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SPRIGGS George Researched and compiled by Gordon Freegard March 2023
George’s
parents, Charles William and Lyle Elizabeth Spriggs (nee Bunstan) were from Mansfield, in the "high country" of Victoria. Mansfield is located 200 kilometres north-east Melbourne, When George’s
father, Charles William Spriggs was born on 31 March 1891, in Jerilderie, New South
Wales, Australia, his father (George's grandfather), James Edward Spriggs, was 31 and his mother,
Eliza Jane McMahon, was 30. |
GEORGE CLARENCE CHARLES SPRIGGS #1 |
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ELIZA JANE SPRIGGS (Charles' Mother) #2 |
Eliza was born on 28 June 1860, in Victoria, Australia, her father, James McMahon, Jr, was 22 and her mother, Jane Boyd, was 24. She married James Edward Spriggs in 1883, in Victoria, Australia. Charles was their sixth born child of at least 3 sons and 9 daughters. She died on 20 December 1931, in Midland Junction, Western Australia, at the age of 71, and was buried in Swan View, Western Australia. Charles married Lyle Elizabeth Bunston in 1919, in Victoria, Australia. Lyle was born in 1891, in Skipton, Victoria, her father, James Bunston, was 27 and her mother, Elizabeth Brooks, was 26. Charles
died on 19 August 1964, in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, at the age of
73, and was buried in Perth, Western Australia. Lyle died about 1977,
in Canning, Western Australia, at the age of 87. |
YOUNG CHARLES SPRIGGS #3 |
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In 1915 Charles with his mother and uncle, Jim McMahon and four or five children,
arrived in Western Australia. They disembarked at Albany because of the rough weather encountered on the trip over
from Victoria. She obtained work in Pemberton cooking for the forestry workers out
in the bush. The children were the first to go to the Pemberton School, which at the begining used the Pemberton Mill Hall then later a two-roomed school building was erected in the Pemberton townsite. |
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HIGH STREET, MANSFIELD #4 |
McMILLAN'S STORE, MANFIELD #5 |
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THE ORIGINAL TWO-ROOMED PEMBERTON SCHOOL #6 |
Charles was born on the 31st March 1891 and was 24 years old when he first obtained work as a "repairer" on the per-way gang with the Western Australian Government Railways at Corinthian on the 29th September 1915. Corinthian was a siding on the Southern Cross - Bullfinch railway, 16 km north of Southern Cross. His wage was 9/- (90 cents) per day plus 1/- (10 cents) per day Goldfields Allowance. This allowance was paid to employees because of the higher cost of living on the eastern goldfields. A few months later, on the 5th January 1916 he moved to Koorarawalyee, a siding on the Eastern Goldfields Railway, 69 km east of Southern Cross, where he was employed under the same conditions and wages. |
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When the First World War broke out he was granted leave from his employer to join the A.I.F. on 16th June 1916. He travelled to the Eastern States and enlisted in the A.I.F. at Mansfield, Victoria on the 27th June 1916. After saying goodbye to his girlfriend Lyle Bunstan, he left with His Regiment, the 13th Light Horse, departing Melbourne on the 20th October 1916 on board the "HMAT Borda". Charles' service number was 1951.
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CHARLIE SPRIGGS IN THE ARMY (Left hand side rear) #7 |
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CHARLES SPRIGGS' PATRIOTIC LEAGUE CERTIFICATE #8 |
He returned to Australia on the 12th June 1919 and quickly continued his romance with Lyle. They married and returned to Western Australia later that same year. He again obtained work in the railways, where he had previously worked. Firstly as a "repairer" at Kellerberrin on 20th October 1919 on a wage of 9/7 (96 cents) per day, then as a "repairer" at Tammin on 12th August 1921 on a wage of 14/10 ($1.50) per day. Charles, Lyle and their two children, Joyce and Laurence, then moved to Pickering Brook where he started work on the railways on the 18th May 1924 at 14/6 ($1.45) per day.
