A Varied and Versatile Life: The Memoirs of Frank Wittenoon edited and annotated by R F B Lefroy

Book Description

Secondhand. Fair to good condition. Ex library copy with stickers and stamps. Partial date due slip on inside page. This booklet is a simple A4 wire-bound product prone to easy marking, hence marks on the covers and foredges. Binding is still very good.

Frank Wittenoom was the grandson of the first Colonial Chaplin who arrived off Fremantle with his family on 30th January 1830. He was born on the family farm near York in December 1855 and died in Perth in September 1939.

Following his mother's death in 1861 the family moved to Perth where he was educated and worked for the West Australian Bank. After a period as a jackaroo at Northampton, he was sent by his Uncle, at the age of 19, to assist John Perks to supervise the mainly ex-convicts who were shepherding about 20,000 sheep on his Yuin lease.

He went on to explore a large area of the Murchison, to areas where no European person had been before, where he once disturbed cannibals feasting. He established both cattle and sheep properties in an area that later became famous for the quality and quantity of its wool, especially his Boolardy Station.

About 1893, he and his brother had a supply business. Frank in Cue and Edward in Geraldton. Frank established race clubs in the Murchison and later in Kalgoorlie. From Cue, he went back to Boolardy for a time and then on to Kalgoorlie where he became a mine manager and share broker, then on to Perth to manage Dalgety and Co. He took up 12,000 acres near Walebing to establish the well-known sheep stud, Cranmore Park.

He was a world traveller, all the time keeping in touch with his interests at home through his three nephews and his accountant, often issuing advice and instructions from the other side of the world.

All this is told in his own words. (publishers blurb)