Henry Leslie McKenzie YATES

Name: Henry Leslie McKenzie Yates

Date of Birth: 26 October 1898

Birth Location: Guildford, Western Australia

Also Known As: Les

Age at Burial: 80 years

Date of Death: 15 October 1979

Death Location: Nazareth House, Hilton Park, Perth, Western Australia

Date of Burial: 17 October 1979

Denomination: Roman Catholic

Row/Grave: Row 7 Grave # 33

Grave Transcription:

In Loving Memory Of

AGNES CATHERINE HENRY

YATES LESLIE MCKENZIE

DEARLY BELOVED WIFE OF YATES

LES DEARLY BELOVED HUSBAND OF

Mother of AGNES

CLARE, VI, BERYL, MARK And father of

KEVIN & JEAN CLARE, VIOLET, MARK

PASSED AWAY 21 ST JAN KEVIN, BERYL & JEAN

1976 DIED 15 TH OCT. 1979

AGED 80 YEARS. AGED 80 YEARS

R.I.P TOGETHER AGAIN

Father: James McKenzie Yates born 11 August 1868 at Chimney Gully, South Australia, Australia. Died 18 July 1959 at Donnybrook Hospital, Donnybrook, Western Australia, Australia.

Mother: Ethel Adeline Bleby born 4 December 1874 in Islington, Middlesex, England. Died 9 July 1950 at Stirling Hospital, Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia.

Grandparents (father):

William Yates. Born 3 May 1837, Denton, Lancashire, England. Died 5 September 1892, Gladstone, South Australia.

Mary Brydie Stobie McKenzie. Born 10 October 1840, Perthshire, Scotland. Died 1 March 1924, Cal Lal, NSW, Australia

Grandparents (mother):

Henry William Bleby. Born 28 November 1831 in Lucea, Jamaica. Died 11 January 1917 at New Maldon, Surrey, England.

Married 22 June 1861 at Wesley College Chapel, Sheffield, England.

Ann Elizabeth Waddy. Born 22 November 1831 in Northamptonshire, England. Died 29 September at Barnet, Middlesex, England.

Siblings:

Doris Edith Ethel Yates, born 1896 – died 1896. Aged 3 Months

Reginald Bleby Yates, Born 29 March 1901 at Kirup Mill, Kirup, Western Australia, Australia. Died 27
April 1972 at Bunbury Regional Hospital, Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia

Spouse: Annie Dawson – married 10 August 1918, Lambeth, England. Decree Nisi issued April 1923.

Spouse: Agnes Catherine Moriarty- Married in South Perth, c1923. Born 10 December 1895 at Qualen River, Western Australia, Australia. Died 21 January 1976 at Bunbury Regional Hospital, Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia.

Children:

Mary Clare Yates, born 1922, died 2006 (Known as Clare)

Patricia Violet Yates, born 1924, died 1992 (Known as Vi)

Leslie James Yates, born 1926, (Known as Mark or Mac)

Kevin William Yates, born 1927 (known as Kev)

Beryl Margaret Yates, born 1929, died 2014

Jean Ethel Yates, born 1935,

Occupation: Farmer

Military Service:

WWI 1914-1920 Service Number 3515, 11 TH BTN.

WWII 1939 – 1945 W30852 – B884 Army Citizen Military Forces

Their Story

Les’s real first name was Henry, but he was called Les. He was born at Guildford in Perth on 26 October 1898. His father was working as a lawyer in Guildford at the time. Later his parents acquired a farm on the Capel River (Wellington location 1003). Les grew up on his parent’s farm in Capel, Western Australia. His parents were James McKenzie Yates and Ethel Adeline Yates nee Bleby. He had one brother, Reginald (Reg).

Les’s mother, Ethel was also his primary school teacher. Ethel established a private, one teacher school for local children on their farm. It served the local children until the Education Departmentestablished its own school. Les completed his final years of schooling at Guildford Grammar School in Perth as a border.

Les served in WW1. In 1914 he forged his father’s signature at the age of 16 and enlisted in the Light Horse. He then heard that the infantry was going overseas and transferred to it. Arriving in Egypt his battalion was split, half to Gallipoli and the other half to England and France. He went to France and spent the rest of the war based there. He was involved in trench warfare in the Somme which saw some of the worst conditions – freezing winter cold, mud, disease, artillery bombardment, appalling casualties etc.

He fought in the Battle of the Somme. Specifically, he fought at the battle at Pozieres (6,800 Australians killed, 620,000 allies in total). He also fought at Ypres (Passchendaele) where 38,000 Australians died (310,000 allies in total). He was hospitalized after both mild gassing, shellshock. He suffered Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, then called ‘shell shock’ three times. Incredibly by today’s standards he was sent back to the front after each hospitalisation. Equally surprisingly he continued active service for five years. A term that would not be considered or allowed in modern times. The photo of Les shows five stripes on his sleeve. This indicates five years of service. It is considered a remarkable feat, then and now.