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TAMMIN STORE ABOUT THE TIME CHARLIE SPRIGGS WAS WORKING ON THE RAILWAYS IN THE AREA #9 |
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Charlie and Lyle Spriggs had the following children: |
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Muriel Joyce Herbert Laurence George Clarence Charles (twin) |
Born on 29th January 1924 at Kellerberrin. At 19 years of age, Joyce joined the Australian Women's Army Service where she served for three years. She married Wal Broodbank and the had two children; Carol and Ronald. Born near Tammin. Married Patricia, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. Sullivan of Karragullen, at the Forrest Park Methodist Church by Rev. Mason on 28th March 1945. They had three children: Anne, born on 1st May 1945 at St. Anne’s Hospital, Mount Lawley. On 15th June 1948 a son, Michael, was born at St. David’s Hospital. Another son, Steven Brian was born at Gnowangerup on 15th November 1954. And a second daughter Shelley was born later. One of premature twins born on 28th January 1926. They were the last babies to be born at “The Brown House” in Haynes Street, Kalamunda, which was the original Kalamunda Hospital. Married Daphne Collings on the 21st June 1947 at Mount Hawthorn. Their first son, Barry
Charles was born at St. Anne’s Hospital, Mount Lawley in April 1948. A daughter
Judith Kaye was born on 30th October 1949 at St. Anne’s Hospital. In
June 1953 another daughter, Kerry Ann was born at St. Anne’s, Mount Lawley. Second son, Murray
George was born on 7th July 1961. One of premature twins born on 28th January 1926. They were the last babies to be born at “The Brown House” in Haynes Street, Kalamunda, which was the original Kalamunda Hospital. Sadly Stanley passed away aged 18 months. |
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PICKERING BROOK JUNCTION STATION #10 |
Charles worked on the railway that ran from Midland
Junction, through Pickering Brook, out to Karragullen servicing the sawmills.
He was employed as the “length runner” from Ridge Hill right out to
Karragullen. George remembers when he was very young, working alongside his father.
Because of his Dad, he got to know all the workers on the line, and
they used to let him go out with them whenever they were within walking distance, which was anywhere
out near Pickering Brook or Carmel, or Bickley. |
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BABY GEORGE SPRIGGS 1927 #11 |
He used to go out and work with them. His job was to sweep the dogs on the railway sleepers with some blackboy sticks, but the thing that always intrigued him was that he used to line up for his wages with the gang down at the Station Master’s Office when they used to get their packet of wages and likewise he got his. The other gang workers would put their small change in a pay envelope for him. He was convinced he was a “worker”’. |
GEORGE "WORKING" ON THE RAILWAY #12 |
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Charlie eventually resigned from his work with the railways and commenced a small orchard in Pickering Brook. Later George, at eight or nine, with his friends broke in brumbies from around Victoria Reservoir to sell.
He occasionally rode his horse “Nelly” to Carmel school where you could keep
the horse in a paddock during the day. Mr. Sanderson the principal, was a
particularly nice fellow and he used a cane to punish the kids. It was a
blackboy stick about 45cm long. Because it was so short it restricted the swing
he could get and so it didn’t hurt much. George and his mate Ernie Crocus,
decided to have a bet and see who could get the most canes in a day. These boys
had tough hand and the shortness of the stroke meant it didn’t inflict much pain
at all. They managed to get about 20 odd cuts in a day before he woke up that
something was wrong.
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CARMEL PRIMARY SCHOOL #13 |
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Just before the war started
the Furfaro family arrived in the area from Italy. Frank attended the Carmel
School and the kids teased him like buggery because he couldn’t speak English.
