Devondale Progeny: The Keilambete Births

 Few home comforts were present when James and Ellen Chard arrived in the Framlingham district during the autumn of 1866. For the past six months James had been dividing his time between Cooramook (harvesting his Mary's Vale wheat) and building a habitable homestead on the newly acquired Wilson [1] Garvoc / Keilambete estate. This residence needed to accommodate their four growing children and a fifth on the way.

 The new homestead called Devondale included a substantial stone cool room for the maturing of cheese replicating a technique used by his Tooram neighbour John Orlebar.

 Orlebar, an English cheesemaker of repute, had, in May 1862, purchased John McMahon Allan's Tooram [2] estate and had become quite successful producing prize cheeses from his small factory. James Chard’s operation would, in time, be equally successful.

 The Chard’s first child born in their new home was daughter Margaret.

 Margaret Wilson (1866 – 1936)

 Named after her 66 year old maternal grandmother (who died 1873 in Purnim), Margaret’s birth was registered in Woodford at the time when the Chards were establishing their Keilambete roots.

 Those most affected by the move were the Chard's older children who were well established in classes at the Purnim Catholic School [3]. For little Maggie however the daily buggy ride of just under 10km always culminated in a visit to - and most likely a treat from - her grandmother and uncle in the Dowie general store [4]. Luckily for Margaret, her education occurred at the newly opened Framlingham State School [5] - a journey easily undertaken on foot with her 8 year old sister Mary.

 From these early days, when Mary had taken Maggie under her wing, a close bond had formed which became a triumvirate with the addition of new brother, James Atkins Junior in 1869. The three were inseparable through their secondary schooling in Terang, growing into young adulthood sharing friendships with their close neighbours.

 Twenty year old Maggie was Mary’s bridesmaid / witness [6] when she married John Williams in the Terang Presbyterian church in 1886. Maggie however – even though she may have caught the bridal bouquet – did not follow her sister’s path. She performed home duties and became her mother’s close confidante, following her sisters’ departure and her father’s increased unreliability.

 Maggie’s prospects as a wife and mother were likely linked to - and possibly jeopardized by - the trials and tribulations of Devondale’s unexpected demise. At only 23, a combination of events dramatically affected her life. Dairy farming was struggling, the country was in depression – the like of which had not previously been experienced – and her father was gambling uncontrollably.

 Sadly Maggie was overwhelmed by these events and attempted suicide in the dam behind the farmhouse. Luckily her brother James was on hand to rescue her.

 Life for Devondale’s occupants was never quite the same after that near tragedy, and when young James took up the chance to farm some Williams’ land, Maggie felt a heavy burden of responsibility for the family’s imminent future.

 Mother Ellen was not coping well with all the financial stress and when younger sons David and John departed Devondale to seek their own destiny in the late 1890’s, she and Maggie were left to cope with an increasingly cantankerous alcoholic husband and father.

 Ellen’s physical and Maggie’s mental health deteriorated in the next decade and when her mother died in 1919, Maggie became seriously depressed.

Feeling alone and abandoned and not having the strength or willpower to cope with her father, Maggie once again returned to the farmhouse dam. This time, brother William saved her from suicide.

 It was clear that the family needed to seek professional help so, with a referral from Terang’s Doctor Weir, Maggie and her sister Janet headed for Melbourne and the expertise of the Royal Park psychiatry facility.

 After her father’s death in 1924, the family encouraged their 57 year old sister to return home under the strict supervision of her siblings and watchful eye of the family doctor. Together with her younger spinster sister Janet they managed to keep the Devondale “home fires” burning during the next decade although the loss of two of her older siblings took a mental toll. Now also suffering from chronic pleurisy, Maggie found herself back at Royal Park by the autumn of 1936. Here she passed away – suddenly – on Anzac Day.
The Terang Express registered the death of Margaret Wilson Chard (left) and the subsequent expression of gratitude (right) from the family to all those who paid tribute to her passing.


Margaret Wilson Chard was 53 when this formal family portrait was taken in a South Melbourne studio. In what the Terang Express regarded as “local news”, Margaret’s passing was recorded by this substantial (for a woman) obituary.

James Atkins (1869 – 1948)

 Whilst Margaret Wilson Chard’s life witnessed the development of dairy farming procedures, her younger brother James’ life most certainly spanned the evolution of the industry.

 Having been born into the small home factory system James was raised on the bartering system of trade, exchanging their home-made dairy goods and their bacon for the storekeeper’s fixed-price groceries and farm wares. He grew up realizing that his family, like all the other dairy farming families in the district, were the poor men of primary industry.

 Sadly the primary producers – the dairy farmers – were not terribly proficient in butter handling and product marketing. The market price for the best butter [7] was a mere 9d a pound - a price rarely achieved in the late 1880's. A more realistically achievable price was 1-2d for a product that would deteriorate quickly before reaching the marketplace.

 On March 1st 1888 a Warrnambool Chamber of Commerce was formed to consider what could be done to help the dairy industry, agreeing that a possible solution was to support a commercial factory system that would manufacture and market butter and cheese on behalf of all participating dairy farmers.

 Whilst some enterprises had already started in Gippsland, the western district's first co-operative was formed at Cobden [8] where a factory became operational on October 22nd 1888 one month ahead of the much vaunted Allansford [9] set up.

THE WARRNAMBOOL CHEESE AND BUTTER FACTORY
Contrary to its official title the original cheese making business commenced as a small factory operation at Tooram estate by John Orlebar in the late 1860's. The Tooram estate was regarded as having the best milking herd in the district at the time and the dairy items produced by Orlebar received the highest accolades at local and Melbourne Exhibitions.

Cheese and Butter Manufacture: Early Days.
Left: Thomas McLeod Palmer is pictured with his crew of Chinese labourers.
Right: The modernised Allansford factory with its Warrnambool cooperative employees.
Images courtesy of The Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory.

In 1872 Orlebar sold Tooram to Thomas McLeod Palmer and the land became incorporated in the township known as Allansford. Palmer expanded his cheese making during the next decade employing Chinese labourers to perform the manual milk separation. This association proved unsuccessful and his plans for a factory expansion were temporarily thwarted.

 In 1882 Palmer sponsored the arrival of cheese makers from Switzerland [10] with the intent to incorporate their traditional methods thus increasing the quantity and quality of his cheese.

 Palmer was a highly respected entrepreneur but an unfortunate businessman, perhaps a victim of the depressed price of dairy products at the time. His Allansford enterprise was sold to the Warrnambool cooperative in 1888. Rebranded and significantly modernised the new factory can be seen above.

 Thomas McLeod Palmer was not lost to the industry however as he quickly found a new business partner - one with significant resources and proven business acumen, William Rutledge Jnr. Together they built and launched the Farnham Butter Factory in Dennington / Woodford on August 24th 1889.

 Allansford’s daily milk intake began with only 300 gallons [7] but within a month this had increased nearly threefold, thus overwhelmingly supporting the co-operative business model. During the next three years co-operative factories became operational in Woodford / Dennington (The Farnham Butter Factory) [11], Grassmere (The Grassmere Cheese and Butter factory) [12], and Framlingham / Ellerslie (The Framlingham and Ellerslie Cheese and Butter factory) [13]. In the case of Rutledge’s Farnham, less than nine months after it opened, the co-operative was sold [7] and 1100 shares were immediately taken up, significantly enhancing the reputation of Farnham butter.

As a young teenager James wasn’t terribly close to his older brothers Thomas and Adam but shared the farm’s workload for the sake of keeping the Devondale dairy viable. However, when Thomas married and departed for Melbourne and with Adam absent most of the time riding track work, 19 year old James suddenly found himself embroiled in a financial mess of his father’s making.

 Up until this time his father’s surreptitious indulgence in alcohol and gambling had been treated with “a blind eye”, his debts being covered by the sale of livestock and small packets of land.

 This situation changed for the worse on Melbourne Cup Day 1889 when he wagered 2000 gold sovereigns [14] on the revered and much fancied Carbine to win the big race. When Carbine finished second to Bravo, an 8:1 outsider, not only had he forfeited the family savings but James Chard had literally "lost the farm".

 To James’ mother Ellen the news was devastating. She still had two young children (Janet 10 and Frederick 8) and their dire financial situation had reached their creditor’s ears. The wolves were at the door. The immediate crisis was averted with the sale of son Adam’s Dairy Lane farm to Charlie Clifford [6] but this was just a stop gap measure. There was no escaping the fact that Devondale would have to be mortgaged to repay their debt.