In 1919 he returned to Australia having his 21st birthday on the ship. He never discussed the war again and allowed himself to show no indication of the trauma he had experienced. Les did not join the RSL or attend Anzac Day ceremonies. He would not want to be remembered for his war service. Considerable though it was. He would want to be remembered as a farmer and family man.

On his return from Europe work was not easy to come by and supervision of work was rigid. He got work as a fettler and road worker, where severe stand-over management styles were common. Les did not appreciate that style of leadership. He found that sleeper cutting was a good option because he was able to work as a private contractor. Working for himself in this way he was able to provide sleepers for the railway more on his own terms.

He married Agnes Moriarty on 19 November 1923 at St Joseph’s Church in South Perth. Agnes had spent some of her early years on a farm on the Capel River, only a few kilometers from his family’s farm called the ‘home farm’ which was also on the Capel River. They had been neighbors. Agnes was three years older than Les.

After marrying, Les and Agnes moved around following work for 4 or 5 years. Les worked in the timber industry, mostly cutting railway sleepers. Sleepers were a priority at the time as the state railway network was expanding rapidly. They almost certainly planned to save and purchase a farm in Capel. Les’s work took them to Bruce Rock, Norseman, Margaret River and to several places in the Busselton area. Sometimes he also helped on his father’s Capel farm.

In 1929 they purchased a farm about seven miles from the ‘home farm’ Les’s parents’ farm in Capel. This farm was only about two miles from the farm which Agnes’s parents had owned. He used his deferred pay from the army to finance the purchase. He cleared the land and ran some cows, but until the farm became viable, he continued to cut sleepers for the railway. They only stayed on the new farm for about three years.

In 1933 Les’s father Jim retired to Bunbury. So, Les sold his own farm and purchased his father’s farm. The ‘home farm’ was a dairy and mixed orchard farm, was on the Capel River 11 km upstream from the town of Capel. Wellington location 1003. It was a pretty little farm. It was bordered by the Capel River, so it had good moisture content and rich alluvial soil that is fertile and nutrient-densefor plants. The orchards were a rich brown colour. And it had a good seam of soil across it. They had apple, orange, pear and apricots orchards. The area is prime farming country, famed for its cheeses,dairy produce, fruit and vegetables.

The photo of the house was probably taken in the 1930’s. The smaller building on the right of the photo was added by Les for his two sons, Mack and Kevin. It was called the ‘boys’ room’. It also housed the laundry and the bathroom. In Les’s time the old school room which was outside the photo about 20 metres to the left, was used as a shed. 300 meters further to the left was a dairy which was used for milking and separating. The dairy and cow yards were little more than cement floors covered by a roof. Milking was done by hand morning and evening with the help of the children. Milking machines were introduced in the 1940’s. They were powered by a multiple wet battery system. This system also enabled the introduction of some mod cons to the house. These included electric light for the first time and a radio. Kleenheat gas bottles also became available at about this time. Electricity, scheme water and the phone were finally connected to the farm in the 1950’s. But the outdoor toilet remained to the end. Other out-buildings included workmen’s
quarters, a fruit packing shed, a dairy and a truck shed. The Capel River is 500m from the house.

Like most farmers Les worked long hours. He started work milking the cows at 6am and continued till 7 at night. Les’s milk was not delivered fresh as there were no fridges then. Instead, the milk was simply kept cool and was used to make cheese. He worked seven days a week and he rarely left the farm. Les didn’t really enjoy the livestock side of the farm. The constant morning and evening duties of the milking scene were a real chore for him. He did however greatly enjoy the horticultural side of the farm. Agnes’s roses got him started. Armed with written instructions he practiced budding and grafting. After that he moved on to the orchards. A series of experiments followed. Some were unusual including a plum tree with a branch of peaches. Perhaps his interest had also been sparked by his family’s tradition of viticulture (growing grapes for wine) in South Australia.

During World War 11 Les enlisted in a home guard garrison. The garrison was intended only to be a voluntary group meeting on Sundays for training, but they were called up for full time service at Geraldton. He stayed there for one or two years.

He saw no action in Geraldton obviously, and felt he was wasting his time. Worse, he was away from his farm where he was needed. In his absence Agnes had to run the farm with the help of their children. Agnes had to learn how to drive and so on. It seemed to make no sense to keep Les away. After around 18 months Les requested and was granted leave to return home to his farm. The surprising thing is that while Les felt he was wasting his time in Geraldton in fact there were Japanese soldiers in the area. The Australian army was aware of that but kept it a military secret. Even from homeland soldiers like Les. It remained a secret to the public of Western Australia for another 20 years or so. Even today many Australians don’t know the Japanese were active along that area of the coastline during WW11. Les died before it became a known fact. He always felt his time had been wasted but in fact it has subsequently been revealed that it was important that Australia had defense forces there. After WW11 he continued working the farm.