He decided to teach the kids Italian. The only thing wrong with it is that he
taught them all swear words. They thought they were very smart being able to
speak Italian. However they got into trouble when showing off their knowledge
of the Italian language to the junior teacher, Miss Martin, because she knew
Italian. So Frank got his revenge. The school numbers ranged
from 20 to 56 students. George remembered some of his school mates; Doreen
Mitchell, Winnie Mitchell, Lesley Garland, Laurel Garland, Teddy Garland,
Edward Bear, Bill Martin, Cyril Lording, Joan Lording, Boyce Lording and
Barbara Furfaro. Students did not wear a uniform, usually just short pants and
a shirt, and often took off their shoes. |
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CARMEL PRIMARY SCHOOL 1937 - 39 #14 |
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Carmel School only taught up
to sixth grade after that the children had to move on to Kalamunda School. As
there were no School Buses then, George had to ride the extra kilometres to get
to school. It was about a 19 kilometre ride. For sport they
played cricket and football. If they
misbehaved Mr Millar would cancel sport. So you didn’t only get into trouble
with the headmaster, you got into trouble with all the rest of the kids if
sport was cancelled for the afternoon. He completed seventh grade and turned fourteen
years only part way through eighth grade. In those days once you turned
fourteen you left school and started working. George loved helping out in
the family's orchard and also helped with the milking. He delivered milk on a
horse each morning to five customer, with five bottles in a bag. The family had
chooks and grew vegetables and were never short of food. His father later had a
truck and worked as a carrier. At 14, he worked with his father cutting wood.
Other local people picked up rocks which was used for roadside kerbing along
Canning Road during the Depression. All the roads in the area were gravel and
“sustenance workers” maintained them. These were unemployed workers who were
paid a certain amount of money (a bit like today’s dole) but in those days they
had to work for it. |
GEORGE SPRIGGS MILKING COW #15 |
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DIRT CANNING ROAD NEAR HILLS COLD STORE #16 |
DIRT CANNING ROAD FURTHER TOWARDS KARRAGULLEN #17 |
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George reminisced about a
time in the depression when enterprising children would sell bunches of Spider
Orchids and Kangaroo Paws to the traffic that came to the area to see the
Mundaring Weir and Canning Dams overflow. He remembers at the back of Canning
Road there were several patches of Kangaroo Paws covering about 20 or 30 acres.
The children had no difficulty in picking bunches of orchids for years (unlike
the scarcity of them now). Each years there seemed to be more than the year
before. But since restrictions came in they have pretty well died out. About this time most people
had an old truck or ute. Charlie became the firewood contractor for the Carmel School in 1937 at 30 shilling (3 dollars) per load.There were only two cars in Pickering Brook owned by
Dom Marchetti and Wally Temby. Another of George's jobs was building drains on
the orchards; these were built with two side rails and slats on top and the
timber was cut in the forestry. George took over the orchard when he was 17. During the war years they
had a contract to grow vegetables for the troops. Because his father was a
pensioner George was able to get his driver’s licence 12 months early and drove
their little thirty hundredweight truck. |
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Belmont girl, Daphne Collings came to Kalamunda in the Land Army and later worked in Beard’s General Store at Pickering Brook. When Mrs. Alice Beard (who was the pianist at the local dances), had twin babies, she helped with house duties. Local dances were held in
Karragullen, Pickering Brook, Barton’s Mill, Mundaring Weir and Kalamunda. Alice
Beard, probably more than anybody else in the hills, made life very pleasant
for the people who enjoyed dancing and that type of thing. She played the piano
like nobody else George had heard of before or since. She could play it twice
as loud as anybody else. Her husband, Bert, played the drums, and another lass
played the saxophone. It was fantastic.
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BELMONT SCHOOL c1936 #18 |
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16 YEAR OLD LAND ARMY GIRL DAPHNE COLLINGS #19 |
BEARD'S PICKERING BROOK STORE #20 There was always one or two
dances somewhere in the hills every Saturday night. George met Daphne at a
dance at the Kalamunda Hall and although one of her girlfriends warned her to
stay away from him, she didn’t take much notice of the warning. George would
borrow the truck or later on he had a motorbike which Daphne would have to push
it to start. |
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They announced their engagement in March 1947. Daphne was the
eldest daughter and step-daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Francis of 17 Esplanade,
Belmont. They married on the 21st June 1947 at Mount Hawthorn, at the ages of 21 and 19 respectively. It
was in June on the shortest day of the year but, as Daphne remembers; “the
longest night of the year”.