 For James Jnr., life at Devondale was barely tolerable. His brother Adam, who was now the eldest sibling at home, had returned to manage “Chard Brothers” – a business name responsible for what remained of the family assets. Adam’s interests however lay in horse racing, spending more time on their neighbours’ training tracks than farming duties at Devondale.

A year later, on turning twenty one, James (pictured left) recognised the need to earn a labourer’s wage and when his brother-in-law James Williams asked him to manage his small 20 acre property on the Ellerslie / Framlingham road, a new lifestyle commenced. James was employed and earning a wage for the first time in his life.

 Although his sister Mary had grown up on the family’s dairy, her husband James preferred sheep, cattle and horses – especially horses. This suited James Chard Jnr. for, at this point in his life, he wished to disassociate himself from dairying and its connections to Devondale’s demise.

 Like his father before him James Chard Jnr. started accumulating a little extra money working as a carter. Whereby forty years ago his father had carried goods inland from the shipping warehouses of Belfast and Warrnambool, bulk goods were now beginning to be transported by rail.

With the line between Terang and Warrnambool [15] barely a year into its operation, goods could now be delivered to the Garvoc siding. Part of James’ regular routine was to be at the Garvoc station awaiting the Melbourne train. With his wagon fully loaded he would make deliveries to the more inaccessible farms of Laang, Purnim, Ellerslie, The Sisters and Framlingham.
THE PROBLEM WITH RABBITS ....
In his daily deliveries around the district James Chard became acutely aware of the changed landscape. Every paddock he passed was pockmarked with rabbit burrows. The western district – particularly properties within the Portland, Hamilton, Colac and Warrnambool shires – was infested with the destructive animals. Even though the Queensland and Victorian Parliaments had legislated ten years previously to force landholders to destroy all rabbits on their farms and stations it wasn't until 1890 – when numbers were in plague proportions – that the Vermin Destruction Act was enacted making it illegal to aid the spread of the pest.

 Paradoxically James found himself on both sides of this situation. In 1891 he was summoned before the Panmure Court of Petty Sessions [16] on a charge of not destroying rabbits on his land. Admitting to the charge he was fined £2 with £1 costs. In truth James was simply too busy earning a living destroying rabbits for those willing to pay for his services.

 A rabbit preserving and canning factory had been in operation at Colac [17] since 1871 but it was only now, with the arrival of the railway, that James seized upon a business opportunity.

Photograph courtesy of the National Trust and published in The Herald and Weekly Times.

This is not James Chard pictured but one of his rabbit trapping brethren in the early 1900’s.

Much has been made of the adage that Australia “rode on the sheep’s back”, but whereas wool exports provided wealth to a significant number of graziers, that money landed in the pockets of the privileged few. The rabbit industry on the other hand provided a steady cash income to all levels of the farming spectrum. For the trapper during the 1890s, carcass prices fetched 3d a pair whilst the skins were worth between 1.5d and 10d a pound [18]. During this time Victoria exported between 6 million carcasses – mostly canned at the Colac factory – and 10.5 million skins a year.

By 1901 – the year of Federation – James had managed to save a little money and had caught the attention of 19 year old Annie Blain.



James Atkins Chard Junior married Annie Sommerville Blain on the 19th September 1901. The official certificate – referencing the “state” of Victoria rather than “colony” – is witnessed by James’ younger brother David and Annie’s elder sister Jessie.
Whilst the ceremony was held at the Blain family home, this formal photograph was taken at a Warrnambool studio.

Prior to marriage, life for the 32 year old James had been basic at best; his humble abode barely a grade above a lean-to. Much needed to be done to accommodate his new 19 year old bride – especially one pregnant with their first child.

 Vera Annie Ellen (1902 – 1985) was welcomed into the world on the 31st May 1902.


A Maternal Bloodline –Vera Annie Ellen Chard celebrates her first birthday.
Left to Right: The mother, Annie Sommerville Chard (nee Blain), the great grandmother Agnes Sommerville (nee McFarlane), the grandmother Jane Blain (nee Sommerville).

During the next two years [19, 20] the Chards struggled. Whilst James travelled the countryside trapping rabbits, Annie, now with a toddler in tow, was fortunate to retain her position as housekeeper to Framlingham's bachelor Presbyterian minister Stewart Byron. The minister had a link to the couple as it was through his church that they met and it was he that was called upon to solemnise their wedding vows.

 The couple’s tiny West Framlingham residence became stretched to its limits when son Fred James (1904 – 1984) arrived and quickly became intolerable when Annie fell pregnant with Ina Jean (1906 – 1999) six months later. It was at this time that fortune favoured the Chards. Their good friend, Framlingham blacksmith John “Jake” Arundell, had recently purchased some Black land on the Glenormiston Dalvui estate and was looking for a short term tenant for his sub-division. Annie and James immediately seized upon the opportunity of a larger residence, and while James set off to purchase a couple of dairy cows, Annie and her children loaded up the family's wagon with all their furniture and headed to Mount Noorat.

 This relocation was only temporary however and something more permanent needed to be found. Daughter Vera unwittingly became the catalyst for solving this problem. She was now at primary school age but a birth defect of the hand severely curtailed her smooth integration into regular classes. Fate dictated a solution on two fronts. Terang Primary school was advertising for a teaching assistant for the 1907 school year so Annie, given that she would be needed to assist her daughter with her early writing exercises anyway, applied for the role. An added bonus for the successful applicant was the tenancy of a small farming plot [21] with homestead, owned by the school secretary Owen Gorman, on the Noorat-Terang road. For the next two years Annie the teacher, and Vera the student, headed off to school together.

 Vera developed into an excellent student and, despite her disability, became a teacher like her mother.

 During Annie’s teaching tenure, husband James had taken up a position as manager [22] of the Terang Butter Factory. However life changed when Annie fell pregnant again.

 Their fourth child Doris Blain (1909 – 1995) was born at their new residence - a small farming plot on McKinnons Road Glenormiston South (East Noorat) - acquired as leasehold [23] from Archibald Black. Named The Ranch this would be the Chard home for the next 40 years.

Annie Chard, the teacher and her three children (from left) Vera, Ina and Fred taken professionally in a Terang studio to mark the occasion of Ina’s first birthday in 1907.

Now with a new house, a new baby and a two year old infant, teaching for Annie became impossible especially since The Ranch was quite a deal further from the Terang School.

 James however remained employed in Terang until the last months of 1910, when his managerial role become redundant after the smaller Terang butter factory [24] was taken over by the recently built Glenormiston Noorat enterprise.

 James did however continue as a factory manager taking up duties at the Mortlake Butter Factory and Electric Light Company [22] – an appointment which was short lived as the daily commute from East Noorat to Mortlake became quite taxing.

 Whilst the family had been expanding in number, so had the animals under James’ care. Besides the obligatory milkers, James reared and tended horses, pigs and a plethora of poultry.

 Like his father, he had a strong bond with animals and a gift when it came to their veterinary needs. These traits saw him become Terang’s pound keeper in 1914 [25], a job which he held for nearly eighteen months [26].

 His most prized equine acquisition was an Alex Rollo stable pony mare which he named Bessie. The mare became Annie’s when she commenced her teaching duties as she needed her own means of transportation.

 Bessie became a family institution living to see all the Chard children married and indeed only predeceasing her master by a bare six months.

In 1911 the Chard children, Fred aged 7, Ina aged 5 and Vera aged 9 along with Doris aged 2 (inset) are photographed at “The Ranch” astride their pony Bessie. These images, taken by Terang’s professional photographer, were for an article published in the local Noorat church newspaper “The Recorder”.
Bessie’s longevity warranted her own obituary published in the Camperdown Chronicle in 1947.

The war years impacted heavily on many of the prime producers in the western district with fit young sons abandoning the chores of the land for what was generally perceived at the time as “an adventure” - Annie’s younger brother Rupert being one of the throng.

 None of James’ younger brothers – probably because they were considered too old – signed up, choosing instead to support their ailing mother at home on Devondale’s vastly reduced land.

 During these troubled times Annie busied herself supporting the local Red Cross effort [27] and through its network became regularly called upon as the district midwife.

