"Fred" Frederick Charles WOODS
Born 1863 in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia [15]
Son of George Austin WOODS and Lydia Mary DODD [15]
Orchardist at Waterloo east of Bunbury in Western Australia in 1903 [50]
Manager of Woodsome Station in Upper Swan for Samuel W. COPLEY 1905-1908 [39: 16-Sep-1905] [120: 18-Jan-1908] [374: 1-Sep-1905]
The station, also referred to as an estate or farm, was near Warbrook Siding in what is now part of Bullsbrook [120: 18-Jan-1908]
Married Jane JEFFREY on Tuesday 29 August 1905 at Saint Paul's Pro-Cathedral in Bunbury [374: 1-Sep-1905]
He commenced working for the Midland Railway Company on 6 March 1909 [34]
Ranger for the Midland Railway Company based in Moora 1910-1914 and based in Winchester 1914-1917 [6] [19] [34]
Committee Member of the Moora Race Club in 1911 [9: 16-Dec-1910]
His horse Laura Jay won the District Pony Handicap at the Moora Race Club's Race Meeting on 29 March 1911 [9: 24-Mar-1911]
He rode Mrs Emily GARDINER's horse Desperado in the Ladies Bracelet at the Race Meeting in Three Springs in 1911 [9: 17-Mar-1911]
Resided with his wife and children in Moora until Saturday 26 September 1914 when they shifted to Winchester by train [10: 29-Sep-1914]
He had to order more cornsacks for the wheat being harvested off the Company's unsold farms in Carnamah in 1913 [81: 1-Feb-1914]
The 1,000 or so acres of crop on the Company's farms had been expected to yield 15 bushels an acre, but it turned out to be 20 [81]
In 1916 he was Supervisor of the Midland Railway Company's farms in the Carnamah district [34]
Along with his wife and children travelled by train to Dongara in January 1916 - his only holiday between 1909 and 1919 [34]
Ranger for the Midland Railway Company based in Carnamah from 1917 to 1919 [6] [34]
His duties as Ranger included guiding prospective settlers to blocks of land for inspection [8: page 15]
He also had to send the Midland Railway Company weekly reports on their properties in the Carnamah district [34]
In a letter to the company dated 26 June 1917 he detailed what existed in towns associated with the company's farmlands: [34]
Three Springs is a town of about 150 inhabitants (within a radius of 5 miles). Buildings consist of State School, Hotel, [34]
Boarding House, Agricultural Hall, Blacksmith's shop, Butchers shop, 2 Stores, Greengrocer, Hair Dressing Saloon, [34]
Post and Telegraph Office and telephone exchange, Catholic Church, Telephone [34]
Carnamah. Population (including settlers) about 120, Post and telegraph Office, Store, Railway Station and Goods Shed, [34]
State School one mile north of Town. [34]
Winchester. No station, siding only, and small shelter shed. Post and telegraph office, can telephone Perth or Geraldton [34]
and intermediate stations, or telegraph per telephone. Post Office is conducted by settler, Geo. Reid, residing on Farm No. 913 [34]
Coorow. Railway Station, Store, from which you can telephone similarly as at Winchester, population about 100 [34]
There is a daily mail from Perth, Mondays and Thursdays excepted and from Geraldton (Fridays excepted, a most [34]
inconvenient arrangement). There is a Station Master at Three Springs and Coorow only. [34]
There are schools at Three Springs and Carnamah but none at Winchester or Coorow, "half-time" schools could be [34]
arranged for these latter two places where they are badly needed. [34]
The nearest Catholic Church is at Three Springs. A Church of England clergyman holds monthly services (in private houses) [34]
at Three Springs, Carnamah, Winchester, and Coorow. [34]
He managed the sheep on the Midland Railway Company's unsold farms in Carnamah in 1918 [34]
In May 1918 the Midland Railway Company moved a house from Lot M967 in Coorow to the Carnamah townsite [34]
After it had been moved resided in the house with his wife and children, who had been living in Moora [34]
In 1919 the Midland Railway Company paid him a monthly salary of £25 [34]
He was a passenger on the mail train that went into a washaway near Gunyidi on the night of Monday 23 July 1917 [10: 27-Jul-1917]
The incident was reported to have been the worst rail accident in the State's History, with three casualties and 14 injured [10]
Committee Member of the Carnamah Race Club in 1919 [9: 7-Mar-1919]
He was the Starter at the Carnamah Race Club's Picnic Races held in Carnamah on Thursday 27 March 1919 [9: 7-Mar-1919]
Member of the Carnamah Peace Celebrations Committee in 1919 [10: 11-Jul-1919]
Three of his daughters ran in the children's races at the Peace Day Celebrations held in Carnamah on 19 July 1919 [10: 29-Jul-1919]
Himself and his family were tendered a Surprise Farewell Party at their home in Carnamah on Saturday 11 October 1919 [10: 17-Oct-1919]
Visitors turned up from near and far to bid them farewell, and so many that their house was unable to accommodate everyone [10]
He was presented with a travelling rug, his wife with a silver bush and comb, and their children with an envelope of money [10]
Left Carnamah by train in October 1919 and shifted to the Perth suburb of Midland Junction [10: 17-Oct-1919] [34]
After leaving Carnamah he was employed as a General Ranger by the Midland Railway Company [34]
His duties were to deal with people who unlawfully cut timber or grazed livestock on the Company's unsold land [34]
Although he moved to Perth he travelled up to Carnamah to show any prospective purchasers over the Company's land [34]
Donated 10/- to the Three Springs Saint Patrick's Day Committee in 1920 [124]
His horse La Carnamah ran in the Carnamah Races on Thursday 11 March 1920 and won the Maiden Plate [19-Mar-1920] [10: 19-Mar-1920]
He leased La Carnamah from its owner Donald MACPHERSON until his lease ended in early 1923 [39: 8-Mar-1923]
Resided at 41 Helena Street in the Perth suburb of Guildford 1921-1924 [6]
Wrote a letter to the attorney of the Midland Railway Company on 29 November 1922 requesting an offer of farmland [34]
Other members of the Company's staff in Perth had been offered 1,000 acres of the Company's land at a nominal price [34]
On 23 March 1923 purchased from the Midland Railway Company 1,000 acres of virgin land in Winchester [27]
The 1,000 acres was Lot M1419 of Victoria Location 2023 and cost £125 (2/6 per acre), payable by instalments [27]
He completed paying off the 1000 acre block and on 18 January 1932 sold it Winchester farmer John BRADLEY [3] [27]
Pallbearer at the funeral of Carnamah farmer John LANG at the Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth on 24 December 1935 [5: 3-Jan-1936]
Pallbearer at the funeral of Carnamah retiree Robert PALFREYMAN on 11 August 1938 at the Karrakatta Cemetery [4]
By 1947 he was living in Glen Forrest and was receiving a gratuity of £156 per annum from the Midland Railway Company [34]
Resided in the Perth suburb of Glen Forrest until his death in 1949 [2]
Father of seven daughters - Austin, Noel, Jean, Ruth, Lina, Nancy and June [39: 14-Nov-1949]
Died 11 November 1949; buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth, Western Australia (Anglican, WG, 792) [2]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Frederick Charles Woods' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 19 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/frederick-charles-woods [reference list] |
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