Picture of Ivy Mildred Baulch, Mt Eccles, Circa 1900
Ivy Mildred Baulch, Mt Eccles, Circa 1900

Ivy Mildred Baulch
1886-1978
and her soldier brothers

The wedding picture on the wall of Edwardia's downstairs lounge is that of Ivy Mildred Baulch and Robert Henry Cook.
  This couple were the paternal grand parents of Edwardia's current owners.

Ivy Mildred:
Domestic Servant

Picture of Ivy Mildred Baulch, Mt Eccles, Circa 1905
Ivy Mildred Baulch, Mt Eccles, Circa 1905
At twelve years old, in 1898, Ivy Mildred, the third child of Silas and Emily Baulch,  began 18 years of domestic work at Leslie Stoddart's nearby Ardonarchy Station.
By 1903 the family had moved to a house situated at the edge of a swamp just outside the gates of Ardonarchy station.  When the land was sold, there turned out to be no title deeds and there is speculation that they squatted there under the protection of Ardonarchy in part exchange for Ivy's work.
Before Ivy married Robert Cook in 1916 she ran the Ardonarchy houshold and cooked for the 20 or so farm shearers and other workers.  Amongst the employees were local Gunditjmara aboriginals, one of whom presented her with a boomerang he had made for her wedding.
Ivy may have known this man since childhood as there was an aboriginal camp on the crater lake in Mt. Eccles which she had regularly climbed down to, to fetch water and wash clothes.
There were also extensive, permanent aboriginal settlements just west of Mt. Eccles at Lake Condah. Here there were circular dwellings made from the volcanic rock that litters the ground as well as a very extensive aquaculture system that supported edible herbage and involved altered watercourses, weirs, woven eel traps and eel smoking trees.   Indigenous tours of the area are recommended but need to be booked in advance.
Ivy played a pump organ like the one in Edwardia's Drawing Room at Mt. Eccles Methodist church.   In 1915 she was also the secretary of the local Red Cross branch and she and her brothers were involved in a Red Cross concert to raise funds for WWI soldiers.   Two of these brothers enlisted in the following year. Both fought in France but only one came home.

Leith Silas David
1893-14 April 1918
Killed in Action

PictureLeith Baulch
Ivy Mildred's younger brother Leith was twenty-three when he joined the Australian Army in August 1916.
Leith was killed during the successful Australian defence of Hazebrouk on 14 April, 1918.
PictureThe Nieppe Forest, April 1918
On April 13, 1918 the Australian 1st Division including Leith's all Victorian 8 th Battalion, stopped the German advance on Hazebrouk after the defeat of the Portuguese force and British withdrawal.  The report of Leith's death said, the next day "his platoon  occupied an advanced position in the line hastily formed to impede the German advance in the vicinity of Nieppe Forest., when, under cover of very heavy trench mortor and machine gunfire, the enemy attacked the posts in force and took the position after practically blowing the company out of their trenches and almost anhiliating the entire platoon., three others beside the officer in command being the only ones to come through unwounded. "
Leith's older brother Jim had fought by his side and not long before his death he told his nephew, Alvin Cook that after being shelled Leith's body had been blown to pieces.

James (Jim) Baulch

Jim was awarded a Military Medal as result of his bravery under fire at the village of Herleville, on 23 August, 1918,  four months after seeing his brother blown to bits,
Picture of James Baulch, WWI Military Medal recipient.J ames Baulch
 His Battalion attacked from the north in the face of merciless fire from Plateau Woods.  The battalion took heavy losses and were taking cover when Lieutenant Joynt took charge and assembled a small group of men who attacked and won the woods, capturing an enemy field hospital and 82 prisoners in the process.
Picture1st world War Military Medal
Exactly, what part of this action James was involved in is unclear. However, the report recommending  the Military medal said he was part of a "Lewis gun team all of which became casualties beside himself.  Although in a very exposed position and heavily bombed by the enemy he stuck to his gun and beat down the opposition.  Throughout the advance he rendered his company great assistance by pushing forward singlehanded with his gun and holding the enemy fire down while the advance continued.  He set a splendid example of courage and initiative"

Henry Thomas:
1883-1967
Rabbiter, shearer, Communist

By the late 1800 the rabbits introduced for hunting by the Chernsides of Werribee Park Mansion near Victoria's free range zoo, had become a plague.  

The 1890's brought a Great Depression, so from age ten, the oldest Baulch son, known as Harry, began contributing to family income through professional rabbiting.
As an adult he became a shearer, walking from shed to shed between his home in Victoria and Queensland.  Harry started work in the years of the Shearer's Strike, which began the trade union movement. Undoubtedly influenced by these events he joined the Communist party and remained a staunch supporter till his death. His life on the road as a shearer comes to life in Kylie Tennant's novel, The Battlers, which is one of the books in Edwardia's library.