Left: James Chard Jnr. snapped at The Ranch with Annie’s Kodak camera to capture the event of her husband’s first day as the Terang pound keeper, his hat band bearing the insignia of his responsibility to the community.
Centre: On January 24th 1917, The Warrnambool Standard announced the occasion of James’ parents Diamond Wedding anniversary. Whilst the article paints a bright picture of the couple’s health and wellbeing, the reality of their situation at Devondale at this time was the complete opposite.
Right: James Chard Jnr. and his mother Ellen snapped at Devondale on the occasion of her 80th birthday, 23 March 1919. Close examination of Ellen’s left eye and cheek show that she had recently suffered from a serious stroke, a condition which took her life in November of the same year.

With daughter Ina taking the reins, Annie the midwife sets off from The Ranch in 1924.

Left: James and Annie Chard pictured with their maturing children – Doris (front), Vera (middle left), Ina (middle right) and Fred (back) - in 1921.
Right: The youngest Chard girls – Doris (left) and Ina (right) are pictured with family friend and eminent author Alan Marshall [28] in 1926.

ALAN “I CAN JUMP PUDDLES” MARSHALL
William Alan Marshall was born the same year as Vera Chard and although they started their primary schooling in different centres - Vera at Terang and Alan at Noorat - their world's came together in 1909 under the tutelage of Annie Baird (no relation) at Noorat State School. Both children had their own cross to bear, Vera a severely deformed right hand (a birth defect) and Alan, poliomyelitis, which he had contracted a year earlier. Both youngsters were undaunted by their afflictions and gained confidence from each other's incremental triumphs.

 The following year the two headed off together to the Terang Higher Elementary School but whilst Vera flourished academically Alan spent two troubled years, finally quitting school to work with his parents William and Addie (Adameina) in the Noorat general store. It was during this time that the Chard and Marshall families became very close, given that a daily visit to the general store after school - particularly for the younger Ina and Doris - was rewarded with a treat.

 As the Chard children matured Alan's painful convalescence was part of their daily life, sharing most of their adolescent activities. With Fred he went rabbiting and rambling through the bush on his crutches. With Ina he learned to swim and with Doris he learned to ride. In fact it was Doris who fared worst on one day's riding adventure when attempting to get Alan up on her pony's back, fell off herself, badly chipping one of her front teeth.

 Seeking a quieter lifestyle, William and Addie Marshall sold up their Noorat store and moved to the outer Melbourne district Diamond Creek, William becoming an orchardist. For Alan this move was short lived for he was back in Noorat by the early 1920's using it as a base (bookkeeping / accounting for dairy farmer Angus John Gillies Jnr.) to travel the countryside with a view to research background for his future writings. He now had independent means (his own specially modified car). Alan’s final farewell to Noorat and the Chard family came on the occasion of Ina’s wedding in 1929.

Doris, Fred and Alan Marshall head off to the Noorat gymkhana in 1928.
Alan Marshall pictured with his sports car at The Ranch in 1929.

It was through all these adventures that, in later years, Alan chose – in his own words – ‘to record life as it really was’ from the perspective of one physically disadvantaged - hence the 1955 best seller I Can Jump Puddles. Most of the characters depicted in this book are fictitious except for the girl named Maggie Mulligan who was created out of his close affection for and relationship with Doris Chard.

Recovering from the depression of the early 1920's, the latter years of the decade provided joy and optimism for the Chards of East Noorat. Eldest daughter Vera, having finished her teaching diploma in Warrnambool, commenced a three year position at Noorat’s State School. In 1927 she was reassigned to Banyena South State School where she met Raluana [29] farmer Charles Harberger (1902 – 1981). The Harbergers, original from Rhymney, had moved into the Banyena area in the spring of 1926. Charles, their eldest son married Vera in Terang in 1928. Children Keith and Lorna - James and Annie Chard's first grandchildren - were born in the next two years during the couple’s brief farming sojourn back in the Rhymney / Great Western district. Another granddaughter Doris followed in 1939, born at Raluana after the Harberger's had returned to settle in the Banyena district.

 In September 1929, a year after Vera’s marriage, second daughter Ina married Noorat butcher Alfred Lewis (1901 – 1951). The Lewis family, originally from Aringa [30], had moved into the Noorat district at about the same time as the Chards. To the delight of the growing Chard children, the Lewis’ ran the Noorat butcher shop (around the corner from Marshall’s general store), Murray Lewis (Alf’s older brother) having taken over the business previously owned by Joseph Bradshaw, a Terang merchant and storekeeper. Ina and Alf had one child, Neville born in 1933 and together with Alf’s brother Ron - who managed the neighbouring Montgomery and Bradshaw owned Noorat grocery, traded until Alf’s ill health forced their premature retirement.

 The beginning of the next decade heralded the wedding of James and Annie’s only son Fred, the bride being Margaret (1903 – 1992), the youngest daughter of Glenormiston South dairy farmers Archibald and Mary McLeod. The young couple’s grandparents – the Chards of Cooramook and the McLeods of Ballangeigh - had been close neighbours back in the pioneering days of the 1850’s. Although both had been raised with a dairying heritage Fred took a liking to rearing pigs, a trait that came about when his uncle John provided a birthday gift of a litter from his own prizewinning Berkshire herd. Even before his marriage Fred, was selling Berkshire’s out of The Ranch [31]. By 1929 he was the leading Berkshire breeder in the state picking up the championship [32] at the Royal Melbourne Show and within the next two years had developed his trademark Wilalibee blood line. The name Wilalibee became their East Noorat (and later Kolora) stud name where they raised two children Neil and Marion.

 Show competition was not solely Fred’s domain however as younger sister Doris paraded her prowess aboard her horse King Douglas [33] in local jumping and dressage events. Doris shared her father’s love for horses and it was quoted in family circles that “she might have been born in a saddle”. From the age of eight at the Terang Empire Day Carnival [34] through to the sixteen year old who jumped hurdles at the 1926 Noorat Annual Guild Sports [35], Doris, of all James’ children was the one who most shared his passion for horses. Doris’ other love was automobiles and at the outbreak of the Second World War she headed for Melbourne to take up a position as a driver with the Women's Auxiliary Services. Here she met future husband Russell Mathews (1911 – 1977). The couple married as war ended in 1945 and settled in Melbourne with their son, Douglas.

In 1935 Annie Chard, with daughters Vera (left) and Ina (right) is pictured with her first three grandchildren Lorna 5, Neville 2 and Keith 7. Youngest daughter Doris is pictured in competition, aboard her horse King Douglas at the inaugural Noorat Show.

Left: Doris Chard and her beloved father on the occasion of her wedding on the 14th April 1945.
Right: Obituary of James Atkins Chard Jnr. published in the Terang Express.

In 1943 James, now seventy five, retired from dairy farming relinquishing his leasehold on The Ranch. Daughter Ina and son-in-law Alf had lived in a Noorat cottage Glenview since their marriage but now with the butcher shop residence available Alf sold the cottage to his father-in-law. James and Annie moved to Glenview with two cows (which he milked on the common land outside his new home) three hundred chickens and Bessie the pony. There was also a small orchard of fruit trees whose maintenance would keep the retiree fully occupied.

 Since leaving Devondale this Noorat cottage was the first property he actually owned, having foresworn that he would never put his family in the bailiff’s hands like his father had done previously in 1889. For James Chard property ownership was short as he died of a heart attack on the 24th of February 1948.

 For Annie her husband’s death was one of seven tragic losses in a short space of time, starting with her closest sister (Janet Caldow Blain), her two brothers (Rupert and Leslie) and her two brothers-in-law (William and Frederick). However it was the sudden and unexpected loss of son-in-law Alf Lewis on the 7th September 1951 that affected her the most.

 Mother and daughter were now widows.

 Capable though she was, the heavy duty labour required of a slaughterman proved too difficult for Ina forcing her to relinquish the business and the accompanying residence. Returning to her previous home Glenview was an easy choice and a fortuitous one as Annie’s health deteriorated to the point where she became a bed-ridden invalid during the last decade of her life.

 Annie survived James by almost twenty years, passing away on June 13th 1967. They are buried together in the Terang Cemetery.

David George Dowie (1871 – 1939)


David George Dowie Chard was just nineteen when confronted with the stark realization that Devondale was bankrupt.
He had barely turned twenty one when he realised that his livelihood, and that of his parents and younger siblings was in the hands of mortgagees.