GEORGE SPRIGGS AGED 20 1945 #21 |
DAPHNE SPRIGGS ON THEIR WEDDING DAY 1947 #22 |
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GEORGE & DAPHNE SPRIGGS WEDDING GROUP 1947 #23 |
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After honeymooning in the goldfields they settled down to married life in a small house on Canning Road, Pickering Brook. Their original house,
consisting of two rooms and a bathroom, timber, iron and asbestos, was in
Canning Road and was variously extended to accommodate their four children.
They lived there of 25 years.
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George and Daphne had four children: Barry Charles Judith Kaye Kerry Ann Murray
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Born at St. Anne's Hospital, Mount Lawley on 30th October 1949. On the 6th June 1970 Judy married Peter Petrucci of Pickering Brook and had two children: Peta & Jason. Born at St. Anne's Hospital, Mount Lawley in June 1953. Operates a business called "Bigga Trees" in Isaacs Road, Pickering Brook (2023). Kerry's children: Paige & Darryl. Born in 1961 |
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DAPHNE & GEORGE SPRIGGS WITH SON BARRY AT ROYAL SHOW #25 |
BARRY, JUDY & KERRY SPRIGGS #26 |
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PETER AND JUDY (nee Spriggs) PETRUCCI'S WEDDING GROUP #27 |
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While growing vegetables
under contact for the Army, he slowly built the orchard up to a viable
position. And in 1952 he bought
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GEORGE USED THIS ADVERT IN THE KALAMUNDA & DISTRICT NEWSPAPER |
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SELLING FRUIT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD #29 |
In 1962 Fruit exporters, R. M.
Mooney, wanted a cold store and an agent in the district. George took the
opportunity of going into that business and started Hills Cold Stores which became
one of the biggest exporting cold stores in the state. It consisted of a packing
shed and store rooms; they stored local fruit until export ships were available.
Granny Smith apples and stone fruit were exported to Singapore and also to
Europe. All the fruit came in Jarrah wooden boxes and were handled by hand as
fork lifts were not around then. They were stacked 16 high in the cold store.
Each case was handled anything up to five times by the time you picked it up
from the grower, took it off the truck into the cold store, took it out of the
cold store onto the truck to go to the wharf and take it down to the wharf and
unload it. They employed up to about eight people to pack loose fruit that came
in bins. |
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MERCER MOONEY COLD STORE , CANNING ROAD, PICKERING BROOK #30 |
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Export was big business in
those years. You could send a case of fruit to Singapore cheaper than you could
send them to Geraldton. You could send it to England cheaper than you could to
Broome. Most was sent to Singapore
but some was sent to Indonesia but that was pretty difficult because you had to
bribe two or three people to get the damn stuff off the truck – off the boats. It
was easier to deal with Singapore. Fruit was also exported to Europe, Germany
and Austria. In fact when the Suez Canal was sabotaged they had something like
13,000 cases of mainly apples stuck in the Suez Canal. After 10 years of hard work,
Hills Cold Stores was sold and George bought the Pickering Brook Store and the
Pickering Brook Garage and combined them into one business including a bulk
fuel depot.
