Harry Allenby WILSON [3241]

  General Notes:

Harry was a very nice little baby and won a baby competition. As a boy the family moved to Mount Speed near Trafalgar.

Later the whole family and the house were moved into Trafalgar and the small three bedroom home now housed two families, his elder sister Gladys and her family were living with them as well. Due to limited space the story has it, that Harry used the bathtub for his bed. During his young adult years, Harry played for Trafalgar local footy club.

Harry used to have a pony called Little Bob to round up the cattle at work. Little Bob preferred to play rather than work which always used to frustrate Harry.

In WW2, Harry wanted to do his army service so he joined the army at age 23 (1941). At Army camp, he and a lot of his army mates got food poisoning from the copper pots they cooked in, and didn't end up going to war. Harry served in World War 2 - WILSON HARRY ALLENBY : Service Number - VX46049 : Date of birth - 24 Mar 1918 : Place of birth - MAFFRA VIC : Place of enlistment - CAULFIELD VIC : Next of Kin - WILSON FREDERICK.

After he was discharged he took up work with his father as a slaughterman at the Trafalgar slaughter yard.

Probably about 1942, the family moved to Somerville Rd in Kingsville to find more work opportunities.

In 1944, Harry married his first wife Violet and they built a house together possibly at 17 Salisbury Street, Yarraville in Melbourne.

Harry often visited his sister Gladys and her family when they lived at Jindivick and shot rabbit, quail and kangaroo. He enjoyed riding motorbikes and had an accident in Melbourne, with a bus which caused him to be out of work for a while. His jaw was wired shut after the accident and he had to be fed through a straw.

After the war, while living in Port Melbourne, Harry tried to teach his nieces and nephew how to swim.

Harry enjoyed travelling and in 1954, after the break up of his first marriage, Harry purchased an around the world ticket and travelled by ship to Europe for first time on his own, visiting London, Rome, Holland, France, Scotland, Ireland as well as New York and Chicago. The first part of the ship's journey from Australia to Rome took 3 to 4 weeks by sea. While overseas, he was always in search of family members he had never met.

Harry and Violet divorced in the early 1960's, possibly about 1962. It appears that Harry may not have been contactable during the divorce proceedings and his mother was subpoenaed to appear at the divorce proceedings.

Harry loved and owned cats throughout his life. He always took in strays and used to bring meat home for the cats and the family from work.

Around the mid-1950s, Harry and his brother Ken rented a farmhouse on the farm next door while building a 3 bedroom shack on the bush block brought by Harry in Carrajung Lower with nephew Max Bonham. Harry drove every 2 to 3 weekends in his Chrysler ute from Melbourne to Carrajung Lower until the shack was built.

While living with his brothers, Ken and Eric, their niece Nancy Bonham was married in 1957. The three brothers brought Nancye a wedding gift but made sure the appliance was well run in before Nancye received the gift. This gift was an electric frypan.

Harry eventually sold the bush block and moved to Hedley with Ken to a share farm. Harry continued to work part-time as a slaughterman for a local butcher in Foster and travelled all over South Gippsland region as well as working on the dairy farm.

In the mid 1960s, Harry and Ken brought a farm together on Billy Creek Road in Stacey's Bridge. In the 1970s they lost the farm to the Federal Government and drought. Harry moved to Devon North in the mid 1970's and worked for the Shire of Alberton until his retirement.

Harry attended Yarram church services and participated in many church events, and in 1970, Harry met Ada, a widow with four children. On the 4^th of March 1978, Harry married Ada and moved a Yallourn house to Yarram where they lived for the rest of their years. Gert, Ada's eldest son would regularly spend time on projects with Harry which included the building of two sheds.

Harry loved to tinker in his large shed. He also enjoyed collecting things and regularly visited the "free local supermarket" otherwise known as the local tip, in his ute. The tip also provided the parts for 2 bikes which he made with Ken for Ken's two daughters. He was very resourceful and loved to use the welder. Eventually the local tip changed to a transfer station where items had to be paid for, which made Harry most unhappy. Trash and Treasure was another favourite place to visit while visiting family in Footscray Melbourne.

In 1979, Harry and Ada and two of Ada's children, Helen and Ria went over on a working holiday for a few weeks in England and in 1985 they visited Holland and Ireland together.
Ada and Harry would be the support crew for many cycling trips with Ada's family. These bike rides took them to Hall's Gap, across Gippsland, as well as Tasmania and New Zealand, which Harry thoroughly enjoyed.