 The Camperdown Chronicle of May 28th 1892 published the notice of a public auction to be held at Devondale on the 1st day of the following month. As shown above, Lots included five packages of land, 180 head of cattle – 100 being prime milkers, nearly 200 head of pure Lincoln sheep, 20 horses – including prized stallion Guy Mannering, and a number of pure Berkshire pigs. All farm wagons, implements and dairy paraphernalia were included.

 David and his family witnessed all of their possessions change hands on this day. The only blessing was that Lots 1 and 2 comprising of the homestead’s 600 acres remained unsold [36]. The mortgage however, previously held by Freckleton and McCallum of Port Fairy and Terang changed hands, the new owners being Barrow Brothers of Geelong.
Circumstances deteriorated further towards the end of the year when The Camperdown Chronicle of November 17th 1892 (right) published the notice of a public auction in Colac on the following day.

 Devondale Farm, now only comprising homestead Lots 1 and 2 were again being offered to the public. This time the property was sold to John Hyland [39], the Chard’s nearest neighbour for the past 20 years.

 In an act of neighbourly goodwill Hyland allowed the Chards to remain in their home provided that they could keep abreast of the mortgage payments.

 As mentioned previously, Devondale's mortgagees were Barrow Brothers of Geelong, represented by their solicitor Thomas Francis Lyon. The Camperdown Chronicle of the 6th November 1894, published the Mortlake Shire Council's minutes of their meeting held on the 2nd November, and within the record that the name of Ellen Marion Chard [37] be inserted in lieu of Thomas Francis Lyon in the Mortlake Shire rate book.

 Now with the responsibility of maintaining the Devondale roof over their heads, David and John set off in search of employment leaving siblings Margaret and William to manage what little remained of "the farm".

 David fortunately found a position as stock manager [38] on the Noorat farm of Henry and Frederick Coy.

 It was in this position that David, on May of 1904, became involved in what The Camperdown Chronicle of the day described as “the longest case that has ever been heard in the Terang Court of Petty Sessions”. The crime of alleged cattle theft by two well-known local stock dealers occurred under David’s stewardship at Coy’s farm. Although no complicity was suggested by the court in its findings, David and his business relationship with the Coy’s was swiftly terminated.

 For the next six months David and brother John worked as labourers [20] in the Terang / Noorat district and by the spring of 1905 had raised sufficient funds to form a partnership with West Garvoc farmer Edmond Allan. Earlier in January of the same year their parent’s landlord John Hyland had died and portions of his land holdings were being offered for lease. The Camperdown Chronicle [39] of September 26th states that Devondale’s 300 acres [40] were “leased at 17 shillings and 6 pence per acre to Chard Bros and E Allan”.

 At least the Chard’s now had a formal leasing arrangement rather than relying on the largesse of an accommodating neighbour. Although their land and property was owned by others they were paying rent on a homestead they had created.

 The partnership with Edmond Allan also involved land previously owned by the Chards.

 In the first auction in 1892 William McConnell, a retired dairyman from Warrnambool, acquired Lot 4; 27 acres of first class dairying land situated at the junction of Coyles Lane and Dairy Lane. McConnell's wife had died the previous year and this West Garvoc purchase basically enabled him to live as a neighbour to his widowed daughter-in-law and seven grandchildren. Now called Razorback this land also shared a boundary to the Allan Estate [19] and when William McConnell passed away on the 19th December 1905, Terang stock and land agent William Baxter snapped it up. By the spring of 1906 Allan (Snr.) had negotiated a two year lease with Baxter ceding control to his son Edmond and his partners, the Chard boys. The Allan interest in Razorback was brief but the land remained Chard leasehold for decades.

 David and John might not have restored the Chard family prestige but a modicum of “face” had been saved much to their elder sister Mary’s delight.

 This situation radically changed during the following year when David became involved with Margaret Rees, the recently turned 18 year old niece of Thomas and Bessie Rees – his sister Mary and brother-in-law’s elderly tenants at The Ridge. Thomas Rees, an artisan saddler, had a close association with the Williams family since their arrival in Keilambete back in the 1870’s.

 So whilst the Razorback acquisition was widely celebrated; the news of the Rees girl’s pregnancy caused angst. After consultation with his closest confident – sister Mary – David proposed [41] to “Maggie” Rees in September 1907 promising to marry once he could remove himself from the Razorback contract (which was to be renewed in November) with his brother and partner Edmond Allan.

 Maggie had her own personal issues at this time. She had lost her father in 1904 [42] and now having become aware of her mother’s imminent death [43] was faced with being seven months pregnant whilst being the provider for her five younger siblings. Uncle Thomas and Auntie Bessie were aged 74 and 76 respectively and both were severely incapacitated. Her only avenue for support was through the father of her unborn child.
When baby daughter Janet arrived on the 19th of November, David provided that support – albeit through a court order. Maintenance of 7s/6d per week was awarded [44] on the 17th of December.

 Although a financial resolution was not in everyone’s best interest, what happened next was quite bizarre - so bizarre in fact that the case was reported in nearly every newspaper across Australia.

 On January 15th 1908 David George Dowie Chard became the leading suspect [45] in a most unusual police investigation. On February 5th David was arrested [46] pending further police investigations and on the 18th of February, following a Supreme Court trial in Warrnambool, was convicted [41] of "attempting to cause poison to be administered (to a child) with intent to murder".

 David (pictured here) was sentenced [47] to 4 years and 11 months at His Majesty’s pleasure [48].

 David had barely served the first twelve months of his sentence when Warrnambool’s electoral roll [49] has Margaret Rees (home duties) registered as sharing a Princess Street address with 23 year old labourer George Barnett.

 With one year’s remission David was discharged [47] on the 4th March 1911 and immediately set off for the home he remembered, Razorback. Brother John who had carried the management burden almost singlehandedly welcomed his return – a gesture which immediately put him offside with family members at Devondale, sister Mary and brother-in-law James Williams at The Ridge and sister Lal and brother-in-law George Baird at Fairview. Brother James and sister-in-law Annie at The Ranch in East Noorat chose a neutral position in what loomed as a serious family rift.

 Whilst David had been in prison John had established a piggery. Now with David’s return a small dairy herd could be re-established. As a partnership they worked together at Razorback for the next twenty years.

 The year 1930 however sees the parting of the fraternity when for some unknown reason - at the age of 60 - David abandons Razorback and takes up dairying on a property in Oswells Lane Boorcan [50]. He remained there for a further nine years until on September 4th 1939 – the day Britain and its allies declare war on Germany – David hangs himself [51, 52] next to his milking sheds.

 Answering a call from the Camperdown police, brother James is summoned from East Noorat to identify the dangling corpse and following the obligatory inquest, David’s body was set to rest in the Terang cemetery.

OUTCAST AND CAST OUT
At the time of his demise David was alone. He had been alone without any family connection for nearly a decade. Today’s psychiatrists believe that loneliness is the strongest precursor to depression and the greatest factor influencing suicide rates.

 At best it is fair to assume that at 68 years of age David was mentally fragile and that – perhaps – the world-changing news he’d heard on his milking-shed wireless was sufficient to tip him over the edge.

 What is known however is the fact that David’s body was subsequently laid to rest in the Terang Cemetery, not in the Chard’s Presbyterian family plot, but in an area allocated to the Church of England brethren. Given that brother James was the person most directly involved with David’s death and the family elder, it’s logical that the burial site location was his responsibility.

 It could be construed that at the time of David’s death, there was no room in the family crypt but this theory is baseless as his unmarried younger siblings William Walter and Janet Fraser both were subsequently laid to rest beside their parents.It is clear that despite what he achieved in securing the Chards tenure at Devondale, David was branded a family pariah for most of his life and ostracised even at his death. His registered grave site remains unmarked to this day.

 Maggie Rees married George Barnett at the Warrnambool Presbyterian Church on 13th April 1910. Her daughter Janet (1907 – 1954) became sister to Elizabeth Eleanor (1911 – 1977), Charlotte Mary (1913 – 1961), George William (1915 – 1954) and Mavis Minnie (1922–1974) all born in Melbourne. Margaret Barnett died at Moonee Ponds in 1948.


