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The following are writings from Mr Frank Carter a well respected and admired member of the Cunderdin Community. Full credit to Mr Carter for his wealth of knowledge to make these available
OUR PIONEER DAUGHTERS

Those who knew her were really saddened by the tragic death of Joy BURNS ( nee Elsie Joan HALBERT). She seemed to be almost indestructible and she knew herself that her time left on this earth was limited.

Joy was one of those special group of people who were the daughters of our pioneers who, I believe, deserve special recognition. They are the older daughters of our pioneers who as children experienced the primitive living conditions of that time which were aggravated by the first world war.

Then as young women, young wives, young mothers they were subjected to the problem of harsh economic recession followed by another devastating World War.

For the first two decades of their life many of them would have lived in conditions that now would be considered, sub- standard. Their education was limited but in spite of it all the achieved remarkable maturity at an early age. They became very adapt at home duties and were most helpful in assisting with farm work and other duties.
As wives and mothers they became stalwarts in the local women organisations, they did so much towards improving education and health care and raising the living standards of country families.

It seems to me these 'Elder daughters' of Cunderdin Pioneers deserve recognition. This is no reflection on the younger daughters of our pioneers. They also deserve recognition for the part they have played in the history of Cunderdin.

There are risks in mentioning names of people. It is so easy to overlook important people and make mistakes with names etc. But if there are errors or omissions in this list of people, I hope that someone will act to rectify it. The names here will be those that I know of who were daughters of our Cunderdin Pioneers, born before or very early in the 1914 -18 War and spent a significant part of their adult life in Cunderdin. Married names are in brackets.


Amy AITCHISON (BEARD)
Ettie ARMSTRONG (BAXTER)
Beatrice (Trix) BAXTER (JASPER)
Connie BAXTER (JASPER)
Desma BEARD (PRICE)
Hazel BEARD (RYAN)
Win CARTER (BLYTH)
Ruth CARTER
Ella CARTER (KITTO)
Mary CHATFIELD (BAXTER)
Lil CHATFIELD (FULWOOD)
Gwen DONOVAN (DOHERTY)
Una DONOVAN (MATTHEWS)
Grace EATON (AITCHISON)
Mary Jane EATON (TREASURE)
Nan EDBROOKE (LYNN)
Hilda EGEBURG (LUNDY)
Mabel FIEGERT (KENNEDY)
Joan FLANAGAN (JASPER)
Petrel FULWOOD (JASPER)
Maggie GRAY (McAULIFFE)
Elsie (Joy) HALBERT (BURNS)
Mary (Molly) HERLEY (DENNIS)
Blanche JOHNSON (FULLER)
Olive JOHNSON (WILSON)
Leta KITTO (MATTHEWS)
Mary LUNDY (PEARSE)
dec 1936
Connie McKIE (SNOOKE)
Hilda McWATERS (HEROLD)
Vera McWATERS (DEVENISH)
Eileen MADEW (SMITH)
Mavis PASCOE (GODSMAN)
Rose MILLS (PETTIT)
Agnes REYNOLDS (BYCROFT)
Clara (Tilly) REYNOLDS (JASPER)
Emma SHOOSMITH (SHERINGTON)
Dora WARNECKE (STUBBS)

If anyone should think that they can add to this list or have found a mistake please leave a message in the guest book and let me know and I will try to adjust accordingly.


The first European through the area was Charles Hunt who arrived in 1864 and the following year returned to blaze the track which became known as
'The Old Goldfields Road'. He was followed by Sandalwood cutters and itinerant shephards.

In 1865 one of the early settlers, E. J. Clarkson, was killed by Aborigines and it was decided to establish a police outpost at Youndegin 19km south of the present town.

The police outpost which is still standing, was build out of stone and mud with a thatched roof and a nearby York gum tree was used as the lockup. A constable Allerly was the first police officer in charge of the outpost.

In 1880 Constable Alfred Eaton arrived to take up duties. The goldrush of 1888 saw miners pouring throgh the area on their way to the Goldfields. Eaton, always the entrepreneur, built the Youndegin Arms to cater for passing trade. Amoung the food offered was parrot pie- which was considered somewhat of a delicacy.

It looked at this time as though Youndegin would be the major centre in the area. The arrival of the railway stopped all that. The railway passed to the north of Youndegin and by 1894 (the year the railway arrived) the pub had closed down and Mr Eaton had left the force, taken up land, and become the first farmer in the Cunderdin District.

THANK YOU
A huge thank you to Fairfax http://wwww.walkabout.com.au
and especially Bruce Elder who gave me permission to include the above article that he wrote.

Cunderdin during WW2

A huge thank you to 'Peter Dunn' for allowing me to use the following information that I found on his site 'AUSTRALIA @ WAR' . http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/index.htm

There is more information connected to Cunderdin as well as the rest of Australia. Take a look it's a well informed site.


On 6 February 1945 a German U Boat, U-862, sunk the motor vessel 'Peter Silvester' off the Western Australian coast.
B-24L Liberator, A72-124, ex USAAF No. #44-41657, of 25 Squadron RAAF, piloted by Flying Officer Hannah, was setting out on a third search for survivors, when it crashed after takeoff from Cunderdin airfield in Western Australia on 14 February 1945. The five crew members were killed in the subsequent fire which burnt furiously when the full fuel load ignited. The topped-up bomb bay tanks also fed the fire.

Those killed were:-Sgt. F.J. Naughton,Sgt. R. Higginbottom,Sgt. K.W. Uhr,Sgt. C.R.R. Taylor,F/Sgt. B.J. Johnson.

The cause of the crash was unknown although one private theory was that the squadron had an absolute minimum of training flights.
A72-124 had been delivered to the RAAF on 3 December 1944.
Cunderdin airfield has two bitumen runways. Off the end of one of the runways are the remains of A72-124.
REFERENCE BOOKS
'Tocumwal to Tarakan'
'Australians and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator'
By Michael V. Nelmes

TAXIING ACCIDENT
INVOLVING A LIBERATOR
AT CUNDERDIN AIRFIELD, WA
ON 6 MARCH 1945

A B-24L Liberator, A72-134, ex USAAF No. #44-41510, of 25 Squadron
RAAF, taxied into soft sand off the runway at Cunderdin airfield in Western Australia on 6 March 1945, collapsing the nose wheel.Due to a lack of spare parts in the Squadron, it was converted to components. This aircraft had been delivered to the RAAF in November 1944.
REFERENCE BOOKS
'Tocumwal to Tarakan'
'Australians and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator'
By Michael V. Nelmes

CRASH OF A LIBERATOR
AT CUNDERDIN AIRFIELD, WA
ON 31 JULY 1945

B-24M Liberator, A72-178, ex USAAF No. #44-41967, ran off the runway at Cunderdin airfield in Western Australia on 31 July 1945. It was repaired and returned to service.
It was received by the RAAF on 7 January 1945 and served with 99 and 25 Squadrons RAAF. It was eventually struck off charge in December 1952.
REFERENCE BOOKS
'Tocumwal to Tarakan'
'Australians and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator'
By Michael V. Nelmes

 

 


 

Thought this might be of interest to some.