Frederick William DUNKLEY
Name: DUNKLEY Frederick William
Date of Birth: 1899
Birth Location: Footscray, Victoria
Also Known As: Bill or Will.
Age at Burial: 13 years
Date of Death: July 1, 1912
Death Location: Nurse Brown’s Hospital, Bunbury.
Date of Burial: July 2, 1912
Denomination: Anglican B
Row/Grave: Row 7 / Grave 91
Grave Transcription:
In Loving Memory of
GEORGE
Beloved husband of
HARRIETT DUNKLEY
DIED 10 TH AUG. 1919
AGED 55 YEARS.
——————————
Also
FREDERICK WILLIAM
Beloved son of the above
DIED 1 ST JULY 1912
AGED 13 YEARS
——————————
And
RUBY
Their beloved daughter
DIED 20 TH JULY 1913
AGED 20 YEARS
Father: George Albert Dunkley born: June 8, 1864, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. Died: August 10, 1919. Buried Capel Cemetery.
Married: May 19, 1886, Melbourne, Victoria.
Mother: Harriet Amelia McLeish born: August 17, 1870, Launceston, Tasmania. Died: February 9, 1947. Buried Capel Cemetery.
Grandfather (Father): Henry Dunkley born:1835 Cranford, Northamptonshire, England. Died: Unknown
Married: October 29, 1858, Kettering, Northamptonshire.
Grandmother (Father): Lucy “Sophia” Arthur born: 1837 Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. Died: Burial – May 23, 1869, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.
Grandfather (Mother): Alexander “Sandy” McLeish born: March 22, 1839, Launceston, Tasmania. Died: January 24, 1885, Buried Pentridge Prison Cemetery, Victoria.
Married: September 7, 1859, Launceston, Tasmania.
Grandmother (Mother): Elizabeth Simpson born: 1836 Scotland. Died: March 1, 1882, Buried Melbourne General Cemetery.
Siblings:
Sophia Elvina Dunkley born: 1888 Williamstown, Victoria. Died: November 21, 1927. Buried Capel Cemetery. Married: 1925 Perth, Charles Cassimer Babb.
George Alexander Dunkley born: 1891, Footscray, Victoria. Died: March 12, 1945. Buried Yelbeni Cemetery. Married: 1916 Perth, Victoria Fitzgerald Conder.
Ruby Elizabeth / Hepzibah Dunkley born: 1893, Footscray, Victoria. Died: July 19, 1913. Buried Capel Cemetery.
Thirza Netherlea Dunkley born: December 15, 1896, Footscray, Victoria. Died: December 3, 1995. Buried Capel Cemetery. Married: 1919 Bunbury, Edwin Raymond “Joe” Upson.
Henry Thomas “Brown” Dunkley born: October 20, 1902, Footscray, Victoria. Died: March 1, 1956. Buried Capel Cemetery. Married: 1926 Bunbury, Ursula Roberts Shiel.
Frank Stirling “Pat” Dunkley born: December 23,1905, Bunbury, W.A. Died: August 4, 1956. Buried Wagin Cemetery. Married: 1933 Fremantle, Vera Treloar.
Alfred Ernest “Alf” Dunkley born: June 17, 1908, Bunbury, W.A. Died: October 17, 1998. Buried Capel Cemetery. Married: 1940 Perth, Gwenyth Clarinda Negus.
Unnamed Male Dunkley stillborn: October 31,1910, Bunbury, W.A. Buried Bunbury Pioneer Cemetery.
Occupation: Student
Their Story
Harriet and George Dunkley’s fifth child and second son was born in 1899, at the home of Harriet’s sister, in Footscray. They named him Frederick William Dunkley, but called him Bill or Will. Bill had three older sisters and a brother. George and Harriet were farming at Carrum in Victoria. They grew vegetables, milked cows, churned butter and made hay. George took any excess produce to Melbourne in his wagon to be sold and would often bring a load back for someone, to help make a little extra money for his family.
Sophia, George jnr. and Ruby were attending school. Sophia had to help with the milking before school. The children would walk the cows to their day paddock on the way to school and walk them back on the way home in the afternoon ready to be milked again. The children all had jobs to do on a Saturday afternoon. On a Sunday, Harriet would take the children to the Presbyterian Church in Carrum and then in the evening she would get out her hymn book and they sat around and sang. Sometimes their aunts and uncles would visit.
When Bill was three, in 1902, he became a big brother to Henry (known as Brown). Thirza had now started school. The following year in winter the Patterson River that was nearby burst its banks and flooded the Dunkley farm, ruining the vegetable crops. The haystack got wet and a couple of weeks later it burnt to the ground. George and Harriet had no room to expand their farm in the area and had seen that land in Southwest, Western Australia was becoming available. George travelled to WA to see the land and was impressed. On his return home to Carrum the decision was made to sell their farm, pack up and take the family to the other side of Australia for better farming opportunities.
It was mid February 1904 when the family drove their 13 remaining cattle, one pony and their wagon full of household possessions to the port in Melbourne for the 7 day journey to Fremantle, on the ship “Pilbarra”. Five year old Bill must have thought this to be a great adventure. His aunts and uncles came and waved them goodbye. The trip was not a smooth one and Harriet was seasick, spending most of her time in the cabin. The older children must have kept a watchful eye on both Bill and Brown. George and George jnr. looked after the cattle, Sophia and Ruby did the milking on the trip. When they docked at Fremantle and their cattle, pony and wagon had been unloaded, Harriet went and bought food for the family as they still had a long way to go. The next part of the adventure was by train, which took the cattle, pony, wagon and the family to Wonnerup siding.