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16 YEAR OLD JUDY SPRIGGS PACKING FRUIT AT MERCER MOONEYS #45 |
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PICKERING BROOK GARAGE #31 |
PICKERING BROOK SHOPPING CENTRE #32 |
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In 1948 George’s father,
Charlie Spriggs, organised a cricket match which was attended by 40 people. The
meeting was so successful that it started what is now the Pickering Brook
Sports Club. Ernie and George Holroyd, Jack Negroni and Alex
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THE TREE NEAR WHERE THE EARLY CRICKET MATCH WAS HELD 1948 #33 |
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THE TREE NEAR WHERE THE EARLY CRICKET MATCH WAS HELD |
PLAQUE RECOGNISING THE EARLY CRICKET MATCH. |
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CHARLIE SPRIGGS, MYRTLE McCORKILL, LEILA SPRIGGS & MAVIS GODBOLD |
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LEILA & CHARLIE SPRIGGS #37 |
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CHARLIE SPRIGGS & ALICE BEARD #38 |
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When Gough Whitlam came into
power, they were handing out money to support local sports clubs. The Pickering
Brook Sports Club was used as an example of success when you combined all
various sports into one club. Clubs from all over the state came to look at the
Pickering Brook Sports Club and took the idea back to their own town. In quite
a few places around the state they had a cricket club and a football club and a
bowls club and a tennis club, all separate. It was proven that amalgamating
them together made a stronger sports club. Having lived in Pickering
Brook for so many years George and Daphne had many friends like the Davies, the
Gordons, the Ellerys, the Brookses, the Marchettis and many, many more. |
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GEORGE & DAPHNE SPRIGGS AT A DARTS NIGHT AT THE HALL #39 |
DAPHNE SPRIGGS & FRIEND 1970's #40 |
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George served as a
councillor and three years as the Kalamunda Shire President. He was always
supported by his wife, Daphne. It was during George's time as Shire President
that the “Red Scheme” came into being, provided funding and labour for many
developments. In the case of Kalamunda most of the credit must go to the Shire
Engineer, Geoff Dutton. He quickly drew up plans for different things and they
were put forward. Improvements to the Pickering Brook Sports Club were made by
a $200,000 grant that enabled them to put rock walls right around the oval and
the club’s facilities, build a swimming pool and do other improvements. To recognise George's contribution to the community and to sporting activities, the oval at the Pckering Brook Sports Club and the surrounding grounds were named some years ago by the Shire of Kalamunda as the "George Spriggs Reserve". |
THE NEW PICKRING BROOK SPORTS CLUB #41 |
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BUILDING THE STONE WALLS AT |
OPENING OF THE NEW PICKERING |
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GEORGE SPRIGGS DISTRICT COUNCILLOR 1973 #44 |
The
tennis courts on Railway A new Administration Building |
OPENNING OF NEW SHIRE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING 1978 #46 |
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OPENNING OF NEW SHIRE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING 1978 #47 |
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CONSTRUCTION OF SAW PIT AT HISTORY VILLAGE #48 |
GEORGE SPRIGGS OPENING SAW PIT DISPLAY #49 |
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He then thought that he’d go one step further and when he was offered the opportunity of getting into Parliament, he accepted the challenge. He went in there with the same idea that most people go into Parliament for, thinking that they could do some good and change the world. Perhaps they couldn’t change the world but they did some good things whilst there. George first stood for parliament at the 1968 election, contesting Darling Range for the Country Party but was placed third behind the Liberal and Labor candidates. He also ran for the Country Party at the 1971 election, contesting the Legislative Council's West Province but again failing to make the two-party-preferred count. In May 1971, George was elected to the Kalamunda Shire Council, where he served until 1977. He left the country Party in 1972 and joined the Liberal Party, and at the 1977 State Election won the seat of Darling Range (re-created after being abolished in 1974) with a majority of 1800 votes on the 19th February. He was re-elected at the 1980, 1983 and 1986 elections. He was an assidious representative for his small outer suburban and rural seat and was not swayed by popular issues. He was a loyal member of the Liberal Parlimentary Team who spoke his mind in the party room. George resigned from Parliment on 3rd September 1987. POSITIONS HELD: |
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GEORGE REPRESENTING W.A. BRANCH COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY |
GEORGE REPRESENTING W.A. BRANCH COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY |
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GEORGE SPRIGGS ELECTION CARD 1978 #52 |
The area he represented was large and his chief interest was the development of schools in the area. His achievements included the building of Lesmurdie High and Roleystone Junior High school. When he was in Parliament, the Premier at the time had $15,000 suddenly left over in his calculations, which doesn’t sound a lot of money today. However George and Gordon Masters grabbed it straightaway and got two shelters built for Walliston School and Lesmurdie School. They actually beat about 50 other politicians by grabbing the money very quickly. He enjoyed his time in Parliament but got sick of being in the Opposition so he eventually left. His busy lifestyle caught up with him at one particular Parliamentary Session.
