|
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.
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. 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.
 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.
|