himself I plead. He cannot stick it much longer in the old place and says he has no other desire than that he be transferred to Mr Matthews. Sir I know you have certain regulations by which to abide, but for the sake of this boy’s happiness and future can you not bend sufficiently to grant this his great desire?
I am sincerely,
Rev. Davis.
DISTRICT COUNCIL OF LOXTON
Loxton, 16th Jan.1923
Mr V.H. Ryan,
State Immigration Officer,
Adelaide.
Dear Sir,
In reply to your letter of the 11th inst., re Farm Apprentice R.G. Lane of Moorook I beg to report as follows:–
Not being personally acquainted with either Mr King or Mr Matthews and having business at Moorook today I interviewed the following gentlemen Messrs. Murdoch and M.J. Herbert and Councillor W.F. Farley, all of these gentlemen reported on similar lines as follows:–
Though perhaps it was against the agreement made to oblige a neighbour Mr King and the lad assisted to take off a crop of apricots to save him a big loss as no other help was available, the lad was learning besides making a little extra for himself. Mr King is known to all the settlers around Moorook as a very fair man and the boy has a good home and will receive all the training necessary in that branch of work whilst under his care.
Mr Matthews is a man of no principle and is only trying to get the boy away from King because he is an extra good boy, and once he got him might treat him well for a month or so and then the boy would be very sorry he changed, neither is he a suitable man to train a boy.
Under no conditions would my informers advise the lad changing from Mr King to Mr Matthews and from what I can gather he is much better off where he now is, but if he were moved I agree with you that it were better if he left Moorook altogether.
Trusting that this information will prove useful,
I remain,
yours faithfully,
A.M. Hillig, Clerk
19 January 1923
Mr R.G.W. Lane
c/o Mr L.A. King
Moorook
Dear Lane,
I regret that circumstances have arisen which prompt you to apply for a transfer.
I have made full enquiries into the matter, and find that Mr King could have given you first class training, but in view of your applications and reports received, I now propose to transfer you from Moorook to Renmark, and have communicated with Mr A.B. Withers asking him to interview you on Thursday next, 25th instant, at Moorook. If satisfactory arrangements can be made between you, Mr Withers will take you back to Renmark with him.
Mr King has been notified that Mr Withers will see you, and should pay you any pocket money due to you up to the time of transfer.
I am sure you will find the surroundings at Renmark congenial in every way. It is one of our most advanced settlements, and a great number of English people are settled there, and altogether the standard of living and the social life are comparable with any part of South Australia.
Yours faithfully,
[R]
State Immigration Officer
19th January 1923
Mr L.A. King
Moorook.
Sir,
It is regretted that there should have been any misunderstanding with regard to farm apprentice Lane, but in view of the fact that the lad is most desirous of a change, I have communicated with Mr Withers, of Renmark, and think it would be advisable to transfer him there.
I have given Mr Withers authority to interview Lane (through you) on Thursday next 25th instant at Moorook, and if a satisfactory arrangement can be made between him and Lane, he will take the boy back to Renmark with him. Lane has been written to this effect.
Will you please pay the lad any pocket money due up to the time of transfer?
Yours faithfully,
[R]
State Immigration Officer
RENMARK
‘
The Warren’ Chowilla Street,
Renmark, S.A.
Telephone No. 43 Renmark
28 January 1923
Mr Ryan
Immigration Dept, Adelaide
Sir,
In accordance with your letter I have today fetched the boy R. Lane from Mr King of Moorook.
Yours faithfully
A.B. Withers
‘The Warren’ Chowilla Street,
Renmark, S.A.
Telephone No. 43 Renmark
5th Feb. 1923
Dear Mr Ryan,
I have just been asked by Mr Withers to sign an agreement, which you sent him, and the length of apprenticeship is stated as two years and nine months. When I signed an agreement in England the term of apprenticeship was stated as not less than twelve months and not more than three years.
I do not intend to sign an agreement for two years and nine months, make it nine months and I will be perfectly satisfied.
When I signed an agreement for apprenticeship with Mr King, in Adelaide, I had no opportunity of reading, and therefore, I had no idea of what it contained, in fact I did not know that it was an agreement at all.
I do not object to the government keeping my money for me until I am twenty-one, and if you will send me an agreement for apprenticeship with Mr Withers for nine months I will be quite satisfied and sign it with pleasure.
I take this opportunity of thanking you for the great interest you took in my removal and the orderly manner in which it was conducted.
Yours sincerely
R.G.W. Lane
12th February 1923
Mr R.G.W. Lane,
c/o Mr A.B. Withers,
Renmark
Dear Lane,
In reply to your letter of 5th instant, I have to advise that the document signed by you in England, and endorsed by your father, and which I have in my possession, distinctly states that you agree ‘to serve as an apprentice to the farming business for a period not exceeding three years, as may be determined by the said Government’. You could hardly expect to gain a thorough knowledge of horticulture or any other branch of agriculture in one year, could you? The original agreement with Mr King was for three years, but on transfer to Mr Withers, a new one was prepared for two years and nine months, as you had already served three months at Moorook. I do not understand your reference to ‘not less than 12 months’, as this does not appear in the document at all. I must accordingly ask you to comply with the Regulations and sign the agreement forthwith, so that you may be legally apprenticed.