When George had hired two big horses to pull the wagon, the family set off for Manjimup where there was plenty of land available. Bill’s adventure continued through the bush to Nannup. A tarpaulin was put over the top of the wagon and the family slept on the ground underneath. Harriet made the family damper in the coals of their campfire each night. She made sure the children were well fed and clean. She did the washing in the rivers on the way. After travelling for some days, the family camped at a Mr Giblett’s farm in Winnejup. He had an orchard and generously let them pick some fruit. George and George jnr. went on to Manjimup to look at the land they hoped to farm. Harriet and the other children stayed behind and looked after the cattle.
When George and George jnr. returned to the family, Harriet had been reading the local newspaper where she had seen an article about the Busselton Creamery. She thought this to be an opportunity to good to miss and told George that as there wasn’t anything at Manjimup, she was taking the children and returning to Wonnerup. They went back the way they had come and on returning to Wonnerup, George was able to lease a small farm, with a stone cottage, on the estuary at Pidgeon Grove, from a Mr Pries. They stayed on this farm for nine months.
Sophia, George jnr., Ruby and Thirza walked to and from school in West Street, Busselton each day. Bill was only five, so still wasn’t old enough to go. He stayed home with his parents and little brother.
Bill’s adventures continued when the family once again, packed up their possessions and travelled north to the Stirling Estate, Capel. Here they had applied for and been allocated two 14 acres blocks near the Capel River. It was early 1905. Their land was very wet, and a home was made from their tarpaulin and a big log. The family lived here for their first winter. Harriet was pregnant with their seventh child, Frank, who was born in Bunbury in December 1905.
There wasn’t a school on the Stirling Estate, the closet being in Capel. Maybe Sophia, now 17, helped Harriet teach the younger children. The families on the Stirling Estate petitioned the Government to build a much needed school. Many families with school age children had come and taken up allotments when the land had been opened for sale. Bill had never been old enough to attend school with the other children. Tenders were called for the building of a school and quarters for the teacher in April 1906. When the Stratham school closed, the quarters were moved in October 1906 to the new Stirling State School and it was shortly after this, the Stirling School was opened.
Trove Article – 1906 School Opening
Bill, 7, would have been very excited to walk the two miles to school with Ruby and Thirza. There would have had many other children that he already knew from the district. Mr Murnane was the first teacher. In the following years there were cricket and sporting days held between Capel and Stirling Schools. Bill would have been part of these days, joining his friends in the competitions and picnic. He had to learn the National Anthem, the children sang it every morning before they started their schoolwork. Arbour Day was held and the students’ planted trees around the school. The Dunkley family had now moved to higher ground and built a house. This must have felt very luxurious after living in a tent in the swampy ground during winter. Brown was six in 1908 and probably went off to school with the other children. Harriet had another baby son, Alfred, in June 1908. In August 1908, there was an outbreak of chicken pox, and the Stirling School was closed, when most of the children were sick. In December when the End of Year picnic was held and the school prizes given, the Dunkley children featured. Thirza received a prize for writing and drawing, Ruby for drawing and Bill for arithmetic.
Trove Article – End of Year Picnic 1908
Bill and the other children had jobs to do before and after school. His older brother George went away to a farm in the wheatbelt to work. Bill must have had to help his father more with the farmwork, clearing and fencing the land. Bill’s father George was a member of the Capel Roads Board and the Stirling Drainage Committee and often had to attend meetings.
Trove Article – Empire Day Sports 1912
A month after the Empire Day sports young Bill started to complain of a sore foot. He couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Gradually his foot got sorer, and he showed his mother. She couldn’t see anything wrong with it either. As Bill’s foot worsened others also examined it but still nothing could be seen. Bill was by now unwell and was taken by buggy to the doctor in Bunbury, where he was put in hospital. His mother stayed with him in the hospital.
The doctor tried various treatments, but Bill got worse. He had blood poisoning and passed away on July 1, 1912. It was thought to be caused by a splinter in his foot.
Trove Article – Death of Will Dunkley
Bill’s funeral was held the following day at the Capel Cemetery.
Personal
The funeral of the late Frederick William, second son of Mr. and Mrs. George Dunkley, of Stirling Estate, took place at Capel yesterday afternoon, (writes a correspondent). The deceased lad, who was only 13 years of age, died in Bunbury from the results of blood-poisoning, which set in the foot. The funeral left Mr. Dunkley’s residence at 1.30 p.m. From there the remains were taken to St. John’s Church of England, Capel, where the first part of the burial service was read by the Rev. Scott Clarke, assisted by Mr. G. S. Durham (the late boy’s schoolteacher). The Church was filled to the utmost by friends and sympathisers of the bereaved parents. From the Church, the funeral cortege wended its way to the Capel Cemetery, where the Rev. Scott Clarke read the burial service over the grave. The pall bearers were Masters F. and W. Roberts and S. and C. Rose, four of the deceased lad’s schoolmates, who bore him shoulder high from the hearse to the grave. The Cortege was one of the longest that has ever left Capel. The children of the Stirling School followed the hearse, then came the boys near relations, after which followed a very long line of buggies, sulkies, and horsemen, while some followed on foot, showing the high esteem in which the family are held in the district. Numerous floral tributes were sent, amongst them being one from the scholars of the Stirling School. Deepest sympathy is felt for the family in their sad bereavement.
Information and Story Compiled by Researcher DC (CDCP Team Member)
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