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Biographical Dictionary - Coorow, Carnamah, Three Springs


Surname

Hugh Alan BELL

Born 6 January 1904 in Rangoon, Bengal, India [272]
Son of Edward William BELL and "Una" Florence Una GRANT [272]
He was baptised on 24 February 1904 at the Christ Church in Rangoon, Bengal, Burma [272]
Departed London, England with his parents on the steamship Borda on 17 September 1914 bound for Adelaide, South Australia [203]
Resided with his parents, brothers and sister on Dikhushla Farm in Winchester, Western Australia [34]
     His father had purchased a Ready-Made Farm at Winchester in the Carnamah district from the Midland Railway Company [34]
     Member of the Carnamah Football Club in 1921 [9: 5-Aug-1921]
     Won the 120 Yards Sheffield Handicap running race at the Annual Show & Sports Carnival in Carnamah in 1923 [86: 4-Oct-1923]
Farmer in Perenjori, Western Australia 1928-1935 [39: 19-Jan-1939]
     He, his brother Geoffrey and their father had taken up prospective farmland, then light virgin land, in Perenjori in 1928 [39]
     The farm was run by both he and his brother until about 1934 when his brother left [39]
     Their first crop of 300 acres in 1929 produced 1,200 bags of wheat but it coincided with the onset of the Great Depression [39]
     The prices of wheat dropped disastrously and they received only 1/8 per bushel for the first crop [39]
     In 1930 they produced about 2,000 bags of wheat from 500 acres, which they sold for 2/- per bushel [39]
     By this time they were heavily in debt and they sought the protection of the Farmers' Debts Adjustment Act [39]
     A stay order was placed on their debts and property for four years but he later realised the hopelessness of their situation [39]
     Committee Member of the Perenjori Football Club in 1934 [39: 4-Apr-1934]
     In February 1935 the stay order was removed and the Agricultural Bank repossessed the farm [39]
     They owed £64/19/6 in unpaid rates to the Perenjori Road Board and £2,946/2/6 to eleven unsecured creditors [39]
     Their former farm wasn't worked for at least the next four years and by January 1939 a large proportion was overgrown [39]
Married Constance Gladys JOHNSON in Perth in 1935 [66]
In 1936 he was working as a Contractor and living at 24 Oswald Street in the Perth suburb of Victoria Park [19]
Resided in the Perth suburb of East Cannington prior to enlisting in the Australian Army on 6 April 1942 [16]
     Sergeant WX21449 in the Australian Army's 34 Australian Landing Craft Company during the Second World War [16]
     Discharged from the Australian Army on 14 January 1946 [16]
Resided in the Perth suburb of East Cannington prior to his death in 1985 [2]
Died 29 December 1985; cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth, Western Australia [2]


Reference:  Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Hugh Alan Bell' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 29 March 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/hugh-alan-bell [reference list]




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