John Atkins (1875 – 1942)

 John’s early life followed a similar path to that of his brother David. Both were severely affected by Devondale’s collapse in 1892 and as the most senior males still residing on the estate, felt obliged to stabilize the situation for their mother and younger siblings.

 With only a handful of cows to milk and a few pigs to feed, chores left in the hands of the youngsters, 18 year old John and 21 year old Dave set off to seek employment as labourers. The first electoral roll of the district in 1903 records the brothers in Noorat and Terang respectively.

 By 1905 they were both in a strong enough financial situation to form a business partnership - aptly rekindling the Chard Brothers trading name.

 After nearly thirteen years of graft and thrift the Devondale Chards had regained some self-respect in their community.

 Unfortunately, as we have learnt from David’s story, this situation deteriorated very rapidly and although John was not directly involved in his brother’s alleged crime he was indirectly implicated in the police investigation. At his brother's trial [44] the crown prosecutor presented the court with a police statement signed by David claiming that "he knew, his brother (John) had poison in the house (kept in a box in his room) and had seen this box". When questioned in court the investigating officer testified that "the accused (David) was taken to his home, and there the brother (John), when questioned, denied that he had ever had any poison in that house".

 Whether the poison was or wasn’t in a box at Razorback farm is impossible to know but the Chard brothers certainly presented a most unusual quandary regarding the key evidence in the case.

 In the end brother John could do no more to save David from gaol.
With Dave gone and Edmund Allan defaulting, Razorback farm still needed to function as it provided the only means of family income at this time. The dairy herd needed daily attention and it was younger brother William [21, 49] who filled the breach. John however was busy pursuing another interest. Having quietly “acquired” a couple of pure Berkshire breeders from Devondale’s dwindling stocks, John was keen to re-establish the Chard name in pig husbandry.

 1910 was a significant year for the Devondale Chards. John's eldest niece, sister Lal's 22 year old daughter Ellen married Charles Baxter the fourth son of his landlord, grazier cum stock and station agent William Baxter. It became an even more intimate family affair when another of Baxter's sons Leslie married 23 year old Ellen Williams, John's sister Mary's daughter. With the Chard and Baxter families now linked by marriage Razorback farm's new lease was easily negotiated and remained under John’s stewardship for the next twenty five years.

 This harmonious arrangement very quickly turned vitriolic when Dave Chard was released from gaol and returned to Razorback in 1911. John was placed in a no-win situation as he needed his brother’s able bodied assistance around the farm but was aware that most of the other family members were not prepared to extend the same welcome mat. During the next eight years – whilst their mother was still alive – the Chard brothers were tolerated but never accepted.

 The beginning of the next decade saw John have some success with his pig breeding gaining first prize at the Warrnambool Livestock Show [53] with a Berkshire boar (less than 12 months of age). With that boar and a sow (in the same category) he also gained prizes at the Port Fairy [54], Camperdown [55] and Koroit [56] shows in the same year. Two years later these pigs (now with a litter) gained the highest distinction in the open age category at Port Fairy [57] and Camperdown [58].

 John (pictured above) had just turned 50 when his father died on February 27th 1924. Although the occasion was a sad one the large funeral did at least bring the family together – even some from Melbourne. John’s nephew – Jack Howard – Thomas Chard’s 27 year old fourth son, attended with his English wife Ethel [59] and their 2 year old daughter Constance.

Left: In a family snapshot taken in 1924 by Ethel Chard, husband Jack (front centre with pipe) is captured with his country uncles during a pig roundup at Razorback farm. Standing at the rear from left to right is David Chard, James Chard Jnr. and John Chard. In front on the left is William and on the right Frederick.
Right: Ethel and Jack Chard may have been city folk but were no strangers to horseback as shown here making their way to their grandfathers’ funeral.

Jack had been fighting on the Western Front in France when his father Thomas had visited East Noorat back in 1917 and although he had been forewarned not to expect too much hospitality or comfort, Jack had become conditioned to life in the trenches and his wife Ethel had been raised a farmer’s daughter in Bedford. Bringing their baby girl however would prove challenging.

 Jack was keen to learn as much as he could about his mother and father’s pioneering days in Framlingham and it was most fortunate that he was able to spend some time with his elderly aunts, 59 year old Mary Atkins (Mrs James Williams) at The Ridge farm, Garvoc and 64 year old Helen “Lal” Patison (Mrs George Baird) at Fairview farm, Panmure.

 On both occasions Ethel and Jack regaled their respective audiences with descriptions of England and stories from the battlefront but it was also an opportunity to capture images of previously unknown cousins.

Photo taken by either Jack or Ethel Chard at The Ridge Farm, Garvoc February/March 1924.
x
Chard siblings
Left to Right: Margaret Wilson CHARD (1966-1936), age 57; William Walter CHARD (1877-1954), age 46 and Mary Atkins WILLIAMS (1864-1937) - nee Chard, age 59.

Photo taken by either Jack or Ethel Chard at The Ridge Farm, Garvoc February/March 1924.
x
Chard cousins
Seated front center is Helen Patison "Lal" BAIRD (nee CHARD, 1859-1927) and some of her immediate family.
Left to Right (with relationship): Ellen Marion BAXTER (nee WILLIAMS, 1887-1951), niece; Annie Sommerville CHARD (nee BLAIN, 1882-1967), sister-in-law; Margaret Eveline PAGE (nee BAIRD, 1889-1957), daughter; George Albert Ernest BAIRD (1886-1964), son; Donald Charles BAXTER (1914-1998), grandson; Ellen Marion BAXTER (nee BAIRD, 1888-1965), daughter; Mavis BAXTER (1911-1987), granddaughter.


Photo taken by Ethel Chard at The Ranch, East Noorat February/March 1924.
x
Left: Jack Howard Chard helps to hitch up a team of horses during his stay at The Ranch.
Right: Fred James Chard resolutely guards the wagon.

The cousin who was most impressed by his Melbourne visitors was James’ son Fred. Indeed Jack’s entrepreneurial style and business acumen [60] had quite an effect on the 19 year old.

 Thanks to uncle John and his parents 18th birthday gift, Fred had acquired a litter of pigs from Razorback’s prizewinning Berkshires. It was Jack’s belief that with these piglets (and some luck) Fred might just have the beginnings of a profitable business concern.

 The week after Jack and Ethel returned to Melbourne, Fred – together with his uncle John – are recorded as selling pigs at the Cobden saleyards, with Fred’s two sows on offer [61] coming from the original progeny of John’s prizewinning parents.

 John and Dave Chard continued to jointly operate Razorback until 1930 at which time the elder brother walked away. In failing health John managed alone for another few years before the Baxter families offered him a more relaxed lifestyle at a family member’s dairy at The Sisters.

 Here he died on the 8th of July 1942. His burial at Terang cemetery is registered but his grave is unmarked alongside his brother David.

Razorback TO Wilalibee
Through generations of dairy farming it proved sound practice to complement a reasonable heard of milkers with a drift of pigs, purely because of their penchant for skim milk – the least desired component in the separation process.

 Although John’s father had raised pigs in his early days at Devondale, it was for their ham and bacon and it was not until the mid-1880’s that he introduced the pure Berkshire breed to the estate. Responsibility for the care of these prized animals fell upon the young teenager’s shoulders.

 During Devondale’s stock clear-out John had managed to hold onto a few of his most promising breeders and a decade later when he started at Razorback they formed the nucleus of his small stud. The Berkshire breed had transcended a generation of Chards, and in the early 1920’s John’s husbandry skills were rewarded with local Exhibition successes.

 No other Chard male had shown any interest in pigs with the exception of Fred James Chard, son of John’s brother James. For his eighteenth birthday his parents had gifted him a farrow of six piglets from John's Berkshire drift and their care became his obsession. When John won best breed boar and sow (Fred’s litter’s mother and father) at the 1923 Camperdown Show, Fred knew he had six very promising breeders.

 It wasn’t until March the following year - the occasion marked by the death of his grandfather - that he started to understand the potential of his pig stock. Influenced and encouraged by the family visit of his Melbourne uncle Jack, Fred began selling his litter for a handsome profit, keeping the best as his breeders.

 This process continued until 1927 when 23 year old Fred outlaid a significant amount of his savings [62] on a Melbourne Show first prize winning boar Wilcannia Emir bought from Miss E. M. Lennie, of Tongala and a sow Family Lady. Other sows were acquired from Mr A. C. Stewart, of Tatura forming the foundation of his stud.

