"Frank" Francis Arthur LATHAM
Born 1881 in Echuca, Victoria, Australia [15]
Son of George GREEN and Elizabeth ABBOTT [15] [332]
He was from Echuca, Victoria, Australia and served in the Merchant Navy [265]
After often being in fights with sailors and getting punished he jumped ship at Fremantle in Western Australia in about 1892 [265]
He changed his surname to LATHAM and headed north where he caught a brumby, broke it in and went kangarooing on it [265]
Sold the kangaroo skins while based in Three Springs for a time, and later prospected at Payne's Find [265]
He worked on and off for LONG Bros in Coorow from 1898 to 1905 [120: 15-Feb-1951]
While prospecting at Payne's Find he met Mary OLIVER, the daughter of an English pastoralist and an Aboriginal woman [265]
Their son Richard Oliver LATHAM, who was born in Arrino, drowned in a well at the age of five years in 1905 [15] [265]
Richard was buried on 8 September 1905 in plot 235A of the Anglican section at the Mingenew Cemetery in Mingenew [176]
Kangaroo Hunter in Coorow in 1903 [50]
Farmer in Marchagee 1903-1911 and in Coorow 1911-1914 [19] [44] [50] [120: 15-Feb-1951]
In about 1903 he took up land at Jun Jun Springs and became the first person to take up land towards Marchagee [120: 15-Feb-1951]
The block was the 160 acre Homestead Lease 4313/74 at Jun Jun Springs and near Turipa Spring [44]
In October 1906 he advertised 50 half and three-quarter bred Angora goats and a pure-bred buck for sale [39: 26-Oct-1906]
Labourer at Jun Jun in Coorow in 1909 and 1910 [50]
Paid rates for his 160 acres at Jun Jun Springs until the 1910-11 financial year [44]
Prior to 1914 he sunk the freshwater well known as Waddy Well at Waddy Forest in the Coorow district [265]
On 7 March 1906 had an altercation with Francis H. R. THOMAS of Coorow Station about horses trespassing [31: 12-Mar-1906, 8-Jun-1906]
He and THOMAS ended up in a fist fight, during which his opponent pulled out a pocket-knife and stabbed him in the stomach [31]
He was conveyed to Moora for medical treatment and was reported to have initially been in a critical condition [31]
THOMAS was charged but later discharged for inflicting grievous bodily harm [31: 8-Jun-1906] [39: 29-Mar-1906, 8-Sep-1906]
Married Mary OLIVER in Coorow in 1906 [265]
One day he and Mary were loading kangaroo skins onto a train at Coorow and getting supplies off [265]
There was a parson on the train and he married them on the platform of the railway station [265] on 5 November 1906 [332]
The country east of Coorow had been regarded as "no man's land" comprising of good for nothing impenetrable scrub [120: 15-Feb-1951]
The LONG Bros of Coorow Station, and who had been born in Coorow, had only been about 20 kilometres to the east [120]
In about 1906 he rode through the apparently "impenetrable scrub" to the 141-mile gate on the rabbit proof fence [120]
He returned in about 1908, cut sandalwood trees around a rock where he made his camp, and made a road to the 141-mile gate [120]
He is said to have previously cleaned out a waterhole on the rock, and also stacked his sandalwood trees on the rock [265]
In 1909 settlers looking for prospective farmland followed the track he made from Coorow and called the place Latham's Rock [120]
The rock was recorded as Latham Rock in 1909, named in his honour for establishing a watering place for stock being droved [184]
He recounted the facts of how Latham was named to The Western Mail newspaper, which were published on 15 February 1951 [120]
When the railway went through Latham was selected as the name for a nearby railway siding and later townsite [184]
His son George stated the railway siding was named after him because he was the first to load any goods on the train there [265]
Grazier of Tungaloo Station in Payne's Find in 1916 [50]
At one point he worked as a Teamster in Coorow and had the registered horse and cattle firebrand of FL1 [80: 28-Oct-1925]
Pastoralist & Grazier in Coorow in partnership with Thomas BONHAM as "Bonham & Latham" in 1919 [44] [50]
They farmed 3,523 acres - Victoria Locations 2927, 2997, 3058, 3059, 3350, 3351, 3355, 3370, 3483, 3500, 3502, 3732, 5464 [44]
In 1919 he was living with his wife and children on Victoria Location 2997 in Coorow [215]
During January 1919 he sold 300 ewes through a private sale transacted through Elder Smith & Co Ltd [120: 10-Jan-1919]
He wrote to the Education Department on 29 March 1919 requesting the closed Coorow State School be reopened [215]
Following further correspondence to the Education Department from himself and others, the school opened on 19 August 1919 [215]
The school was in a room of Coorow House on Victoria Location 385, which was a one mile journey if his children attended [215]
Through Elder Smith & Co Ltd arranged for an auction to be held on his farm in Coorow on 12 September 1919 [10: 12-Sep-1919]
The auction was to sell his farm, stock and plant however before the sale the property was sold privately as a going concern [10]
The farm in Coorow was sold to John Roy LONGMORE and Laurence A. R. BRYANT [44] [265]
After selling the farm in Coorow he briefly shifted with his wife and children to Moora, where he owned a ten acre block [265]
Granted permission from the Moora Road Board to use the well at Griffiths' for domestic purposes in November 1919 [10: 7-Nov-1919]
Grazier of Banna Station south of Payne's Find 1919-1922 [265]
He sunk a well on the station, built a rough shed for a house and made a horse paddock [265]
At the end of 1919 his wife and children moved up from Moora to join him on Banna Station [265]
Purchased 1,000 sheep from Ningham Station and drove them the 60 miles to Banna Station [265]
He carted his wool with horses to Mandiga Station near Bencubbin in 1921, and carted stores on the way back [265]
In 1922 he sold Banna Station, which was later known as Mouroubra Station, to Pavey & Grant [265]
With his wife and children walked 3,000 sheep to Ballidu, where he had ordered a special train [265]
They loaded everything onto the train - the sheep, horses, spring cart, dray and sulky [265]
The sheep were taken off at the saleyards in the Perth suburb of Midland Junction and sold [265]
Resided with his wife and children on a small farm in Eden Hill from 1922 until June 1924 when he and his wife separated [265]
Farmer of Koralling Farm in Wongan Hills in 1924 and 1925 [310: 26-Jan-1924] [50]
He worked developing a series of 5,000 acre blocks in Wongan Hills which he then sold to the Agricultural Department [265]
Said to have developed a 5,000 acre block each year, which the Agricultural Department used for their research farms [265]
During January 1924 he purchased an Overland four-chasis light deliver car [310: 26-Jan-1924]
In 1943 he was working as a Labourer and living at 76 John Street in Perth [50]
He later resided on Walter Road in the Perth suburb of Morley, then known as Morley Park [50] [120: 15-Feb-1951]
Father of Richard, May, Frank, Violet, Ted, George, Mick, Mollie and Dorothy [265]
Died 28 May 1956 [P402]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Francis Arthur Latham' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 19 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/francis-arthur-latham [reference list] |
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