He and Agnes had six children – Clare, Vi (Patricia Violet), Mack (Lesley James), Kevin, Beryl and Jean.

In 1956 Les and Agnes undertook to travel around Australia. This was very difficult in places because proper roads had not yet been built. They purchased a caravan and set off pulling it in a Holden family sedan. The Holden was not strong enough for the rough unsealed roads of the era. So they purchased a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The roads were really only suitable for trucks and 4-wheel drive vehicles. Sealed roads ended north of Geraldton. Most people and goods were still transported around large parts of Australia by coastal ships in those days because the roads were too primitive. Near Broome the roads were so bad that the by-passes had by-passes, creating a spaghetti of confusing by-passes that was easy to get lost in. There were few roadhouses, food had to be carried and meals had to be cooked along the way. The story even ended tough. On their return home they found that the salesman who had sold them the caravan had been dodgy. The caravan had not been his to sell and despite their best negotiations some money was lost. The trip was a real pioneering achievement and must have been a great adventure.

Agnes wrote a storybook about the trip called ‘Turning Wheels’ which has been typed up and filed for the family among our family tree stuff. It’s a good read and shows how times have changed since the 1950’s. Overall, it had been the trip of a lifetime. They loved it. For all its challenges they would gladly have happily done it again.

Les was strongly built and had robust health. While not tall, (his mother Ethel was 4’11” and his
father 6’2”) he had a powerful chest and arms.

On a lighter note, he had a row of sexy French Can-Can dancing girls painted directly onto the wall of his farm office. I suspect he had good memories of Paris where he and other Australians were sent for R & R during his war years. He could play the piano accordion, a traditional French instrument. So perhaps French entertainment, music and dancing girls at least were good memories of an otherwise awful period in his life. Les could also play other musical instruments including the button accordion, piano, mandolin, banjolin (forerunner of the banjo) and the mouth organ. He gave his mandolin to his granddaughter Kirrily and she still has it.

He was said to be self-taught, but both his parents played the piano and his mother Ethel taught the piano. So, she almost certainly taught him that instrument. He could pick up songs and improvise on the spot. He did not need to refer to music books to read the notes. He had a remarkable ability to ‘play by ear’. Music was too easy for him. He was good enough to play at local dances in Capel. He also had an undeveloped ability to sketch.

Les also had what is known as a ‘green thumb’. The joke that if you planted a stick upside-down in the ground it would grow applied to Les. This was a useful skill as his work on the farm included planting and grafting fruit trees. He took great joy from his budding and grafting. He always had a successful vegetable patch.

The ‘McKenzie’ in Les’s name refers to his father James’s middle name and that in turn refers to his father’s mother’s maiden name and from there back to the Scottish McKenzie family who left Scotland and arrived in the Barossa Valley, South Australia around 1840. Les’s brother Reg’s full name was Reginald Bleby Yates. The ‘Bleby’ coming from their mothers’ family maiden name.

When he retired to Busselton, Les sold the farm to his brother Reg who had the farm next door. Reg had four grown sons, Jim, Dick, Eddie and Alan. So, the extra land was useful to him. In time Reg passed the farm on to his son Eddie Yates. Reg purchased farms for them and eventually passed his own on to them too. Those sons now manage Les’s ‘home farm’ along with other family farms in the area. Eddie had three daughters. They married and had no interest in farming. Around 2015 Eddie retired to the Capel town site with his wife Jaqui.

Les had a good retirement in Busselton. He enjoyed fishing, camping and the odd duck hunting excursion in season. Busselton provided plenty of opportunities for all these pursuits.

Les died of a stroke in 1979, aged 81 and is buried at the Capel Cemetery, Capel, Western Australia.

Les had a framed chart on his wall above the mantle-piece all his adult life. It was given to all WW1 Veterans. It shows the military hierarchy of WW1 with King George at the top.

A WW1 Joke
The Battle if the Somme was fought in muddy trenches. It was set on reclaimed swamp land.
A soldier was crossing a particularly muddy area during the Battle of the Somme. He was sinking to
his knees with every step when he noticed a metal army helmet on the ground. It appeared to be
moving. He lifted it up and found a soldier’s head underneath it.
“Are you OK?” he asked the soldier.
“Yes, yes. I’m fine. I’m used to this mud. But I’m worried about the staff sergeant.”
“Why are you worried about the staff sergeant?”
“Because I’m standing on his shoulders.”

Story written by Phil King, grandson of Les. Photos from Phil King photo collection.
With assistance from Jennifer Scott CDCP member.