 Wilcannia Emir and Family Lady produced Wilcannia Scout and Wilalibee Lady which in turn produced Wilalibee Queenly a successful sow (under 4 months) at the 1930 Melbourne Show [63]. Family Lady was particularly successful in the Melbourne show ring for an extended period, securing four firsts and two seconds, whilst at the same time producing consecutive litters of Wilalibee prize winners. With the introduction of only boars during the next 20 years, the Wilalibee blood-line continually saluted the show judges.The Berkshire breed had transcended another generation of Chards with Fred establishing the Wilalibee Stud at Kolora which flourished for three decades.

William Walter (1877 – 1954) and Janet Fraser (1879 – 1943)

 William a bachelor and Janet a spinster - affectionately known in the family as “Willy” and “Ginnie” - kept Devondale running during the 1920’s depression. Now with only a small dairy herd to milk the family’s issues took on a more personal nature.

 Following their mother’s prolonged ill-health and her ultimate death in the spring of 1919, Willy and Ginnie faced two major problems. The first of these was their ninety year old father who had virtually cocooned himself with his whiskey bottles in the house’s main living quarters (the long room) and the second, their elder sister Maggie, who had suffered from bouts of severe depression for the past decade. Their father was infirm and virtually blind. Their sister was unstable at best and suicidal at worst.

 Their father’s death in 1924, although sad, eased the burden somewhat but only managed to impact further on their sister’s mental health.

The Chards at Devondale in 1924.
Left to right: Janet Fraser (Ginnie), Margaret Wilson (Maggie) and William Walter (Willy).

It was a tough existence for Ginnie as little support was possible from her elder sisters. Lal was 65 and virtually confined to a wheelchair and Mary, although younger, was a prime carer for her dying husband James.

 When possible, assistance came from her favourite niece, her brother James’ eldest daughter Vera. Whilst a good part of her day was spent teaching the Noorat primary school students, end of classes saw Vera head out to Devondale to give auntie Ginnie a hand. More often than not brother Fred would ride out late in the day as well to help Willy with the milking.

 Ginnie and her niece were close. Perhaps because of their facial likeness and perhaps because Vera, being an exceptional scholar, displayed the qualities Ginnie wished for herself had she had been afforded the opportunity. They shared an avid interest in the Chard family history with Vera helping to record the family’s records in her great grandmother Wilson’s pioneering bible. Although Vera married and left the district in 1928 she consistently returned with her young children to visit her Noorat parents and her Keilambete aunts.

 Probate documents for Ginnie record that apart from Devondale farm itself which was deeded to all siblings equally by their mother, Ginnie’s personal effects – and her stake in Devondale - were bequeathed to her favourite niece Vera.

 For Willy, sister Maggie’s on-going health issues were burdensome in so much as each psychiatric episode required Ginnie’s full attention, a situation compounded in the 1930’s necessitating frequent visits to Melbourne. On many occasions during his sister’s absence, assistance with Devondale’s management came from young nephew Fred. Even though Fred was himself busily occupied with his fledgling Wilalibee stud he always found time to assist Willy. It certainly helped that Fred drove a car - the first Chard motor vehicle – and with it he could keep Willy and Ginnie well stocked with supplies from Terang.

 When Maggie died in 1936, closely followed by sister Mary a year later, Willy and Ginnie became more detached and isolated at Devondale. This situation worsened for Willy when his housemate sister died in 1943. Fred once again provided support and contact with the outside world and indeed it was Fred who was summoned urgently back from Sydney’s Royal Easter Show in 1954 to witness Willy’s sad and lonely demise.

 Probate documents for Willy record that all his personal effects – and his stake in Devondale - were bequeathed to Fred.

Frederick Wilson (1881 – 1959)

 Frederick was the youngest of eleven children. He was a six year old, barely having started school in Framlingham, when his eldest brother Thomas departed with his bride for Melbourne. Their paths never crossed again.

 Ellen was 42 when baby Frederick arrived and despite her lack of enthusiasm for the event, quickly realised that the rearing of this baby and two year old daughter Janet provided a way of barricading herself from her husband’s reckless management of their Devondale estate.

 Freddy and Ginnie were cosseted to some extent whilst Maggie and Willy shared the chores. Ginnie grew to be the reserved studious daughter whilst Freddy’s demeanour was happy-go-lucky. He was his mother’s favourite and in her eyes could do no wrong. Therefore, in the spring of 1916, it came as a shock to the ailing Ellen when 34 year old Freddy announced that he was getting married.

 The background of this announcement has an amusing place in Chard folklore and is retold by the Noorat clan thus;

 Devondale farm backed onto Nelson farm owned by John Elford and Elizabeth Bant. One of the Bant girls Alice - she was one of a brood of thirteen - had taken a shine to Freddy Chard and would “cooee” to him across their adjoining paddocks. Freddy was initially reluctant to indulge Alice’s advances given he was 14 years her senior. When she turned 21 in January 1916, her pursuit of Freddy intensified with Freddy finally falling into her arms. The resultant pregnancy was not well received by either family.

 From the Chard family perspective – having struggled to regain some social dignity during the previous decade – another child conceived out of wedlock was impossible to accept; especially since it was Ellen’s favourite son involved. Once again the spectre of Dave’s tragic experience and the innuendo of “entrapment” by such a young girl became foremost in the family’s thinking.

 Alice’s family’s reaction was more tempered but chastising nonetheless. Her mother was a staunch righteous Anglican; a pillar in her Panmure church, whilst her father curried favour in the local community through his mastery of the Panmure Oddfellow lodge.

 Freddy and Alice had little choice but to leave the district as both families wanted them out of sight.

Main Right: Studio wedding photograph of Frederick Chard and Alice Bant taken in Warrnambool, November 1916.
Top Left: St. Martins Anglican Church Panmure, the venue of Freddy and Alice’s wedding. This church was built in the early 1880’s on Harris land. The residence to the rear named “Maroondah” was renovated by Alice’s parents when they retired from Nelson farm (c1930).
Bottom Left: Freddy and Alice Chard photographed attending niece Elizabeth Rebecca ROLLO's wedding in Warrnambool in 1949. The Chards were the bride's god-parents and were photographed here formally as part of the bridal party (the bride having lost both her parents just prior to her wedding).

THE PANMURE BANTS
Christopher Bant (1832 – 1909), a Cornish labourer, arrived [64] in Port Fairy (via Melbourne and Hobart) in the summer of 1854. Here he met 20 year old Devonshire lass Eliza Harris (1834 – 1922) a recent arrival [65] with her parents and three younger siblings aboard HMS Shand. Following their marriage at the Wesleyan Mission House, Warrnambool, Christopher and the Harris family took up a small parcel of land on Russell Creek just south of Wangoom.

 Whilst Ellen and James Chard were establishing themselves at Mary’s Vale Cooramook north of the Merri River, Christopher, Eliza and the Harris’ were similarly employed on the south side. It was here that James Elford (1856 – 1947) – the Bant’s first son – was born, the occasion being recorded [66] at Cassady's Bridge.

 When the Nelson and Yallock runs were offered for selection in 1865, the Chards relocated to land on Occupation Lane just outside Framlingham, naming their property Devondale. A year later, leaving the Harris parents at Russell Creek, the Bants took up adjoining land on Framlingham Lane (now the Panmure / Ellerslie Road). Their property named Nelson was closer to the village hamlet of Panmure [67].

 On the banks of Mount Emu Creek, Panmure was an ideal site for milling timber given there was no shortage of raw material and it didn’t take long for Christopher and his father-in-law Dennis Harris (1808 – 1897) to become proactive in the town’s development, the former being appointed a joint manager [68] of the Panmure Common in 1869.

 With the timber mill providing guaranteed employment, Panmure’s population [69] swelled to nearly 200 by 1871 (neighbouring parishes Garvoc and Framlingham having barely a third of that number).

 Leaving the management of Nelson farm to his wife and older children John, William and Amelia, Christopher steered the establishment of a village. John Bailey, a blacksmith from Yangery, set up business alongside the hostelry and the following year, with the help of carpenter Joseph Bickley, a general store and State School (No 1079) were built. The next significant undertaking was the construction of a church with the determination of the Bant, Harris and Bickley families initiating the foundation of a bluestone chapel known as St Martins. Opening in 1885 these Anglican premises doubled as the township’s public hall.