CARTOON OF GEORGE IN PARLIAMENT #53
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After leaving Parliament,
George started a hydroponics flower farm in Isaacs Road, Pickering Brook, growing carnations, roses,
chrysanthemums and gerberas. The advantage of hydroponic growing was a saving of
water and fertilizer, no weed problems and no problems with the weather as
everything was grown under plastic covered structures. His daughter Judy worked
with him. Flowers were exported and also sold locally. They tested the market
in Japan but at that very time Japan had a slight recession and that killed the
market there. The flower farm operated for 12 years supplying up to 70 florists
in Perth, as well as a couple of Markets. Flowers were also sent to Broome,
Kununurra and Darwin.
GEORGE & DAPHNE SPRIGGS ON THEIR ANNIVERSARY LATE 1990's #54 |
GEORGE SPRIGGS & GREAT-GRANDSON JACK SMITH 2001 #55 |
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GEORGE AND HIS PET DOG "PATCH" #56 |
GEORGE AND GREAT-GRANDSON JACK #57 |
GEORGE INSPECTING GYP FLOWERS #58 |
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GEORGE'S SISTER JOYCE AND HUSBAND WAL #59 |
GEORGE'S 70th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS #60 |
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PICKERING BROOK DART CHAMPIONS #61 |
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The Pickering Brook Primary School decided on new school uniforms. George and Daphne's youngest son, Murray, is pictured here with his school class proudly showing off their new uniforms.
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MURRAY SPRIGGS & TRISH ROBINSON 1966? #62 |
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When the time came to slow
down on life’s activities the decision was made to close the flower farm and
continue living on the property. Selling the flower farm was contemplated but
George and Daphne reckoned they could not replace the home situation they had
at Pickering Brook with anything else suitable. They intended to stay in
Pickering Brook ad spend the rest of their lives there. George's final comment
describes his life as "wonderful" and "very lucky" "I've got no
complaints", said George. “I’ve been very lucky. I was lucky with my wife. Daphne and I
have got on extremely well, mainly because she just put up with me. At the time of the interview
in 2011, George and Sadly George passed away in Valencia Nursing Home, |
GEORGE SPRIGGS 2012 #64 |
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FAMILY GATHERING AT VALENCIA NURSING HOME |
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On 22nd September 2015 the Members of the Legislative Assembly spoke on a Condolence Motion about George Spriggs. "I want to speak
briefly about George Spriggs. I did not know George very well, but I did know
him for a brief period of time. In our party room today, the member for South
Perth told a story about my association with George Spriggs. That story was not
fully correct, so part of the reason I am speaking to this motion is to clear
my name about what I did with George! It was somewhere between 2005 and 2008,
and we were at a parliamentary bowling competition. George loved his bowls. In
the parliamentary bowling competition, there were players from both sides of
the house. Some were new players, as I was, and some were more experienced
players, some would say, many of whom have since retired from Parliament. |
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PARLIAMENTARY BOWLS TEAM #65 |
We
were in our teams, playing in the bowling competition, and I was ready to play
my bowl, and someone called out to me and asked if I could come over because
George, who was on one of the other bowling rinks, was feeling dizzy and
unwell. I looked around from where I was on the mat, and I could see that there
were about eight people around George, and he was on the ground, but he was
conscious and was still talking, and I am a bit competitive, I have to say, so
I played my bowl first! I confess to doing that! So, I played my bowl—a little
heavy, because I was anxious to get across to him—and I then went over and
talked to George about his medical condition and what he needed to do next with
his treatment. The next time I saw George, he said thank you to me and said
that I had saved his life with the advice that I had given him about the
treatment that he subsequently got." |
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ANECDOTE Mac Beard
tells this story:
Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.
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References: Article: Gordon Freegard Image: Kalamunda & District Historical Society 1, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39,
Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2008 - 2023
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