Harry and Ada, by this time, well into their 80's, purchased a camper van for their annual camping trip with Ada's family. They also visited Corowa, NSW on a number of occasions where Harry's younger brother Eric and his wife ran a motel.

Visits to Ada's children, Gert and Janet on a Sunday afternoon often lead into tea. Harry and Ada enjoyed a game of cribbage and cards, particularly euca.

Harry enjoyed his food and loved to eat. Throughout their marriage, before every meal Harry and Ada would traditionally hold hands, say a prayer and give each other a loving peck before eating. In the last 4 or 5 years, Harry took on the role as head chef in the Wilson household and regularly cooked three meals a day for Ada. Once Ada went into Crossley House, Harry visited her every day to show the deep love and care that he had for her over their 35 years of marriage.

After Ada's death Harry's health deteriorated and Harry moved into the Grand Ridge Aged Care Facility in Mirboo North, where he had many visits from friends and family and celebrated his 95^th birthday before he passed away peacefully on Tuesday 7^th May.

Harry's wife, Ada.............................
Ada was born in Holland. Her father was a school teacher but he was killed in an accident when Ada was 12 years old. The family then moved to Amsterdam and Ada graduated as a teacher. WW2 started two years after her graduation.

Ada married her first husband Henk Schepers. Henk was a carpenter and the couple decided to emigrate to Australia, but this took some time and their first two children were born in Holland. By the time Henk and Ada made it to Australia, 4 of Henk's brothers and 2 of his sisters had already arrived in Australia.

When they first arrived in Australia Henk and Ada lived at The Gurdies. They lived for a short time at Mincha in Northern Victoria, then they went to a wheat farm at Woorak. After 2.5 years at Woorak, they returned to Lang Lang and Koo Wee Rup area where Henk and his brother set up a building business.

In 1965 the family moved to Won Wron where Henk passed away in 1976.

Ada and her first husband Henk had 4 children, Gert, Arian, Helen and Ria.

Ada met Harry Wilson at Church in Yarram about 1970 and they married in 1978.

A funeral service was held for Ada at the Yarram Community Church, 122 Commercial Road, Yarram. She was privately cremated following this service.

Melbourne Herald Sun 11 May 2013
The Funeral of Mr Harry Allenby Wilson will leave Yarram Community Church, 122 Commercial Rd., Yarram, after a service commencing at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday (May 18 2013) for the Trafalgar Cemetery. Yarram Gippsland Funeral Services

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Residence: Contingent Street, 1943, Trafalgar, Vic, Australia. Occupation butcher.

2. Residence: 17 Salisbury Street, 1949-1954, Yarraville, Vic, Australia. Occupation - labourer. Violet Elizabeth Wilson at same address in 1949 but not 1954.

3. Residence, 1963, Hedley, Vic, Australia. occupation - farmer

4. Residence: McPhaills Road, 1968-1972, Hedley, Vic, Australia. occupation - farmer

5. Residence: Bolgers Road, 1977, Devon North, Vic, Australia. occupation - labourer.

6. Residence: Nightingale Street, 1980, Yarram, Vic, Australia. Harry's address is still given as Bolger's Road, Devon North, whilst Ada's is given as Nightingale Street, Yarram. As they were married at this stage, I beleive the roll had simply not been corrected.

7. Residence: Grand Ridge Nursing Home, Jan 2013, Mirboo North, Vic, Australia.

8. Obituary: Herald Sun Newspaper, 11 May 2013, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

9. Military: World War 2 service number VX46049.

Harry married Violet Elizabeth TAYLOR [3242] [MRIN: 965] in 1944 in , Victoria, Australia.³²⁷² The marriage ended in divorce. (Violet Elizabeth TAYLOR [3242] was born in 1917 and died in 1983.)

Harry next married Alyda Gezina Hendrika VAN DER SLEEN [3243] [MRIN: 966] on 4 Mar 1978 in Yarram, Vic, Australia. (Alyda Gezina Hendrika VAN DER SLEEN [3243] was born on 4 Dec 1917 in , , Holland, died on 9 Feb 2013 in Yarram, Vic, Australia and was cremated on 14 Feb 2013 in Yarram, Vic, Australia.)