 Panmure’s first school teacher in 1873 was Thomas Lowe (1842 – 1919). Sadly for Thomas poor eyesight curtailed his role with the children but it did enable him to continue to serve the community when in 1880 he became proprietor [70] of the village’s first general store. Christopher Bant’s eldest daughter Amelia was Thomas’ assistant before her marriage in 1881.

 Fire ravaged the district in 1893 [71] and Panmure township was severely affected, losing the inn, the general store and many houses. This infrastructure required rebuilding and it was Christopher Bant (now living just outside the township in Laang) and his band of Oddfellow lodge members [72] who led the way. A new hotel – The Commercial – was built along with a general store and butchery with sons William and Henry Bant becoming the respective proprietors [19].

 Panmure mourned Christopher’s death in 1909 but by this time the family legacy was well established.

 When Christopher's son John Elford retired from Nelson farm in the early 1930's he and his wife Elizabeth moved into the Panmure township taking up residence at the Harris (their deceased father's) family home (built after his wife died in 1891). The township cottage (pictured) was renovated and named Maroondah. Sadly the couple only had a brief time there together, Elizabeth passing in 1937. John followed ten years later.

 To this day Bant ancestors still farm the Panmure / Laang district whilst Chard ancestors are similarly occupied on land in neighbouring Keilambete and Kolora.

The immediate plight of the newlyweds Freddie Chard and Alice Bant was fortuitously guided firstly by Alice’s uncles James (1864 – 1938) and Arthur (1876 – 1954) and later by her brother James. The uncles had married the Fahey sisters from Garvoc and by 1914 established significant holdings [73] around Camperdown. Brother James, having married Margaret Clancy in 1911, now had three children and decided to join his uncles taking a leasehold dairy farm just outside the township on the Camperdown - Colac road. With little other choice Fred and Alice followed, leasing a small property [74] nearby at Bostock's Creek.

 Chard folklore, retold by the Noorat clan, describes the events that ensued;

 The folk at Devondale farm were not happy, but, persuaded by James Atkins Jnr., managed to pool together a few pounds for a wedding gift. James himself loaded up a wagon with a few sticks of furniture and two heifers and drove them down to Camperdown. On presentation to Freddie, James made it clear that these gifts were for father and the forthcoming child and that the family would have nothing further to do with (expletive deleted) Alice.

 Alice’s baby does not reach full term; the parents devastated by the event.

 James Atkins Chard Jnr. continues the couple’s story thus;

 Freddie and Alice did not stay long at Bostock’s Creek deciding to sell all the assets gifted to them by the Chards. Instead they moved in with brother James Bant and his family in Camperdown. Freddie had a gift for woodwork and as part of their shared arrangement set about constructing a substantial homestead at the foot of Mount Leura.

 When James Bant decided to abandon Camperdown for Carisbrook [75] in 1922, Freddie and Alice were now sole managers of Leura farm but required further capital to secure its title. The couple recognised that their goal might be achieved when Freddie's father died two years later, but Devondale’s liquidation [76] did not ensue. Regardless, the couple eventually purchased Leura where they tended a small dairy herd for the rest of their days. Freddie died in 1959, predeceasing Alice by eleven years.

 They remained childless.

