Relax into 1905
Camperdown Accommodation:Edwardia Short Stay
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    • Day Trips >
      • Day Tour 1- West
      • Day Tour 2 - North
      • Day tour 3 - East >
        • Stony rises lava flow
    • Kanawinka Volcanic Geopark
    • 12 Apostles National Park
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      • Manifold/Church st Corner Circa 1910
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      • Ivy Mildred Baulch & Brothers
    • The Willmetts - Horses, Gold & Sheep >
      • John Herbert Willmett - Wool classer
      • Thomas Herbert Willmett
      • Louisa Willmett, Winton Pioneer
Picture



John Herbert Willmett
1888-1966
Wool Classer

The wedding photo next to Edwardia's pump organ is that of John Herbert Willmett's marriage to Emma May Martin.
John Herbert Willmett  was  the  maternal grandfather of Edwardia's owner  and the paternalHe was a wool-classer,  a highly responsible and prestigious job in Australia's wool heyday but severely impacted by the Depression of the 1930's.
Picture of Australian Wool classers at work.
Classing wool
On Edwardia's down-stairs lounge wall you will see Tom Roberts' famous painting,  Shearing  the Rams.  

The wool classer was responsible for training shed staff and keeping all shed records as well as allocating  the parts of each fleece  according to various characteristics. 
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   It is  amazing that John Herbert  could work in such a dusty atmosphere, full of pollens from the paddocks and wool  because he suffered from  quite severe ashma, which was passed on to his  daughter and his son's son.

John Herbert's father died young, and his half-brother from his mother's second marriage,  Morgan Hackett, became a leading Melbourne book-maker's penciller.   Each year they would arrive from Melbourne in several large black limousines with tinted windows to take bets at the local town  horse races.
Picture of Even Stevens who won Melbourne Cup by 3 lengths in 1962.Even Stevens
 One year,  after the Melbourne cup was run, John Herbert, who was always in bed by 6 pm, went missing.   He had boasted at the local hotel of a big win on the race  winner,  Even Stevens  and had been abducted  by would-be out of town thieves.

   His captors had driven him  to Wannon Falls and threatened to throw him over the precipice if he didn't produce the money or the winning ticket.   Eventually, they must have believed that his  big win actually was a mere forty pounds and dumped him  on the road to walk the 15 miles back home.   Luckily, he was soon found by local police to whom his  disappearance had been reported.
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