References

  1. Lest Time Forget: James Chard and family of East Framlingham.
  2. Originally the Allandale pastoral run adjoining the Hopkins River was owned by brothers William and John Allan whilst the adjoining Tooram estate, run by a third brother John McMahon Allan (1808 - 1877), was subdivided in 1855 creating what is now known as the Allansford township. Reference source #1. Local News Item #2.
  3. Victorian Places - Purnim. The Purnim community opened a Catholic school in 1852. Victorian Places - Purnim.
  4. Lest Time Forget: The Wilson-Mitchell legacy.
  5. Victorian Places - Framlingham. Framlingham's state school (No 1082) opened in 1872.
  6. Lest Time Forget: Children of the Land: The Cooramook Births.
  7. Sayers C. E. and Yule P. L.; By These We Flourish – A History of Warrnambool. Warrnambool Institute Press; 1969.
  8. The Cobden Cheese and Butter Factory; Camperdown Chronicle, 16th October 1888. The Cobden Cheese and Butter factory opens in October 1888.
  9. Although the business at Allansford had been registered on 28 May 1888, it did not open until the 14th of the following month. Reference source #1. Reference source #2.
  10. Farrer K.T.H. To Feed a Nation: A History of Australian Food Science and Technology, page 98.
  11. The Farnham Butter Factory was opened on August 24th 1889 by proprietors William Rutledge and Thomas McLeod Palmer (previously of Tooram estate).
  12. Victorian Places - Grassmere. The Grassmere Cheese and Butter factory, although registered in 1888, did not open until 1889.
  13. The Framlingham and Ellerslie Cheese and Butter Factory Company Limited, was registered on 5th February 1891, and opened for business later the same year.
  14. Although the price of gold varies on any given day, the value of a gold sovereign from the late 1850’s is relatively fixed, thus 2000 sovereigns can be calculated to be the equivalent of approximately AUS$2 million in today’s money.
  15. The Terang to Warrnambool rail service opened in November 1889 (opt. cit. 7) and the additional extensions from Terang to Mortlake and Warrnambool to Port Fairy commenced operations on February 4th 1890.
  16. The Panmure Court of Petty Sessions on 11 February 1891 - Inspector Duff vs James Chard; Camperdown Chronicle, 14th February 1891.
  17. Farrer K.T.H. A Settlement Amply Supplied: Food Technology in Nineteenth Century Australia, p115.
  18. Eather W. and Cottle D. The Rabbit Industry in South-East Australia, 1870-1970.
  19. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1903.
  20. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1905.
  21. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1908.
  22. Obituary of Annie Sommerville Chard as published in the Terang Express, June 1967.
  23. Black, Archibald John (1859–1912). Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 'From 1895 through to 1910, Archibald John Black eldest son of the late Honourable Niel Black, pastoralist of Glenormiston Mount Noorat, cut up the family estate into smaller dairy farms. Practically all of what was once known as "The Glenormiston Run" is now in the hands of well-to-do tenants, some holding their land on the share system and others paying a straight-out rent'.
  24. Western District Factories; Leader, 14th May 1910. Amalgamation of local butter factories (Terang, The Sisters and Kolora) with the recently built Glenormiston Noorat Butter factory - a business whose annual turnover was second only to Colac's in the entire Western District.
  25. Pithy Pars; Camperdown Herald, 14 March 1914. 'Mr Chard is the new Terang pound keeper'.
  26. Correspondence; Camperdown Herald, 8 September 1915. 'From James Chard Jnr., resigning the position of Terang pound keeper'.
  27. Terang Red Cross Society. During the 1914 - 18 war years, Annie Chard together with enthusiastic contributions from her young girls immersed herself in the society's support of Australia's troops at the front (Op. Cit. 22). Local News Item #1. Local News Item #2. Local News Item #3.
  28. Alan Marshall (Born 2nd May 1902, Noorat, Victoria — Died 21st January 1984, East Brighton, Melbourne) was an Australian writer, story teller and social documenter. His best known book, I Can Jump Puddles (1955) is the first of a three-part autobiography. The other two books are This is the Grass (1962) and In Mine Own Heart (1963). Alan Marshall wrote numerous short stories, mainly set in the bush. He also wrote newspaper columns and magazine articles. He travelled widely in Australia and overseas. He also collected and published Indigenous Australian stories and legends. Reference Source #1. Reference Source #2.
  29. Raluana, was a small farming district in the Wimmera situated equidistant between Marnoo and Rupanyup. It was also known (or referred to) as Banyena South or Marnoo West.
  30. Aringa (aka Aringah, now known only as Lake Aringa) is a farming district on the Port Fairy to Hamilton road and is 25km north east of Yambuk.
  31. Cobden Pig Sales 21st March 1924; Camperdown Chronicle, 15 March 1924. Fred Chard (of The Ranch, Noorat) and his uncle John Chard (of Razorback, Panmure) are listed as selling pigs at the same saleyard auctions.
  32. Royal Melbourne Show 1929 - Leading exhibitors; The Australasian, 5 October 1929. Winner of championship for Berkshire pigs.
  33. The horse King Douglas - a six year old brown gelding - was purchased by James Chard from Glenormiston farmer (and Terang Racing Club Secretary) Arthur William "Bill" Noel in the spring of 1933. The horse had raced over short distances at Terang meetings during the previous 18 months and now in his new owner’s hands presented again in consecutive Camperdown meetings in April 1934 - alas without success. James decided to retire the horse from racing and gifted it to his daughter Doris for show events. Local News Item #1. Local News Item #2. Local News Item #3. Local News Item #4.
  34. The Terang Red Cross Society Carnival of 1918 featured in its parade - mounted on horseback Ina and Doris Chard as Indian girls and their brother Fred Chard as an Indian chief. Terang Express 28 May 1918.
  35. Annual Guild Sports, Noorat Showgrounds 1926. Representative Guilds from Noorat, Camperdown, Glenormiston and Terang. Horse over Hurdles event won by Doris Chard from Lewis Kempthorne Noel (son of Arthur William "Bill" Noel). Siblings Ina and Fred competed also. The Chard team won the mounted relay race. The Age 4 February 1926.
  36. Current Topics; Camperdown Chronicle, 4 June 1892. With regard to the sale at Devondale, Garvoc last Wednesday, the cattle, sheep and pigs sold for above market rates whilst the horses went for knockdown bids of between £5 and £10. The land compromising the Devondale Estate was not disposed of.
  37. Mortlake Shire Council. Minutes of meeting held on the 2nd November 1894; Camperdown Chronicle, 6th November 1894. States that 'the name of Ellen Marion Chard be inserted in lieu of Thomas Francis Lyon in the Mortlake Shire rate book'. Note: Thomas Francis Lyon was a solicitor in the employee of Barrow Brothers, Mortgagees of Geelong.
  38. Case of Alleged Cattle Stealing; Camperdown Chronicle, 14th May 1904. David Chard was in the employ of Coy Brothers (Henry Phillip and Frederick Charles - storekeepers in High Street, Terang), managing their stock and milking their cows on their Noorat farm when called upon as a key witness to cattle stealing.
  39. District and General Summary; Camperdown Chronicle, 26th September 1905. A sale in the estate of the late Mr. John Hyland, Framlingham, was conducted on Thursday 21st September 1905. 300 acres in the parish of East Framlingham was leased at 17s 6d an acre to Messrs. Chard Bros, and E. Allan.
  40. Probate documents of the last will and testament of Mr. John Hyland, grazier of Framlingham listed the following real estate asset as part of deceased's portfolio: All that piece of land containing 320 acres or thereabouts being crown allotments 44A1, 44A2, 44B1 and 44B2; improvements consisting of one weatherboard house of 5 rooms and one cow shed of 5 bales. The municipal assessment of this piece of real estate at £14.0.0 per acre was £4,480.0.0.
  41. Dairy Farmer on Trial; The Herald, 18th February 1908. Rees versus Chard.
  42. Australia Death Index, 1787-1985. For Thomas Rees in 1904, registration number 10746 at Terang, Victoria.
  43. The last Will and Testament signed by Mary Rees on October 10th 1907. Victoria, Australia, Wills and Probate Records, 1841-2009. For Mary Rees who died at Terang on November 11th 1907.
  44. Terang Sensation; Rees sues Chard, December 1907; The Northern Miner, 18th February 1908.
  45. A Fiendish Proposal - plot to poison an illegitimate child, January 15th 1908; The Age, 4 February 1908.
  46. Poison by the Post - young farmer arrested, February 5th 1908. Geelong Advertiser; 6th February 1908.
  47. Victoria Police Gazettes (1893-1924); reference number: AU7103-1911.
  48. David Chard, prisoner no: 31658, was incarcerated in the Melbourne Gaol on February 19th before being transferred to the Pentridge Remand Centre on the 26th. Public Record Office Victoria; Central Register of Male Prisoners.
  49. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1909.
  50. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1931.
  51. Local and General News - Death of Boorcan Dairy Farmer, September 4th 1939; Camperdown Chronicle, 7th September 1939.
  52. Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria. Death registration No. 16291 for David George Dowie Chard in 1939 at Camperdown, Victoria. The coroner’s report states the cause of death to be "self-induced suffocation due to strangulation".
  53. Country Shows - Warrnambool, October 26th and 27th 1921; Weekly Times, 5th November 1921.
  54. Country Shows - Port Fairy, November 12th 1921; Weekly Times, 26th November 1921.
  55. Country Shows - Camperdown, November 19th 1921; Weekly Times, 26th November 1921.
  56. Country Shows - Koroit, November 26th 1921; Weekly Times, 3rd December 1921.
  57. Country Shows - Port Fairy, November 10th 1923; The Argus, 12th November 1923.
  58. Country Shows - Camperdown, November 17th 1923; Camperdown Chronicle, 20th November 1923.
  59. England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916-2005, registration number 3b 597. Ethel Florence May Dennis and Jack Howard Chard were married on the 8th February 1919 in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England. Jack had been serving as a signals engineer with the 22nd Battalion during the Great War. Following the cessation of hostilities in November 1918, Jack was billeted in Bedfordshire awaiting demobilisation and here he met and married Ethel. The young couple arrived back in Melbourne in May 1919.
  60. World War I enlistment of John Howard Chard, July 17th 1915. The document states that his occupation was a draper. Upon his return from active service electoral rolls record that John and his wife lived at Forbes Street Brunswick where he ran a drapery business.
  61. Upcoming Stock Sale - Cobden, 21st March 1924; Camperdown Chronicle, 15th March 1924. Fred Chard of The Ranch Noorat is selling two 18 week old purebred Berkshire sows whose mother had won first prize at the Camperdown show. John Chard of Panmure is selling two purebred Berkshire boars of similar age.
  62. Pig Breeding Combined With Dairying at Noorat; Weekly Times, 8th December 1934.
  63. The Swine Exhibits; The Age, 19th September 1930.
  64. Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, Victoria, 1839–1923. Voyage of HMS Sir Alan McNab; Birkenhead, England to Melbourne Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia (arrival 1st February 1854) then onto Hobart Town arriving 4th February on HMS Iron Tasmania. Christopher's subsequent relocation to Port Fairy occurred before April 1855. Tasmania, Australia, Passenger Arrivals, 1829-1957.
  65. Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, Victoria, 1839–1923. Voyage of HMS Shand; Plymouth, England to Portland, Victoria, Australia (arrival 20th January 1855).
  66. The birth of John Elford Bant was not officially recorded but in a newspaper obituary published after his death in the Warrnambool Standard John's birth was noted in 1856 at Cassady's Bridge (a rudimentary crossing of the Merri River just north of Warrnambool).
  67. Bailliere, F.F.; Bailliere's Victorian Gazetteer and road guide. Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 1865. Panmure is listed as a roadside village.
  68. Government Gazette - May 7th 1869; The Argus, 8th May 1869.
  69. Victorian Places - Panmure. Census population in 1871.
  70. The Lowe biography.
  71. Warrnambool and District History - Items of Interest 100 years ago (published in the Warrnambool Standard); The South West Genealogist; Issue Number 32, March 1993.
  72. Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows (MUIOOF) was a fraternal order founded in Manchester, England in 1810. In Victoria the Order's beginnings can be traced back to 1840. Dennis Harris and Christopher Bant established a branch of the society in Panmure in the 1870's.
  73. James and Margaret Bant (nee Fahey) had five children and after brief leaseholds in Noorat and Terang established, in 1914, their own dairy farm called Pine View on Wiridgil Road, Camperdown. At about the same time Arthur and Mary Bant (nee Fahey) with their seven children took over a dairying property called Newminster Park at neighbouring Bookar. Two years later the Bant migration to the Camperdown district continued when James Henry (James and Arthur's nephew), his wife Margaret and their three young children leased a small dairy holding on the Colac Road at the base of Mount Leura.
  74. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1918.
  75. Electoral Roll for Victoria for 1922.
  76. Victoria, Australia, Wills and Probate Records, 1841-2009. The last will and testament of Ellen Chard dated March 2nd 1914 states that all her children were to receive an equal share of her personal estate and possessions and that they were to provide for her husband in HER house as long as he lived. Whilst Frederick Chard – a joint executor of his mother’s will along with his brother William – desperately required Devondale to be liquidated, his siblings were disinclined to forsake their family home.
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